An Instrument of All People
"The University in the Service of North Carolina" speech by Chancellor Caldwell to the Sanford Chamber of Commerce, January 30, 1968
As a member of a university’s administration, Chancellor Caldwell had very strong ideas about what a university’s role in society should be in the late 1960s and early 1970s. In a May 1970 convocation, Caldwell insisted that universities should be relevant at all levels of society.[1] He shared the sentiments of Stephen K. Bailey, a Harvard professor of education, that higher education was meant to civilize and refine people’s attitudes and behaviors before they went out to participate in society, and that this job was a never-ending one because the process had to be repeated with each new generation of students.[2] Caldwell asserted that having university-educated people out in the world, participating in society, was a big part of what made the United States successful. Because of this, Caldwell thought that education should stop being an ivory tower and be open to as many people who wanted to take part in it as possible.[3]
Caldwell claimed that “the state university in America is an instrument of all the people designed to serve all their purposes…”[4] Higher education influenced every aspect of its students’ lives, and it was because of this idea that Caldwell claimed "The University" needed to climb down from its ivory tower of conservative, traditional, and orthodox ways and embrace the new climate in the country. During his tenure as chancellor of NC State, Caldwell pushed to create an administration that listened to its students’ needs and concerns.
[1] Jack Cozart, “Caldwell Speaks on Student Plan,” The Technician, May 15, 1970.
[2] Stephen K. Bailey keynote address to American Council on Education, “Education and the State,” October 11, 1973, box 30, folder 12, John Tyler Caldwell Papers, North Carolina State University Special Collections.
[3] John T. Caldwell at Southeastern Regional Conference on the Professional School and World Affairs, “The Challenge of World Affairs to American Higher Education,” February 1968, box 27, folder 1, John Tyler Caldwell Papers, North Carolina State University Special Collections.
[4] John T. Caldwell at the Annual Dinner Meeting of the Sanford Chamber of Commerce, “The University in the Service of North Carolina,” January 30, 1968, box 27, folder 1, John Tyler Caldwell Papers, North Carolina State University Special Collections. (Emphasis added)