Freshmen Pack Union to Hear Christian Herter, Gummere Urge Sensible Use of All Opportunities

The Class of 1944 gathered together for the first time last night to hear the advice of three men who have already passed through the Harvard mill and into the world beyond.

A crowded Union meeting was presided over by Dean Leighton, in the absence of Dean Chase. Throughout the evening the dominant theme was the "free development of the individual" at Harvard, as contrasting with totalitarian regimentation abroad.

Wearing a Willkie button in his lapel, Christian A. Herter '15, Republican Speaker of the House in the Massachusetts General Court, used his own career as an illustration of the "life and times of a Harvard man." Chemist, diplomat, teacher, miner, and politician, Herter advised less dogmatism and more open-minded readiness to benefit by opportunities.

Freedom at College

Richard M. Gummere '04, Dean of Admissions, emphasized that while college is not the complete break from preparatory school which it is sometime made out to be, Harvard does grant its students much more independence--both of thought, speech, and action--than they have probably previously experienced.

He urged that this independence be conserved by members of the Class of '44, rather than wasted in "banjo-playing and beer-drinking." Recognizing that "these are challenging times," we should "avoid irritating partisan discussions and go after the real problems," in the spirit he summed up by the motto "For Harvard, for Country, and for God."

Urge Varied Interests

Labelling himself a "Freshman on the Harvard faculty," John H. Finley '25, associate professor of Greek and Latin and chairman of the Classics Department, directed his "fellow-freshmen" toward the well-rounded life. Praising the type of mind which is capable of varied interests, Finley cited Jefferson and Morse as outstanding examples. He advanced the thesis that whatever one's field of concentration, the essential goal is the acquiring of an ability to reason from facts and to think.

Knowledge is only valuable when it has meaning for the individual and for society, and when it serves as a guide to the solution of our problems and the fulfilling of our personality, Finley concluded.