Bulletin Vol. 3 No. 3 Oct 1966

am particularly pleased to announce that detailed plans are being prepared for the erection of the Un i v e r s i ty Student Centre, donated by the people of the U n i t ed States, and that wo rk on this b u i l d i n g, thefirstUniversity b u i l d i ng on the new site, w i l l begin this spring. I t w i ll play a pivotal and g u i d i ng role in enabling the Un i v e r s i ty to move systematically to the new campus in the course of the next few years. Wh at is most g r a t i f y i ng is the response of the H o n g K o n g Go v e r nme nt to our request for funds to b u i ld the new campus at M a L i u Shui. T h e overall cost of planned Un i v e r s i ty and College construction is formidable, the current estimate being close to $160,000,000. These figures are tentative, b ut the Go v e r nme nt has indicated it w i l l be responsible for what amounts to a major share of the b u i l d i ng programme, a very heartwarming evidence of faith in our accomplishments and aspirations. So m u c h for the past year. Wh at of the years immediately ahead ？ Academically, we hope to continue the u n i q ue staff development p r o g r amme w h i ch enables senior staff to make direct contact w i t h the t h i n k i ng and research in their fields in other significant academic areas of the wo r ld and to give the younger staff opportunity to obtain higher degrees. Before the whole Un i v e r s i ty moves out to the new site, emphasis w i ll be centered on the development of graduate studies w h i ch w i l l include more fields in the c om i ng years. T h e n umb er of graduate student s is expected to reach about 100 by the a u t umn of 1970, I n the meantime, we w i l l continue to encourage faculty research, b o th independent projects and the research programmes of the Institutes. T h e Un i v e r s i ty w i ll soon establish an Institute of Chinese Studies to foster graduate wo rk and staff research w i t h the aid of the disciplines of the Social Sciences as well as the Humanities. A major research project is being planned for this new I n s t i t u t e. It is hoped, too, n ow that the post of Un i v e r s i ty L i b r a r i an has been filled, that a Un i v e r s i t y- wide system w i ll he developed to increase the general effectiveness of and the cooperation between the College libraries and the Un i v e r s i ty Central L i b r a ry for the benefit of students and staff of the Un i v e r s i ty as a whole. Finally, we look f o r wa rd to the establishment of a Un i v e r s i ty Press and the publication by the University of our o wn scholars' research works. T h e immediate years ahead are crucial for our building p r o g r amme. T h e precise details of p l a n n i ng for ma ny of the buildings, such as the scope of College libraries, the size of classrooms and hostel accommodations for students, remain to be wo r k ed out w i t h the Un i v e r s i ty Grants Comm i t t e e, b ut this basic wo rk is in hand. O f special importance is the need to seek funds f r om private sources to supplement the generous assistance of the H o ng K o n g Go v e r nme n t. W o r k hasbegun on this financial development and it is hoped that by 1970 not o n ly w i l l most of the needed funds be subscribed b ut most of the new buildings w i l l be rising or already in use on the hillside b e h i nd M a L i u Shui. I n this effort I expect that the graduates and friends of the Un i v e r s i t y, here and abroad, w i ll help. We must remember that the Un i v e r s i ty belongs to all of you. T h a n k you. “ THE CHALLENGE IS OPEN!’’ Speech by Mr. Preston Schoyer, Representative of Y a l e - i n - C h i n a, before proposing a toast to the Graduates at the Graduation Dinner. Y o u r Excellency and L a d y T r e n c h, M r . Vice Chancellor, Ladies and Gentlemen. I am not certain w h y I am here. Wh at I mean is, w h y am I , of all this distinguished gathering, called upon to speak tonight. It has been a policy of the Ya l e - i n - Ch i na Association to remain in the background and be as inconspicuous as possible, I can only suppose that the Un i v e r s i ty management, faced for the first t i me w i t h paying for their dinners, wanted to be sure that expenses ended there, and so engaged the most inexpensive speaker they could t h i nk of. I n any event I felt so overcome and so flattered wh en D r . L i asked me to speak that I c o u l d n 't say no, in fact I c o u l d n 't say a n y t h i n g—so here I am. A n d, having an audience, I f i nd I do have some comments, and perhaps some confessions to make. One t h i ng I w o u ld like to confess, and I say this in particular to the graduating class, is that, like some of you, I am not a scholar. I d id a little En g l i sh teaching years ago. I had a student wh o once wrote a threatening c omme nt at the end of an essay: ‘ ‘ I w a n t ” , he wrote, “ a l l the time a ma rk of 100, 90, 80, 70, 60. I f I get 50, 40, 30, 20’ 10, 0, I go to the River. I die. I am a die m a n . ” T h o u g h I gave h i m 40, he failed to carry out his threat, but what was most depressing, his English never i mp r o v e d, nor that of his classmates. A t the end of the year I felt like going to the river myself. Instead, I t u r n ed to w r i t i ng and journalism and have o n ly recently come back to education. A n y wa y ， t h i s incident and others left me w i t h a feeling of awe and diffidence in the face of scholars. Scholars seemed to me people above o r d i n a ry people, and I d o n 't refer j u st to their laudable pursuit of t r u t h ; rather by nature, mentality, by some special award of Heaven they seemed to be on a level above the rest of us. But while I still have some of this feeling, I have f o u nd increasingly that ma ny of t h em are ordinary mortals after all. F or example, there is a picture on the b u l l e t in hoard of the Universities Service Centre 3