Maurer President Irving Maurer's Inaugural Address June 14th 1924 Standing upon this platform upon such an occasion as this, it is but natural that I feel conscious of precious associations which multiply within this room. It was to this church where our family came to worship, when my mother and my brothers, with myself, took up residence in Beloit, in order to make it possible for us to go to College. In this church were formed some of my most enduring friendships. From this platform, just twenty years ago, from the hand of President Eaton, I received my degree of Bachelor of Arts. When the question was raised as to whether or not the inaugural ceremonies should take place at the church, I was glad to decide for the church, as the relationship thus exemplified is very expressive of the actual situation.
Modern education is the product of the Christian church.
Beloit College is a Christian college. At such a time it is quite proper for the friends of Beloit College, both those who are connected with her life through actual contact and those who come here today to bear greetings from sister colleges, universities, and schools, to expect from me a statement of my thought, my hope, my plans for Beloit, and to ascertain the underlying principles by which I propose to be guided and controlled, as I take up the leadership of this college. At the outset I wish to pay honor to the distinguished fellowship into which I come as a novitiate. Within these few months I have experienced its genuineness and its fervor. I find American colleges in the hands of men and women who are courageously doing their work as teachers, who are maintaining intellectual courage and integrity in the midst of prejudice and obscurantism.