Evening star., 1950-10-28
|Weig|e Blasts
Loyalty 0aths
For Educators
| New St. Johns Head
| Calls Them Step on
| Rood to Stotism
BY the Associated Press

. ANNAPOLIS, Md, Oct. 28.-Dr.
Richard D. Weigle was inaugural
ed today as the 18th president of
st. Johns, the Great Books" COL
lege. and promptly condemned
loyalty pledges for teachers.
Teachers oaths are dangerous
and stultifying things" the 3d.
year-old educator and former
State Department officer said in
a speech prepared for the cere-
They are a definite step along
the road to regimentation and
statism which we must at all costs
avoid"
DR.. Weigle was inaugurated be-
fore a Homecoming crowd of
graduates and representatives of
scores of colleges and universities.
Oath Taken Under Tree.
Standing on the college green
under historic Liberty Tree, where
the Susquehannock Indians made
peace three centuries ago, DR..
Weigle took the oath from Richard
F. Cleveland, president of the
Board of Visitors and Governors.
The act formally established DR..
Welgle in the Office he has held
for 13 months.
Gov. Lane, John w. Owens. edi-
tor emeritus of the Baltimore
Sunpapers; Right Rev. Noble c.
Powell, Episcopal Bishop of Mary
land, and Right Rev. Msgr. Fred
erlck G. Hochwalt, secretary gen.
eral of the National Catholic Edu-
cation Association, participated in
the inaugural ceremony.
Succeeded Kieffer.
DR.. Weigle succeeded John s.
Kieffer to become third president
under the Great Books program
on which 254-year-old st. Johns
embarked in 1887.
In their four years at the COL
lege, undergraduates pursue
non-elective course which empha-
sizes the reading of 100 or so
OF the greatest works of Western
civilization. Languages and SCI
ence are merged with study of the
books.
"Unifying Force" Needed.
Education demands some uni
Tying force that will prevent
men from moving farther and
farther apart as they fly off on
tangents of their specialized
tasks" DR.. Weigle said.
The great danger that we face
is the loss of our heritage of free
dom, not to Communism but to
those who in misguided zeal
against the enemy would sacrifice
certain of the very basic prin-
ciples of freedom which they fight
TO defend" he asserted.
Il for one believe that the an
sWer to the threat of Communism
IS not in oaths and suppressive
laws but rather in the fullest rev.
elation of Communism's short
comings and false promises.
L have enough faith in Democ-
racy to believe that Communism
must always come out second best
in the market place of ideas"
Wars are destroying moral
strength, Dr.. Weigle said. And
and irresponsible defama-
ton of character is sapping our
political life and effectively dis
couraging able men from seeking
Office"
DR.. Weigle announced st. Johns
may begin lectures on great
periods and movements of history"
and will introduce some study of
the East.
The college now confines its
to Western culture. An
eye toward the Far East reflects
Dr.. Weigle's own career.
He taught for two years at Yale
at Changsha and later
acted as its executive secretary.
AS an Army captain. he served on
the staff of Gen. Joseph Stilwell's
Chinese Combat Command. In
the State Department after World
War II, he was executive officer
in the Far Eastern Affairs Office.
2 Ex-Presidents March.
Two former presidents besides
Dr.. Kieffer marched in the formal
procession to Liberty Tree. They
were Douglas Huntly Gordon, now
an attorney in Baltimore, and
Amos w. w. Woodcock, retired
brigadier general who lives in
Salisbury.
St. Johns, third oldest college
in the country, was Maryland's
first public school. The provincial
legislature created in as King Will
liam's School in 1896. Not until
1785 was it chartered as st. Johns
College.
DR.. Weigle, only 19 when he
received his bachelors degree at
Yale, is the youngest president in
60 years.
Illness prevented his father, DR..
Luther A. Weigle, from attending
the Inauguration and giving the
benediction. The elder DR.. Weigle
is dean emeritus of Yale Divinity
School.