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"It is in this concept of trusteeship that the program which has been presented today is advanced. And it is in this mood of appreciation for the University's historic importance in the progress of our commonwealth that I undertake to say a few words about it. I will not burden you with a repetition of the elements of that program or a reiteration of the reasons underlying every one of the recommendations. Mr. Pearsall has done that with admirable clarity and force. However, speaking as one who has been called, for a time, to administrative responsibility in our ongoing University tradition I wish to express my enthusiastic and unqualified endorsement of the recommended program and my wholehearted appreciation to the trustees and the other University associates who have worked so devotedly to bring it forward.

"I said I felt a rising sense of the importance of this occasion. I say this because I believe that destiny has called upon us to make a decision which will have the utmost significance for the future of the University and the State.

"These are difficult times in the affairs of peoples and of nations. They are revolutionary times in science and technology. It follows, perforce, that they are times of necessary growth and qualitative change in institutions of higher education. The question which we confront today is simply this: How will North Carolina meet these conditions? What response, in particular, does the University of North Carolina make to the threat and the challenge of multi-dimensional change?

"There is no state in our union that has not felt strong currents forcing accommodation of institutional arrangements in higher education. Some have floundered in trial and error and moved from one improvisation to another with consequent impairment of standards, reputation, and accomplishment. Others have wisely combined flexibility and necessary growth with sound guarantees of quality and academic excellence. It is our desire and our aim to be one of these latter; and the aim is favored by the happy fact that thirty-one years ago our trustees looked ahead, wisely and boldly, and projected into an undisclosed future what now has become our sound foundation and time-tested formula for yet another bold and confident advance.

"When the General Assembly and some of the trustees, acting under the strong leadership of Governor O. Max Gardner, sought to effect the consolidation of three separate but kindred State institutions they acted in circumstances far different from those prevailing today. Strict economy in our State activities was imperative. The main threat to standards then was not uncontrolled expansion but deliberating entrenchment. The problem was to husband resources and protect vital institutions by a formula that would conserve the university idea in the crisis and give promise of greater fulfillment in the future. Although conditions were different they were actuated by the same perdurable aim, namely: a university of excellence and distinction for the State of North Carolina.

"The words of Governor Gardner, spoken in an address of March 2, 1931, express the high purpose that he held and deep confidence he felt in the ultimate benefits to be derived:

'I believe that this General Assembly will make a definite and permanent contribution to the progress and life of North Carolina in its general efforts to adjust our government to the problems of the period in which we live, but I declare to you in my judgment that the consolidation of these three great institutions under one central control will mean more for the future of North Carolina than any other and all other legislation with which we struggle. It makes possible ultimately the united support of North Carolina behind one great unified, co-ordinated, and intelligently directed educational enterprise.'

"The program which Governor Gardner advocated was not accepted by the Legislature without surmounting formidable objections and without rallying the concerted effort of citizens, trustees, faculties and alumni. Even then, but for the unexampled courage and resourcefulness of Frank Porter Graham, upon whom fell the task of shaping three hitherto separate and rival institutions into a larger conception of one three-fold university, it is doubtful that Governor Gardner's vision