Within the past few decades American colleges and universities have come to recognize that they have a greater responsibility than that of educating the more than four million students in their classrooms. They are now increasingly offering their cultural facilities to the local communities and are intensifying adult education.

The most complete description of the contributions of the American colleges and universities to the cultural life of the community is probably provided by the program of the University of California at its Los Angeles campus. (The University Of California, America's largest, also has campuses at Berkeley and several smaller (owns, totalling more than 47,000 students). The Los Angeles campus every year presents a large and varied selection of cultural events. Ii also has the biggest adult education program in the United States in 1961 more than 150,000 extension students were enrolled. About 80 par cent of them previously attended college.

Film Actors

UCLA's location in the centre of the American film Industry gives it a unique opportunity to draw upon some of the finest dramatic talent. The university's "Theatre Group" Is comprised of professionals who present classical and modern plays in the university's 540-seat pit house. It Includes such film stars as Paul Newman, Anthony Quinn, Joanne Woodward and Eva Marie Saint and such producers and directors as Walter Wanger, John Houseman and Lee Strasberg. The actors perform for minimum union wages. Their aim is "to satisfy the keenly felt desire for the spiritual and intellectual values which good theatre can offer." This group recently presented T. S. Eliot's "Murder in the Cathedral," a dramatization of John Do Passos' novel, "U.S.A." and a special series called "Three Evenings with Six Playwrights," offering works by Beckett, Ionesco, Albee, Williams, Richardson and Chekhov. Several plays were followed by discussions with invited theatrical experts and members of the audience.

While the "Theatre Group" may be the most glamorous, it is not the only theatrical company at UCLA. During the 1961-62 season Angelinos will see several plays produced by the university's dramatic workshop. Students will present Shakespeare's "Richard II" and a number of modern American plays.

Since the university has many students who expect to work in the movie industry, an important part of its cultural program is devoted to the art of the cinema. During the current season a number of important films will be shown, among them Faulkner's "Intruder in the Dust," the Bolshoi Company's opera-film "Pique Dame," "Night Drum" directed by the Japanese Imai, and other films made in France and Africa.

"Man and Art," last year's lecture series of 29 events, was illustrative of the variety of UCLA's cultural offerings. The two-month program was open to (he general public at a nominal, cost. It dealt with subjects in the fields of music, architecture, painting, dance and the theatre.

Museum

The University's museum is also widely used by the people who live in Los Angeles and in the surrounding smaller towns. Last year the museum showed a major exhibit of Picasso's works in conjunction with a special series of lectures in honour of that artist's 80th birthday, as well as other exhibits of modern art.

Many American colleges and universities are not able to support so many cultural affairs, but all contribute something to their communities. The major universities in the larger cities—New York, Philadelphia, Boston, Chicago, Detroit, San Francisco, Minneapolis, St. Louis, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Washington—all offer rich cultural programs which complement the varied spiritual life of these cities.

The programs of colleges and universities in smaller cities through out the country—although more modest—are seen as equally, if not more important, since they form the community centre of cultural life. Lectures, concerts of the university orchestra and of visiting artists, exhibitions, plays presented by students who study the drama are often the only cultural events in smaller places. Harvard University, Yale University, Princeton University, all located in small ns, are good examples. They present classical and modern plays, lectures by world renowned scholars, writers, artists and scientists and concerts open to the public.

In Appleton, Wisconsin, Lawrence College with a student body of only 900 plays an important role in the cultural life of the town. The "Centre for Music and Drama" on the college campus offered in 1960-61 some 70 concerts, and the theatrical group of Appleton used this centre to present 44 evenings of drama. Since Lawrence College places special emphasis on promoting new American music it commissioned and performed in 1960 works by nine young American composers. Recently new compositions by 29 college composers were presented in a series of six public concerts. The year's cultural program offered, in addition, lectures, and 20 different art shows.

Negro Youth

Tuskegee Institute in Alabama also illustrates the American university's role in the community. Founded in 1831 by the famous Negro educator, Booker T. Washington, the institute first emphasised training Negro youth to become school teachers. Today, however, it offers a wide variety of courses in the arts and sciences. In 1961 the student theatrical group presented, among other plays, "Simply Heavenly," a musical comedy by the noted Negro poet Langston Hughes. The dance group interpreted "Deep River" and several other Negro spirituals at a modern dance evening, and a number of lectures were devoted to the Negro's role in the contemporary American theatre.

Student orchestras sometimes with noted artists as soloists can be found in most colleges and university, and they frequently invite the participation of neighbors. Colleges and universities have also become the homes of poets of distinction and centres from which their influence radiates. Robert Frost and William Faulkner, among others, have held appointments in several universities and have given lectures open to the public.