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Salient: Victoria University Students' Paper. Vol. 27, No. 12. 1964.

J. W. Henderson, Lincoln College Ex-President:

J. W. Henderson, Lincoln College Ex-President:

The Present Role of a university student is to acquire a professional qualification to get himself a job. However, this is not the sole ideal for which a student should strive.

Up to half the benefits of university education should be the development of a critical and well-rounded outlook. Some students undoubtedly achieve this dual role, but unfortunately the majority either fail to recognise that mere accumulation of fact is insufficient or never find time to develop a wide field of interests.

The Ideal student should not only acquire his degree but should question all the current attitudes towards politics, morals, religion, art, history, science, and so on. He should be a nonconformist on principle, for this is the one opportunity he has in life to think out his position towards life.

However, in practice most student values centre around alcohol, sex and sport. There is very little tolerance towards students whose opinions deviate widely from that of others and there is considerable pressure towards uniformity. For instance, at Lincoln ten beards were visible on the campus at the beginning of the term, but this had been reduced to two after four weeks.

Lincoln is a 76 per cent residential college, and this does have the advantage of gaining a higher level of student participation in student affairs than elsewhere. Capping activities, student concerts dances and sport all get full support at the beginning of the year at least. Experience in running student organisations is invaluable to those entering executive jobs later on in life.

The New Zealand University Students' Association (NZUSA) exists to co-ordinate student activities and interests. It plays an important role in matters of education, sports, societies, student welfare and matters of overall concern to students (e.g. nuclear testing).

NZUSA should not concern itself with matters of general political, religious, economic and sociological nature which contain many intricacies. By all means the individual groups directly associated with and familiar with the issue in question should comment, but not NZUSA.

The failing of students to genuinely seek knowledge and to query attitudes and opinions on assorted topics is not confined to any one campus. Some features of the Lincoln College campus bring a different set of circumstances to bear on the students than exists at other universities. With 50 per cent of students following a diploma course rather than a degree there tends to be a greater emphasis on practical aspects of the science of agriculture than is true of other science faculties. A mono-faculty campus cannot help but affect the nature of the students.

With the large residential facilities available a great potential exists for the integration of ideas, but this is largely lost in one faculty. A multifaculty campus cannot hope to achieve this without separate residential halls containing elements of assorted faculties.

Size is another factor peculiar to Lincoln. With only 470 students on a mono-faculty campus the group pressure for conformity is very great. It is true that numbers will gradually increase, but only a sweeping change could result in a multi-faculty campus. The relative isolation of the campus by the 13 miles from Christchurch and the main University of Canterbury campus is not a desirable feature for the full development of the students.

With the University of Canterbury shifting to its new site, there seems little prospect of another faculty being established on this campus. If that were possible a considerable number of our disadvantages would be solved.

An alternative system is to develop the concept of a junior college on the Lincoln campus for all first and second-year students of Canterbury University. The students at this critical stage of their course would have the added advantage of large residential facilities and all of the present problems peculiar to the existing Lincoln campus could be solved.

Abstinence is no answer to the problem of alcoholism, just as nobody driving on the roads is no answer to the problem of road accidents.

Doctor Mirams