The Pursuit of Knowledge: Speeches and Papers of Richard C. Atkinson

Remarks on Receiving the University ofChicago Alumni Medal

11 Remarks on Receiving the University of Chicago Alumni Medal June 2003 It is always a wonderful experience to return to the University of Chicago. The campus was beautiful when I first set eyes upon it in 1944, and even with all the changes, it is still one of the most beautiful and inspiring campuses in the world. My decision to enroll at the University of Chicago was by pure happenstance. Both of my parents were immigrants to the United States. Neither had much formal education, and in our household , a college education was not high on our list of priorities. But in February of 1944, when I was a sophomore in high school, one of those unplanned events occurred that transforms a person’s life. A friend and I had arranged to spend a Saturday playing basketball . When I arrived at his home, his mother greeted me at the front door and explained that he had to cancel out on our plans since arrangements had been made for him to take the college entrance examination at the University of Chicago. I was very disappointed, but then my friend called out from a second-story window—much to his mother’s displeasure—that I should go with him to the university and that we would be back in time to salvage the rest of the day. I had nothing better to do and agreed. We arrived at Cobb Hall. The person in charge had my friend sign in for the examination and then turned to me and asked for my name. “Oh, no,” I said, “I’m not on your list and I’m not here to take the exam.” He said, “Well, since you’re here, you might as well take the exam.” So I did. A few weeks later, my friend received a letter of rejection, and I was admitted. Not being sure of what to do, I decided to enroll in the summer session with the idea that I would return to my junior year in high school if all did not go well. The summer of 1944 was a remarkable time. The Allies landed in Normandy and began the invasion of Europe. The Democrats held their national convention in Chicago, and my roommate at the university was a nephew of Paul McNutt, the Democratic governor of Indiana, who arranged for us to have passes to all of the convention activities. President Roosevelt was seeking nomination for his fourth term as president, and the theme song for the convention was “Don’t change horses in midstream .” But of course they did make one major change. Wallace was dropped as the vice president in favor of Truman. That summer my mind was aroused as never before. The courses and faculty were extraordinary, but equally important were the debates long into the night with other students on issues of religion, politics, and race relations (the term used at the time). Once caught up in the intellectual life of the University of Chicago, I never looked back. 12 / Seventeenth President The University of Chicago Alumni Medal / 13 My years at the university were a transforming experience and, in a very real sense, defined the rest of my life. I took OII— Observation, Interpretation, and Integration—in a special section taught jointly by President Hutchins and Mortimer Adler. Hutchins was at the peak of his fame, and Adler had played a key role in developing the Great Books program (he was affectionately referred to as “The Great Bookie” by students). We had about a dozen students in the class and the discussions were intense. Even to this day, I consider myself something of an expert on Plato’s Republic. Allan Bloom, who was a fellow student in that course, later went on to write the well-known book The Closing of the American Mind. I took BI/SCI, the biological sciences, from A.J. Carlson, one of the world’s great scientists , who was an equally brilliant teacher. His textbook with Johnson, The Machinery of the Body, is a classic. My introductory chemistry course was taught by Harold Urey, a Nobel laureate, who later became a lifelong friend. For approximately a year, I roomed in the home of Professor David Riesman, who was famous at the time, but later became even more famous when he wrote The Lonely Crowd. He often invited me to parties at his home...