Originally published in The Vidette-Messenger of Porter County on February 8, 1946.
ENROLLMENT AT VU NEARING 900
867 Students Assemble For First Meeting
More Signing Daily; Set Registration Deadline Feb. 16
Indications today were that enrollment at Valparaiso university will top the 900 mark, for the first time since the local institution was taken over by the Lutheran University Association in 1925.
Registration figures as revealed in a news account from the press relations office today gave a total of 867 students already signed for the new semester. More are reporting daily, with the close of registration set for Feb. 16.
First convocation of the new university auditorium. Of those present approximately two thirds of the 376 men enrolled were veterans of World War II.
Dr. O.P. Kretzmann, in his address opening the new semester, reported to the student body on his experience and observations as a specially invited guest at a recent meeting sponsored by the Atomic Scientists of Chicago.
Worked On Project
The conference on problems of the atomic age, held at the University of Chicago February 5-7, was between scientists and leaders of religious thought, including Dr. Kretzmann. The Atomic Scientists of Chicago is a section of the organization of men who have worked on the Manhattan Project. They have pledged themselves to formulate their own opinions and to educate the public to a full understanding of the problems stemming from the release of nuclear energy.
Among the speakers was Dr. H. C. Urey, Nobel Prize winner and Distinguished Service Professor of Chemistry in the Institute of Nuclear Studies at the University of Chicago.
Dr. Kretzmann’s address at the university’s opening convocation yesterday began with a tribute to those former students who would never be returning to the campus. Then, after a few preliminary facts about the conference from which he had just returned, he turned the attention of the student body to an earnest consideration of the meaning of university life in the year one of the atomic age.
Urges High Standards
“There is no room for the Joe College and his sister who invaded the campuses of America after the last war. High academic standards must be maintained for adequate preparation to face the problems of our times.
“Scientists admit that there is no defense, strictly speaking, against the atomic bomb, nor does the size of military forces count. The first to attack wins; secrecy, dread, and suspicion will surround all existence. The sole hope, therefore, for future civilization lies not in material defense but in moral control exerted by the peoples of the world.
“There is no answer except world organization,” Dr. Kretzmann emphasized. “And, as never before, the responsibility should rest with the civilian population, not with the military.” In this connection he urged those present to register support of the McMahon bill now before Congress.
Dr. Kretzmann closed his address with a reference to the general conclusion reached by the conference of scientists and religious leaders.
“There have been three atomic explosions:” he said, “in New Mexico, Nagasaki, and Hiroshima. One more is necessaryーan atomic explosion in the hearts and souls of men. The tremendous strength of religious conviction alone is the ultimate solution of the problems of the atomic age.
“On the campus of Valparaiso university we do not have the ingredients for the atomic bomb” he concluded, “but we do have the ingredients for the fourth explosion. Let us busy ourselves with that.”
Incomplete registration figures indicate that 376 men and 491 women enrolled at Valparaiso university by Wednesday evening. The number of veterans and the final totals will not be accurately determined until the close of the registration period on February 16. Thursday’s activity points to a total somewhat over nine hundred.
