I've always said that I came to the University back when the Earth's crust
began to cool. Y'know students are always saying "Dean Burgett, when did
you come to the University?" and I say I came back when the Earth's crust
began to cool. I came as a freshman violinist to the Eastman School of Music
in 1964.
This was a regional treasure who came from Saint Louis, Missouri, right?
I was regional treasure, I'm a violinist--and I'm was a good violinist, right?
I mean, obviously. I got into the Eastman School of Music. So I made
my way to Rochester and I went into one of the practice rooms and took
my violin out, tuned it up, put the music on the stand and began to play.
Not practice, mind you, but play--the good stuff that got me in the joint
in the first place. And I left the practice room door open just a little bit
because I wanted all within earshot to appreciate this regional treasure that
had arrived. So that lasted until the sophomores, juniors, seniors, graduate
students, and faculty arrived, at which point my whole notion of talent was
radically redefined. And I began waiting for the second letter from the
admissions office--y'know, the one in the thin envelope--telling me
that a terrible mistake had been made. That the Paul Burgett they really intended
to admit really could play the violin and asking me to leave preferably under
the cover of darkness to spare us all the embarrassment. I'm sort of
still waiting for the letter. It hasn't come yet, but you never know.
So I'm really interested in this join that educated me and then turned me loose
to go out into its world, in this case, on its behalf. So where did it come from?
Well, any good story begins with "once upon a time".
There was a guy by the name of John Wilder. So, John Wilder was
a member of the board of trustees of Madison University. He said
"We need to move. We need to move Madison University to Rochester."
John Wilder and other though that Madison University in Hamilton,
New York wasn't going to have a future. Well, that proved to be wrong
because in 1898 Madison University changed its name to Colgate.
So, we were born out of the rib of Colgate University. And Asal Kendrick
came from Madison University to Rochester. It is to him that we credit
our motto. He found the term Meliora in a quotation of the Roman poet
Ovid. And the quotation that I had always heard was "video meliora
proboque." and video meliora proboque means--it translated to--
I see and understand better things. Well that makes some sense, right?
but there's a second half and the second half is "and I still make bad
choices!" well that's not very inspired! Uh-oh, well maybe we need to do some
more homework in it. And we played our first football game in that year,
1889. And that first football game was against Cornell. Score:
Cornell, 106, Rochester, 0!
So, after the humiliation of our first we played Syracuse and the score was
Rochester, 36, Syracuse, 6. So, we sort of redeemed ourselves.
George Eastman and his relationship with Rush Rhees was unlike any
relationship ever. He was not particularly a fan of higher education, he
wasn't a product of higher education. His first gift to the University was in
1899 and it was a camera. So, in 1918, George Eastman says to
Rush Rhees, "How would you like a music school?" Well, y'know, Rush
Rhees knew by that point to say yes to whatever Mr. Eastman was
interested in. What does George Eastman do? He went out and bought
a music school. He bought it for $28,000 and gave it to the University
for a buck. George Eastman acquired the land where the Eastman
school is now and began the construction of the school building itself
and the Eastman Theater. See this building? George Eastman wanted
to acquire that property as well and the guy who owned it was willing to
sell it to him as part of the complex, but George Eastman that what the guy
was exorbitant so he said, "To hell with you! I'll just build my school and
my theater around you." Which is precisely, as you can see, what he did.
I would like to think that what we did when we opened up the east wing
--we dedicated it last year--that we finally completed what Mr. Eastman's
original vision was. I'd like to think that Mr. Eastman, where ever his
spirit is, is probably looking down now and saying "Well it sure took you
long enough." All of his gifts exceed 51 million dollars in 1932 dollars.
If you adjust that for inflation, I think George Eastman arguably can be
identified as the single most generous individual contributor to American
higher education. We awarded our first Ph.D. in 1925 in bio-chemistry.
We awarded our second and third Ph.D.s in 1927, one recipient of whom, Vincent
du Vigneaud, in bio-chemistry in 1927 went on to win the Nobel Prize.
All of which, I think, established and enunciated to the higher education
world that the University of Rochester was going to be a major player
in research higher education in the United States. I am ever convinced,
even more strongly today now that I know something about the past
history and as I associate with the current generation of students, both in
the classroom and outside of the classroom, that the University is in
really good hands.