- [Narrator] How does a university celebrate 100 years of learning and teaching? With ceremony. With words. With feasting. With music. And with ceremony. Nearly two years in preparation, the centennial celebration at the University of Kansas began on April 11, 1966, with an academic procession. The new ceremonial robes were seen for the first time, and the traditional mortarboard was replaced by a new octagonal tam. The Chief Marshall carried the university mace, which along with the ceremonial collar, had been presented to the university by Chancellor Wescoe. The procession boasted many dignitaries, among them, Dean W. Malott, former KU chancellor and president ameritas of Cornell University. To a capacity audience in Hoch Auditorium, Chancellor Malott presented a stirring and witty commentary on the university's first 100 years.

- The University of Kansas has been a sturdy leader in the evolvement of a distinctly American type of institution. The full scale state university, unique in the breadth of the scope of its work, and unique in service to a large constituency. The university has always been concerned with the intellectual development of the individual student, and with the acquisition and dissemination of knowledge, and exploration along the vast frontiers of human inquiry.

- [Narrator] Next on the schedule of centennial events came three days of lectures and discussions on the challenge of the next 100 years. The inter century seminar drew audiences and reporters from across the nation. World leaders in science, letters, the arts, and professions gathered in Lawrence. Men such as Dr. Lawrence E. Isley, Dr. Phillip Ableson, Waldo Bowman, Fairfax M. Cone, Justice Charles Whittaker, Arthur C. Clark, Dr. Karl Menninger, Dr. Jahn Espovilla, Harold Kerman, Harlow Chapley, R. Buckminster Fuller, Alton Blakesley, Jules Pfeifer, Mike McDonald, Dr. Ashley Montague, Sylvester Weaver, and Robert Louis Sheehan. The Ecumenical Institute brought together religious leaders and scholars from many faiths to discuss cohesiveness in religion. To conclude the seminar came the ninth chancellor of the university, Franklin D. Murphy, chancellor of UCLA, to give a forward look at the changed and changing state universities.

- I'd like to start by noting that it is a fact that the winds of change are blowing at hurricane factions throughout the world. All men and all human institutions are about to be effected. And at this point in time, none is more touched by the storm than the ancient institution called university. The higher educational system of this country is creaking and groaning under mid 20th century strain.

- [Narrator] And students, faculty, alumni and friends had an opportunity to meet three generations of KU leaders: Chancellor Murphy, Chancellor Malott, and Chancellor Wescoe. A major highlight of the centennial celebration was Carry Nation, a new American opera written for and dedicated to the University of Kansas in honor of its centennial year. The world premiere was held in the University Theater on April 28th. The opera dealt with the two romantic but tragic years of Carry Nation's marriage. It was this epic figure of the Kansas temperance movement that gave inspiration to Douglas Moore, the composer of the opera, and William North Jayme, the librettist. The concluding days of the centennial celebration featured several events of a less formal nature; class reunions were provided for everyone, and old friends gathered together on the campus to exchange greetings and renew acquaintances. A special reception was held to honor the university's distinguished service citees. An all-university centennial dinner featured KU alumnus Craig Stephens, popular television and Broadway actor, who presided over the lively and amusing program. Chancellor Wescoe's state of the university message brought into focus the entire centennial year, and the shape of the university in the coming years. And finally, a most fitting climax came to the celebration of the university's 100th year with the graduation exercises for the centennial class. First, the traditional ritual of the baccalaureate, followed by the classic commencement march of the faculty and graduates through the Campanile and down the hill to the stadium. And thus, the commencement activities brought to a close the celebration of the once in a lifetime event, the centennial anniversary of the University of Kansas. This was the way a university celebrated 100 years of learning and teaching: with ceremony, with words, with feasting, with music, closed with ceremony.