It is impossible to arrive at conclusive judgments about these matters, resting as they do upon complex issues only vaguely comprehended and social developments largely unpredictable. Nonetheless, I think we can steer events in a constructive direction. It hardly needs to be said that the present unrest on the university campus is but a reflection of the disorder and ferment in society at large. The world is in turmoil. Societies everywhere are faced with a series of problems social, political, and physical of crisis proportions which if not promptly and adequately attended to could easily result in the total demise of democratic processes and freedoms of the individual. Already some of our fellow citizens and even government officials appear prepared to abrogate some of our constitutional rights to achieve a bit of protection from the noisy, disruptive protests of the moment. They do not face the fact that constitutional guarantees, once abridged for the few, are likely to be lost to all. The most militant of the radicals, for their part, want to provoke just such actions on the hypothesis that the whole present (to them, and faulty) governmental structure must fall to allow a rebuilding a cleansing to take place on "pure lines." The contemporary multicrisis we face is basically the consequence of an ever-increasing disparity between man's growing mastery of the physical world through science and its applications by machines on the one hand, and his lack of understanding of the profound impact of his actions on himself and his social institutions, on the other, as well as the lack of any effective means, thus far, for guiding this man-induced social evolution. The effects of this incongruence between a growing ability to change the world and the inability to shape it best to fit man's hope can be seen all around us. It is interesting to note, and speculate on the fact that though there has almost always been social conflict and turmoil, previous crises in the American past did not turn such large groups of people (and especially large numbers of the young) so completely against the social order. Here again, it is a functioning of knowledge. In the past social deficiencies were blamed on forces beyond man's control, on natural catastrophes such as droughts, floods or epidemics; on social catastrophes, such as depressions, which were regarded almost akin to natural phenomena, or on the acts of an evil man, a Hitler or Stalin. Today, it is generally believed that we

have the means to provide the opportunity for a decent life for everyone. It is the bittersweet character of the modern world, the contrast between the world that is and the world that could be, that leads to the disenchantment that we see on all sides and to almost universal inclination to blame most of the current ills on bad management or the influence of special groups. The radical groups of students and faculty who criticize the university and frequently even attack it physically complain that the university is unwilling to face the contemporary problems in its research and teaching and so is either on purpose or unwittingly a reactionary force that must be changed or destroyed. Is there really something for the universities to do? To start with, I am convinced that we must make a massive, desperate effort at self-preservation, starting now, to get control of the man-made evolutionary process if man is to emerge from this century a free, self-respecting creative being, living in a physical and psychological environment that enhances, not debases, life. I am further convinced that the universities must become leaders in this effort through new educational, research and action programs that attempt to relate man's humanistic and psychological needs to the choices available in technology, social organization and ecology that is, through those programs that can help him design more acceptable environments. While it may be obvious that the universities must provide a significant part of the needed creative intelligence and education in the struggle for a more decent world, it is also clear that as they are now organized, with their present academic structures and present emphasis, they are not able to do this. In fact, much of the responsible student and faculty concern regarding the social role of the university stems from their stated inability as individuals to become engaged through the university in socially relevant academic activities. It is clear that many students have become so distraught by their failure to identify the route to a meaningful life that, in their anger, they would destroy this one institution through which they might possibly create a world and a life more to their liking. At many universities the challenge is now recognized, if not the means to meet it, and among many faculties and administrations, there are determined efforts to understand the problem and to try to do something about it. The need to face the problem