Dear Editor,
Robert Lalljie, a long-life colleague has just sent me a copy of his biographical profile titled Sir Arthur Lewis – Nobel Laureate (actually published in 1996).
It occurred to me that UG staff and students, past and present, who would not have interacted with, or even heard of, Sir Arthur may be interested in the following extract from his address on his appointment as Chancellor in 1966, and which conceivably might still resonate today.
Sir Arthur’s historic installation speech as Chancellor addressed the many problems that were facing Guyana at that time and has been praised as, “Eloquent on the Moral Purposes of Universities,” by more than one university president. Here is an extract of that address.
“Now brain power is the special concern of the university. In the search for new knowledge you make no headway without brain. If we’ve got a job to do, we cannot judge a worker by his family, his race, his religion, his language, his tribe, or any of those divisions of the human race to which people outside the university attach so much importance. The university recognizes only excellence. But excellence is achieved not only by intellect; it derives even more from character. As the old saying goes, ‘genius is the infinite capacity for taking pains.’
“To achieve excellence, one must have self discipline; to practise the same thing over and over again, while others are enjoying themselves; to push oneself from the easy part to the hard part; to listen to criticism and use it; to reject one’s own work and try again. Only the humble achieve excellence, since only the humble can learn. In the university we build character no less than brain, since brain without character achieves nothing. We do not in the university concern ourselves with people’s class or race or language. Universities have always prided themselves on their freedom from these trivial distinctions.
“Universities did not begin with science; we are the guardians and transmitters not merely of science, but of all human knowledge. Let me put this into historical perspective. Not very long ago men lived in caves, or under the shadow of trees. Their lives were dominated by fear, fear of the elements, of drought and floods and fire; fear of other animals; and fear of other men, who wandered around in families or tribes ready to exterminate each other.
“The human race has pulled itself up from this by handing down from generation to generation knowledge of two sets of principles, those relating to controlling nature, we call science and those relating to controlling human behaviour which we call ethics. Human life as we know it today is based on accumulated science, and accumulated principles enshrined in laws and in conventions of decent behaviour.
“The supremely important task of receiving this knowledge, and adding to it, and handing it down to the next generation has always devolved on a very small body of people who specialise in using their brains. They were known as clerks or clarks as the Americans would say. Here we come to the fundamental purpose of education: to produce young men and women who will join the small band of clerks stretching backwards through history and forward through generations yet unborn, who will receive our truths, embellish them, defend them against numerous and powerful enemies, and pass them on to the next generation.
“If our graduates do not help to keep civilisation together, to reduce the sum of human misery and to advance the cause of human brotherhood, then our universities will have laboured in vain. These are difficult times, and there is no easy passage through them. It is of some consolation to know that they will pass; that the issues which divide us so bitterly today will seem trivial to our children, or at least to our grandchildren. But we still have to live with them.
“What distinguishes the civilised man from the barbarian is not that he lacks passion, but that his passion is mingled with compassion. He hated the sin, but not the sinner. He can therefore reach out to the exploiter and exploited alike with understanding and therefore some chances of reconciliation. The great men of our day, the Hammarskjolds and Bunches and arbitrators of our innumerable disputes are men who are welcome on both sides not because they lack passion, for if they lacked passion they would not care to take on such tasks, but rather because their passion, mingled with compassion makes them dispassionate.
“It is hateful that Hausas should murder Ibos, but Hausas are not hateful people, and are indeed no better or worse than Ibos whom they murder, and who might murder them if their situation were reversed.
“The civilised man recognises the sin and strives to eliminate the factors which occasion it, without losing his respect and affection for the sinner himself.”
Upon his return to America when Bill Bowen congratulated him on a wonderful speech, Sir Arthur replied: “I wish I could tell you that my speech reduced the racial tensions in Guyana by even a little bit, but alas no change is visible to the naked eye.”
Sir Arthur Lewis remained Chancellor until 1975.
By the time of his appointment, Sir Arthur had already achieved what is probably an unmatched academic record, certainly in terms of any other official in the university’s history. This included First Class Honours, Bachelor of Commerce, obtaining the highest marks in the history of the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) in 1937; a PhD in Industrial Economics, and Assistant Lecturer, Industrial Economics, LSE, 1939; Professor of Economics, Manchester University – at age 33, the youngest such appointment in the history of the British Commonwealth; Honorary Doctorate of Letters (LHD) from Columbia University; the first West Indian Principal of the University College of the West Indies (UCWI) (now UWI), 1959-63; Professor of Economics and Political Affairs, Princeton University, 1963; Honorary Doctor of Laws Degree, UWI, during his stint as Chancellor of UG.
All this time however, he was engaged in a wide range of international
appointments and consultancies, including on behalf of the United Nations; the (British) Colonial Development Corporation (CDC); as well as with the Governments of Nigeria and Ghana, to name a few, and of course the first presidency of the Caribbean Development Bank, 1971-1973.
In addition to the profusion of lectures, academic articles, and other commentaries, one wonders how many of his many books, of which the list below is but a sample, can be found on the shelves of UG’s library.
Indeed where within the halls of that institution can students identify this once great presence.
Books
Labour in the West Indies – 1939
Monopoly and the Law – 1944
An Economic Plan for Jamaica – 1948
Economic Survey 1919 -1939 – 1949
Overhead Costs – 1949
The Principles of Economic Planning – 1949
The Theory of Economic Growth – 1955
Development Planning: The Essentials of Economic Policy – 1965
The Evaluation of Foreign Aid – 1972
Development Economics: An Outline – 1973
Dynamic Factors in Economic Growth – 1974
The Evolution of International Economic Order – 1978
Economic Development and Racial Conflict – 1985
Yours faithfully,
E B John
