From “History of The Ohio State University”, IX, The Fawcett Years, 1956-1972 
By Francis P. Weisenburger

The next day was Alumni Day, featuring a special show, “The Timeless Thread,” in Mershon Auditorium, indicating how “time and change” had functioned in the history of the University. During the afternoon, nineteen new buildings on the campus were formally dedicated. The Sunset Supper, traditional on Alumni Day, was attended by 1,350. Alumni Centennial Awards were presented to 213 alumni for their services over the years. In the evening, there was an elaborate centennial party at the Ohio Union. On March 21, the noted author and literary critic, Malcolm Cowley, was the speaker at the dedication of the James Thurber Reading Room in the Main Library where many materials relating to Thurber’s literary career were deposited. On March 22, there was a convocation address by James B. Reston, former staff member who had become a noted editorial writer and vice president of the New York Times. Reston pointedly indicated the academic climate of the period:

We are going to hear more about alienation, confrontation, disintegration, separation, and pollution in the Seventies. . . but it is clear that the universities, while being in the center of this turmoil and commotion are going to have to strive harder than ever to retain their value as independent and disinterested sources of judgment.

This is both a challenge and a paradox: to encourage commitment for the old goal of a more perfect society, and yet to retain the detachment and disinterested inquiry essential to a free university.

Reston suggested that the University might find guidance in the wisdom of the philosopher, Alfred North Whitehead, who proposed “Reverence to the old symbols, fearless of revision, and both together.”

Concluding the weekend was a performance of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony by the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra with The Ohio State University Choir and Chorale. During the evening concert, Daniel Pinkham of the New England Conservatory of Music conducted a premiere performance of his “Ascension Cantata. “