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A SALUTARY INFLUENCE and noble living." This brief statement continued in use until it was supplemented and finally supplanted by a two-page explanation of the "educational objectives of Gettysburg College" which first appeared in the 1949 catalogue. In keeping with a long Gettysburg tradition, the statement asserted that "development of character," and it was clear that the authors meant Christian character, "becomes the basic aim of our entire campus program."137 This document had some sanction, having been adapted from a brief statement of purposes, or philosophy of education, which the curriculum committee approved in January 1949 and presented to President Hanson, but apparently never submitted to the faculty for debate and vote. With the arrival of a new president in the fall of 1952, a briefer but somewhat more detailed statement was entered into the 1953 catalogue. Although Langsam pronounced the latter the College's "official 'educational objectives'" in his 1954 report to the Middle States Association, the new formulation did not survive his administration. The administrative committee which directed the College for a year after his departure did not hesitate to use a still briefer statement in the 1956 catalogue, listing four particular College aims: emphasizing "the importance of the Christian faith as an integrating force in life;" awakening interest in the humanities and sciences in order to enrich student "appreciations" and help develop "a worth-while philosophy of living;" enabling the student " to gain a solid and broad preparation" for a career and for taking "a creative part" in the world; and helping the student to give proper attention to physical well-being, wise use of leisure time, and the responsibility "to live in harmony" with self and others. In considerably altered form, this statement appeared in the next three catalogues. It disappeared from the issue published in I960.138 In the fall of 1958, the academic policy and program committee began considering what might eventually have become the first major revision in the calendar and curriculum since 1922. It soon concluded that any of the changes being discussed would touch upon so many aspects of campus life that they could not sensibly be proposed until a careful statement of the College's purposes was formulated and approved. Unable to find such a document at hand, the committee constructed what it called "a general statement to serve 137Six things were listed as essential to an education at Gettysburg: the habit of accurate observation, standards of judgment and self-measurement, comprehensive grasp of modern problems, basic understanding of principles of vocational success, ability to participate understandingly and creatively in community life, and sensitive appreciation of values. 138It is regrettable that there appears to be no good evidence to indicate whether any of these statements of purposes, all of which appeared in official College publications, were ever taken seriously. Apparently those responsible for successive catalogues believed they were free to change the statements as they wished. 86