Repository: UIHistories Project: Dedication - Memorial Stadium [PAGE 9]

EXTRACTED TEXT FROM PAGE:

DEDICATION

ADDRESS

PRESIDENT DAVID K I N L E Y

^IHIS Stadium is a memorial to those of the University of Illinois who died in the World War, 183 men and one woman. We are dedicating it to them. Dedication is a consecration. But we cannot hallow this structure by what we do or say. They made it holy by dying for the principles and ideals in which they believed. It is for us to keep it hallowed by living those principles and ideals. The dedication is a pledge to our dead that we will do so. By our pledge we consecrate ourselves to perpetuate their principles and ideals, to keep alive the spirit that led them to give up their lives. But the dedication means more than this. It means that the uses to which this great structure is put, in all the years to come, shall exemplify their principles, their ideals, their spirit. The physical monument will remain a substantial reminder through many years. The manner of its use will be an everlasting reminder that their spirit is kept alive. The dedication of our Stadium means that the members of the University of Illinois pledge themselves to maintain, in their lives, that immortal spirit of service and self-sacrifice which made these boys and this girl of ours walk up to the face of death. We talk much about the Ulini spirit. What is it? On the lips of those who speak thoughtlessly, it means, I have sometimes thought, merely a temporary enthusiasm about some ideas or actions not very clear in the minds of the speakers. The spirit of the University of Illinois, the Ulini spirit, involves more than shouting or occasional enthusiasm. It involves the character of our living. It implies thoughtful choice of the right and the good, in impulse and conduct. It implies loyalty to the

r

-fio>i