The Tripartite University

Years ago, I attended a college graduation ceremony in Missouri. The graduates and faculty wore black gowns. During the procession, the university chorus sang “Guadeamus Igitur” (Latin for “Therefore let us rejoice”). The degrees—bachelor of arts, master of arts, and doctorates—were the same as those awarded centuries ago at Oxford and the Sorbonne. Thus, I thought, did the European Middle Ages survive in the plains of the Middle West.