Camelot
by Donald Gross '61

Camelot.  When you hear the word Camelot, what images come to mind – castles, knights, fair maidens, magicians, jousts, feasts, crusades?

When the Knights of the Founding Class first journeyed from their native lands looking for Camelot, sadly they found only a small, rather austere castle made of concrete blocks on the rocky ground north of 12th Street in the Kingdom of Claremont.  Little did they know that they had indeed had found Camelot and were about to embark on a crusade unprecedented in the modern Age of Chivalry.

There was also one fair maiden who aspired to be a Knight of the Founding Class.  Although the Knights treated her with chivalrous honor and respect, and she diligently trained with them in all things Knightly, sadly she was forced to live in a Nunnery in a kingdom south of the castle.

The Knights of the Founding Class had their own King Arthur-- King Arthur of Campbell.   However, Merlin had magically transformed King Arthur from a ruling monarch into a distinguished Professor of Chemistry.

Because Camelot was a dream, and fulfilling that dream had a price, a noble Knight from the Kingdom of Rochester, Sir George of McKelvey, was recruited to lead the crusade “to take from the rich and give to the poor.”

While the other castles and buildings in Camelot were being completed, the Knights of the Founding Class relied on the generosity of the noble gentlemen of a kingdom to the south -- the Kingdom of the Keg.  There they took their meals with the Knights of the Keg, joined in athletic pursuits with the Knights of the Keg, and studied and trained in the great halls of the Knights of the Keg.

When it came to the training of the Knights of the Founding Class, King Arthur of Campbell was a stern taskmaster.  He and his diabolical colleague, sir William of Sly, had devised the most difficult and demanding test ever conceived of the minds, bodies, and wills of the young knights.  All of the knights, regardless of their future aspirations, were required to pass King Arthur’s almost diabolical test.

Many of the knights were defeated by the test and left Camelot to make their mark elsewhere.  Let it be noted that five of those “Knights Who Went Elsewhere” have joined us for this glorious reunion.  Those who endured King Arthur’s “Trial by P-Chem,” as it was known in those days, were amply rewarded by being given the option of never having to take another one of King Arthur’s tests.

Although the Knights of the Founding Class were required to spend endless hours in training, they had ample time for the “simple pleasures” of life including consuming countless flagons of ale in the neighboring orange groves, enjoying the rustic delights of the local eatery run by Sir Stinky of Foothill, catapulting oranges and other exotic missiles into the courtyards of the neighboring kingdoms, and enjoying the pleasurable company of their fair maidens.

Was Harvey Mudd College really Camelot, or was Camelot only a legend that existed in the memories of old knights?

Camelot was not just a place in England, fictitious or otherwise.  It was a state of mind.  King Arthur, the knights, and all the inhabitants of Camelot believed in certain basic guiding principles that the common man had rights, just as the noble did; a man’s word was his honor; and people fought for those things because they believed in them, not because they were forced to by their King.

From the September 1956 Harvey Mudd College Bulletin:

“The college is founded in the belief that a special need exists for physical scientists and engineers sufficiently broadly trained in the social sciences and humanities to assume technical responsibility with an understanding of the relation of technology to the rest of our society.”

Were your years at Harvey Mudd College like Camelot?  I hope so.  If they weren’t, my wish for you is that somehow, somewhere, sometime you too will have a Camelot experience.

I leave you with the final words of King Arthur from the Lerner & Lowe hit Broadway musical to young Tom who wanted more than anything to become a Knight of the Round Table:

“Each evening, from December to December,
Before you drift to sleep upon your cot,
Think back on all the tales that you remember
Of Camelot.

Ask ev'ry person if he's heard the story,
And tell it strong and clear if he has not,
That once there was a fleeting wisp of glory
Called Camelot.

Where once it never rained till after sundown,
By eight a.m. the morning fog had flown...
Don't let it be forgot
That once there was a spot
For one brief shining moment that was known
As Camelot.

In memory of Harvey Mudd, who ably juggled many pursuits,
Throughout the sixties, the college grew and soon developed its own deep roots.
It gained momentum as it grew, for quality was at its core,
And any doubts of its success are to quote the muddhen “Nevermore”

In the seventies, it gained it stride, the campus shone, warts and all,
A reputation quickly grew the writing, like warts, was on the wall,
Dorms were built and faculty hired, students came and even learned,
They worked the analog computers and the midnight candles burned.

The eighties then rolled strongly in and Mudd continued to grow and thrive,
The four dorms were not room enough with Atwood “New” dorm became five.
Biology and computer science became many a student’s pursuit,
Which was good news as geography clearly was not a strong Mudd suit,

With North dorm east of South you see and South dorm North of West,
Clearly two dimensional orientation at Mudd is not the best,
But soon new dorms made student housing issues less severe,
As fewer sophomores had the “off the campus you’re booted” fear.

From a brilliant group of faculty we learned so many things,
It is amazing what a low student to faculty ratio brings,
P Chem from J. Arthur God and also Sly the Snowman,
Rhino physics from Dr. Helliwell and Math from Dr. Coleman.

What years they were, cranking late through homework problems and then
All nighters made longer waiting for time share access to the old DEC 10,
Days of Fortran terminals, no web or Ethernet,
I haven’t programmed ALGOL since; neither have you I’ll bet.

But Mudd was more than studying, the social life a whirl,
Looking for that Mr. Right or for that special girl.
Long Tall glasses, puddle jump, parties with a twist,
These are some of the good times, I’m sure we all have missed.

And 80’s Mudders were clever and kind, setting Cal Tech’s cannon free,
A feat recently imitated by those acting quite high and MIT,
Mudders were rounded in music and art, unicycles folf and fine sport,
But the so-so food at campus center prevented rounding of another sort.

In scholarly realms our reign began with Watsons, and Churchills and Rhodes,
Foundations we set in our national science, greatness for the future this bodes,
We learned to solve problems, present our ideas, we even learned to think well,
To influence others, craft fine prose and write this sort of doggerel.

A classmate may now be a scientist, a musician, or an engineer,
A professor, a pastor, an entrepreneur, but one thing in common is clear,
What Mudd taught them here has multiplied, now an integral part of their life;
They all became leaders while studying here, conquering confusion and strife.

So what did we get out of years spent at Mudd? What was found in Claremont’s Xanadu?
We found knowledge and skills and most of all friends, my friends like all of you.
Best of luck to Mudd for the next fifty years as it changes and morphs and grows,
Its DNA has been synthesized well, its fine heredity shows.

I searched and questioned
And I followed my instincts
To the rocky landscape of a brand new campus
And all around me a voice was sounding,
This Mudd was made for you and me.

As I was riding
My three-speed Raleigh
I saw before me the Science Building
I saw beyond that, a third of Hum-Soc.
This Mudd was made for you and me

As a male Mudder
I took my Look Book
To the fertile sands of the southern campus
While a FEMALE Mudder was quietly singing
This Mudd was made for you and me

Come Saturday morning
As I was dashing
Past sleeping Scrippsies and on toward Collins
The clock was ticking, chem lab was calling.
This Mudd was made for you and me

J Arthur Campbell
Kept us all watching
His eyebrows flashing, blue liquid splashing
He taught us also new ways of thinking.
This Mudd was made for you and me

With dittoed handouts
Stop watch and ruler
Plus high-speed rhino. The boy from Cal Tech
Proved relativity to doubting students.
This Mudd was made for you and me

For engineering,
We tried a clinic.
We heated water, we washed raw cotton
Our eyes were opened to third world problems.
This Mudd was made for you and me

We proofed the textbook
We used for frosh math.
The only thing worse than Saturday chem lab
Was eight AM math with Rocking Robin
This Mudd was made for you and me

Above the campus
We saw an airplane
Iris and Critch said the sky is all ours
We learned to fly and set our sights high
Now THAT Mudd was made for you and me!

In a Kingston office
That lost a front door,
Sat Keen Dean Gene, lis’ning to students
And some were grumblin’, and some were wonderin’
IF this Mudd’s still made for you and me

Four Mudd years later
Graduation loomin’
We looked around us, nearly half were missing
Some chose to move on and some were asked to.
YET this Mudd’s still made for you and me

We sang our Mudd song
With slide rules held high . . . (pause)
. . . H-A-R-V-E-Y M-U-double D . . . (pause)
THIS MUDD WAS MADE FOR YOU AND ME

(Slow the tempo; sing twice)

This Mudd is your Mudd,
This Mudd is my Mudd
From classroom theories, to world-wide issues
They taught us how to make a difference.
This Mudd was made for you and me.