[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 108 (Thursday, June 29, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Pages S9344-S9345]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


    IN HONOR OF THE 85TH BIRTHDAY OF WILLIAM O. FARBER, JULY 4, 1995

  Mr. PRESSLER. Mr. President, on July 4, 1995, family, friends, 
colleagues and students past and present will join Dr. William O. 
Farber of Vermillion, SD, to celebrate his 85th birthday. Dr. Farber, 
professor emeritus of political science at the University of South 
Dakota [USD], is a mentor and respected friend of mine. I would like to 
take this time to pay tribute to a man who has been influential in the 
lives of thousands of students of public policy.
  It is fitting that Dr. Farber celebrate his birthday on the same day 
we celebrate the birth of this great Nation. He exemplifies many of the 
characteristics upon which our country was founded: hard work and 
dedication, honesty and compassion, and the love of and commitment to a 
democratic society.
  The June 20, 1995 issue of the Sioux City Journal contained an 
article entitled, ``Retired Professor Still Serving.'' The story 
highlighted many of Dr. Farber's philosophies and attainments. I ask 
unanimous consent that the article be placed in the Record at the 
conclusion of my remarks.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  (See exhibit 1.)
  Mr. PRESSLER. Farber began his teaching career at USD in 1935 after 
receiving his Ph.D. in political science from the University of 
Wisconsin, at Madison. As many of my colleagues know, Wisconsin was--
and continues to be--one of the elite schools in political science.
  While at Wisconsin, Dr. Farber had the opportunity to study and learn 
his craft under the best educators in the field. These professors would 
often host student-initiated debates in their homes. Dr. Farber brought 
this practice with him to South Dakota. He would invite students to 
participate in Sunday discussion groups at his house. Here students 
could deliberate and express their opinions on given topics.
  Dr. Farber has a long list of notable accomplishments and I would 
like to mention a few of them. He taught government at the University 
of South Dakota from 1935 until 1976. Prior to his retirement, he 
served as chairman of the USD Department of Government for 38 years. 
During his tenure at the university, he was active in many other public 
service endeavors as well. In 1964, he served as president of the 
Midwest Political Science Association. He also was instrumental in 
establishing the South Dakota Legislative Research Council [SDLRC], 
serving as its director from 1951 until 1955. To this day, the SDLRC is 
the principal staff arm of the South Dakota Legislature.
  Some of Dr. Farber's other achievements include creating the 
Government Research Bureau and the Indian Institute, both at USD. He 
advised former U.S. Senator Karl Mundt, and was inducted as an honorary 
member into the National Academy of Public Administration.
  Perhaps Dr. Farber's greatest accomplishment is his uncanny ability 
to motivate students through the vigorous drive he exhibits. He was 
willing to help students in any way possible. It was through Dr. 
Farber's advice and encouragement that I sought and became a Rhodes 
scholar.
  As I stated before, the classroom lecture was just one tool Dr. 
Farber used to educate his students. He included students in the 
various research and other government-focused projects he conducted. 
Students were invited to accompany him on trips across the country and 
overseas. Dr. Farber often served on a placement officer, helping 
students secure internships in South Dakota, Washington, DC, and 
wherever else a student's interests might be directed.
  Although he officially retired almost 20 years ago, Dr. Farber has 
not lost interest in the lives and education of students at the 
University of South Dakota. After his 1976 retirement, an internship 
and travel fund was established in his name. Through private donations 
from former students and colleagues, Dr. Farber uses the fund to 

[[Page S 9345]]

pay for travel and other expenses incurred when students travel to 
internships and attend political science functions. In fact, this past 
May, Dr. Farber accompanied 15 students to Washington, DC, for an 
annual study tour, and once again I had the privilege to meet with him.
  As long as I will know Bill Farber, I will forever remember the 
inspiration he has given me and so many others. I dare say the world is 
a better place because of the advice and inspiration thousands of 
students have received from Dr. Farber. Certainly, it would be even 
better if all could benefit from his wisdom.
  As I conclude my remarks, I would like to convey the attitude Bill 
Farber has taken toward his career by his quote from a Sioux City 
Journal article. He stated, ``I am the luckiest person alive to have 
been able to do what I love to do--I love to read, I love to write, I 
love to talk. A professor does all this.''
  I sincerely hope all Americans will have a safe and happy Fourth of 
July, especially Bill Farber on his 85th birthday. My wife Harriet 
joins me in wishing him many more.
                                Exhibit

              [From the Sioux City Journal, June 20, 1995]

                    Retired Professor Still Serving

                        (By Beverly G. Merrick)

       Vermillion, S.D.--William O. Farber apparently decided 
     there could be no better life for a Yankee Doodle Dandy born 
     on the Fourth of July than to be a political science 
     professor in public administration.
       At 84, he has served the University of South Dakota longer 
     than anyone. He has taught about and served in local, state 
     and national government since 1935, when the Phi Beta Kappa 
     from Geneseo, Ill., arrived on campus with a newly minted 
     doctorate.
       The professor emeritus officially clocked off the job in 
     1976, just days short of his 66th birthday. However, students 
     past and present continue to make pilgrimages to Farber 
     House, across the street from the office of the university 
     president, in search of knowledge and advice.
       The octogenarian says he has had the most fortunate of 
     lives as a teacher: ``I am the luckiest person alive to have 
     been able to do what I love to do--I love to read, I love to 
     write, I love to talk. A professor does all this.''
       He has worked with Regents, college presidents, faculty and 
     faculty organizations. He has served in many university 
     service posts, including being the chairman of the planning 
     committee of the I.D. Weeks Library. He also played a key 
     role in establishing the Indian Institute on campus.
       Farber says he has learned the lessons longevity brings, 
     especially having a positive outlook and believing in 
     possibilities.
       ``If you survive until your 80s, people will forgive you 
     for just about anything,'' he says. ``But I am getting pretty 
     close to the edge of the cliff and wonder when I am going to 
     go over.''


                      he serves in variety of ways

       From 1969 to 1976, Farber served on the state's 
     Constitutional Revision Commission, in which 17 articles were 
     revamped and seven were passed by the Legislature.
       He calls South Dakota a place of reluctant change, 
     primarily because of great distances to travel in a land with 
     a low-density population.
       Karl Mundt, a former United States senator from South 
     Dakota, used Farber as a consultant on government projects 
     until the end of his career in public service in 1972.
       In the early 1940s, he was the state pricing administrator 
     for the Office of Price Information, but he was drafted into 
     the Air Corps shortly after that.
       As for his views on government, he likes home rule. Through 
     working on a local government study commission, he came to 
     believe that small governmental units could operate more 
     efficiently and effectively by simplifying structures and 
     unifying efforts among town, township and county.
       One of his disappointments was that the populace could not 
     be convinced, he says.
       ``This effort would have resulted in fewer and larger units 
     of government,'' he says, ``But how does one convince people 
     less is more?''
       Speaking again of government, Farber says an understanding 
     of history is one of the differences between managers and 
     true leaders.
       ``Can a manager lead? We could be raising a generation of 
     managers when we need leadership to guide us through a time 
     of uncertainty,'' the professor says.
       Farber says that today there are more challenges to public 
     administration than there ever have been because of new 
     technology.
       ``The political, social and environmental problems are at 
     once local and global, and the solutions need to be 
     interdisciplinary,'' he says.


                            Travel important

       Farber says he has done as much as he can to encourage 
     students to travel. The Farber Fund for student travel and 
     internships was established at his retirement dinner.
       ``I think it important for students to travel and see the 
     world, to broaden one's education by extending one's 
     horizons,'' he says.
       In the late 1950s, Farber went to Korea with a USD group, 
     where he studied the 23 levels of bureaucracy of the 
     governmental system.
       ``Koreans value history,'' he says. ``While in Korea, I 
     obtained a new perspective on everything that involved 
     values.''
       He also viewed programs in public administration in 
     Vietnam, Japan, Thailand and the Philippines. In Saigon, he 
     was entertained at a country club and visited a cathedral.
       ``It just breaks your heart to know what came later,'' he 
     says.
       At the end of the study tour, he says, ``At the least, we 
     Americans ought to be very humble. Travel gives one the sense 
     that the world is not the same it has always been. Travel 
     helps one understand what we are to each other on a 
     fundamental level. Travel helps us discover how one can make 
     a difference.''
       Farber visited Cuba at a time when Fidel Castro was 
     beginning to come into power. While there, Farber was 
     arrested by a soldier with Castro sympathies when he took a 
     picture at a church in Havana. The magistrate, who was 
     appointed under the old system, took him aside and told him 
     to protest mightily. Farber says that was not difficult for 
     him to do given
      the prospect of a jail term.
       ``The magistrate took the film, but left me the Nikon, 
     which satisfied the soldier,'' Farber says.
       He also has a personally autographed photo of former 
     Yugoslavian President Tito.
       In 1974, Farber traveled with the Rev. Robert Schuller to 
     the Holy Land. The trip helped him understand the Bible as a 
     historical document.
       In 1978, he went to China, where auto theft was virtually 
     non-existent because only government officials were allowed 
     vehicles.
       ``If someone stole a bicycle, the perpetrator had to meet 
     with neighbors and talk about how bad it was,'' he says. 
     ``Communities tried to work out problems at the local level . 
     . .''
       He once took a tour of the Nile River, and he saw the 
     Pyramids in Egypt.


                            he stays active

       Farber says he was brought up to be tolerant, but that the 
     idea of tolerance is not a uniform standard: ``What is right 
     for Bill Farber to do is not what is right for everyone else 
     to do.''
       He once asked writer Arnold Toynbee how he could explain 
     the Holocaust in that one of the most civilized of cultures 
     carried out one of the most barbaric acts ever.
       ``Toynbee says that you must always remember there is a 
     thin veneer on civilization and when it is scratched the man 
     becomes the brute,'' Farber says.
       He is in his 40th year with the Vermillion's Lion's Club. 
     He is one of the oldest members of the American Associaton of 
     Political Science, having joined the organization in 1939. 
     For five years he served as president of the Midwest 
     Political Science Society.
       On May 8, 1975, he was honored at a USD retirement dinner 
     called ``The Wide, Wide World of Farber.'' His many students 
     noted his accomplishments.
       Nearly a score of years has passed since then, yet Farber 
     is still going strong. Recently, he was off to Washington, 
     D.C., with two faculty members to show 18 students government 
     close up.
       ``Growing old is like a passing dream,'' he says. ``It 
     comes upon us so quickly, the winter of our years. The change 
     is so gradual that the better things become the best things 
     of life. We live on. We are not old.''
     

                          ____________________