The Cooperative Lecture Series was organized by a consortium of faculty and student organizations on Campus to answer the need for stimulation of the intellectual life of the University. The occasion to bring to Lehigh a speaker whose subject would be appropriate to the interest of sponsoring groups would be supported by wider publicity, increased attendance and greater financial resources. To aid this effort for cooperation, the deans and department heads, officers of student and faculty organizations, and other members of the University community were addressed to share the interest in organizing the series of speakers. Preston Parr (Institute of Research) served as the original chair for the committee on the proposed Cooperative Lecture Series. Serving on the committee were G.J. Christensen (Arts and Science), A. Grünbaum (Blake Society), J.D. Leith and Preston Parr (Phi Beta Kappa), J.B. McFadden (Journalism), and A.E. Pitcher (Sigma Xi). In November 1955, the committee presented their proposal to University President M. D. Whitaker. The objectives were to establish a Cooperative Lecture Series committee to serve as a sponsoring and coordinating agency for the purpose of bringing lecturers of academic and intellectual distinction to the campus to provide stimulus to the faculty and undergraduate students as well as enhance the University’s standing in the intellectual community. The recommendations included a special standing committee for the Series to administer the program of which three faculty members appointed by the President, two student members appointed by the President from among those students applying; faculty members serve three years and students one year. The Committee would be authorized to accept and disburse funds. Cooperation with existing campus organizations handled through questionnaires and informal discussion. Among suggested names of speakers for the original lecture list were: Margaret Mead, Anthropologist; Carl Hempel, Philosophy from Princeton University; Robert Cushman, Political Science from Cornell University and Mark Van Doren, English from Columbia University. The Lecture Series Committee was approved in late 1955 and by January of 1956 was accepting solicitations for help from various campus groups to bring to campus speakers for the various disciplines of study - an example being Eli Schwartz, chairman of Economics, seeking support for his department’s Economics Seminar. Among the faculty members who served on the Committee were Frank Hook, Jonathan Elkus and James R. Frakes. The campus venues, depending on anticipated audience size, were Packard auditorium or Grace Hall. Eventually entities such as the Student Activities Council, Residence Halls Council and Student Forum replaced the Cooperative Lecture Series with their own attempts to improve the quality of academic culture on campus.