Brown University - Liber Brunensis Yearbook (Providence, RI)

Page 24 text:

22 INTEGRATING the assistance of the various alumni offices, the advice of the admissions commit- tee, and the experience of fifteen years in University Hall, Mr. Charles H. Doebler 1V, Director of Admis- sions, strives for one main objective: quality. As the number of applicants increases and the size of the student body does not, quality becomes more and more difficult to isolate; it is not necessarily reflected in such concrete data as college board scores or aca- demic records. What is needed is sensitive discernment, subjective examination, and empirical intuition. When the task of admitting applicants reaches this point, the work becomes very arduous. Although Mr. Doeb- ler's approach to this crucial area cannot be divulged entirely, his success is amply evident in the continuing high calibre of the student body. Serving as a member of the Admissions Board since 1951 and as director since 1958, Mr. Doebler's official capacity does not confine him to the hallowed halls of U.H. Throughout the year he travels to various lo- cales, often interviewing interested applicants. De- scribing his job in no less a term than fascinating, Mr. Doebler emphasizes the wide range of selection that now challenges his committee and its resources because of the ever-growing national popularity of Brown. Admitting that the actual quality of a class is not best judged until many years after its members have departed from Brunonia's halls, Mr. Doebler never- thelessasserts that the potential of a class does fall within his committee's evaluative jurisdiction. Con- cern is concentrated in this area, and thus far a nota- ble record has been achieved. SERVING as acting University chaplain while Mr. Baldwin is on leave, the Reverend Julius Scott em- phasizes that the goal of the University Christian As- sociation and the chaplain's office is not to evange- lize the student body, but rather to analyze critically and, wherever it might prove beneficial, to offer guid- ance to the new thrusts which are manifesting them- selves in the University community. The classical concepts of theology are no longer sufficient to meet the questionings of the contemporary collegian. A more relevant and meaningful dialogue between the possibilities of religious faith and the student's aca- demic and social pursuits must be established. We want to examine opportunities for students to get involved in crucial areas, and Mr. Scott singles out the Latin American Project, run under the auspices of the U.C.A., as a prime example of this concern. The outline of this project calls for a number of stu- dents to spend two months during the summer living in a village in some Latin American country. This summer it will be held in Guatemala. This frank and realistic confrontation of religious pursuits with criti- cal, secular situations is, Mr. Scott believes, respected on the Brown campus, and he hopes that it will be continued. Mr. Scott came to Brown in 1963 to serve as execu- tive secretary of the UCA. In 1965 he was appointed Assistant Chaplain, and he assumed his present office in June of 1965 He received his Bachelor of Divinity at Garret Theological Seminary in Evanston, Illinois. Presently he is studying for his Ph.D. at Boston Uni- versity. His plans for the future are uncertain, but one can be sure that he will continue his own brand of Christian activism.

Page 23 text:

A BUSINESSMAN in an academic society, William Nash Davis says jokingly that this raises no problems at least none that money can't solve. As director of plant, housing and food operations, Mr. Davis works under the Vice-President of the University; among those who find him directly above them in the chain of command are Mr. Hill, Mr. Dunham, and Mr. Daggett at Brown and Miss Law at Pembroke. A 1931 Cornell graduate, Mr. Davis spent several years in private business and ten years as housing supervisor at M.I.T. before coming to Brown in 1947. President Wriston hired him at that time to help consolidate dining lacilities in Sharpe Refectory. With the opening of the Wriston Quad in 1951, Mr. Davis also took on the task of overseeing residence halls. Then in 1955, he assisted Mr. Keeney, Mr. Durgin, the architects, and a student board in plan- ning the West Quad. Taking control of the Building and Grounds department six years ago, Mr. Davis added the responsibility for all academic buildings to his previous concerns of residences and food opera- tions. His job today includes budgeting and expendi- tures in all these fields. Mr. Davis feels that Brown's expansion under President Keeney has been well organized and well directed, due to the fact that specialists have been hired in each necessary field. He notes that a net of some 100 acres of land have been acquired in the past ten years, and that the development in general has been directed by a well co-ordinated team. Personally, Mr. Davis likes to think of himself as basically an educator, since education comes first in an educational corporation. He enjoys talking to students and misses the close contact he had with undergraduates when he was manager of dining halls. When we get to the point where we can't listen, he says, it's time to fold up the tent and get out.

Page 25 text:

OFFERING ADVICE AND CONSENT to students planning to attend law, business, or medical schools, Associate Dean of the College Gordon Dewart is also available to counsel students about other prob- lems at Brown. Dean Dewart was appointed to his present position after serving as dean of the class of 1964 and as Assistant Dean of the College: Head Counselor. Dewart assists seniors by giving them basic information about the policies and distinguishing traits of the various graduate schools and by trying to answer the common question, Can I get into Har- vard? In keeping with Brown's policy, Dewart is also a scholar and a teacher. His specialty is the nineteenth century French novel; he has written a thesis on Zola and spent a semester studying in Paris. His present course is on French nineteenth-century realism. Dean Dewart is outspokenly optimistic about Brown. Since he first came here as an assistant profes- sor in 1948, a great deal has been accomplished, he believes. He adds that Brown is nowhere near as bad as the BDH and discontents make out, and he points to such objective signs of success as the eighty per cent of Brown graduates who go on to graduate school. Agreeing that Brown students have changed in their attitude toward the school, Dewart says that although school spirit isn't so prominent anymore, it comes out in new waystutoring, community service, fraternity parties for the underprivileged. I think that it's equally healthy to do this to replace the rah rah type of school spirit that colleges had in the past. Speaking about his own job, Dewart admits, I have had my successes and my failures, but he be- lieves that he and the other deans on the whole suc- ceed very well in aiding students who just feel bet- ter to have someone around here who cares.