Brown University - Liber Brunensis Yearbook (Providence, RI)

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UNKNOWN AND UNAPPRECIATED on the Brown campus, Miss Rosemary Pierrel, Dean of Pembroke College and Protessor of Psychology, is normally depicted as a medieval obscurantist preventing the enlightened modern morality from reaching her young charges. In fact, to the Brown student in a position to talk with her, she is revealed as an accomplished scholar, a fine administrator, and an outspoken defender of the virtues of Pembroke. Dean of Pembroke since 1961, Miss Pierrel's duties are a combination of those of a college president and a head counselor. An important part of her time is devoted to public relations work. She represents Pembroke throughout the country, speaking to alumnae groups and rais- ing funds. She is not unknown in the offices of the Ford Foundation. In addition she works closely with development planners and can oc- Easionally be seen climbing over construction sites. Miss Pierrel often consults with Dean Schulze on the curriculum, the faculty, and as a member of the Committee on Academic Stand- ing. She and Dean Morse were largely responsi- ble for developing the new curriculum which went into effect in 1963. Seeing students also takes up much of Miss Pierrel's time. She and Assistant Dean Quevedo provide academic counseling for Pembroke juniors and seniors, and she is always available for discussion of more personal problems. She terms her job ex- citing. After having served as a faculty member for many years, she enjoys the opportunities for fuller responsibility. Dean Pierrel believes, It's not impossible for a man to be a dean of Pem- broke, but a man has never been a girl, and even at my advanced age I can remember how I felt. According to Dean Pierrel, Less than half of Pembroke graduates will make direct use of their college education. But she states, I'm not worried that the others wasted their time here at Pembroke. They will be much better informed citizens, wives, mothers, people. They too are making contributions they would not have made without a university education. Her duties as dean, full as they are, still allow Miss Pierrel time to teach one class a semester in psychology and to supervise graduate students. She is now applying for a second five-year grant from the United States Public Health Service to continue her research on learning in rats. A dedicated psychologist, she declares, I would probably give up my administrative post if I couldn't continue to teach and do research. As for her own future, It would be a shame to quit being a dean since I've just spent five years learning the job and can answer some of the questions.

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MOVING from his modernly furnished office in the twelve-year-old Wriston Quadrangle to suite 209 in 200-year-old University Hall, Benjamin Roman suftered the loss of wall-to-wall carpet- ing for a step upward in the administrative hi- erarchy. Upon the resignation of Dean Walsh in December, Mr. Roman was elevated from his position as Adviser for Student Affairs to Assist- ant to the Dean of the College: Student Affairs. A most congenial gentleman, and a Brown man, Mr. Roman enjoys extensive contact with the student body in three different capacities. Those students who are called to his office in UH probably wish themselves to be elsewhere; but Dean Roman is anything but an unsympathetic, strict disciplinarian. Latin scholars come to know him as their skillful tutor in Latin 6 and Latin 12. And for the residents of Bronson House, Mr. Roman is their friendly man with the wine and good conversation, both free of charge at his weekly open houses. Dean Ro- man enjoys his tri-partite position at Brown, for in each role he meets undergraduates in a different, revealing, and rewarding context. Mr. Roman feels that the new parietal system has been relatively successful, adding that the registration procedures can and will be im- proved. He notes that during the latter half of the first semester, there was only limited use of the new social code; the number of parties re- mained about the same as in recent years. He feels that when a hockey game or similar event is scheduled for a Saturday night, the whole evening is usually more successful than if only a social function were available. Mr. Roman hopes that other forms of entertainment, such as concerts, will become increasingly popular weekend fare. Commenting on the somewhat limited stu- dent involvement in numerous campus Organ- izations, he feels that the undergraduate's work load plays a very important part in keeping participation low. Those people who are really dedicated maintain an interest; but those who know the demands of graduate school admission tend to restrict their constructive leisure time activities. Looking to the future, Mr. Roman hopes that the new undergraduate housing unit will, with its arrangement of student rooms, provide a different social set-up, so that individ- uals can get to know their associates far better than is now possible in the West Quadrangle.

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TO LIKE AND DISLIKE one's job is the lot of most men; but to offer the same reason for both opinions is something else again. Robert O. Schulze, Dean of the College, has an unremit- ting sense of being caught up in the madness of things, which can both exhilarate and frustrate anyone. Dean Schulze gets the feeling that he is being spread so terribly thin all the time. What with the numerous important committees he is on, students streaming into his office all day, constant conferment with President Keeney, and the teaching of Sociology 1, 2, it is no won- der Mr. Schulze takes the attitude he does. Commenting on the wave of major and minor protests that annually sweep over Brown and other university campuses, Dean Schulze says, Students do not properly appreciate the com- plexity of things or the human frailty of things. He wholeheartedly supports Dr. Keeney's advice given this fall to the junior class, Be kind to your deans. Mr. Schulze en- courages the students to use the deanery as the proper liaison between students and the Presi- dent and the Corporation. He thinks that un- dergraduates should neither be uncritical nor accentuate the positive. It is most important that students not get so bugged about things that disturb them that they do not try to take advantage of opportunities that exist. It is far better to spend one's time thinking about what to say to a professor than to complain that he is inaccessible. Early this fall, Dean Schulze said that he had second thoughts on the housing committee re- port of 1962 and, in fact, housing policy for the last decade. Then, in November, Mr. Schulze's committee decided to re-examine the 1962 report on fraternities and begin concrete exploration of the plans for a new, large under- graduate housing unit. A progressive in this area of university life, he claims to be old-fashioned when it comes to the goals of a college curricu- lum. Dean Schulze worries about over-speciali- zation and over-professionalism in what has been an essentially liberal arts college. He likes a curriculum that forces students to explore broadly and to develop an ability to question, to make sense out of life. Mr. Schulze will find, if he does not already know, that the majority of the student body agrees with his philosophy and attitudes, and they wish him continued suc- cess in his battles within and outside the walls of University Hall.