Brown University - Liber Brunensis Yearbook (Providence, RI)

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THE MAN who leaves Brown this year after twenty years on College Hill also leaves an as- sortment of fact, legend and anecdote which has built up around his name. Keeney-studies have proliferated in University publications for the past few years; most of these include the high- lights of his academic and administrative ca- reers. A graduate of the University of North Carolina, Mr. Keeney received his A.M. and Ph.D. from Harvard. After a war-time military career which saw him rise to the rank of captain and win several combat medals, he came to Brown in 1946. He established himself as a me- dieval historian his doctoral thesis, Judgment by Peers, has gone through two editions, but his career at Brown took an administrative turn in the early 1950s. After serving as Dean of the Graduate School and Dean of the College, Mr. Keeney became the twelfth president of Brown in September of 1955. The holder of sixteen honorary degrees, Mr. Keeney has also been honored by election to more than half a dozen learned societies. Most recently, he served as chairman of the National Commission on the Humanities, and when that groups recommendations were accepted by Congress, he was appointed head of the result- ant National Endowment for the Humanities. Aside from his impressive array of personal accomplishments, President Keeney has won the esteem of his colleagues and subordinates through his reservoir of wit and through such personal mannerisms as his studied walk and the owlish grin and thinking seconds that proceed his epigrammatic replies. The fabled Keeney wit, in the best neoclassical tradition, is keen, perceptive, and worthwhile. Thus, on the reputation of a national educational institu- tion: it resembles the reputation of a woman's virtue . . . both lag five years behind the facts, and on the meaning behind a student cliche: Apathy is when you are not excited about the same things I am. Many observers feel that as the size of the University has increased, the degree to which responsibility has been delegated has not kept pace-so that the office of President today car- ries an enormous burden. At any rate, the drain on the energies of President Keeney has been considerable. When asked what advice he would give his successor, Mr. Keeney replied, I'd have him paint the President's office some color other than blue. When the question was restated, he answered evenly, If I had a clear-cut program for Brown and the energy to carry it out, I would not have resigned. g y

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THE ADMINISTRATIONS assembled under the President during the Keeney decade can take pride justly in the University's accomplish- ments of that period, for they have helped make them possible. Although positions are shifted and titles changed as the need arises, the essen- tial fact is that Brown has found capable, dedi- cated men to do the jobs required. The Dean of the College is perhaps best known to students, and along with his assistant for student affairs, he is the administrator most involved in and most influential in undergradu- ate activities. Charles H. Watts and Edward R. Durgin the last Dean of Students were among the first in these positions during the Keeney years; more recently, Dean Morse and his assistant Robert Hill filled the posts. Long- popular Dean Robert Schulze finds himself as chiet college administrator now, and he has been aided during his tenure by Deans Walsh and Roman. Other important functions are carried out by equally capable men. For instance, Gordon Dewart has been head counselor for several years, while Mr. Charles H. Doebler has success- fully directed admission policy since 1958-and there are equally important men in financial aid, public relations, development, and the like. Some of the top administrative officers have only limited contact with students, but are nonetheless influential in University policy- making and implementation. Zenas Bliss, Pro- vost of the University for many years until his . - o