Princeton University - Bric A Brac Yearbook (Princeton, NJ)

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k -m U.K. « Atlantic Should the prospective freshman contemplate ROTC? Dr. Dodds has often been asked his views on this subject. were the quintessential qualities which these presidents sought in their leader. In his relations with his Faculty, Harold Dodds always communicated the notion that he was there to serve them. But his technique of dealing with a professor with a pro- posal or a project was completely in character. Naturally as President he had to evaluate all that came before him, and so he developed a method of gentle, and sometimes not so gentle, ribbing or even shin-kicking in order to elicit a response which would reveal the depth of the profes- sor ' s conviction or a far more explicit statement of the proposal at hand. A steady stimulus of this sort — again Socrates in his role as the gadfly comes to mind — was the initiating and sustaining force which led to the many not- able achievements of the Dodds administration. A President ' s life perforce is lonely. Though engaged in myriad associations with people — faculty, students, alumni, government officials, and general public — the President always is compelled personally to be withdrawn. This, for Harold Dodds and his genuine love of people, has been difficult, but he has had within him the courage to sustain this difficulty in the same way as he faced the period when his health was not all that it should have been. Gifts, legacies and funds received by the University during the Dodds ' administration totalled more than $60,000,000. Much of the president ' s seventy-hour week is spent in conference teith members of the Administrative Council. No doubt this inner strength derives from his Presby- terian background and his own deeply felt religious con- victions. Certainly, his conscience, upon which his integ- rity is built, can be rightly called Presbyterian, and with this conscience is coupled a strong practical realism, with the result that Harold Dodds accomplishments contain a finely balanced amalgam of idealism and practicality. Also be it noted that these accomplishments extend beyond the circles of Academia — into the realms of public serv- ice and of private personal relationships. And yet humor and humor about self are always present. For example, year after year and often in the face of pessimistic metero- logical predictions, Dodds has always decided on the morning of Commencement that the exercises be held in the open air in front of Nassau Hall. Never in twenty-four years has it rained. The President ' s only comment is God clearly is a Presbyterian. Woe betide the man who tries to match his wits with Harold Dodds in a ribbing contest. Only once, and this in a very general way, has he been bested. One of his friends, conscious that in normal conversation it is hard for people to refer to him as President Dodds or Dr. Dodds, and maybe a bit presumptuous to say just plain Harold, hit upon the appellation, Uncle Harold. This name spread quickly among the staff, perhaps because the relation between President and Faculty is usually avun- cular. Once Uncle Harold said to the inventor of the title, Some day I ' ll get even with you for this. The day no doubt will come, but it is still in the future. The president represents the University in many and varied places. As here, with Mrs. Dodds at Princeton in Texas.

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The holder of 29 such recognitions, the president has con- ferred over three-hundred honorary degrees in ttco decades. The foregoing episode has been recorded in detail be- cause bo many of the powers of this extraordinary person, Harold Dodds, are revealed in it. Dignity, poise, sim- plicity, modesty, generosity of spirit, humor, commanding presence: — the catalogue of virtues is long. As an exam- ple of the Doddsian humor, take the remark with which he adjourned the meeting: Gentlemen, let me remind you of Finley ' s law: Nothing succeeds like successors. ' But the important point is that universally Harold Dodds is admired foi his complete and unquestioned integrity. In fact, though many faculty folk throughout his twenty-four year administration disagreed with him, quarreled with him. found fault with him for real or imagined short- comings, no one of his critics (and Heaven knows a In ulty is a superlative breeding ground for critics) was ever heard to impugn his basic integrity or honesty or fairness as a human being. There is one well-known abu- sive term usually invoked to designate a person whose fundamental character is suspect. Never throughout his quarter century as President of Princeton was such a term applied to Harold Dodds. And those who have friends on the faculties of sister institutions know how ca-il llii- ran be done with an administrator whether for good or far from good reasons. It is b no means an accident that as the years advanced Harold Dodds has come to be regarded as the wisest man In mericau education. Temperamentally cautious and deliberate in making his decisions, one thing he decided carh : that was to devote himself to the enhancement of The accumulation of functions u tin It consume the time and energy of the president leaves little time for neetleil leisure. TIME Weekly Newsmagazine June 19, 1933: the induction of the Jitircrsifv ' s netc President and the beginning of the illustrious Dodds era. Princeton, and not to exploit his President with a iew to becoming a public figure. Though hampered by nag- ging ill-health for se eral ears and though compelled to serve his country in many necessary assignments, he gradually assumed a ejuiet and unobtrusive leadership in the world of college and university unrivalled by any of his contemporaries. An eye witness report of a meeting of the Association of American I niversities, held a few years ago in New Haven, testifies to Harold Dodds commanding position. The Association, whose membership is made up of the Presidents of the leading universities in this country and Canada, that year had elected Mr. Dodds as its presiding officer. Naturally he had arrived a few minutes before the opening session, and, of course, he greeted individ- uall this potent tr oupe of educational executives. But what was most impressive was the expression on the face of each man as he shook hands with Harold Dodds. ll was uniformly a look of eas friendliness, admiration, and deep respect. Obviously, they were looking to him as their Socrates, their philosophic guide as they faced the perennial problems which beset education. And like Socrates, Dodds ' personal warmth. hi unfailing though sometimes biting wit, hi modest] and common sense I hreakfasl conference on hoard a train series to keep in- terested alumni informed of current I Hirersity happenings.

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w». - m m . hi in , I u. U .1 , Ki » NASSAU HALL BICENTENNIAL 1 HE 2 tl )ri l nm i.ks ky of Nassau Hall. Prince-ton I ni- wrsitv ' s original luiilding and one of the few structures in the 1 1 1 1 1 1 thai alter two centuries is still being used for the purposes Eor which it Has original!) planned, mi- cclehrated on Septemhei 22 and 2. ' ). dates coinciding with the opening of Princeton ' s: 211th year. The two-day program was planned as a re-affirmation of the faith of the trustees, faculty, administration, alumni and under- graduates In the principles for which in 1 i 1 the College of New ,|erse was founded, free and equal liberty and advantage of education . . . an) different sentiments on religion not w ithstanding. The celebration was officially opened Saturday after- noon on the steps of the historic luiilding with a ceremony marking the issuance of a commemorative orange and l.l.nk three-rent stamp, the first I . S. postage stamp ever to be printed ii colored paper. The government ' s repre- -enlalive at this ceremony was the s-islant Postmaster General, who gave the response to President Dodds 1 wel- come to the guest- of the I niversity. The main address of the afternoon was delivered l Professor Julian P. Poy d id the History Department. I hat day a message of greeting from President Dodds to all Princeton alumni and undergraduates was mailed in special First Day Covers. Pater Saturday afternoon ;i reception v as given at the President ' s home in honor of the I Diversity trus- tee- and special guests. Saturday night the first of three major addresses, devel- oping the theme of the Bicentennial — Education for Church and State was delivered hv Justice John Mar- shall Harlan ' 20, of the I nitcd States Supreme Court. The speech, given at a Graduate College Dinner, yvas attended hv the I niversitj trustees, senior members of the faculty and administration, representatives of the Graduate and I ndergraduate Councils, officials of Prince- ton Borough and Township, heads of several neighboring institutions, and the recipients of honorary degree-. I i mil dusk until 1 1 :(H) on Saturday evening, the facade of Princeton ' s original luiilding was lighted hv electric candles. This was the twentieth century equivalent of the hand-dipped candles which Princeton students placed in their windows for ceremonies such as the signing of the 1 •