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

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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 •

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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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Above: Following a serious fire in 1855, the eminent John Notman restored Nassau Hall. Right: The ceremonial mace which was presented to the University by the residents of Princeton. Declaration of Independence and receptions honoring George Washington and Lafayette. On Friday and Satur- day the building ' s 65-foot-high tower was illuminated by floodlights. On Sunday morning, the L niversity ' s opening exercises and the Bicentennial celebration were held in front of Nassau Hall. A large academic procession including the trustees, members of the faculty, and special guests pre- ceded the exercises. The principal address was delivered by Dr. John Baillie, Principal of New College, University of Edinburgh, on the subject Education for Service to God. Following Dr. Baillie ' s address. B. Frank Bunn ' 07, representing the residents of the Princeton community, presented a silver mace to the university as an ' appro- priate symbol of the community ' s continuing regard for the University. The mace will be used in the future at all convocations, and is to be kept at all other times in a glass case in the Faculty Room of Nassau Hall. The entire fund for the mace and display case was raised by popular subscription. After the presentation, President Dodds, giving the third important speech of the weekend, spoke on the sub- ject of the significance of Nassau Hall in Princeton ' s tra- ditions and educational policy. Dr. Dodds then awarded twenty honorary degrees to persons representative of education, the church, and the state. Among the recipients were: John Sloan Dickey, President of Dartmouth Col- lege; Barnaby C. Keeney, President of Brown University- George Frost Kennan ' 25, former United States Ambassa- dor to the Soviet Union; Dag Hammarskjold, Secretary General of the United Nations: Jan Herman Van Roijen, Ambassador from the Netherlands to the United States; and Robert B. Meyner, Governor of New Jersey. The awarding of degrees was followed by the benedic- tion given by Rev. Ernest Gordon, Dean of the University Chapel, after which a luncheon for the degree recipients and guests of honor was held in the University Commons. The Bicentennial climaxed the chain of events begun when Princeton University received a royal charter from George II on October 22, 1746, and opened the follow- ing May in Elizabeth, New Jersey. After the college had moved to Newark following the death of its first president, it became apparent that a permanent home was desirable, and for this reason the residents of Princeton offered a 15