Williams College - Gulielmensian Yearbook (Williamstown, MA)

Page 23 text:

W5 5

Page 22 text:

U - 1 ..f- EBUUTU I dllul Ill 11111 Luxxu I s Mu ION IURI f18YUlI!IfL I dlfw v VVIIIIANT LHARNII x ANDR1 xx Roxxrmxn Iomssox Hzxsrxxc s Imxzum I1 RMAIN SAVAGI SIUXRT Pu xxx Sill Rnmx A 1 llsfs II1 INRY H01 kIN's,Jl IIUL H P1 ll as lnfxzznss lllavlagu bl ORC! Ifxu nr Klux Huun CFQ CAFO XQ QQ 4 G

Page 24 text:

The Administration of President Carter After twenty years of service as president of Williams College, Dr. Carter was obliged by illness to resign his oftice, the resignation taking effect on September Ist, 19or. ifhereby the college suffered twofold loss, it lost an able administrator, and it lost a brilliant teacher. But for ill health, Dr. Carter might have added to his twenty years yet other years more useful still, giving to college and to class the ripest fruits of his expe- rience and culture. Any estimate of such an administration must-be defective. By far the greater part is unseen and unknown. Private interviews, private corres- pondence, personal infiuence quietly exerted and even infiuence uncon- sciously exerted, effect more than comes to public knowledge and more than is achieved by public methods. Accidents and collisions attract notice, but little notice is taken, and no records kept, of accidents avoided and collisions prevented. A college must unite trustees, faculty, alumni, students, and parents of students. As it would be a miracle if all these elements were in spontaneous agreement, the president must provide the universal solvent. He must collect the currents from the various batteries and combine them in one motor. His methods and policy are exposed to criticism in which he is judged as an executive, though he has small freedom of action compared with a business manager or a mili- tary leader. He must give liberty and independence to his faculty to get the highest results, yet he must keep sufficient control to secure effective teaching and adequate uniformity. He is the source of discipline and yet would keep the good will of the students. He is expected to maintain a high standard of scholarship without turning away too many delinquents. In addition to all this he is assigned the task of raising money. The very qualities which fit him for his other duties are likely to make this task extremely distasteful, for it is not often that a man of scholarly culture possesses also the peculiar talents of the promoter, and if he does, his training, away from business and money making, robs him of pleasure in their exercise. Such are the conditions and such the problems of the office. One need not be an administrator to see the difficulties, but only a practical administrator can appreciate them to the full. Q For twenty years Dr. Carter dealt with the complexities of the situation, and the results show that he dealt successfully. lt was a transition period 6