Yale University - Banner / Pot Pourri Yearbook (New Haven, CT)

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©l|p lannrr anJi 1 ot l nurri Iffenr 4 arK5 rigbt fiROFESSOR HENRY PARKS WRIGHT, who will complete twenty-five years as Dean of Yale College in June next, was born in Winchester, N. H., Novem- ber 30, 1839. He began to teach in the public schools at the age of seven- teen, and entered Phillips Academy, Andover, three years later to begin his preparation for college. When within a year of graduating at Andover, he en- listed in the 5 I st Massachusetts Infantry, and served in the Civil War till his regiment was dis- charged in 1863. He was offered the command of a company when he enlisted, but chose rather to serve his country in the ranks. When he returned from the war he finished his prep- aration for college under a private instructor, entering Yale in 1 864, and graduating in 1 868. He was valedictorian of his class, and held the highest scholarship record of any student for many college generations. He was made instructor in Chickering Institute, Cincinnati, immedi- ately after graduation, and remained there till called to a Tutorship in Yale January, 1870. He was elected Assistant Professor of Latin in 1871, and Dunham Professor of the Latin Language and Literature in 1876. He received the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at Yale at Commencement in 1876. He was granted a leave of absence in April, 1877, to study in Gottengin and Berlin, and resumed the active duties of his Professorship in September, 1878. In 1 884 he became Dean. In 1 895 he was honored by Union College with the degree of LL.D. He has continued to give instruction in Latin during the period of his Deanship. The exacting duties of his office have given him little time to carry on original research work. He has, however, found time to prepare various papers in classics, and in 1 90 1 edited and published the satires of Juvenal. His published annual reports as Dean the past ten years are important educational documents. His selection as Dean followed the adoption of the elective system in the summer of 1884. Previous to this the whole curriculum of studies was prescribed, except for a single elective course offered in Junior year, and one in Senior year, and the college classes were under the supervision and control of division officers and class officers. Nearly every pro- fessor and instructor knew each student, having at some time in the course given him in- struction. This condition permitted most intimate faculty supervision of conduct. The new conditions involved, with the freedom of choice in studies, a rapid increase in the number of students. In 1884 there were 580 Academical students, with a faculty of less than 40 giving instruction, and less than 50 courses all told. To-day there are 1273 students, 1 50 persons giving instruction, with more than 250 courses offered. To work out successfully the change from the prescribed curriculum to the elective, from the small college to the large

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TO nffnvvf llAvltfii ZZMvitt ' t, |}f|.9.» UU.Ti. FOR TWENTY -FIVE YEARS DEAN OF YALE COLLEGE WE RESPECTFULLY DEDICATE THIS BOOK

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air Uniurrattg laOB-S college, from the system of paternalism to that of a broader student freedom and respKjnsibility, and to preserve In the new system unimpaired all that was best and most vital in the old system, particularly the solidarity of the student body, has been the task of Dean Wright. Some of the fruits of his administration may be seen in the high sense of responsibility evinced by the students in their choice of courses and in their use of opportunities ; primitive customs un- worthy of men of college age have been quietly abandoned ; the exces sive animal spirits of the stu- dents that used to be vented in debauchery, disorder, and destruction of property, have been turned into legitimate and orderly channels of sport and recreation ; and the tide of moral and religious obligation has risen continually higher and higher as the years have gone on. 1 hat the Dean has accomplished his task, with the undreamed-of success, is a noble tribute to his magnificent scholarly and executive ability, but in a supre..ie sense to his quiet personal influence on the individual student. His wisdom, his justice, his ceaseless vigilance, his perfect poise and temper, his all-comprehensive grasp of every problem of his task and his intuitive genius in its solution, his power to divine the secret workings of the human soul, his enthusiastic sympathy with young men in their plans and ambitions inlife, his compassion for their mistakes and weak- nesses, his power to graft into their hearts his own love of truth and honor, have inspired the confidence and won the undying love of the generations of students who have come under his charge, so that they have sought his counsel as they would that of a father. His all-pervasive influence has not only moulded and leavened the individual lives and characters of multitudes of Yale students, but it has fashioned the high ideals and the noble moral standards of the student community to the lasting honor and glory of Yale. He comes to the completion of his active term of service in the rip eness of his powers, and it is given to few men to possess, to such a degree, the gratitude and affection of such a host of men, and an influence for good so strong and imperishable. ANDREW W. PHILLIPS.