The Faculty, of Which He Was Then President
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Carleton Moves CoddentJy Into Its Second Century BY MERRILL E. JARCHOW 1992 CARLETON COLLEGE NORTHFIELD, MINNESOTA Q COPYRIGHT 1992 BY CARLETON COLLEGE, NORTHFIELD, MINNESOTA ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Libray of Congress Curalog Card Number: 92-72408 PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA Cover: Old and New: Scoville (1895). Johnson Hall (admissions) / Campus Club (under construction) Contents Foreword ...................................................................................vii Acknowledgements ...................................................................xi 1: The Nason Years ........................................................................1 2: The Swearer Years ....................................................................27 3: The Edwards Years ...................................................................69 4: The Porter Year .......................................................................105 5: The Lewis Years ......................................................................121 Epilogue ..................................................................................155 Appendix .................................................................................157 iii Illustrations President John W . Nason and his wife Elizabeth at the time of Carleton's centennial ..................................................2 Isabella Watson Dormitory ...............................................................4 Student Peace March in 1970 ..........................................................15 IBM 1401 in the Computer Center in 1969 ....................................20 President Howard R . Swearer ........................................................27 At the Swearer inauguration ...........................................................31 Maw Rotblatt demonstrates his swing ............................................44 Minority students in 1972 ...............................................................46 The Concert Hall showing the "magnificent Holtkamp" ...............50 Seeley G . Mudd Science Building ...................................................61 The Great Space in Sayles-Hill ........................................................63 Dean Harriet Sheridan in 1978 with two members of the Educational Policy Committee ........................................................66 President Robert Edwards ...............................................................70 Professor and student study a three-dimensional molecular model ...............................................81 Carl victory over St . Olaf, March 5, 1975 .......................................89 Carleton library and Carleton arch .................................................99 President David H . Porter .......................................................... 105 President Stephen R. Lewis, Jr ......................................................122 Shanties of total divestment supporters. February. 1986 .............129 Carleton's downtown art studio ....................................................132 Spring picnic for peer counselors. 1991 .......................................139 Carleton Players present "The Little Foxes". February. 1989 ......144 Carleton students in an off-campus program in Australia ...........151 Foreword All who are associated with Carleton should be grateful that we have in Merrill E. "Casey" Jarchow a person with a talent for history, a gift for writing, and a half-century's experience with the College. When we discussed the celebration of Carleton's 125th birthday, I asked Casey if he would undertake an essay on the past 25 years to complement the thorough history he and Leal Headley wrote in 1966: Carleton: i%e First Century. Happily, with sufficient arm-twisting, Casey agreed to do it. I'm personally most grateful that he was willing to undertake the project. The result shows the impact both of the historian's trade and the eye of a former dean. The changes at Carleton during the first quarter of its second century have been marked indeed. The student body grew by nearly fifty percent. Its composition changed in some dramatic ways, most notably in the increase in students of color, but also in the share of students receiving financial aid and the geographical diversity of the students' origins. Study abroad grew dramatically, from handfuls in 1966 to more than half of all students by 1991. Women's intercollegiate athletics took on an important role in campus life. Voluntarism by students in local communities grew dramatically and a full-time office was created to help coordinate the student-run programs. Residence halls became coeducational, students took on major responsibilities for disciplinary actions against other students, and by 1970 they played a major role in developing campus policies. Dining changed from waited tables with table linens to cafeteria lines and a less formal air. The composition of faculty, staff, and the Board of Trustees shifted in major ways, too. The numbers of women and persons of color increased at all academic ranks and in all levels of administrative staff and as members of the Board. Cumcular changes involved a major shift of faculty and student interest into interdepartmental programs -environmental studies, Asian studies, American studies, African and African American studies, women's studies, technology and policy studies, Russian studies, to name a selection. The participation of students and faculty in campus governance increased substantially with the introduction of the College Council and its policy committees in 1970. New facilities for music, theater and art, the laboratory sciences, and student housing were constructed. Dutch elm disease changed the face of Northfield and the Carleton campus. vii viii FOREWORD The growing expectations and the complexity of managing educational institutions was reflected at Carleton as well. The computer revolution changed campus management and the curriculum, with budgets for computers growing from an insignificant total in 1966 to an amount nearly equal to that for library acquisitions and operations a quarter-century later. Recruiting and selecting new students became increasingly competitive and required greater professional specialization. Career paths in the American economy changed dramatically, and with them the kinds of advice and counsel needed by students. By 1991, government regulations at all levels, and litigation by students, faculty, staff, and parents created new concerns, new responsibilities, and new budgetary claims on all colleges and universities that were undreamed of in 1966. At my inauguration as Carleton's ninth president in October 1987, Professor Vern D. Bailey brought greetings on behalf of the faculty, of which he was then president. He told of watching two alumni visit Laird Hall and comment on the unfamiliar. "It's not the same," one of them whined. "Well,"said the other in a consoling tone, "just because everything is different doesn't mean it has really changed." Professor Bailey said he found wisdom in the comment. And so do I. In the nearly five years that Gayle and I have been at Carleton, we have had the pleasure and privilege of greeting and talking with perhaps a quarter of Carleton's living alumni, and with hundreds of parents of current and former students. We have found consistent themes of what is important at Carleton that run back to the graduates of the late 'teens and forward to those of 1991. Carleton has always been a college focused on the student, where dedicated faculty help exceptionally able students "learn how to learn;" where talented students without financial means can find jobs, loans, scholarships; where the culture on the campus reflects that of Minnesota and the Upper Midwest - open, friendly, concerned about people, fun-loving and self-deprecatory in its sense of humor. It is a place where the curriculum focuses on the basics and departmental majors are structured and rigorous; where students from small towns and modest backgrounds can feel at home and can find a place to grow; where there is a concern both with intellectual development and with the growth of the whole person. At Carleton the residential nature of the College is a valued asset; freedom of expression, freedom of speech, and freedom to teach and to learn according to one's own beliefs is valued and protected; and our business is to help individuals to move toward reaching their own potential. FOREWORD ix As we look ahead to a new quarter-century in Carleton's life, and to the turn of a millennium in the Christian calendar, the same basic values that have carried Carleton through its first 125 years guide our choices. In preparation for the last decade of this century, a committee of students, faculty, staff, alumni, and trustees reviewed the College's needs and discussed its priorities. That committee, too, reaffirmed that Carleton's basic mission remains sound and that we should not make any major changes in direction. The committee did point to several areas of need, however. First, the changes since Carleton's centenary which have substantially diversified the composition of students, faculty, and staff, and the changes in the American academy over that time, have left us with an unmet but strongly felt need: improving the collegial contact among faculty and between students and faculty in intellectual issues not directly connected to courses, classes, and disciplines. We need to nurture our intellectual community; it does not automatically