From an Empty Room at Princeton

GERALD L C OOPER From An Empty On Room At Princeton Scholarshıp On Scholarship From An Empty Room at Princeton GERALD L COOPER Copyright 2010 Gerald L. Cooper. All rights reserved. Editorial: Alfred P. Scott Graphic Design: Jack Amos Printed in the United States of America This book is available in PDF format at www.talkeetna.com This is dedicated to the one I love: Prior Meade Cooper I never thought I’d marry a May Queen. Contents Foreword i My Early Years 1 Getting an Education, Not the Confederacy 26 A Log Cabin on the Corrotoman 36 Seeing Life in a New Light 46 The Neck, the River and College Prep 64 An Empty Room at Princeton 80 Life and Work in Boarding Schools 105 A New Era at Woodberry Forest 132 Ed Dorsey: Powerful and Effective 162 To the Children of Tomorrow 171 To Winston-Salem and Beyond 195 A Different Kind of University 204 WSSU—Where Failure Was Not An Option 228 College Access at Career End 242 Changing Lives in Rural Virginia 273 Leading to Diversity at the University of Virginia 286 Epilogue 301 End Notes 305 ON SC HOLAR S HIP Foreword Pursuits of my own choice … I would be indulged … with the blessings of domestic society, and pursuits of my own choice … Thomas Jefferson to his daughter, Martha, 1807 s I approached age sixty-five in the year 2000, several of Amy male contemporaries told me how they were resisting retirement to the last possible moment. Unlike them, I was ready to retire. I knew that retirement would give me the opportunity to concentrate on two activities I had wanted to pursue more deeply for most of my life: broad-based reading and reflective writing. I began to concentrate on those interests as soon as I completed my final assignment, with the Tidewater Scholarship Foundation in June 2000. Writing this book has given me much pleasure—and occasional pain. The pain has been the result of my decision to look honestly into situations where I could see that I did not i GERALD L COOPER accomplish all that I might have, and to examine the reasons that I fell short of my goals. In several instances the problems that arose were the result of my personal leadership style—or personality type—and I saw how I might have avoided certain missteps. I also experienced pain when I thought about how others failed to meet my expectations. Overall, however, the painful errors were mostly mine. My greatest pleasure in this endeavor occurred when I reflected on my experiences with people and places that have enriched my life. I hope that what I have written has done justice to the people who made significant contributions, both to society and to me. Finally, some of my fondest moments in writing these pages have been the result of reading, researching and meditating about two subjects that have special interest for me: Thomas Jefferson and the University of Virginia, which he created. As Jefferson contemplated finishing his second term as President and returning to his family at Monticello, he wrote to his daughter, Martha Randolph, “I long to be among you where I know nothing but love and delight, and where … I would be indulged as others are with the blessings of domestic society, and pursuits of my own choice.” He was ready to retire from politics and to dedicate himself with renewed energy to “family, books and farms.” He also planned to fulfill his long-delayed dream of establishing a secular university in Virginia that would serve not just the Commonwealth, but also the nation and the world. I have written at length about the University of Virginia in the chapter, “Leading to Diversity.” As a graduate student in ii ON SC HOLAR S HIP the Curry School of Education at the University of Virginia in 1967, I read a text in counselor education by Gilbert Wrenn, who coined the phrase, “What we are, we are always becoming.” I have found that description applicable in my life and work over the ensuing forty-plus years, and I believe this concept of gradual maturing also applies to institutions as much as to individuals. The University of Virginia has continued to evolve over nearly two hundred years, steadily rising toward the heights that its founder envisioned it might reach one day. I believe Jefferson dreamed of what the University would become, for I consider dreams to be a means for gaining access to universal wisdom. Jefferson demonstrated that he had a good deal of that wisdom— he first employed it as a young man by helping to establish the American republic, most notably in his role as author of the Declaration of Independence. Then, in his autumn years, he almost single-handedly planned and began to build the University of Virginia. Both of these institutions have shown uncommon purpose and durability, demonstrating the farsightedness of Jefferson’s vision. My personal version of the American experience began in 1935 in Lancaster County, just sixty miles north of Jamestown and three-and-a-quarter centuries after John Smith explored Virginia’s eastern rivers. Starting there I describe a number of people, places and events that helped me to establish my foothold on the Northern Neck peninsula in Tidewater’s river country. Later, a year after our marriage in 1962, my wife Prior and I migrated to the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia for two assignments that totaled fifteen years. Then we spent ten iii GERALD L COOPER years in Piedmont North Carolina, and eventually came back to Tidewater … back to river country. I have recorded in this book the “pursuits of my own choice,” similar to what Thomas Jefferson meant when he contemplated the close of his public life. I learned at Mr. Jefferson’s University that the mind is free to pursue many options, even after one’s calling in life is completed. At the University I had heard discussions of Ralph Waldo Emerson’s description of the American scholar as “man thinking.” In recent years I have pursued that kind of scholarship. Early in my career in private schools I began to realize that the scholarly pursuits required to be a first-rate teacher would take second place for me. Beginning in 1961, administration became my primary concentration. I made a promise to myself at that time, however, that someday I would revisit the life of the scholar. Thus, in 2002 I began to rekindle my scholarly pursuits, and at that point I began to write this book. No one is able to live his life over; however, I believe that by telling about my life—honestly, warts and all—I too may serve a purpose in the grand scheme of American history. If nothing else, readers may say of my examples, “I can do better than that; I can see the solution that Gerry Cooper missed; I’ve listened and I have my own answer.” I also believe that the successful mentors and motivators I describe, such as Peggy and Garland Pollard from my youth, and John Casteen, now retiring as president of the University of Virginia (1990-2010), are believable to my audience. Role models are helpful in guiding our thinking; however, eventually iv ON SC HOLAR S HIP we must see that the answers come from within ourselves. Our biggest challenge often is to take the time to listen, to hear—and then to act on what our inner voice tells us. I hope that these stories, especially the ones about of my mentors, will help readers on their journey. Bon Voyage! v ON SC HOLAR S HIP | 1 Chapter 1 My Early Years “From his mother’s womb untimely ripped ...” Macbeth, Act IV, scene 1. ome believe that the time and place of a person’s birth are Spredetermined; others are convinced that these details are purely a matter of chance. I arrived as a member of that smaller cadre of Homo sapiens who are brought into the world by means of a Caesarian-section; the place and date were St. Luke’s Hospital in Richmond on August 20, 1935. This location was both predetermined and extraordinary, for in those days most babies were born at home in Lancaster County, Virginia, where I was to spend the early years of my life. In those days the Caesarian-sections were considered major surgery and required a hospital; the Gerry Cooper, age 5, in Kilmarnock, 1940 2 | GERALD L COOPER nearest such facility was seventy miles away in Virginia’s capital city. I don’t know the medical reasons for my mother’s having this procedure, but it made things a little different for me from the day I was born. For example, I often felt almost dishonest, over the years, when I was asked to indicate my place of birth; somehow Richmond sounded untruthful—I wasn’t really from there, but that was where I was born. Back in Lancaster, our regular family physician was Dr. Chichester T. Peirce, who cared for most families, black and white, in the upper end of Lancaster County for over half a century. He was my doctor for at least my first fifteen years. In that respect I was a typical Lancaster native, and proud to be part of the crowd. “From his mother’s womb untimely ripped” is a phrase I probably would not have heard until I got to college, had I not attended high school at Christchurch School. In fact, I doubt if I would have been able to enter college at all, without the help of that modest, Episcopal church-sponsored school for boys.

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