A REVIEW OF SEVEN YEARS

After an administration of seven years, President Nichols retires at the close'of the present college year, to resume his work of investigation m physical science. He has given to Dartmouth seven of the best years of his mature life, setting aside his own chosen studies, and interrupting investigations in a field in which he was an acknowledged master. With complete devotion of mind and heart to the service of the College, he has led it safely through a trying period of transition and organization, has brought the College onto a higher plane of scholarship than it had ever known, has preserved the best traditions of the past, and will hand over to his successor a college united, organized, enthusiastic.

To succeed President Tucker was an honor that carried with it tremendous responsibilities. Dr. Tucker's administration had been so brilliantly successful, its success had been so largely the spontaneous product of his own rare personality, and affection for him had been so linked with admiration for his statesmanlike leadership, that it seemed that no man could fill his place. And yet the very genuineness of Dr. Tucker's work made possible what was seemingly impossible. The Dartmouth loyalty could be counted on; the tide of numerical growth had not slackened; the faculty were united and courageous. When Dr. Nichols consented to take up the work of leadership, he had at once the inspiration of continued growth in numbers and resources, and the hearty cooperation of the whole college. And he came as no stranger. An alumnus of the Old Dartmouth who might have come to the presidency would have found himself a stranger to much of the life of the institution. The New Dartmouth had, indeed, preserved and intensified the fine traditions of the past, but it had embodied them in forms so changed that the college was in fact a new institution. Of this New Dartmouth Dr. Nichols had already made himself a part. In his years of service on the faculty as head of one of the departments that had most conspicuously contributed to the higher standards of the new era, as an active and influential associate of the committee that had worked out the new curriculum under the former administration, as one of a group of the faculty who had particularly stimulated men to co on with university training, and as one of the few men who had carried the name of the college throughout the learned world by brilliant discovery, he was already a Dartmouth man in more than the ordinary meaning ; his sonship was in what he had given in his maturity, not in what he had received in four years of immaturity. His entire familiarity with the aims of the College, his sympathy with the fine spirit of Dr. Tucker's administration, his knowledge of the details of our organization and the personnel of the faculty, enabled him to take up his work without hesitation or mistake. He was, indeed, the better fitted for the work from the fact that after having served as a member of this faculty for a time, he had then had the opportunity to look back upon Dartmouth from the standpoint of a great university. He came back with a breadth of view, and an appreciation both of our needs and our possibilities, that would hardly have been possible for one who had seen the college only at short range, and from our own point of view. Moreover, the headship of a great department in one of our largest universities had given him no small experience as an administrator.

In reviewing this seven years' administration no attempt has been made to distinguish between those movements and events that have been due wholly to Dr. Nichols' initiative — and there have been many such — and those that have been the result of the activities of the trustees and alumni, of the faculty, and of the student body. All have worked heartily together; all have felt the stimulus of fine leadership; all the events are in a large and true sense parts of the record of the administration. Nor can one distinguish, among the material gains of this administration, between those that were the ripened fruit of earlier administrations, and those that were wholly new. Much of the work of this administration in its turn has been in preparing ground for harvests that will mature under a later presidency.

On returning to Dartmouth, Dr. Nichols found three fundamental problems pressing for solution: the improvement of the intellectual life of the institution, the more complete organization of the executive functions, and the increase of plant and endowment.

The scholarship of the College had been improving during all the years of the New Dartmouth, but it was still in need of greater stimulus for the abler men, and of more rigid discipline for the indifferent and incompetent. The intellectual atmosphere was not all that could be desired. The rapid growth in numbers, the success and publicity of enthusiastic athletic teams, the expansion of the social life of the fraternities, all tended to outstrip the needed increase in intellectual enthusiasm. No one revolutionary measure could do the work that was needed. In looking back upon the seven years it is not possible to specify all the acts of the administration that have caused the advance in scholarship, and the new honor that has come to intellectual achievement. But beyond all question the advance has come, and it has come very largely because at every possible point President Nichols has been watching for opportunities to hasten its coming.

Every member of the faculty who has been engaged on a work of investigation has known that the President rejoiced with him in his every achievement, and he has had his unsparing support in providing books and leisure for his personal studies. He has known that to be loyal to the President he must be a growing scholar. That the best teaching can come only from the man who knows the stimulus of discovery, has been his constant reminder to his faculty. And this has been with no indulgence toward neglect of the work of the class-room. Dr. Nichols has steadily worked for improvement here, and insisted upon this as the final aim of every instructor. There was probably never a time when the Dartmouth student was so well taught in his daily work as he is today.

The increase in salaries, secured early in this administration, was of vital importance to the work of the faculty; books, travel, contact with other scholars, all wait on financial support, and the man who has some freedom from financial anxiety is the man who can best apply himself to the work of the scholar. The increased salaries too have enabled the President to retain men who would otherwise have been lost, to the enrichment of other institutions, and to call able men to positions here, made vacant by old-age retirement.

An unpleasant, but always necessary, part of the work of a President is that of dealing with the men at the lower end of each class. Some come to the college unfit; a good many come for the degree, many for the social and athletic life, with no ambition to do more than passing work. With this part of the college Dr. Nichols' administration has been successful by its steadiness and its straight-for ward character. The whole college has come to know that there is a minimum of achievement below which no man may fall; that if he makes the venture there is no influence anywhere that can avert the penalty. This out-spoken policy, known absolutely to every student in advance, and followed rigorously, while bringing unwelcome pressure upon many a student, has done its work without friction, and has accomplished sound results.

Two of the most important developments under this administration looking toward improvement in scholarship, have been the institution of the system of advisers for freshmen and sophomores, and the great development of the work of the class officers for these two classes. In his own experience with an advisory system at Columbia, Dr. Nichols had become convinced that it offered the means for preventing much of the failure of freshmen to adjust themselves to the new environment. One of his early acts was to propose the adoption of the system here, and from the first he has followed its working with peculiar interest. His annual dinner to the board of advisers, with the accompanying free discussion of the more personal relations between instructor and student, has been one of the strong influences to help the faculty keep the due balance between research on the one side, and instruction and personal leadership on the other.

The very great extension of the work of the Freshman and Sophomore class officers has been of prime importance. With the growing size of the classes there was danger of the individual's becoming lost in the mass. By a system of personal oversight and encouragement in the first two years of the course, involving very close relations between an experienced class-officer and the men of his class, many of the advantages of the small college have been recovered, and a great many students have been helped in all their college relations, the strong and ambitious quite as much as the indifferent and weak.

Every opportunity has been taken to make scholarship honored. The transfer of the announcement of the year's honors and awards from an evening occasion, poorly attended, to the opening session of the college year, joined to the opening address of the President, was a most happy change. A new system of credits for class-work, recently adopted, provides that work of a high quality shall advance a man more rapidly toward his degree than poor or mediocre work. A pamphlet has been published giving detailed description of courses, and another outlining courses desirable in preparation for the technical studies of the several professions.

Partly as a result, and partly as a stimulating cause, of the higher scholarship of this period the Society of Phi Beta Kappa has increased greatly in activity, and the honor of its elections has become one of the most prized of student life. The renewal of its ancient custom of an annual dinner, and the institution of occasional luncheons and discussions by its undergraduate members, have contributed largely to this end.

With the opening of Robinson Hall the intellectual life of the college as expressed outside of the class-room took on new vigor. The Dartmouth dramatic movement became one of the leading interests of the college, involving not only the production of plays of a high order and in a way that placed the college in the front rank in this field, but also the serious study of dramatic literature, and worthy experiments in dramatic authorship.

Music too has received a new stimulus; both in the quality of undergraduate production and in the support given to the best musical talent from abroad there has been notable gain.

The Department of Fine Arts has added its splendid influence to this growing intellectual life. The art exhibits given in Robinson Hall, wonderfully fine for a locality so remote from the art centers, have opened a field that was entirely closed to the men of the earlier days.

These various interests, partly official and partly the product of spontaneous undergraduate activity, have found a natural result in the establishment of "The Arts," a society of .both older and younger men, with beautiful quarters in Robinson Hall, serving as a' foster-mother to many of .these finer interests; its election has become a coveted honor, and its influence is one of the best of recent products of Dartmouth life.

In all that has thus far been summarized, Dr. Nichols' influence has been allpervasive, in helping to create and maintain a stimulating mental atmosphere. The means by which he has worked are naturally less obvious than those in the second field of his activity, the reorganization of administrative functions.

The first step was the reconstruction of the committees of the trustees. A committee on Business Administration, meeting with the President monthly, has been the center of the group. Committees on Education, Degrees, and Legal Affairs have carried on the rest of the work. A re-valuation of all the property of the College, and the adoption of a budget system for all expenditures, have been important steps in business administration.

The growth of the College and the multiplicity of business details demanding the attention of the President were endangering his larger efficiency in educational leadership. The next step, therefore, in organization was to relieve him of much of this pressure by the creation of the office of Business Director.

A third step in organization was the establishment of the Alumni Council, a thoroughly representative body, close to the great body of alumni on the one hand and the college administration on the other. Few acts in the history of the College have been more important. The work of the Council is but just beginning, but it is already evident that this new agency is to become of tremendous power in the support of the College. Its campaign for annual financial support, now well under way, promises to relieve President and trustees of the incubus of an annual deficit.

Within the College the more complete organization of the non-athletic activities, under a faculty committee and a representative student council, has brought order out of financial chaos and given support to the larger movements in music and the drama.

In the routine of administration, President Nichols has been called upon to find men for an extraordinary number of important positions. No work of a college president touches the whole character of the institution at so vital a point as the selection of the men for his staff. The old-age retirement of a group of the men who had come over from the Old Dartmouth through the earlier years of the New, necessitated the finding of heads for some of the largest departments. With only moderate salaries to offer as compared with those of the universities, Dr. Nichols has been remarkably successful in bringing together a body of men already eminent as scholars, and able to maintain our own best traditions. The growth of the faculty in numbers has also demanded the constant searching out of young men for positions as instructors or assistant professors. President Nichols' invariable courtesy in inviting the closest cooperation of the heads of departments in filling vacancies in their several staffs has kept the faculty absolutely free from dissatisfaction with a form of administration which in some institutions has been productive of constant friction. Endowed by the charter with absolute authority, he has so consistently and generously shared the appointing power with his faculty that they have enjoyed the full advantages of centralization of executive function combined with democracy of consultation.

A vacancy in the office of Dean, the position nearest to that of the President in importance to the whole college, was filled with such conspicuous success that faculty and students have had common cause for congratulation

A difficult question of administration has been that of the relation of the College to the schools of New Hampshire, through its relation to the New England Certificate Board. Dartmouth was one of the leaders in the formation of this Board, and has rejoiced in the marked improvement that the Board has brought about in the quality of preparation certified to the colleges. But the New Hampshire High Schools had in the meantime been brought under an admirable system of state supervision and regulation, and there could no longer be any question that the state authorities were able to speak with more certainty as to the validity of their certificates than could the New England Board, with its incomplete machinery for investigation. The College, with its close relation to the State, and through its acceptance of an annual subsidy from the Legislature, could not refuse the reasonable demand of the State system. The New England Board having refused the earnest request of the College to be allowed to treat the schools of its own State independently, while retaining membership in the Board, the College withdrew, and the President matured a new plan for governing the relation of the College to the New England Schools. Professor J. L. McConaughy, who had already done successful work in this-field as a member of the Bowdoin faculty, was called to take full charge of the relations of the College to the schools. His work is already marking a new epoch. His own visits to the schools of the New England constituency, the sending out of numerous members of the faculty to establish personal relations with schools with which they have natural connection, the extension of the work of the Summer School, which offers free tuition to the New Hampshire teachers, and conferences with groups of Dartmouth alumni who are teaching in New England, are some of the means by which this new movement is bringing the college into a closer connection with the schools than it has ever known before.

In the internal administration one of the most important of Dr. Nichols' policies has been the steady development of the influence of Palaeopitus. Its officers have been in very close contact with the President. Again and again they have prevented disorders which under the old system could have been reached only imperfectly and that by punitive measures. In some of the most difficult fields of student conduct Palaeopitus has come to be the controlling power, and its influence has been increasingly felt for the good of the College.

In the religious life of the institution the most notable feature has been the increased activity of the Christian Association, aided and inspired at every point by Professor Marshall, who has also been the constant assistant of the President in the conduct of the chapel services. In the past year the introduction of a board of speakers for Sunday evening chapel, chosen among the leading preachers of the country, has proved most successful. The religious activities of the undergraduates have been particularly felt in the deputation visits to schools and rural communities, a movement that has spread rapidly among other colleges. The development of Sunday Schools in the remote school houses of the. region has been a means of substantial help to the people and of practical training to the students. The promising missionary activity through a school in Turkey has unfortunately been suspended through the exigencies of war.

The seven years have seen vigorous development in many other unofficial activities. The completion of the new gymnasium gave ideal facilities for the older forms of athletics, and enabled a larger number of men to take part in them. The possibility of training large squads of men throughout the winter greatly enlarged the scope of Dartmouth athletics. It remained for the Dartmouth Outing Club, founded early in this administration, to capitalize the Hanover winter. Its rapid growth and country-wide fame have become valuable assets of the College. The generous gifts and contagious enthusiasm of Rev. J. E. Johnson '66 have enabled the Club to construct at Hanover one of the finest plants in the country for winter sports, and have opened to the students the New Hampshire hills and mountains in a way that is absolutely unique in college life.

The opening of a graduate club in the old Patterson mansion has given .to the faculty a social meeting place and facilities for offering hospitality to guests of the college.

Through the Secretary of the College new provision has been made for helping men to find positions as they go out from college. A significant extension of this system through the cooperation of a group of business men is now under way. This will provide vacation employment for undergraduates in lines which will not only give them a summer income, but sound business training, and will enable those who wish finally to go into business, to begin higher up than would be possible without this preliminary training.

As we pass to the more tangible results of the seven years, as seen in enlarged funds and material equipment, we find a most satisfactory record. To the plant of the College have been added the new Gymnasium, the Parkhurst Administration Building, Robinson Hall, North and South Massachusetts Halls, and Hitchcock Hall. Wentworth and Bissell halls have been so completely remodeled as to have been made practically new buildings; Rollins Chapel has been greatly enlarged; the President's house has been acquired, and two apartment houses provided for members of the faculty.

The splendid Hitchcock estate, with its wide sweep of lawn and wooded hillsides extending from Main street to the bank of the Connecticut, offers possibilities for future expansion that are enough to fire the imagination of any Dartmouth man. The beautiful Pine Park with the adjoining Hilton Field carries the public grounds through the Vale of Tempe up to the First Island.

Within the village limits important tracts have been acquired: the Bank lot, the last piece of private property facing the campus, the Sherman House lot, the last private property in the block north of the campus, and a house and lot on River Hill, which supplement the Hitchcock tract. The Tuck Drive, a perfect piece of road construction, gives a new and charming approach to the College through the winding valley between the river bank and the Hitchcock mansion.

For the endowment, the greatest single gift has been that of $500,000 by Edward Tuck for the increase of salaries; this has been supplemented by the Kennedy bequest of $95,000. Other additions have been the Edward Tuck foundation for instruction in French, $62,500; the Jane Eastman bequest of $30,000; the Levi M. Stewart fund of $75,000, and the Alumni Fund of the Tucker Foundation, $23,000. In the seven years the total assets of the College have increased nearly 50%. The increase in the annual expenditure for instruction salaries is 47½% as against an increase in student enrollment of 20%. The movement for class endowment funds has steadily increased, until it has become a fixed tradition for graduating classes. This custom, together with the great movement of the Alumni Council for an alumni sustaining fund, have immense possibilities for the future.

The College has continued its steady growth in numbers. In 1909-10 its total enrollment was 1197. In 1915-16 it is 1468 In 1909-10 the freshman class numbered 309. This year the number is 486. In the last six years the average annual increase in undergraduate enrollment has been 54. In the twelve years preceding it was 50. The academic faculty numbered 68 in 1908-09; in 1915-16 it numbers 92.

The period has been one of real advance in each of the graduate schools. In the Medical School the admission requirements have been raised, and closer articulation has been made between the undergraduate courses and those of the School. The decision to restrict the medical course to two years, cutting off the two clinical years, was in the interest of sound training. The clinical work could not be made sufficient in a school so located. The laboratory work, on the other hand, could be done here under ideal conditions. While the new plan involves a smaller total enrollment, it promises a clear gain in quality of work.

The Thayer School has received great increase in facilities by its transfer to Bissell Hall, remodeled to meet its peculiar needs.

The period has seen marked enlargement and advance in the Tuck School. In 1913 the curriculum was completely reorganized; groups of courses were laid out which were concerned with the basic functions common to all business. All students are required to take a certain number of courses in each of these groups. In the second year specialization is provided for, but only in courses that have proved consistent with the related groups of courses and complementary to them. The School has been a pioneer in training for scientific management, employment, and chamber of commerce work. There has been a rapidly growing contact of both faculty and students with the business community. The School has done large service to neighboring towns, and the students have acquired practical experience there. Provision has been made for research work in vacation by members of the faculty, and the plan of enlisting the cooperation of business men as a staff of non-resident lecturers has been greatly improved. In this period the number of instructors in the Tuck School has more than doubled. The office of secretary has been created. The enrollment of students in the School has increased from 35 to 84.

As now after seven years of such distinguished service to Dartmouth College as is seen in this rapid survey of the visible results of his administration, Dr. Nichols, with unimpaired vigor and enthusiasm, returns to the quiet studies of the laboratory, he will carry with him the lasting honor and affection of all who love Dartmouth, and who appreciate the significance of the past seven years as related to the whole history of the College.