Tucker Foundation Reaffirms Dartmouth's Moral Purpose

As a perpetual symbol of the concern of the College for furthering moral and spiritual growth, the Trustees of Dartmouth College have established the William Jewett Tucker Foundation, it was announced by President Dickey at the annual meeting of the General Alumni Association on June 23.

The foundation honoring Dartmouth's ninth president will give contemporary emphasis and meaning to the spiritual traditions which the College has fostered ever since its founding by Eleazar, Wheelock 182 years ago.

A special faculty group has been named by President Dickey to recommend to the Trustees ways in which the foundation can accomplish the purposes for which the Trustees have created it and have turned over to it endowment funds, approximating $120,000, previously contributed in the name of Dr. Tucker. These funds, which have hitherto provided income for the operation of the Alumni Fund, will be enlarged from time to time as the future permits, the Trustees have announced.

Francis L. Childs '06, Professor of English, has been named chairman of the faculty planning group. Other members are Donald Bartlett '24, Professor of Biography; Dr. Roy B. Chamberlin, college chaplain and co-editor of The DartmouthBible; and Arthur B. Meservey '06, Professor of Physics. In addition to existing activities, the group has under consideration for sponsorship 'by the Tucker Foundation such proposals as visiting lecturers and chapel preachers, special scholarships and fellowships, and a campus center where students can meet and work in their individual and group efforts to make spiritual as well as intellectual growth a part of their college experience.

"The moral and spiritual purpose of the college," President Dickey said, "springs from a belief in the existence of good and evil, from faith in the ability of men to choose between them, and from a sense of duty to advance the good." Recalling that religious faith and missionary zeal prompted Dartmouth's founding, he declared that a constant reminder of the College's spiritual origin and purpose is provided by the College motto, Vox clamantis in deserto, taken by Eleazar Wheelock from Isaiah: "The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, 'Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.' "

"This moral and spiritual purpose," Dr. Dickey added, "has carried through the years of nearly two centuries; never has it been set aside, however much the changing conditions have caused the means for its accomplishment to be modified."

Of Dr. Tucker, whose name the new foundation bears, President Dickey said, The name of William Jewett Tucker stands as a symbol of the spiritual life of Dartmouth College. Half a century ago, he expressed the ideals of the College, the ideals of its beginning, of its today and its tomorrow."

To discuss and act upon the establishment of the William Jewett Tucker Foundation, the Dartmouth Trustees held a special meeting in Hanover during Commencement weekend. The transfer of Tucker endowment funds to the new foundation was approved also by the Dartmouth Alumni Council at its June meeting. The Tucker Foundation previously associated with the Alumni Fund has been dissolved and the William Jewett Tucker Foundation as now established is the sole foundation bearing his name at Dartmouth.