President Emeritus Hopkins Is Honored With Dartmouth's First Alumni Award

PRESIDENT EMERITUS ERNEST MARTIN HOPKINS '01 received Dartmouth's first Alumni Award, in recognition of outstanding service to the College, as the highlight of the 100th annual meeting of the General Alumni Association during Commencement weekend.

Because of the death of Mrs. Hopkins only the day before, President Hopkins could not be present to accept the award from Kenneth M. Henderson '16 of Chicago, Alumni Council president, but his daughter Ann Hopkins Potter received it for him. To her Mr. Henderson said: "You and your mother, until her death in 1950, were beloved figures on this campus during the long administration of your father. Now death has struck a second heavy blow in the passing of your stepmother yesterday. Will you accept and convey to your father our deep sympathy, and will you, Ann, take back to him this citation:

"ERNEST MARTIN HOPKINS, in your preparation for the Presidency of Dartmouth College we recall your outstanding undergraduate record as a scholar and as Editor of The Dartmouth. You so impressed our great President Tucker that he asked you to remain as his secretary after your graduation in 1901. In 1905 you were named as the first Secretary of the College and on October 16, 1916 you were inaugurated as its nth President.

"During your administration the endowment of the College increased five-fold; the educational plant quadrupled in value. You drew outstanding educators to Dartmouth and it became known and respected as an institution of the pure liberal arts where the independently-minded, creative teacher was welcomed. You emphasized that a college education should be offered only to the intellectually deserving but you balanced your phrase 'the aristocracy of brains' with an abhorrence of 'disembodied intellects.' Your thinking on this matter was characteristically expressed in action and in 1922 the pioneering Selective Process of Admission was set in motion and Dartmouth became representative of all sections of the United States as a vigorous national force.

"Largely through your efforts the feeling of Dartmouth men for their College has become legend. You helped organize the first meeting of the Dartmouth Secretaries Association; you were the founder and first President of the Alumni Council. You brought the College to Dartmouth men everywhere. You stated again and again its educational purpose and as understanding grew, Dartmouth alumni in tens and hundreds and thousands became effective workers on behalf of the College.

"As President of Dartmouth, more than 18,000 men received your wise counsel at Commencements spread over your 29 years of leadership. Through all those years you gave one gift to the College - the greatest and most important gift you could offer: yourself. You gave yourself to this College and, we felt, to us. You were large enough for all of us - we shared you proudly.

"At last count, Hoppy, you had received 17 degrees, in addition to enough praise and commendation for a host of good men. But we say that isn't enough. We have an award that we'll stack up against any of the others because ours comes from the heart. In behalf of the Dartmouth Alumni Council and the far-flung family of Dartmouth men, I am happy to give you this first Alumni Award for outstanding service to Dartmouth College."

In token of the Alumni Award, President Hopkins was given a small replica of the silver bowl Governor Wentworth presented to Eleazar Wheelock on the occasion of Dartmouth's first Commencement. After accepting this, Mrs. Potter responded briefly and told the Alumni Association gathering that her father wanted her to say one thing in his behalf: "Practically all my friends and practically all my interests have been in Dartmouth and its men. No award could mean more than this one from the alumni."

The Alumni Award, instituted this year, will be given annually to one or more Dartmouth men. It is sponsored by the Dartmouth Alumni Council, which a year ago named a special committee to determine the form of the honor and the basis for awarding it.

Ann Hopkins Potter receiving the Alumni Award for her father.Kenneth M. Henderson '16, Alumni Council president, is at left.

PRESIDENT EMERITUS HOPKINS