The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1933-06-19
EDUCATIONAL PROGRESS

PTNFIE commencement period and the recent
L choice of several university presidents
redirects our attention to educational issues.
One of the most heartening reports is the
appointment Of Or. Harold w. Dodds as presi-
dent of Princeton university.
Princeton is by tradition a notably con-
sentative and ariStocratic institution and might
have been expected to- play very safe in the
selection of its new head. A clustered divine
or metaphyscian would have seemed most in
line for the choice.
But the institution which gradually wormed
Woodrow Wilson out of its gates did itself
proud and elected as its head political scien-
fist with an emnently practical cast of mind
and a special flair for mingling in the welter
of human affairs.
Dr. Dodds interests have ranged from in
ternational relations, especially in Latin
America to the problems of municipal govern
ment While ever mindful of the necessity of
Sultivatng sound theory, he has been in
serested primarily in applying the science of
government to the improvement of human
gelations His election is an suspicious sign
for the future of American higher education.
1t will mark a real departure in the way
of making Princeton the national type of
institution which Woodrow Wilson desired it
to be. without sacrificing the tradition of keep
ing it a relatively small institution where there
can be intimate contacts of teachers pre-
ceptors and individual students.
His election gives recognition to the po-
lticaI scientist with experience beyond the
borders of the United States, yet having a
practical and intimate touch with affairs with
in our country 1t stands in marked contrast
with the prevailing tendency to select for
these high posts professors of English nathe-
matics or philosophy
1t indicates a recognition of the necessity
to place men of creative rather than purely
didactic and analytical turn of mind in posi-
tons of leadership.
DR.. Dodds wide range of interests and
achievements and his national and inter-
national contacts will improve Princetons
relations with other institutions without sacri-
fcing its essential individual characteristics.
The fact that he is not, like most Princeton
presidents of the past, a clergyman, VIII help
along the liberalizing and secularizing tenden-
cies which of late have been gathering mo-
mentum.
On the other side of the ledger comes the
announcement of the abandonment of in
struction in sociology at Clark university. This
seems to be a sort of final reverberation from
the notable crisis of 1929 in that institution,
after President Wallace w. Atwood ordered
the lights turned out on a dignified address by
DR.. Scott Nearing
Clark university once was one of the two
most famous graduate universities in the
United States. Under its famous president,
Granville Stanley Hall. it was a pioneer in
educational. psychological, and sociological
fields.
President Atwood has transformed it into
an institution giving special emphasis 10 geo.
graphy-a policy which can be defended on
the ground of the need for specialization in
graduate studies There is, however, no sub
ject more needed in a geographical institute
than sociology. if the students are to be made
to realize the broad human implications of the
tacts and processes of geography.
The students have petitioned their presi-