Evening star., 1952-06-22

star Stan Ph0fn
DEAN WARREN REED WEST.
and his humanitarian interest inl
young people, this quiet, modest
scholar. has many earnest con-
Victions.
1t is his belief that polls of
public opinion have a limited
value In political forecasting,
Primarily they show at their bestl
only the breadth of a sentiment,
not its DEPTH" Dean West told
me. "The tabulating of poll ma
terial requires seven or more steps.
Unless the errors of one step are
counterbalanced by the errors of i
the next, the discrepancy can be
very great. OF course the hope
of all pollsters is that this margin
Of error on each step will be
absorbed as the process goes along,
but many times this is, not the
case. Under general conditions,
the result can only have a rough
value as to accuracy"
Formerly assistant dean of GW's
School of Government, Professor
West was one of the first edu-
Gators in this country to inaugu-
rate course on the study of legis-
latures and the legislative process.
Such courses now are being given
in many colleges and universi-
ties.
students in university classes
In the Nations Capital present
greater intellectual challenge to
their teachers than is the case
anywhere else in this country
Dean West said. "This is good for|
us. and keeps us reaching up on
our academic toes. AS for myself
I can scarcely remember a single |
class since I began teaching at
CIV where there hasn't been atl
least one mature student, who
wasn't government specialist in
the field under discussion"
Dean West recalls that in sue
cessive years he had both the
Democratic and Republican read
ing clerks, assistant parliament
tarians and other legislative Of
ficials of the two parties in his
classes. Also, from time to time,
members of Congress have been
his students.
There are many foreign students
enrolled in classes at the univer-
sity. Often these are the sons
and daughters of diplomats here.
"They likewise constitute a stimu-
lus," Dean West says. There isl
a strong urge to give them the
best of our ideals of democracy"
The most dramatic foreign stu
dent the professor recalls having
in one of his classes was a broad
shouldered Balkan revolutionary
leader. He always came to class
fully armed, lest an unsuspected
enemy come upon him. In genera!
conversation he was one Of the
mildest men and eventually be-
came a favcrite with his class
mates. DR.. West still continues to
hear from him.
DR.. Vests classes are in Ameri-
can government and the American
Constitution. with a seminar in
legislative organization.
The author of several text books
and publications in the field Of
political science as we'll as nu-
merous magazine articles and
pamphlets, Dean West has writ
ten the annual article on the
District of Columbia for the
American Year Book since 1920.
An A. B. from the George WASH
ington University. he also holds
a Phi. D. from Johns Hopkins. He
Is member of the Cosmos Club,
and formerly was chairman of
the committee on election sta
tistics of the American Political
Science Association. He is a dele
gate to the American Documenta-
tion Society, which meets yearly
in the Library of Congress. He
says: MY country club is the
rear Of our home at 5000 Segwick
street NV. where I indulge a
lifelong fondness for gardening"
His wife is a former student,
Gladys A. Bush. They have one
son, Thomas Reed West, who is
in the Junior class at st. Albans
School.