For Students at War

If expressions of appreciation, oral and written, which have been received at Princeton are any criterion, one of the most welcome wartime services performed by the University has been its prompt dissemination of information to undergraduates, undergraduates in the armed forces and parents about matters affecting the relation of the student to his education and to his war responsibilities.

           Latest in the long line of informative material is a series of pamphlets now being issued by the War Service Bureau to assist the undergraduate in war service in the formulation of his future educational plans. This series is being sent to every undergraduate who left the campus for war duty and students who have been admitted to Princeton but who have never matriculated because of their war obligations. The pamphlets are also being forwarded upon application, to parents of students in these two categories.

           In a letter announcing the series, President Dodds told the undergraduates at war “we are planning and working for your comfort and welfare when you return, and the purpose of this letter is to tell you our program for keeping you informed as to what it will be like here when you come back.”

           “Naturally,” he wrote, “a great many of you have not been able to keep up-to-date on developments at Princeton while you have been away. Many of you will welcome, we believe, further information regarding such subjects as the G.I. Bill of Rights, the Princeton Program for Servicemen and Princeton’s educational program for the post-war period.” The series of pamphlets, he promised, would describe “as exactly as possible the various aspects of Princeton education that are important to the returning serviceman, giving both the immediate situation and the long-range view.”

           In addition to the subjects already noted, the series, he said, would “cover the University’s current plans in regard to undergraduate life after the war, the whole question of undergraduate scholarships and student employment, and the ambitions of our newly-appointed staff of athletic coaches” and would include reports covering each department and program. 

           The first of the pamphlets, entitled “The Veteran Re-Enters the University,” was published on July 15 and the second "The Princeton Program for Servicemen and Its Future" on July 25. The third, schedules for early August, will be devoted to the educational benefits for servicemen authorized by federal legislation.

           The first bulletin discusses the mechanics of re-entering Princeton and the assessment, in relation to class standing, of war training and war experience. While recognizing a desire on the part of many servicemen to rush through their college educations, the bulletin urges a leisurely pace. It advocates, first, “a substantial vacation before plunging into college work.” And it asks the serviceman who wants to hurry to consider three points: “first, that most of the men of his generation will be in exactly the same situation; second, that by taking advantage of the flexible program arrangements and the year-round calendar at Princeton he can complete his education in a period relatively short when compared to the lifetime ahead of him, in which his Princeton education will be increasingly important; third, that if he completes his education, he will begin his career not merely as a college graduate, but a college graduate with war service and experience to boot — a combination which ought to provide a pretty solid foundation on which to build.”

           The second pamphlet, on the Princeton Program for Servicemen, explains that the University’s objective is to help the veteran resume his place in the accustomed pattern of life on the Princeton campus as smoothly and easily as possible. “Princeton,” it says, “is dead set against segregation of any sort and, unlike some of her sister institutions, has not announced the setting up of special G.I. dormitories or academic units.”

           It even sets the minds of servicemen at rest on another point. It explains that while there are not many married men among the veterans who have returned so far, “there will probably be more wives and brides in future terms.” The University, it states, “stands ready to help with house hunting, and take all possible steps to provide adequate living quarters.” “No one,” it promises, “will have to camp out.”

This was originally published in the August 10, 1945 issue of PAW.