I write as one who entered Princeton 60 years ago in the Class of ’43. I became a college president in 1951 and, after service in the Eisenhower administration, I began a 17-year presidency of Rockford College.
With that perspective, I offer these comments about President Tilghman’s speech to the entering students (President’s Page, Oct. 7). I think it unfortunate that she makes light of the academic procession, referring to it as a parade. It was the perfect occasion to explain that the academic procession is a solemn rite, ancient and honored.
President Tilghman’s first point is a charge to the students to wean themselves from the family environment in which they grew up. She advises them to keep in touch with their parents, but they are not a part of the new life at the University. Students are here to strike out on their own as adults.
For many years sociological statistics have told us that growing up in a family of the father married to the mother, more than any other circumstance, increases the likelihood that the children will not have problems with alcohol, mind-altering drugs, emotional instability, dropping out of school, and other social maladies of today’s culture. For the University to scorn the ethos of the family is not wise.
Following are excerpts from the letter that President Harold Dodds *14 sent to my family in 1939: “We will do our utmost to guide him so that he will emerge a useful, responsible member of society ... We count on your assistance, believing that the influence of the home should not end at the college door ... I have also called the students’ attention to the facilities provided here for the study of religion and for worship, believing, as I do, that one’s moral code establishes the ultimate values of life.”