THE FIRST VOLUME of
Light on the Hill
, published in 1966, carried the history of what was then known as Tufts College through its centennial in 1952. The present volume continues the story through its official designation as a university in the mid-1950s into the 1980s. The last thirty-odd years have been an exciting period, replete with changes, some of which have been so rapid and so dramatic that one colleague suggested that this volume might more properly be presented in loose-leaf notebook form rather than bound in conventional fashion.
This volume covers the administrations of Nils Y. Wessell and Burton C. Hallowell in their entirety and, in part, that of Jean Mayer, the tenth president of the institution, who is still in office as these words are being written.
The general material is organized topically, within a broad chronological framework, but there are also chapters devoted to such subjects of special interest as medical and dental education, the school of diplomacy and international affairs, and the liberal ministry (until the closing of the Crane Theological School in 1968). Attention is also paid to the three new graduate and professional schools created since 1976 during the administration of President Mayer. The Tufts of the 1980s is a far cry from the small hilltop college opened with little more than high hopes in 1854, with four professors and seven students, and an endowment fund of $99,535.09 at the end of its first year of operation. The college survived such vicissitudes as the financial panics of 1873 and 1907, the Great Depression of the 1930s, and two world wars. By the 1950s it had begun to broaden its primarily local associations and constituency and to take on some of the characteristics (and aspirations) of a university, the foundations for which had been laid during the Carmichael administration which closed in 1952.
The transition from the historic college to the modern university was continued at an accelerated pace during the Wessell
administration (1953-66) by the official use for the first time of the term "university" in 1955, characterized by a significant expansion of physical plant and the spectacular growth of the graduate school. The Hallowell administration (1967-76) experienced the student upheavals and double-digit inflation of the 1960s and early 1970s, but with herculean efforts and rigid economies, turned over to its successor a viable institution with a promising future.
In less than a decade of the Mayer administration, beginning in 1976, Tufts had undergone an unprecedented expansion of schools, programs, and physical facilities, and the university concept had been even more fully developed and refined. Tufts, which had become more and more of a nationally recognized institution, had not only greatly expanded its activities and heightened its visibility, especially in the area of the health sciences, but had extended and strengthened its international ties. All of this took place while the institution attempted to maintain and perpetuate its tradition as a relatively small and selective, nonsectarian, liberal arts college, with nineteenth-century roots.
WRITING ABOUT THE PAST is a complex task at best. Writing contemporary history is not only complex but downright dangerous, for the author can immediately become mired in a swampy area from which there is no escape. Students have been cautioned since time immemorial not to indulge in writing accounts of what has happened during their own lifetimes. An impressive host of arguments has been marshaled against indulging in such an activity and teachers of history (including the author) have repeatedly warned about the dangers of dealing with events so recent that they lack perspective. But in this particular instance, the author has thrown caution to the winds and has taken refuge in the comforting words of Ralph Waldo Emerson's famous dictum that "foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds."
The author needs no reminder that he is more than usually vulnerable in adhering to a course which carries the account into the 1980s. The vast majority of the more than 52,000 alumni/ae who have attended Tufts since 1952 are still living and have their own perceptions of their alma mater and of their experiences as students. Some will miss any mention of a favorite teacher, or of organizations in which they were active, or of athletic teams on which they played or which they supported. Nonetheless, in spite of errors of omission as well as of commission (for which he is solely responsible), the author has tried to produce as thorough and as balanced an account
as human frailty would permit. The opportunity to deal with considerably less than half the time period covered in the first volume has permitted the luxury of treating some subjects (such as fraternities and sororities) in much more detail than would otherwise be the case. As in the first volume, such scholarly paraphenalia as footnotes have been kept to a minimum. They have been confined to bibliographical references and supplementary information which is considered relevant to the text but is not an integral part of it. Complete documentation is available for the most part in the University Archives, which are the principal repository for material associated with the history of Tufts.
In a work of this kind, the number of individuals to whom the author is indebted is legion. Without exception, he has been met with support and encouragement as well as cooperation. Among those who should be singled out for special mention are former Presidents Wessell and Hallowell, and President Mayer, who have read with particular care those parts of the history dealing with their administration. They have all made constructive suggestions (and corrections) for which the author is most grateful. Fred Nickless, from his vantage point as the long-time Alumni Secretary, read the manuscript in its entirety and caught the author in many a verbal infelicity. The archival staff (Robert Johnson-Lally and Barbara Tringali) have been consistently helpful.
Of all the obligations incurred, possibly the greatest are owed to the Alumni Council of the Tufts Alumni Association, whose interest and efforts made possible not only the reprinting of the first volume in 1985 but the publication of this one. Special thanks go to Linda Dixon J'63 and Ronald Milauskas E'62 MS '66, who enlisted the enthusiastic support, among others, of President Mayer, and carried the project to a successful conclusion.
Russell E. Miller
UNIVERSITY HISTORIAN AND ARCHIVIST
FEBRUARY 1986
MEDFORD, MASSACHUSETTS
