Sitting comfortably in his spacious office in Parkhurst Hall, President of the College James Freedman said with a smile he "loved" writing his new book, "Idealism and Liberal Education," which hit bookstores last month.
He said he has already begun to formulate a second book.
"Idealism and Liberal Education," Freedman's first published book, is a collection of essays by Freedman that complement each other and combine an autobiography with a treatise on liberal education.
Freedman said his second book will probably address issues similar to those in "Idealism and Liberal Education," by further discussing his views on education. But he said so far he has been afflicted with "writer's block."
He said he had always wanted to write a book and now that he has been an educator for more than 30 years, he decided the time was right.
In his book, Freedman discusses how he became an educator, lauds affirmative action, discusses how literature has affected his life and describes several "idealists" he has admired.
"I have some beliefs about liberal education," Freedman said ardently. He said he wanted to see if he could write about those beliefs in a comprehensive and readable manner.
Freedman said it was both difficult and fulfilling to put his thoughts to pen.
"It's good discipline for the self," he said. "The whole process of trying to write opinions ... helps you to think it through."
His book, which is largely a discourse on a liberal education, gave Freedman the opportunity to stress what he sees as the value of a liberal arts education.
"Too many people feel liberal education doesn't prepare you for anything. It does -- it prepares you for life," Freedman said enthusiastically.
For example, Freedman said his passion for literature helped him endure his struggle with cancer.
"During the difficult and dismaying days of chemotherapy, liberal education helped me in that most human of desires -- the yearning to make order and sense out of my experience," he wrote.
Freedman said he wrote a chapter about his bout with cancer while he was undertaking chemotherapy.
"It was an emotional necessity at the time ... too much to bear without letting your friends ... support you," he said.
"If you don't talk about it, people don't talk to you" about cancer, Freedman added. "It emancipates people."
Freedman said he did most of the work on the book during his sabbatical last year, when Dean of the Faculty Jim Wright served as acting President of the College.
Wright said he is "looking forward to reading" the book.
"He compliments all of us by writing this book," Wright said. "It's symbolically important to have a president ... engaged in the debate and discussion about higher education."
Freedman said most of the 22 chapters in "Idealism and Liberal Education" were based on past speeches he had given, all but five written after he came to Dartmouth in 1987.
He said his defense of affirmative action is one of the most important arguments he makes in his book.
In his chapter titled "The Promise of Equality," Freedman outlines his beliefs that affirmative action is integral to the ideals of liberal education.
"The efforts to achieve diversity that are currently being made on the nation's campuses are an essential part of that learning experience," Freedman wrote. "We need to support them with a vigor and fidelity that reflects their importance to America's future."
Freedman said he enjoyed writing about affirmative action because it gave him a chance to thoroughly consider why he supports it so strongly.
"You believe in the core beliefs ... until you sit down and write why affirmative action is important, you may not be sure if the foundation you stand on is a solid foundation," he said.
But he said once done writing about affirmative action, he felt very confident with his discussion of its qualities.
The first part of his book is more autobiographical.
In his first chapter, Freedman introduces himself to readers by providing them with a candid look at his youth and how he became President of Dartmouth.
Freedman said he wrote the first chapter last, at the prompting of the book's editor, Colin Day, director of the University of Michigan Press.
The University of Michigan Press published the book.
Freedman said Day suggested he write an autobiographical chapter so readers could better understand Freedman and to show, "this is a set of essays not by an anonymous person."
Harvard Magazine recently ran an excerpt from the first chapter, and Freedman said he had received over 20 letters from readers, most of whom wrote they readily identified with Freedman's upbringing.
Freedman wrote he was born and raised in a modest Jewish household in Manchester. His father was a high school English teacher who encouraged his son to read great amounts of literature.
"The defining force of my mother's life was ... a powerful ambition for her son to succeed," Freedman wrote, and largely because of his parents' insistence, he went on to attend Yale University and Harvard Law School.
The year before graduating from law school, Freedman served as a law clerk for Justice Thurgood Marshall, then a member of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.
Freedman wrote he found working with Marshall a great learning experience.
He looked up to Marshall because he had personal integrity, compassion, a commitment to equality and a charismatic sense of humor, he wrote.
After graduating from Harvard Law in 1964, Freedman taught at the University of Pennsylvania Law School, and eventually became dean of the law school.
In 1982, Freedman became president of the University of Iowa, and after five years there, he came to Dartmouth to serve as President.
