Carey Heckman '76 spoke to a group of 20 students last night on a subject that is usually quite unfamiliar to current Dartmouth students: the 25-year presidency of John Sloan Dickey '63.
The discussion, held at Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity and titled "Perspective on Dartmouth Presidents over the Past 25 Years," was a thorough discussion of how Dickey, according to Heckman, made drastic changes to Dartmouth's operations.
"For 25 years after his presidency [he was] overshadowing everybody," Heckman said.
Dickey was "a very towering kind of person," he added, "very much a person of this area."
Dickey, born in Pennsylvania, graduated Magna Cum Laude from Dartmouth before going to work in a Boston law firm for a year. He then left to work for a federal judge and continued his work in law until 1940, when he worked briefly with Nelson Rockefeller, for whom the Rockefeller Center is named.
Having gained experience, Dickey went to work for Secretary of State Cordell Hull in 1943 and was the first to be appointed director of public affairs. This experience would serve him well in his future career.
In 1945, Dickey was announced as the new President of Dartmouth just three days before he was to officially assume the title. The secrecy was at the behest of outgoing President Hopkins who had faced a great deal of controversy from faculty when he was named president.
When Dickey came to Dartmouth, the school was facing many problems.
The faculty at the time was filled with "storytellers" who would give the "History Channel presentation of the course," with many theatrics, but little actual information, Heckman said. Before Dickey, Dartmouth had the lowest percentage of faculty with doctorate degrees of any Ivy League school.
Dickey, over Dickey's time as president, shifted the faculty to the "teacher-scholars," that are more prevalent today.
"Dickey was unhappy with the slow academic pace of students," said Heckman, and over his time at the College he increased the selectivity of the school and the quality of students. Dartmouth was the first Ivy League school to institute "selective admissions criteria" other than high school grades.
For the students who were here with him, though, Dickey's greatest achievement was the "Great Issues" course, which he made mandatory for all seniors. The course involved speakers who would come to Dartmouth from all over the world and discuss the biggest issues of the time, which the students would then debate.
Dickey's architectural influence on the school was less appreciated, however. While the much-applauded Hopkins Center for Performing Arts was built under his tenure, so were the Choates and River Clusters, as well as Gerry, Bradley and Kiewitt.
In the late 60s, Dickey stepped down as president, having shifted Dartmouth to a place where a student could get what he preferred to call "a liberating arts education."
He continued at Dartmouth as a regarded history professor and wrote a well-respected textbook on Canadian-American relations before he suffered a stroke.
His presence is still remembered at Dartmouth with the atmosphere that he helped to foster here, from the sense of place, to his core values of independence, resourcefulness and fellowship.