James O. Freedman, Dartmouth president from 1987 to 1998, will be honored by Tufts University this May for his contributions to education, including his defense of the liberal arts education. Tufts' president and the Tufts Board of Trustees agreed in a majority vote to award Freedman an honorary doctorate of humane letters at Tufts' commencement.
"He is one of the leaders of higher education in the country today," Tufts University Provost Jamshed Bhachura said.
Freedman has made enormous contributions to the "national consciousness" of higher education, Bharucha added, citing Freedman's book, "Idealism and Liberal Education."
Within the book, Freedman discusses the "transformative nature of a liberal arts education" and how a liberal arts education has given direction and meaning to his life. The book also defends affirmative action.
"At a time when the idea of the liberal university is under attack from all sides, Freedman has given a wondrous personal reaffirmation of its place in our lives," wrote journalist and historian David Halberstam in a book review.
Freedman has never been officially affiliated with Tufts, but is a personal friend of the university's president, Lawrence Bacow.
"There is a lot of personal significance in honoring [Freedman's] many accomplishments," said Linda Dixon, a staffer at the Tufts Trustee office.
After receiving his undergraduate degree from the Harvard University and his juris doctorate from Yale Law School, Freedman went on to serve as president of the University of Iowa and dean at the University of Pennsylvania Law School.
Freedman's presidency at Dartmouth saw the groundbreaking of Berry Library and Dartmouth leading the Ivy League in the proportion of tenured and tenure-track female faculty.
He also oversaw the most successful capital campaign in Dartmouth's history.
Under Freedman's leadership, Dartmouth's academics were overhauled, and he introduced or revitalized programs in Latin-American, Latino and Caribbean studies; environmental studies; Jewish studies; linguistics and cognitive science; and Arabic, Hebrew and Japanese languages. He also created majors in women's studies and African and African-American Studies.
The Institute of Arctic Studies was founded under his leadership.
Freedman's administration saw the construction of buildings for the computer science, chemistry and psychology departments, as well as the Roth Center for Jewish Life and the Rauner Special Collections Library.
Freedman, who is retired and lives in Cambridge, Mass., expressed his admiration for Tufts' quality of education.
"It's really a strong university that has gotten stronger in the last ten or so years," Freedman said. "I'm very grateful. It's very lovely for people to pay you such an honor."
