It's easy to miss the forest for the trees, particularly when the trees stand tall, and that has been the problem with most of the commentary about Harold Shapiro's presidency. He has done so many specific things so well that his overall accomplishments are obscured, as I believe they were in the Sept. 25 'Prince' staff editorial on his resignation.
So, as a former trustee who was privileged to share 10 of Harold's 13 years at Nassau Hall, let me focus on the achievement that should loom largest in the undergraduate community. By persuasion, personal example, open bribery (read: more money) and countless initiatives, he refurbished the centrality of undergraduate education at Princeton. From the freshman seminars to the trustee-funded prizes for outstanding teaching, from the McGraw Center for Teaching and Learning to the ever-expanding effort to stay current in computer access and facilities, his leadership has put the interest of students first.
Notably, too, Princeton in the Shapiro years has been in the vanguard in the effort to minimize the effect of ever-rising tuition costs — and in the last few years, to restrain those costs as well. Princeton has recently — and dramatically — pushed the envelope on student aid, restoring a more equitable balance between grants and loans and expanding the pool of money available for both. Harold Shapiro believes in a Princeton that looks more like America, and he has helped provide the funds to match the rhetoric.
None of this was accomplished on an ad hoc basis, reactively and without vision. To the contrary, President Shapiro listened, read, absorbed and synthesized a vast amount of information in each field, consulted widely, and then, having made up his mind, acted. Ask those who lead other universities around the country, and the first thing they will cite about Harold Shapiro is his leadership. Ask the trustees, and they will tell you that he has been open-minded, responsive to conflicting views and disagreement, but consistently committed to an all-encompassing notion of what this University should be.
Of no less moment, he believes firmly that to stand still is to atrophy, so that he has followed each accomplishment with a new challenge to the board, to the University community and to the alumni. As noted in the 'Prince' editorial, he has been a fund-raising demon, for which all of us should utter a loud "thank you."
For good reason, of course, at any given time some students have not agreed with that sentiment. The University has been an ongoing construction site for most of the Shapiro era, and that was frequently disruptive. But while there were specific siting and architectural decisions with which some of us might quarrel (and I did in my time), what should be noted is that most of the new construction has taken shape within the parameters of an emerging master plan for the new Princeton. More to the point of this column, much of it has been aimed at vastly improving the conditions of student life, from new and renovated dormitories to the Frist Center.
What President Shapiro has done for the faculty, for the facilities so vital to maintaining the University's competitive edge in the increasingly competitive world of higher education and for the constant renewal of the academic enterprise is well documented. The University he inherited from William Bowen GS '58 and Robert Goheen '40 was not broken. Far from it. But like each of them, he built upon the past and left a vastly improved legacy to his successor. He found a great university. He leaves a greater one, no matter how you measure such things.
And to repeat, he did it not because he was a master at fund raising — though he was — but because he was the master of an expansive vision for higher education in general and Princeton in particular. The 'Prince' wrote that he should "be remembered well and often." He will, for reasons as concrete as the stadium and as essential as the vitality of the University's academic enterprise. Hodding Carter III, the president of the Knight Foundation, is a former member of the University Board of Trustees from Alexandria, Va. He also served as the Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs for President Jimmy Carter from 1977 to 1980. He can be reached at carter@knightfdn.org.
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