Yale Hunts Successor to Retiring President; Tafts Being Considered

Yale is out shopping for a new president to succeed Charles Seymour Y '08, the incumbent, who announced last April that he will retire July 1, 1950.

At that time, Seymour said he was making the announcement over a year in advance so that the Yale Corporation may have "ample opportunity for studied consideration in the choice of my successor."

The corporation went to work right away with the appointment of a three man Committee on the Selection of a President, headed by Irving S. Olds Y '07, member of the corporation and chairman of the board of directors of United States Steel. This committee's recommendation will go to the full corporation for a vote.

As yet there has been no word indicating what names are being considered, but popular consensus around Yale points to Ohio's Taft brothers, Robert A. Y '10 and Charles P. Y. '18, as strong contenders, with Charles held the favorite.

Charles Taft

Charles Taft, a leading Ohio lawyer and political power in Cincinnati, has been one of Yale's most, active alumni for a number of years.

While some opinion sees heads of various preparatory schools around New England as possible choices, practically only one present university officer is mentioned as a logical candidate: Morris Hadley Y '16, member of the corporation and a New York corporation lawyer.

His father, Arthur Twining Hadley, was Yale's 13th president, between 1899 and 1920, and the first non-clerical president of the university. He is known as the "father of modern Yale."

Step by Stop

Seymour himself rose from the ranks; he was Sterling Professor of History, Provost of Yale, and Master of Berkeley College before becoming the 15th president in 1937.

Aside from these qualifications for the post, Seymour practically inherited the presidency. An ancestor, Joseph Colt, received an honorary degree at the first Yale commencement in 1702. His great-great-grandfather, Thomas Clap, was president of Yale College from 1740 to 1766. His great-uncle, Jeremiah Day, filled the same office between 1817 and 1846. His grandfather, Nathan P. Seymour, was a graduate of the college, and his father, Thomas Day Seymour, was Hillhouse Professor of Greek Language and Literature.

Local Man

Charles Seymour was born in New Haven on January 1, 1885, which brings him to Yale's retirement age of 65 next year. After graduating from Hillhouse High School (which also gave Yale its football captain, Levi Jackson) in 1901, he received a B.A. from Kings College, Cambridge University, England, in 1904. He then came to Yale for four years, getting his B.A. there in 1908.

He returned to Cambridge for his M.A. in 1909 and came back to New Haven for a Ph.D. in 1911. From then until 1915 he was a history instructor. In 1918 he was promoted from assistant professor to professor of history, and in 1922 received the Sterling Professorship. He was appointed Provost in 1927 and Master of Berkeley College in 1932.

He has received honorary degrees from Harvard, Princeton, Wesleyan, Columbia, Pennsylvania, Williams, Boston University, University of Hawaii, Western Reserve, Trinity, Rollins, and the University of Lyons, France.

Diplomatic Work

After the first World War, Seymour served on treaty and territory commissions dealing with Romania, Yugoslavia, and Czechoslovakia and headed the Austro-Hungarian division.

Assuming the presidency of Yale in time for the end of the depression and the outbreak of the war, he saw the enrollment rise from a pre-war 5,300 to 9,000, and drop back to 8,400 this fall.

Educational advances and experiments during his administration have been distinguished by constant liberalization and widening of the undergraduate's potential field of study.

Students' choice of majors has become almost unlimited, with the institution of interdepartmental majors ranging from Science and Music and Engineering and Drama to any combination the administrative board can be persuaded to approve.

This increased freedom to study in "unrelated fields" came into effect two years ago after ten years of study initiated when Seymour took office. In addition, the Yale undergraduate can take an almost unlimited number of courses in the graduate schools and may even major in a field in which a graduate school offers the only courses available.

Other Seymour innovations are required summer reading, the experimental directed studies program, division of studies into five sections, the Scholars of the House program, and revision of methods of history instruction.

The requirement that all undergraduates do a specified amount of reading from a list each summer for a fall examination has been termed a success, as has the substitution of visual techniques for texts and use of source documents in teaching of history.

Directed Studies

The directed studies program takes about 40 students each year through the freshman and sophomore years and prescribes practically all their courses. Applicants for the program are screened to form a cross-section of the undergraduate body in regard to scholastic and social history, aptitudes, and predicted college record.

Results so far have been markedly higher than average scholastic records, both during the program and in the junior and senior years.

The Scholars of the House program takes under 40 juniors and seniors, with no special requirements other than high scholastic standing and approval by a faculty committee.

Lastly, Seymour has appointed heads of six newly-formed divisions: sciences, social sciences, humanities, arts, medical affairs, and engineering. The sciences division now offers three courses (Sciences I, II, and III) similar to Harvard's General Education Natural Sciences courses.