Psychologist S. Roy Heath Studied Undergraduates, Left Mysteriously

A lot of Princetonians got excited last spring about a psychologist named S. Roy Heath. From the middle of March until June be was a controversial figure around Nassan Hall. But now that he has left the campus for Knox College in Illinois, almost everyone talks about him with restraint, as if the were the symptom of a bad spring that has gone away.

Heath, a Princeton graduate, Class of 1939, came of the college in 1950 under a Carneige grant to study education of Princeton. As head of an Advisee Project for the Class of 1954 he analyzed the social and academic lives of 36 students through their four undergraduate years. When he left last June, he probably know mote undergraduates on a personal basis than any other member of the faculty. And in turn more students called him their best faculty friend.

The furor which arose over his departure was partly the work of his advises and partly that of 15 compus leaders who felt the Administration made a grave mistake not promoting him in the Department of Psychology, where he was as instructor for two years.

A special protest committee took his case to the faculty, to the Deans, and finally to the trustees, trying to make them reverse their decision. But the protests were unsuccessful and Heath left.

"More Men Like Heath"

While these appeals went on, Princeton's campus heard four months of name-calling, read protest letters in the Daily Princetonian, and generally misunderstood the issues. Those who know the 37-year-old Heath claimed that Nassau Hall fired him because of his criticism against faculty-student relations. Others less emotionally involved with the man believe he had completed his work and felt like moving on. Whatever the reason, however, it is fact that Heath was not appointed to an assistant professorship, and according to Princeton regulations, had to leave.

In the middle of March two public statements--a resolution and a careless remark--were mainly responsible for starting the controversy. The resolution came from the Undergraduate Council, Princeton's equivalent of our Student Council. It called the Administration's dismissal of Heath a "manifestation of its indifference toward undergraduate life," and demanded an examination of the college's counselling service, the dean's office, and the state of student-faculty relations.

A day later, the head of the psychology department dropped a verbal bomb-shall when he said, "We Need More Men Like Heath." This comment came as a shock to most faculty and undergraduates. They naturally did not expect the head of Heath's department, which did not promote him, also to publicly praise him. The immediate implication was that Heath was begin fired for his criticism of the University, and not, as some had thought, for any incompetence.

With these two statements as a starter, the undergraduates fell subject to rumor and conjecture about Heath's true role. Everyone know that his 36 advisees ranked among the college's leading lights. Three were head of the Undergraduate Council, three others were team captains. One headed the Debating Society, another the Campus Fund Drive. One received a Rhodes Scholarship. To most Princetonians this was an impressive list of achievements. They felt much of it had been due to Heath's personal counselling and, accordingly, argued for a stepped up advising program.

The Daily Princeton took up the cry in a series of articles analyzing undergraduate life and criticizing the advising system. And the President of the Freshman Class drew up a long list of gripes against the Administration.

Even President Dodds stepped into the fray with several brief speeches. He explained why undergraduate rules were necessary and tried to put Heath into perspective. Coming late in the spring, these talks served to consolidate the issues and dampened some undergraduate excitement.

The most positive action which came out of the controversy was the creation of a now Office of the Dean of Students. By June the trustees had become sufficiently worked up over the case to feel Nassau Hall needed some minor adjustments. By taking the social responsibility out of the hands of the Dean of the College and giving it to a special man, they felt they would end future misunderstandings between the administration and its charges.

"Exhibit A"

Heath put his role in the walkathon this way:

"These men felt I understood their problems. They liked me. They felt that I was concerned because underclassmen didn't get to know as many faculty members as they might. To them I was Exhibit A. The students felt this was the time to fight the Administration and so they did. They weren't poor students and so they did. They were the best on the campus, and they were individualists."

The Princeton Administration looked at the case with another eye. One official described him as the symbol of a spring of discontent. "A lot of undergraduates used him to air their gripes. He was the touchstone for voicing their perennial dislike of very necessary rules, like compulsory chapel, our has against care on the campus, and requirement that women be out of the dormitories by seven."

Dean of the college Francis Godoplin thinks that the undergraduates confused their class association with Heath with the larger problems of education. "In the Administration. "Heath was hear to do a pilot study of Princeton undergraduate life. That was it. A lot of people get the wrong idea that we were forcing him to leave because he pointed out weaknesses in our faculty-student relations.

And so the controversy rolled on, with some genuine discontent and lots of talking. At the end of the academic year, the Dally Princetonian tried to sum up the arguments. it wrote in a June editorial. "The past semester at Princeton has been characterized by a growing and penetrating introspection both by undergraduates and the administration." The editors pointed out "areas of discontent' and related them to the Heath case.

"The whole trend was given sudden impetus and perspective by the announcement that Dr. S. Roy Heath '39 was leaving his Princeton post ...His leaving pointed up to many students the rather large educational gap that seemed to exist on the campus between faculty and students and between administration and students."

Those were the shrewdest undergraduate comments to come out of the year. This fall the college has relaxed. President Dodds has promised that the Administration will take "another look" at undergraduate regulations. And the Armstrong committee, a group of 15 professors and deans formed last spring, is probing into the life of Princeton's undergraduate. In perspective the Heath case appears symptomatic of larger Princeton educational and social problems which will be studied, carefully balanced, and acted on accordingly