Woodrow Wilson: Princeton to the Presidency
by W. Barksdale Maynard
Yale University Press (New Haven, CT) 2008
392 pages, $30.00, hardcover
Reviewed by William H. Pruden III
Head of Upper School/College Counselor
Ravenscroft School (NC)
W. Barksdale Maynard’s new book, Woodrow Wilson: Princeton to the Presidency, comes at an interesting time, for the 2008 presidential campaign has raised anew questions about the nature of presidential leadership and the experience needed to hold the nation’s highest office, while at the same time the debate over the proper public role of university leadership rages on. Maynard’s study of Wilson’s years as an academic leader, years that served as the basic foundation for his political career, illuminates a chapter in American history that helps inform both of these issues, while also providing important historical context for issues that continue, a century later, to bedevil educational leaders.
Indeed, seeking to raise academic admissions standards, with a central “desire to uplift and inspire young minds,” Wilson railed against increased specialization, the almost vocational like approach that he saw in many schools. He believed that to be an educated person, one who could most effectively lead, one needed a foundation of general studies. He also believed that education was about human connections, with one individual learning from the mind of another. He spoke of “mind with mind” exchanges that extended beyond the classroom. He also, albeit in the context of the early 20th century, fought against the more elite social stratification that often characterized the university of the time, (and sometimes seems at the heart of the focus on selective admissions in modern times) seeking instead to create a more democratic social structure, while also working to developing a sense of community that would foster a broader, more enriching educational experience.
Given his views then, and later as president of the United States, on race and women, it would be a stretch to term his efforts an early push for diversity, but in the context of the time, he was arguably a pioneer in pushing for greater socio-economic diversity while recognizing and trumpeting the importance of social interaction and discussion beyond the classroom, of the educational role of peers. Indeed, Wilson once declared “It is my firm conviction that the real effects of a university are wrought between the hours of 6:00 pm and 9:00 am.” In an effort to foster that atmosphere, Wilson, like modern university presidents, oversaw no small amount of building during his tenure at Princeton, but the new buildings were not fitness centers, athletic complexes, or student centers. Rather, he expanded the classroom capacity to allow for more, smaller instructional areas, places that would help students discover, as Wilson the Princeton undergraduate had, that “I have a mind.”
From these efforts Wilson earned a national reputation as a reformer--and not just in education. Rather, as Maynard explains, as Wilson sought to use the Princeton as a proving ground for his ideas, and the more broadly he spread his message, the more the educational themes began to have wider societal implications. Indeed, his concerns about the socio-economic aspects of higher education became a call for greater democratization and in the midst of the national Progressive movement that struck a chord. And yet, as Maynard clearly illustrates, the modern nostalgic view of Wilson as the embodiment of a college president who spoke out, one who did not shrink from assuming national leadership for fear of alienating the next wave of capital campaign donors, conveniently forgets that while his own national reputation soared, his efforts at home not only ended in defeat as both his quad plan and his vision for the graduate college were rejected, but his beloved university was divided in ways that took decades to heal.
Indeed, while historians now agree that Wilson’s personality, impacted by health issues, makes his story a particularly distinctive one, it nevertheless remains a cautionary tale, as the call by New Jersey’s Democrats to pursue the governorship saved Wilson the indignity of resigning in veritable disgrace in the aftermath of his defeat in the titanic “Battle of Princeton.” Indeed, in the same way that Wilson’s national legacy had to do more with establishing idealistic and philosophical guidelines, dreams and goals that would be pursued more successfully by his successors, especially Franklin Roosevelt, so too was his educational legacy as much rhetoric as reality, with much hurt and division left in its wake.
A fast paced and thought provoking narrative, W. Barksdale Maynard’s Woodrow Wilson: Princeton to the Presidency, offers a timely, well drawn, and valuable reminder of the political and personal nature higher education leadership, while also offering important context for issues that continue to challenge us today. It is a book well-worth reading for anyone interested in the world of higher education.