Summary
Overview
Princeton University. Office of the President.
Office of the President Records: William G. Bowen Subgroup
1940-1998 (mostly 1972-1987)
198.02 linear feet, 423 archival boxes, 11 half-size archival boxes, 7 records center boxes, seventeen 5"x 12"x 3" archival boxes, two 9"x 11"x 1.5" archival boxes, one 8"x 8"x 1.5" archival box, one 12" x 14.5" x 1.5" archival box and one oversized folder
Abstract
The collection contains the files compiled by the Office of the President during the presidency of William G. Bowen GS'58 (July 1972 to January 1988). The files consist of correspondence, memoranda, reports, speeches, publications, and other assorted material. Series 18 includes the files of three assistants to the president, biographical and photographic material about Bowen, and a card index of the files. There is some overlap between the files in this collection and the files of presidents Goheen and Shapiro. Records found here are sometimes duplicated in the records of other administrative offices on campus.
Description
Description
The collection contains the files compiled by the Office of the President during the presidency of William G. Bowen GS'58 (July 1972 to January 1988). The files consist of correspondence, memoranda, reports, speeches, publications, and other assorted material. Series 18 includes the files of three assistants to the president, biographical and photographic material about Bowen, and a card index of the files. There is some overlap between the files in this collection and the files of presidents Goheen and Shapiro. Records found here are sometimes duplicated in the records of other administrative offices on campus.
Collection Creator
History
The selection of William Gordon Bowen GS'58 (1933-) as the University's seventeenth president surprised no one. He grew up in a small town near Cincinnati, Ohio, and graduated from Denison University, after serving as co-chairman of the student body, winning an Ohio Conference tennis championship, and earning Phi Beta Kappa. He came to Princeton in 1955 on a Woodrow Wilson Fellowship to study economics at the Graduate School, and earned his doctorate in 1958, just before his 25th birthday. He was immediately appointed assistant professor of economics and research associate in the Industrial Relations Section.
He quickly became a popular and highly respected professor. His research focused on the economic relationships between government, education, the arts, and labor. His publications included The Federal Government and Princeton University, a study of the role of federal funding and its consequences for Princeton; Economic Aspects of Education, a comparative study of university financing in the United Kingdom and the United States; Performing Arts: The Economic Dilemma with William J. Baumol, and The Economics of Labor Force Participation with Vanderbilt's T. Aldrich Finegan, a definitive study on minimum wage and unemployment.
In recognition of the "ever-mounting responsibilities a university president must shoulder," the Trustees established the position of provost-the second-highest ranking University official-in 1966. President Robert F. Goheen '40 chose Bowen as the University's second provost one year later. During his five-year term, Bowen was so closely identified with the respected Goheen that the students nicknamed the provost "Boheen." Bowen served on the committee that recommended coeducation and was widely assumed to be one of its most enthusiastic proponents. As provost, he guided the implementation of coeducation, from establishing admission policy and providing housing, to hiring female faculty and staff. He was credited with almost single-handedly balancing the University's budget while remaining popular in the University community.
When Goheen notified the Trustees that he would retire by the end of the 1971-1972 year, the University community expected Bowen to be named his successor. In November 1971, after a short but national search, the trustee search committee recommended Bowen to the full Board of Trustees. The November 30 Daily Princetonian reported that three other search groups-representing students, faculty, and staff-had each already declared Bowen their first choice. The Trustees approved Bowen's selection unanimously. Bowen was the first Princeton president who was neither a Presbyterian minister nor the son of one. In fact, he thought that religion ought to be a private matter (foreshadowing a cold relationship with the dean of the chapel). Despite the campus enthusiasm, both Goheen and Bowen wanted to reassure the community that the new president would take a human-not strictly economic-approach to campus administration. "As pressing as economic issues really are, they're not the most important ones for me now," stated Bowen at the press conference announcing his appointment. "Educational issues are." Bowen was formally installed June 30, 1972.
Racial integration and coeducation as well as unrest over the Vietnam War made the final years of Goheen's administration turbulent ones. In comparison, Bowen's presidency was calm. While the major decisions that led to racial integration and coeducation at Princeton had already been made, the University had yet to establish most support programs and policies intended to serve these new groups of students. In addition, the recruitment of racial minorities and women into the faculty and administration had barely begun.
Bowen and his administration remained loyal to the progressive new initiatives of the "Boheen" years, but he continued to face resistance from alumni. Despite the best efforts of the administration, alumni often saw a very different Princeton from the one they once attended. While many accepted racial integration as necessary to keep up with the times, they tended to be far more skeptical about coeducation, and were infuriated by any hint of cohabitation. A reactionary alumni organization called Concerned Alumni of Princeton (CAP) capitalized on widespread alumni disillusionment by establishing a publication entitled Prospect. In addition to coeducation and cohabitation, Prospect railed against Princeton's left-leaning faculty, sex education and reproductive health care on campus, and the University's acceptance of a student organization called the Gay Alliance. Depressed further by consistently bad performances in football, many alumni became unreceptive to the University's fundraising requests.
Through positive, thoughtful, and consistent public relations, however, Bowen managed to right this foundering relationship. He insisted on a personal reply to every letter, particularly from alumni. He responded to Prospect's most serious accusations both in Prospect itself and in the Princeton Alumni Weekly ( PAW). He increased his visits to alumni associations across the country and invited wealthy and influential alumni to participate in Princeton Today programs on campus. All of these efforts were enormously successful. By the early 1980s, alumni were once again supportive of Bowen and his administration, and CAP had lost much of its influence. Indeed, Prospect ceased publication in 1983.
This turnaround arrived just in time for the fundraising Campaign for Princeton, officially begun in 1981 (but in preparation since the late 1970s). After increasing the goal several times, the campaign raised a staggering $410 million, mostly from alumni. The campaign coincided with the establishment of the college system, which organized five colleges-Butler, Forbes, Mathey, Rockefeller, and Wilson-mostly out of existing dormitory complexes and dining halls. The primary purposes of the campaign, however, were to supplement the University's financial aid programs and to strengthen the faculty by increasing their salaries and the number of positions.
Perhaps the most controversial and tenacious issue that faced the Bowen administration was whether or not to withdraw University investments from companies doing business in South Africa. Proponents of divestment contended that withdrawal of economic support would pressure the South African government to abandon apartheid. From his tenure as provost to the end of his presidency, however, Bowen steadfastly defended Princeton's investment policies, arguing that divestment would hurt South African blacks rather than help them and that the University could not take a stand on politically controversial issues. Student opposition to an otherwise well-liked administration reached its most volatile point when students demonstrated against Princeton's investment policies in the late 1970s and again in the mid-1980s. Bowen temporarily diffused the situations by agreeing to meet with students in campus forums, holding discussions with student leaders, and addressing the issue in the Daily Princetonian.
Throughout his presidency, Bowen continued to play tennis on campus and periodically taught sections of Economics 101. In January 1987, Bowen announced his intention to leave Princeton a year later to assume leadership of the Mellon Foundation (once again replacing Robert F. Goheen). Joining Bowen would be Provost Neil Rudenstine, who agreed to become Mellon's vice president. As president of the Mellon Foundation, Bowen found time to author major works analyzing higher education policy, such as The Shape of the River (with Derek Bok, 1998), The Game of Life (with James Shulman, 2000), and Reclaiming the Game (with Sarah Levin, 2003). As of 2004, Bowen continues to direct the Mellon Foundation. Harold T. Shapiro GS'64 was installed as Princeton's eighteenth president January 8, 1988.
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