"For the purposes of this study, therefore, I visited at least half a hundred colleges and universities east of the Mississippi and at least as many more West of the Mississippi. Everywhere I endeavored to make a judgment from evidence gained at first hand for the causes of the prevailing discontent with the American college."
-William Trufant Foster
New York Times, April 15, 1917
The following accounts are inspired by the founding president of Reed College, William Trufant Foster.
In 1911, Trufant Foster undertook a series of visits to American colleges and universities to see, first hand, the state of American higher education in order to inform his own contribution to it. Reed College was founded during a period of discontent and reorganization in American higher education. One that prefigures, perhaps, today. Foster accepted the presidency of Reed College with a condition - that he visit one hundred campuses prior to taking up his position.
My academic life was shaped by Trufant Foster and the institution he built. I served as an admission dean at Reed College for ten years (2008-2019). Is there "prevailing discontent" in American higher education? This question concerns me. I can say that today Reed College, that darling of the New York Times in 1917, that academic, intellectual, countercultural bastion, faces pressures like never before. Today, in my quest to understand the purpose and value of higher education, I look to one hundred colleges and universities like Trufant Foster before me.
These pages chronicle my travels as a counselor - seeking to understand the changing landscape of American higher education. It is a place to record the judgments I make from evidence gained first hand at one hundred American colleges and universities, "half a hundred east of the Mississippi and a least as many more West of the Mississippi." I invite you to visit and explore these campuses with me.
Crockett Marr
November, 2019