Dignity, Discourse, And Destiny

The Life of Courtney C. Smith
Courtney C. Smith was an educator of high standards and vision who led Swarthmore College from 1953 to 1969. This work looks at Smith's convictions, commitment, and values, and shows how they preserved liberal arts at Swarthmore and shaped institutions that continue to promote discourse, human dignity, and civil society.
Courtney C. Smith, an educator of high standards and vision who led Swarthmore College from 1953 to 1969, was an outstanding figure in twentieth-century American higher education. A native of Iowa, Smith graduated from Harvard University in 1938 summa cum laude and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. He won a Rhodes Scholarship and went to Merton College, Oxford, England, and then returned to Harvard for doctoral studies, receiving a Ph.D. in English literature. Appointed president of Swarthmore College in April 1953, at the age of 36, Smith - an articulate, strong leader - soon was actively developing relationships with the college's alumni, engaging with the Philadelphia and Quaker communities, fundraising, appointing new faculty, raising faculty salaries, and building new facilities. Smith cultivated a network of contacts in education, philanthropy, and government, including an ever-growing group of well-placed Rhodes scholars. He became a trustee of the Markle Foundation in 1953, was elected to Harvard University's Board of Overseers in 1955, and served on other nonprofit and corporate boards. In the fall of 1968 Smith encountered an increasingly contentious disagreement over the role of African-American students at the college. Despite negotiations the situation intensified early in January 1969 when students began an Admissions office sit-in. On the morning of 16 January, without having reached a resolution of the college's crisis, he collapsed and died in his office of a heart attack. Thirty years later we can look at Smith's convictions, commitment, and values, and see how they preserved liberal arts at Swarthmore and shaped institutions that continue to promote discourse, human dignity, and civil society.

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