Conflicts of Principle

Abbott Lawrence Lowell

Published by Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1932

About this Item

First Edition (SD). This book is in very nice condition. You can see the maroon covers in the photos. They have some very light soiling on the front cover, mostly visible when you place the book under the light. The gilt lettering on the spine is very bright. The six edges are in very good condition. So are the four corners. The spine looks very good. The top page edge is gilt. It's nicely bright and clean. The middle and bottom page edges are deckled or rough-cut. The book is solidly bound from cover to cover. I'm not finding any instances of a crack or space between facing pages or between the covers and any of the pages. The covers are very nicely, tightly bound. The interior of the book is in very good condition. The pages are exceptionally clean. I'm scrolling through them without finding any instances of soiling. Some of the pages have a very light, very vague, top corner crease, the sort of crease that reflects a very slight bending of the corner, quite minor. There are no sharp creases, no turned-down corners or placeholder creases. There are no markings. No attachments. And no one has written their name or anything else anywhere in the book. A very nice-looking book. 161 pages. I've provided a photograph of the Contents page. 'Abbott Lawrence Lowell was an American educator and legal scholar. He was President of Harvard University from 1909 to 1933. With an "aristocratic sense of mission and self-certainty," Lowell cut a large figure in American education and to some extent in public life as well. At Harvard University his years as president saw a remarkable expansion of the university in terms of the size of its physical infrastructure, its student body, and its endowment. His reform of undergraduate education established the system of majoring in a particular discipline that became the standard in American education. His progressive reputation in education derived principally from his insistence on integrating social classes at Harvard and preventing students of wealthy backgrounds from living apart from their less wealthy peers, a position for which he was sometimes termed "a traitor to his class." He also recognized the university's obligation to serve the surrounding community, particularly in making college courses available to and putting college degrees within the reach of local schoolteachers. He took the progressive side on certain public issues as well. He demonstrated outspoken support for academic freedom during World War I and played a prominent role in urging the public to support American participation in the League of Nations following the war. Yet his Harvard years saw two public disputes in which he argued for compromising basic principles of justice for the sake of his own personal vision of Harvard's mission with respect to assimilating non-traditional students. In one instance, he tried to limit Jewish enrollment to 15% of the student body. In the other, he tried to ban African-American students from living in the Freshman Halls when all of Harvard's new students were required to room there. In both cases the Harvard Board of Overseers insisted on the consistent application of liberal principles and overruled him. One historian summarized his complex personality and legacy with these words: "He played many characters--the rich man of simple tastes, the gentleman who loathed gentlemanly C's, the passionate theorist of democracy whose personal conduct was suavely autocratic." The interplay of democratic and patrician instincts, and especially his insistence on defending his positions when others found them indefensible, made him hard for his contemporaries to grasp. As one historian posed the question: "How could a consensus form around one who exasperated his friends as often as he confounded his enemies." '. Seller Inventory # 004147

Bibliographic Details

Title: Conflicts of Principle

Publisher: Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts

Publication Date: 1932

Binding: Hardcover

Condition: Very Good

Edition: 1st Edition