Freshman Reading 2013

The Indiana Promise Indiana University is a community built on the foundations of academic excellence, personal development, and social responsibility. The expectations of this community include: engaging in rigorous intellectual inquiry and artistic creativity, recognizing each individual’s accountability for his or her own and behavior, and appreciating the contributions made by all community members. The Indiana Promise expresses the student’s commitment to these values and acknowledges the importance of the student’s active participation in the Indiana University experience.

I promise that: I will be ethical in my academic work.

I will take responsibility for what I say and what I do.

I will respect the dignity of others, treating them with civility and understanding.

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Discussion Questions

1 2 3 Presidential portrait painted by J. William Kennedy, 1964

Freshman Summer Reading

In the article, you read that Wells believed learning takes place “whenever and wherever consciousness exist[s].” What does this mean for your experience both inside and outside of the classroom at Indiana University and the ways in which you will experience learning?

You will soon walk the Indiana University campus as a student just as Herman B Wells did. What do you bring to this campus that will continue the legacy of Wells? How will you leave your own legacy at Indiana University?

Wells understood the importance of creating an Indiana University campus that is inclusive of all people and ideas. As you prepare to take the Indiana Promise, what will you do to make Indiana University a place that is welcoming to all individuals?

As part of your New Student Orientation experience, you will participate in a discussion about the article in this packet. This reading is focused on IU’s most iconic figure, Dr. Herman B Wells. It is written by James H. Capshew, Associate Professor, Department of History and Philosophy of Science, Indiana University Bloomington. In preparation for the discussion, be sure to read the article and consider the questions you will find at the end prior to your arrival on campus. Please bring the article with you to your orientation program.

a work of bold artistry executed by the architectural firm of I. M. Pei. Like the Auditorium and the Musical Arts Center, the building and its furnishings convey a strong aesthetic. The museum completed the Fine Arts Plaza, in the making for more than 40 years.

Students in Mind

Although he passed away in 2000, Herman B Wells is a name to conjure with on the campus of Indiana University and in Bloomington. He orchestrated the forces that made IU one of the most distinguished universities in America.

He started as an undergraduate, just like you, and caught the spirit of Indiana through courses and professors, fellow students, and the rolling, wooded hills and stately limestone buildings of the campus.

Welcome Wells received training in economics at IU, and he applied it brilliantly to the problems of the state’s banking industry in the Great Depression of the 1930s. Although a career in banking beckoned, his love for learning won out and he became dean of the IU business school in 1935.

Two years later, he became IU President, serving for a quarter century until 1962. Under his leadership, the university grew from a provincial hub into a cosmopolitan center of learning with an international reputation. Shrewd, charming, and energetic, Wells possessed an immense social network and ample sound judgment to find and create opportunities to improve the fortunes of IU. People were his passion, and he cultivated contacts with all members of the university community as well as with many groups beyond the campus. Although he strengthened the university’s focus on research and advanced training, he made an extraordinary effort to cultivate the arts as well, as the world-class music school and the IU Art Museum attest. Wells’ unwavering commitment to academic freedom was put to the test by his protection of Alfred Kinsey’s controversial research on sex, and he set into motion the expansion of diverse international academic programs.

Wells understood that learning took place whenever and wherever consciousness existed, and he was devoted to building a creative and nurturing environment for the entire IU family. His vision reflected his belief that, in addition to the intangibilities of morale and spirit, the campus landscape—“our precious islands of green and serenity”— played an important role “in their ability to inspire students to dream long dreams of future usefulness and achievement.” He believed that every aspect of the physical campus, from its woodland landscape and

limestone architecture to its specialized facilities and tasteful interior furnishings, could play a dynamic role in education and learning. The 2,000-acre campus we enjoy today had its roots in the Wells presidency.

In that era, the campus footprint grew tenfold in size, to 1,800 acres, with scores of buildings constructed and green spaces preserved.

Following his presidency, Wells continued his service to IU as University Chancellor, where he spent nearly four decades providing counsel to his successors, raising enormous sums through the IU Foundation, and just being there at concerts and operas, at ball games and the Little 500, and at lectures, Founders Day (now part of Honors Convocation), and Commencement. Substance was his style, and he enveloped all members of the IU community with his trademark generosity of spirit.

Indelible Imprint on Campus and Town Wells, who lived from 1902 to 2000, had a deep and lasting influence on Bloomington. Newcomers will notice that the main library at Indiana University is named after Wells, and a life-size bronze statue of him is located close to Owen Hall in the Old Crescent campus area.

These are two obvious references to him. But if you look closer, his imprint is all over the campus and town, and also on the people of this community. Were it not for his entrepreneurial efforts, the educational environment and cultural landscape in Bloomington would not be nearly as rich. The IU Jacobs School of Music, the IU Auditorium, Bradford Woods, the Department of Biology, the Lilly Library, WFIU and WTIU, the Kinsey Institute, the IU Art Museum, the Hillel Center, the Department of Central Eurasian Studies, Hilltop Garden,

In his sweeping vision of IU’s future, Wells kept students in mind. His own student experience was rich and rewarding, and he wished the same for each succeeding generation. He had great affection for students, and was devoted to their academic progress and social welfare. He strove to be accessible, and instituted open office hours early in his presidency.

He wanted students and faculty to feel “at home” on campus, and was a champion of the Indiana Memorial Union as a place of connection for the entire community.

But students of color had long had a chilly reception on campus, and were subject to unacknowledged forms of institutional racism. Wells advocated civil rights for Americans of every color, and he worked hard to combat discrimination, on campus and in town. The following story is instructive. In spring 1947, black student George Taliaferro, a football star, was doing his student teaching at the University School, located on the IU campus. For his one-hour lunch break, he had the habit of running back to his boarding house, eating, and running back to class.

One noon hour he decided to pay a visit to President Wells, whom he had met just once before at a social event. Wells, whose door was always open, heard Taliaferro in the reception area and boomed, “Come in, George.” The student explained the problem: he had the money to eat lunch in the restaurants contiguous to campus, but he was barred on account of his color. Wells said, “Well, we’ll see about that.” the Benton murals, the IU Outdoor Pool, the IU Cyclotron Facility, the Musical Arts Center, Meadowood Retirement Community, WFHB community radio, and Showalter Fountain all bear the imprimatur of Wells. Yet they represent only a fraction of his many contributions to our community.

Bringing Culture to the Crossroads A passion for the arts was evident early in Wells’ administrative career.

A 1939 Reader’s Digest article called the new president “the dynamo of Indiana culture, the man who is striving to bring culture to the crossroads.” At the Bloomington campus, Wells supported expanding the curriculum to reach more students with additional offerings in music, fine arts, and theater and drama. The outreach arm of IU, the Extension Division, got a mandate for programs for all regions of the Hoosier state in new areas of social life and contemporary thought.

In this welding of “business and erudition, art and economics,” Wells sought “to widen the cultural front until every taxpayer gets some intellectual return from his state university.”

Expanded facilities for the arts was a priority, and Wells managed to find funds to construct a modern auditorium. He also acquired the striking Thomas Hart Benton murals depicting the cultural and industrial history of the State of Indiana that grace the lobby of IU Auditorium, dedicated in 1941. The new auditorium proved to be a splendid venue for performances and lectures, and a boon for the embryonic program in theater and drama. It played a special role in the evolution of the opera program of the IU Jacobs School of Music.

Not only did it provide space for student productions, it also attracted

annual visits from the Metropolitan Opera Company of New York City from 1942 through 1961. Previously, the company had made annual tours to Chicago, Boston, Cleveland, and Atlanta, but it had never appeared in a small university town. On the occasion of one of the performances, Wells noted: “The visit of the world’s greatest opera organization and your presence here are a part of a plan and of an objective of Indiana University. Both are steps in the program of the university to make the whole state of Indiana its campus, and to that ever-widening campus to bring the best in music and the finest in artistic expression. There are larger universities in America. There are older universities in America. There are none, however, more typical of the American ideal of educational opportunity for all youth and cultural leadership for all citizens.”

President Wells proceeded to call the manager of the Gables on Indiana Avenue, who assured him that he was not prejudiced but feared a drop in business were he to allow blacks to patronize his restaurant.

After more talking, the manager agreed to an experiment: Taliaferro and a date would be welcome for one week to see how it would go.

There was no negative reaction to the presence of the two African American students. The following week, Taliaferro was invited to ask another black student couple to accompany him. Again there was no negative reaction. After that, the Gables was desegregated. But other Bloomington restaurants resisted opening their doors to African American customers until 1950, when Wells brokered a behind-thescenes deal with the owners, threatening to expand campus dining facilities if the restaurants did not drop their restrictions.

Perhaps Wells’ crowning achievement as an entrepreneur for art was his role in the creation of the IU Art Museum. Again he followed his general pattern of administration: he hired a faculty workhorse (in this case Henry R. Hope), gave the program autonomy to develop in a scholarly direction, and provided unrelenting support, both moral and financial. And then he waited patiently for the resulting improvements.

Internationalizing the University

Professor Hope, a Harvard-trained art historian, became head of the two-person fine arts department in 1941. By the time the department moved into the Fine Arts Building in 1962, the faculty numbered 40.

With an intense interest in displaying art and building a permanent teaching collection, Hope and his colleagues sponsored about 600 temporary exhibitions between 1941 and 1980. By the 1970s, the museum had become a separate unit of the university, and plans were made for a new building. Dedicated in 1982, the new art museum was

With a firm belief that great universities are international in scope, Wells nurtured the aspirations of faculty in foreign languages and area studies. He had significant experience in international diplomacy and educational development through service to the State Department, the United Nations, and the International Association of Universities, among others. He was even nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, in 1969, for his work in promoting cultural diversity.

IU has many international students and international programs that set it apart from other American universities, and a rich history of welcoming foreign students. Whether in his campus office or at home, Wells always made time for meetings with students from other countries. Eager to learn details about their background and academic

plans, he epitomized Hoosier hospitality. Kutsi Beğdeş, a Turkish graduate student in economics, came to IU in the late 1930s and was invited to have coffee with Wells on a Saturday morning at home. He arrived at the appointed time, engaged in pleasant conversation, and took his leave, at which time Wells said, “Nice to see you; hope to see you again soon.” The following Saturday, Beğdeş came back at the same time and knocked on the door. Wells, hiding his surprise at seeing him, ushered him to the house and offered coffee once again. As the student was leaving, Wells said, “Hurry back!” Puzzled by Midwestern customs, Beğdeş was nevertheless pleased about the personal attention he was getting. The next Saturday morning, Beğdeş was getting ready when his American roommate asked him where he was going. In reply, he told about the coffees at Wells’ house. The roommate laughed, explaining that such expressions convey courtesy and were not to be taken literally.

Beğdeş decided not to go. A few days later he received a phone call from Wells, “Kutsi, are you sick? We haven’t seen you for coffee.” The Turkish student finished his M.A. in 1940 and, four years later, was the first person to earn the doctorate in economics at IU. Beğdeş and Wells became lifetime friends.

A Life of Service Aging gracefully into his nineties, Wells became an iconic figure on campus and well beyond. Still a frequent attendee at concerts, receptions, and basketball games, he was a comforting, luminous presence. His public appearances were marked by spontaneous outpourings of affection. When in 1996 the Dalai Lama came to speak in the biggest indoor venue in Bloomington, IU’s Assembly Hall, the all-ages crowd broke into sustained applause when Wells was wheeled onto the stage. As the Dalai Lama appeared shortly after, the crowd broke into another wave of applause. The two men beamed at each other across the stage, and the emotional contagion spread throughout the hall. This event, like so many others at Indiana University, was the fruit of Wells’ patient cultivation of the community of learning on the Hoosier campus and of the intentional reach well beyond it.

Throughout his long life, Wells personified a deep humanitarian impulse. At his core, he lived for and cared about other persons and about institutions that served the common good, whether at the local level of Indiana University and Bloomington or in the state, national, and international arenas. He believed that education is one of life’s most important goals and a force for good in the world. Wells believed very strongly in being part of and contributing to a larger cause. That’s why we’re still talking about him. His legacy lives because he was an agent for change—a true public servant—and in many ways embodied the best of what the university had to offer. He had grand ambitions for IU and was adept at realizing those aspirations because he understood the importance of the prosaic, day-to-day work that makes great things happen. He infused the mundane with a higher purpose and spread that attitude to everyone around him. He could have gone anywhere, working in the private sector or the public, in New York or Washington or Bangkok. But he chose to stay in Bloomington. Why? Because he found a home here, at the heart of the university, a bountiful mother, his alma mater. And through his university home, he was able to reach out and find the world.

For further reading, see James H. Capshew, Herman B Wells: The Promise of the American University (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2012) and visit the Digital Wells site at hermanbwells.org.