In Honor of Swarthmore College’s 11^th President, Theodore Friend

prodigious scholar and former Swarthmore president, Theodore Wood Friend III, known by all as “Dorie,” died Nov. 4 at age 89. With his passing, Swarthmore has lost a widely respected repository of institutional memory and one of its most engaging and enthusiastic advocates — known for his gracious leadership style and his ability to balance a range of competing institutional interests and priorities.

“I was fortunate to spend time with him on numerous occasions,” says President Valerie Smith, “and enjoyed his warmth, candor, wisdom, good humor, keen insights into the history and culture of the College, and wide-ranging intellectual curiosity.”

A native of Pittsburgh and a lifelong Pirates fan, Friend earned a B.A. in 1953 from Williams College, where he won a contest to name Ephelia, the school’s ubiquitous purple cow mascot. He later received a Ph.D. from Yale University and pursued his studies as a Fulbright Scholar in the Philippines, where his work formed the basis for his first book, Between Two Empires: The Ordeal of the Philippines, 1929–1946 (1965). It won the prestigious Bancroft Prize in American History, Foreign Policy, and Diplomacy.

In 1959, Friend joined the history faculty of the State University of New York at Buffalo, where he taught for 14 years before being selected as Swarthmore’s 11th president — with perhaps the most Quaker-like of names in College history.

Friend faced a number of challenges at Swarthmore. Just a few years before, one predecessor had died in office, and another had held the position only briefly. Within a year of Friend’s taking office, the value of the College’s endowment dropped more than 50%. The country was also grappling with the Vietnam War and the Watergate crisis, and confidence in the nation’s leadership was at a low ebb.

Although he acknowledged that his years in office were difficult, Friend accomplished a lot during his tenure. He reinvigorated the Honors Program, successfully completed the College’s $30 million Program for Swarthmore campaign, and oversaw a significant increase in admissions applications, which ran counter to national trends.

Priorities for the Program for Swarthmore included new scholarships, professorships, and curriculum development. The Program also supported construction of Cornell Science Library, Ware Pool, and Mertz Hall, as well as improvements to academic buildings.

Upon the campaign’s conclusion in 1981, the Board of Managers honored Friend and his wife, a vital presence on campus, by creating the Theodore and Elizabeth Friend Scholarship. It is awarded annually on the basis of financial need to a worthy student.

Friend threw himself, sometimes literally, into connecting with students. In his first year at Swarthmore, he played pickup soccer with the men’s team in a match against the football team — and got run over by a football player. The collision severed his ACL. On another occasion, in 1976, a tug of war took place across the Crum Creek — students vs. the provost, the registrar, two faculty members, and Friend. The more senior team was dragged, amid cheers, into the creek.

Friend held open office hours for students and took an active interest in student concerns. Late in his tenure, he also co-taught a class on Southeast Asia with religion professor Don Swearer, something he said he wished he had done sooner.

Throughout his tenure as president, Friend steadfastly upheld the College’s mission. “There is something really quite extraordinary about the learning atmosphere here,” Friend said, “and that is really where my satisfactions ultimately are.”