The Good Soldier

Franklin Ford's last term as dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences ended on a less than happy note. At the time that a stroke forced his retirement from the deanship, political divisions between the Administration and students, and among the very Faculty which he was charged with presiding over reached their deepest point.

As Ford enters the deanship for the second time, he will find a Faculty closer to unity than it has been since the issues surrounding the Vietnam war and student protest began to tear it apart. Although minority segments continue to challenge the Faculty's positions, few still hold the bitter hatreds which threatened to permanently divide this community in 1969.

Ford was reluctant to accept the acting deanship and has expressed a strong desire that his term be quiet and uncontroversial.

Although we join Ford in hoping that he will not be thrust into controversy once again, there is a danger of stagnation in the way in which his caretaker position is circumscribed. Ford said last week that he expects to be tightly constrained in decision-making, because he must be responsible both to his predecessor, John T. Dunlop, and the yet-to-be chosen permanent dean.

Unresolved issues currently facing the Faculty--such as University discipline and graduate student funding--are too pressing to allow the Faculty to drift along without effective leadership. Bearing this in mind, we hope along with Harvard's Grover Cleveland that President Bok will go about finding a permanent dean with all possible speed.