The Human Nature of a University

This is a collection of excerpts from the public addresses of Robert F. Goheen during his twelve years as President of Princeton University. The emphasis is on the people whose responsibility it is to promote and defend the principles underlying the modern American university-students, faculty, administrators, trustees, alumni. Several fundamental themes emerge the theme of individual responsibility, and the ever-present need to join rational intelligence with moral commitment, for example. Dr. Goheen sees the university as a continuing institution with long range goals, responding conservatively (in its best sense) to the human needs of the times. He seeks to define its institutional relationships in the context of the university’s tasks in educ1tion and research, which must be understood and kept in balance if universities are to serve their functions effectively.

Originally published in 1969.

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