Education: Just Well Rounded

(See Cover)

On a brisk morning last March, two ladies of serious demeanor paid a call at Brooklyn College. It was important that their mission be kept a secret. So, stating only that they were members of the Public Education Association, they bustled into a large building, hurried down a corridor, and quietly slipped into back-row seats in a history classroom.

Actually the visitors were trustees from one of the most important colleges for women in the U.S. Wellesley College, in Wellesley, Mass., was searching high & low for 3 new president. With only six candidates left out of an original 1,200 whose names had been suggested, Wellesley's scouts had come to look over the Brooklyn possibility.

They knew little about their quarry except that she was an assistant professor of history. But she sounded promising-she was a Wellesley alumna ('30) of a suitable age (38), and she had recently won a Pulitzer Prize for a scholarly biography entitled Forgotten First Citizen-John Bigelow* What the ladies saw that day was nonetheless a surprise.

Assistant Professor Margaret Clapp had deep brown eyes and dark wavy hair. In her bright red dress, she seemed too slim and pretty to be a historian of note. As she lectured, she spoke softly, seldom moved her hands except to turn the note cards in front of her. As is the custom at Brooklyn, the students constantly interrupted her with questions. Sometimes Professor Clapp answered quickly, sometimes led a lively discussion. Often she broke into a broad, dimpled smile.

Margaret Clapp did not guess why the trustees were there, or why they stayed for lunch with her. That night she rode home on the subway, as usual, to her Greenwich Village walk-up and thought no more about it. But some time later her telephone rang. It was Edward Weeks editor of the Atlantic Monthly, also a Wellesley trustee. Would Miss Clapp have dinner with him? By this time, Miss Clapp had a good idea of what was up. Over brook trout and a bottle of wine at the Ritz-Carlton, Weeks began to ask questions. "Do you sleep well?" he wanted to know. Miss Clapp answered that she did, she was not a worrier.

One by one, like talent scouts coming backstage, the trustees called. Besides her Wellesley background, her Pulitzer Prize and her ability to cope with a college class, it appeared that Margaret Clapp had other qualities important in a college prexy serenity and aplomb. "Head and shoulders above any of the other candidates," reported Weeks. The rest of the trustees agreed. They popped the question. Yes, said Miss Clapp, she would take the job.