Education: The Rhodesmen

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In setting up his famous trust, Empire Builder Cecil Rhodes had some sweeping ideas about what he wanted Rhodes Scholars to be. They must not, insisted Rhodes, "be merely bookworms." Their characteristics should include "fondness of, and success in, manly outdoor sports . . . qualities of manhood, truth, courage, devotion to duty, sympathy for, and protection of, the weak, kindliness, unselfishness and fellowship." Last week President Courtney C. Smith of Swarthmore, American Rhodes secretary, announced the names of the 32 Americans who are supposed to fill this awesome bill.

Aged 19 to 25, the 32 were among hundreds of young men picked by their colleges in October to make a bid for the £1,200, two-year scholarship. Their 48 state selection boards studied their records and interviewed them, eventually whittled the number of candidates down to two nominees for each state. The 96 still in the running then had to go through the same process again before six-state district boards which picked the final 32. This year's crop includes five junior Phi Beta Kappas and 24 more who will get their keys by graduation. Two of the men were editors of their college newspapers, nine won varsity letters, four were captains or co-captains of varsity teams. Examples of this year's Rhodesmen:

¶ Erich Gruen, 21, whose father owns a bakery in Arlington, Va., is an ancient history major at Columbia, got his Phi Beta Kappa key in his junior year. He is a member of the steering committee of the senior class, is director of classical music for the Columbia radio station, heads the Ted Kremer honor society which devotes itself to social service.

¶ David W. Baad, 22, graduate student in Far Eastern studies at the University of Michigan. Son of a high-school principal, he last year edited the Michigan Daily, was vice president of his class.

¶ Michael Stewart, 20, whose father is president of a steam turbine company in Trenton, N.J., played end on Princeton's football team, won the John Prentiss Poe Memorial cup, the highest honor Princeton can bestow on a varsity football player. An honor student in philosophy, he was vice president of his class, president of his eating club, Cap and Gown, president of the Westminster Foundation, Presbyterian religious meeting group.

¶ George W. Baer, 21, son of a Palo Alto auto dealer, was captain of Stanford's freshman water polo team, a key man in Stanford dramatic productions, a member of the Institute of International Relations. A history major, Baer spends his summers as a Palo Alto lifeguard, his winters making an almost straight A average.