Many on campus are familiar with the Watson Institute for International Studies, the Taubman Center for Public Policy and the Swearer Center for Public Service. But few know much about the man behind them - Howard Swearer, Brown's 15th president.
An exhibit on Swearer's life and achievements is on display through Nov. 30 at the Watson Institute. The Swearer Center created the exhibit to honor its namesake for its 20th anniversary.
In the lobby of Watson, banners depicting documents and pictures chronicle Swearer's life, focusing on his time at Brown. Roger Nozaki MAT'89, associate dean of the College and director of the Swearer Center, said he wanted to create the exhibit because Swearer made "huge contributions" to the University during a "pivotal time."
Looking into Swearer's files in the University archives and collecting artifacts and documents from his family, Nozaki and Seth Aitken, program and communications coordinator for the Swearer Center, sought to capture "the vision and energy that (Swearer) brought to Brown," Nozaki said.
"There are still many people at the University who remember him and love him," Aitken said.
Back in the blackSwearer became president of Brown in January 1977 and led the University until 1988. Swearer, who was sometimes known as "Clark Kent on College Hill" for his youthful look and large, square glasses, is credited with leading Brown out of financial turmoil. Swearer's presidency was also marked by the creation of many academic and extracurricular programs taken for granted today.
The University was in dire financial straits when Swearer arrived on campus. Under Swearer's predecessor as president, Donald Hornig, the Corporation consistently approved unbalanced budgets. As Newell Stultz, now a professor emeritus of political science, remembered, "We were eating into the endowment to pay the bills" - "a real no-no," he added.
Overexpansion in the 1960s, a national economic downturn and the energy crisis contributed to the University's fiscal woes. By 1975, Brown had exhausted $11 million of its endowment, bringing it below $100 million.
Student concern over the university's financial problems was high when Swearer began his term. A special issue published by The Herald for Swearer's inauguration in April 1977 included an in-depth article about the University's deficit budget and spending cuts.
"Morale was 30 degrees below sea level," said Sheila Blumstein, professor of cognitive and linguistic sciences and former interim president of the University.
The solution: fundraising.
Swearer "immediately set about to raise money," said Maurice Glicksman, now professor emeritus of engineering, who served as provost under Swearer.
By 1978-79, the University had its first of 10 consecutive balanced budgets under Swearer. The same year, Swearer embarked upon a five-year, $158 million capital campaign. By 1983, the campaign had brought in over $182 million, exceeding the goal by $24 million.
Glicksman said the campaign "sort of perked things up." By the time he announced his resignation, Swearer had increased Brown's endowment to $350 million, The Herald reported on Oct. 19, 1987.
The public service connectionBorn in Kansas in 1932, Swearer spent his undergraduate years at Princeton University, where he ran track, was elected to Phi Beta Kappa and graduated with high honors from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. At Harvard University, Swearer earned his master's degree in a regional program on the Soviet Union and his doctorate in political science.
While at Brown, Swearer was committed to expanding public service opportunities, international programs and interdisciplinary connections. His work in these three fields left a lasting mark on the University.
As the name of Brown's hub for community service projects suggests, Swearer was deeply committed to connecting Brown to the greater community. Glicksman, the provost under Swearer, said he "was very strongly interested in community service" and wanted "to ameliorate the feeling that the institution of Brown is stuck up and sitting on the Hill."
The Swearer Center for Public Service was established in 1986. In an op-ed in The Herald on Jan. 21, 1977, Swearer wrote, "The future of private higher education cannot be divorced from public understanding and public policy."
Swearer was committed to supporting students' projects in the greater community. Nozaki recounted an anecdote about Swearer taking the subway in New York to visit a group of Brown students working in the south Bronx. "He wanted to see the work and spend time really listening to students," Nozaki said.
In 1978 and 1979, Swearer conceived of an institute for international studies, which later became the Watson Institute. Stultz, now based in the institute, said the idea for the center first emerged because Swearer "was very worried that students would believe the University was indifferent" to the importance of learning of foreign languages.
Swearer "encouraged faculty to think across disciplinary lines," Blumstein said. He "had faculty talk to faculty to build bridges among disciplines," she added - something that "really set Brown apart." In the process, Swearer fostered the creation of many interdisciplinary concentrations, including East Asian Studies and Development Studies, Glicksman said.
The man, the legendWhile Swearer's most important legacy may be that he brought Brown out of the red and established several important, long-lasting programs, his colleagues remember him as "warm," "open" and "personable." In interviews with The Herald, they said he knew all the faculty and many staff by name and frequently engaged them in informal discussions.
Gayle Lynch, library associate at the University Archives, remembers Swearer coming in to do his own research. In her 40 years in the archives, she said, "He is the only president who came in as a patron."
"It was just like having a student come in," she said.
Lynch also remembers having coffee with Swearer in the Blue Room in Faunce House. "He took a genuine interest in what you said. I think that's what hit me the most: His sincerity. ... You felt you could talk to him about anything," she said.
Swearer's time at Brown was not without some bumps. In October 1984, Brown students voted in a campus referendum to have suicide pills stocked at Health Services "to raise awareness of the foolishness of nuclear war." Swearer said before the vote that the University would not stock the pills, regardless of the referendum result.
"The national media got a hold of it and started calling Brown 'Suicide U,' " Aitken said. "The level of dialogue that (Swearer) was willing to have about it was pretty unbelievable ... He didn't totally dismiss it, but addressed it."
All in all, Swearer was popular on campus. Students and faculty showed their appreciation for Swearer by honoring him with a number of accolades over the course of his tenure. The faculty honored Swearer in 1983 with the Susan Colver Rosenberger Medal of Honor - the first time the award had been given to a sitting president. The tribute hailed Swearer for "the abundant feeling of security" he had "rekindled" in the faculty.
While Swearer was regarded highly by the majority of faculty members, administrators and students, he was not without critics. According to a Herald editorial published after he announced his resignation, some people argued he focused too much on fundraising at the expense of improving the substance of undergraduate education. Others were angry because he refused to add a sexual orientation passage to the university's non-discrimination clause, the editorial noted.
After almost 11 years on the job, Swearer announced his resignation on October 16, 1987. Holding back tears at a press conference at Maddock Alumni Center, Swearer said, "The most satisfying feature of the decade has been the dynamism of the academic program and the stunning accomplishments of the faculty in research and scholarship." At 55 years old, Swearer said he wanted to do something other than run a university.
According to a Herald article in the first issue following his announcement, student response to Swearer's resignation was mixed. In a story titled, "Many Students 'Indifferent;' Some Sorry; Some 'Happy,' " most students said they were unfamiliar with the details of his presidency. Some saw him as a "good public relations man" and someone who made Brown a "hot college," the article noted.
A Herald editorial in the same issue saluted Swearer's leadership. "Brown will be lucky to find another navigator as capable as Howard Swearer," it read.
After taking a six-month sabbatical, Swearer served as the Watson Institute's first director. Stultz noted, though, that Swearer "kept a very low profile on campus" during this time.
In 1991, just four years after resigning from the presidency, Swearer died at the age of 59. In an interview with The Herald, Swearer's successor, Vartan Gregorian, said, "History will remember Howard as one of Brown's greatest and most beloved presidents."
Blumstein, who was then dean of the College, said at the time that Swearer "is one of the finest of human beings I have ever known. We should all celebrate his life."
