51.
21. TAO, 68 (1981): 159. Also see 65 (1978): 110.
22. NYT, 6 December 1906, 8.
23. Parkin, Rhodes Scholarships, 214-15.
24. At graduation ceremonies (called Encaenia) the university always awarded several honorary doctorates, and by 1900 about a dozen prominent Americans were among the hundreds who had received them. Oxford also granted doctoral degrees called D.Litt. (for any field in the humanities) and D.Sc. (for the natural sciences). These were slightly more substantial than honorary degrees, but far removed from the Ph.D.'s awarded in German and American universities. A D.Litt., for example, might be bestowed on a man who had received a B.A. at Oxford at least ten years earlier and who was now a don at one of the colleges. The D.Litt. would be a reward for especially noteworthy scholarly accomplishments. Most dons, however, had only a B.A. and the non-academic M.A.
25. For some discussion of Rhodes Scholars besides those of the United States, see Elton, First Fifty Years, and Carleton Kemp Allen, Forty Years of the Rhodes Scholarships (Oxford, 1944).
26. Elton, First Fifty Years, 78-79.
27. Elton, First Fifty Years, 109-10.
28. Harrison, Twentieth Century, 3-5.
29. NYT, 5 December 1914, 3; 13 December 1914, 4; 28 October 1915, 3; 24 December 1915, 2; 30 June 1918, sec. 3, 6; 3 November 1919, 8. Elton, First Fifty Years, 104-6, 220-21. TAO, 1 (1914): 92, 100; 2 (1915): 45-58, 138; 3 (1916): 35-36, 51-60, 116-18; 4 (1917): 52-53; 5 (1918): 96, 116; 7 (1920): 161.
30. Quoted in TAO, 21 (1934): 131.
31. Zuleika Dobson: An Oxford Love Story (London, 1991; orig. ed. 1911), 86.
PROGRAMMATIC CHANGES
What men get out of Oxford is like what they get from most other opportunities, pretty proportioned to what they put into it: the eye sees that it has brought with it the power of seeing, and students learn mostly only the answers to questions which they already have in their minds. More than most universities is this true of Oxford. Here, it may truly be said, is God's plenty in the way of educational opportunity; but here also the student is left in the utmost degree of freedom to take or to leave, according to his choice. Good things are not forced upon him. He must have the will to take, he must know what he wants, and he must be wise enough not to try to seize too much.
Frank Aydelotte, American Rhodes Scholarships
Reforms
The War of 1914 marked a stunning turning point in world history. It shattered the confidence that Europeans and Americans had in their rationality and their moral and cultural superiority. The “White Man” had shown that he could be just as savage as any other people on the globe. A sense of disillusionment and anxiety replaced the naive optimism of the belle époque, and colonial peoples around the world began to speak of independence. By 1919 Europe could no longer deny that the United States and Japan had achieved Great Power status. The confusion of the war helped pave the way for Lenin's victory in Russia in the fall of 1917. Moreover, the real or imagined injustices of the Versailles Peace Settlement watered the seeds of Fascism and Nazism.
Fittingly, the period from 1917 to 1920 also brought revolutionary changes for Oxford and for Rhodes Scholars. In 1917 the university voted to establish a full-fledged doctoral program for the D.Phil. degree. This represented a huge step, for previously the university had gloried in its undergraduate tutorial system. More than the establishment of the B.Litt. and B.Sc. degrees in the 1890s, the creation of the D.Phil. signaled Oxford's acknowledgment that a world-class university must promote research as well as teaching.
The change also resulted from the complaints of Rhodes Scholars and other Americans, who bemoaned the lack of a doctoral degree that would be meaningful for their careers back home. The approaching end of the war was a perfect time to bring an end to this criticism. Since 1914 virtually no Americans had crossed the Atlantic to study in German universities. To prevent them from going there after the return of peace, Oxford hurriedly established its D.Phil.1
Another major change came in 1920, with the granting of full and equal status to the five women's colleges. Henceforth, women received the same degrees as men. Of course, decisions made on paper did not automatically translate into actions and attitudes. The women's colleges were “poor sisters” in terms of their financial resources and esteem. Official equality also did not mean coeducation. Women and men still sat apart in the lecture halls. Only in the 1970s did some of the undergraduate men's and women's colleges start to admit members of the opposite gender.
For Rhodes Scholarships there were also innovations during this period. In 1918 the Rhodes Trust appointed Frank Aydelotte to serve as its secretary in the United States. By 1925 similar national secretaries were selected in all the British dominions and colonies. Henceforth, Aydelotte and the other secretaries would supervise the direction of the program in their respective constituencies. This included advertising, public relations, recruitment of applicants, supervision of the selection process, and advisement of new Rhodes Scholars.
Due to his devotion to the task plus the fact that more than half of all Rhodes Scholars were Americans, Aydelotte soon came to play a role almost as important as those of Parkin and Wylie in the administration of the program. On his own initiative, since 1914, Aydelotte had revived both the quarterly journal (renaming it The American Oxonian) and the alumni association. When he was appointed American Secretary in 1918 he was a professor of English at M.I.T. In 1921 he assumed the presidency of Swarthmore College. At that time he handed over the editorship of the magazine to another former scholar, Tucker Brooke (1904), but he remained American Secretary until 1952. For nearly four decades he was, in effect, “Mr. Rhodes Scholar” in the United States.2
One of the first things that he did as Secretary was institute a new method of selection. He was unhappy with the low number of applicants and the overall quality of those selected – though, of course, he himself had been among them. Starting in 1919 the selection committees that he appointed in each of the states consisted of former Rhodes Scholars. They replaced the college presidents and governors who had done the job since 1904. He thought former scholars would be better able to choose candidates who would enjoy the social experience and succeed academically. Also, former Rhodes Scholars would be more likely to promote the program and increase the number of applicants. To ensure that the program did not become too much like a closed society or cult, he always chose as committee chair a non-Rhodes Scholar. This was usually a prominent businessman, politician, or academic from each respective state. These changes soon produced desirable results, and national secretaries in Canada, Australia, and elsewhere soon adopted the same methods.3
Oxford itself was also responsible for the increase in applicants. The new D.Phil. could be used as a recruitment tool. Even more important, however, was the university's decision in 1919 to drop the qualifying examination required of all Rhodes Scholars. It had been the Greek section of the test that had scared away many potential candidates. Soon after Rhodes Scholars were freed from the “burden” of learning Greek, the university eliminated the requirement for all students.4
This abandonment of one of the main pillars of its classical tradition was due in part to pressure from
