Diary of a Dean is a memoir of Herbert London’s years at New York University. It follows his personal path from professor and ombudsman to dean of a new experimental college. The period in question parallels a tumultuous era in higher education. London’s experiences placed him in the eye of the academic hurricane. Although there was considerable debate about the content and nature of higher education in this overheated period, London attempted to maintain a balance between a traditional devotion to the canon of western civilization and emerging technologies and innovations that permit a flexible delivery of education.
Maintaining this balance, as London’s words indicate, was not easy. There were pressures from many quarters including, most significantly, the polarization of the faculty. Serving as a dean in an experimental college and, at the same time, remaining devoted to a Matthew Arnoldian view of the curriculum was not something he anticipated as a youthful professor. But for anyone eager to learn about the evolution of higher education in the last few decades, this book is indispensable reading.