Page 15 - UD Magazine Vol. 31 No. 1

conflicts. So, at the dawn of the roaring 20s, he presented
a pioneering diplomatic experiment: the Foreign Study Plan. The 28-year-old wanted to accompany a group of Blue Hen students back to France, where the young men (only men, in those early days) would earn credit toward their degrees and become more empathetic humans.
The idea left some clutching their pearls. Critics feared, according to one Philadelphia newspaper, that the nightlife
of Montmartre might “blast the educational hopes of some fond parent back in the States.” But the Plan received support from UD President Walter Hullihen and then-U.S. Secretary
of Commerce Herbert Hoover, who recognized the need for internationally minded employees in a world of increasing global commerce. A particularly poetic student reporter called the proposal “a solid brick in the long-sought foundation of world peace.”
On July 7, 1923, eight eager scholars piled onto a French ocean liner for a year-long adventure that one leading
journal labeled among “the most interesting in international commercial education yet attempted by an American university.” Between an intensive curriculum and extracurricular schedule (26 operas!), the trip proved a grand success. In the years that followed, 127 peer institutions, including Princeton and Harvard, sent their own students on the UD experience. One called his memories the “rosy souvenir of a nice dream.”
But then, the dream went dark.
After 25 years, the influential program, which had expanded briefly into Germany and Switzerland, ended. Post-World War II conditions coupled with a change of UD leadership meant a waning appetite for study abroad. Graduates of the Foreign Study Plan kept the legacy alive.
BONJOUR, BLUE HENS!
One member of the original eight established an organization for world peace, the Friendship Foundation for International Students, that persists today.
Still, members of the University community lamented this lapse in programming for decades. In 1971, UD’s Community Design Commission called the pause “a paradox... and a rather embarrassing one.” By the following year’s
end, campus visionaries organized a relaunch—and raised eyebrows nationwide in the process.
“The University was ahead of its time,” says Lisa Chieffo, AS88, longtime associate director for study abroad. “When the vast majority of
In honor of UD’s first study abroad location, the UD Alumni Association (UDAA) is launching an inaugural trip to France this July. Join fellow Blue Hens, and explore the same country UD students did 100 years ago.
You’ll set out to Omaha Beach and other famed D-Day sites, savor local wines, enjoy lunch at a 10th-century castle and experience France’s grandeur and beauty, as experts share illuminating insights throughout the eight-day trip.
This is the first alumni excursion of its kind, although the UDAA hopes to expand this model and eventually offer quarterly trips to a variety of international destinations. For more information on
the France 2023 trip or to suggest future locations, email alumni-association@udel.edu or visit delaw.ahitravel.com. Please note that space is limited and may be sold out by the time of publication.
1923 2023
Volume 31
Number 1
2023 13