From Woody's Couch

Dean Joseph Park (left), with students, 1951

One of the people Ohio State should never forget is Joseph A. Park, the University’s first Dean of Men. His greatest contribution may have been the Stadium Scholarship Dormitories, which helped thousands of male students attend OSU who otherwise could not have afforded to do so. But his long service as a calm counselor, ready to help in a crisis – or in some cases, get a student out of a jam – is what endeared him to thousands of students and led to his name on one of OSU’s dorms.

Born in Cleveland on October 7, 1893, Park graduated from Cleveland’s West High School before coming to Ohio State in 1914. At OSU, he was active in the YMCA, the fraternity Alpha Tau Omega and Sphinx, the senior men’s honorary. He also served on the staff of the Makio. During his junior year he was drafted to the Army, where he entered officer training. He returned to Ohio State in 1919 as a 1^st Lieutenant, graduating in 1920. He married Ruth Vera Webb that June, and they had two daughters, Ruth and Mary.

Park, n.d.

As a senior, he had served as secretary for the campus YMCA; he held that position until 1927 when then-OSU President George Rightmire went looking for a position he was calling “student councilor.” Rightmire selected Park, whose job title changed to Dean of Men two years later. A new position at the time, the job changed greatly over the years as the campus grew. But Park didn’t change that much: He was always ready to listen and offer a helping hand or piece of advice.

Though he was responsible for the well-being of thousands of male undergraduates, he always kept a calm demeanor – and a phone at his bedside. Often the late-night calls were the results of normal college stress—or to bail students out of jail. In fact, the writers at the Sundial, OSU’s humor magazine, once said of Park’s position: “Some of the problems would tax a Supreme Court Justice schooled in psychiatry.”

Park with students, 1930

Park didn’t seem to mind, saying once that “the trouble is more than offset by the fun.” Indeed, he gave the bride away at dozens of weddings, and he and his wife chaperoned hundreds of campus dances and parties. On a questionnaire he listed his hobbies as “student life.”

Besides being a counselor and fill-in parent to students, Park also had the opportunity to make some lasting changes to the University structure. In 1927, when he was still a senior and YMCA secretary, Park proposed the creation of an office of director of student affairs and a student court, and the creation of a Student Senate. Eventually, all of these proposals came to fruition.

Students in the Stadium Dorm, 1947

Park’s most notable contribution, though, was the establishment in 1933 of co-operative housing system in the Stadium for low-income male students. Known as the Stadium Scholarship Dorms, they helped keep students in school by offering affordable housing in exchange for working in the dorms at jobs like cleaning and serving in the dining area. This housing philosophy still exists in the Stadium Scholarship Program.

Park died on April 19, 1952. He was 59. In 1959, Park Hall was one of three then-new dormitories (Stradley and Smith were the others) built to provide more dorm space for men on campus.

– Filed by C.N.