President William Cotter found Smith to be equally indispensable as the trustees considered the fate of the fraternity system on campus. "He didn't make a lot of comments himself," Cotter said. "He was much more seeing to it that the process was going smoothly and the input was being gathered."

It was Smith who strictly enforced the guideline that the commission members keep their views of the fraternity situation to themselves until all of the fact-finding was done. Ultimately it was Smith who co-wrote the commission's report with Judge Levin Hicks Campbell. It was Smith who coped with the post-fraternity fallout. It was Smith who, after the fraternities were disbanded (a move he endorsed), was able to maintain close relationships with fraternity members.

Smith with former president Bill Cotter at the scene of the field house fire.

And was his guidance sound? "Absolutely," Cotter said. "Very sensitive. He absolutely loves students."

Nearly all of them.

That may be the essence of Earl Smith, a man who as dean of students saved countless Colby students from themselves. This entire story--this entire magazine--could be filled with anecdotes from alumni who say they will never be able to repay Smith for the mercy he showed as they knelt with their heads upon the dean's chopping block.

Said one alumnus, an attorney with a private practice in Massachusetts, who was flunking out when Smith, rather than ejecting him as a goof-off, encouraged him to turn his grades--and his life--around: "There isn't a day that goes by that I don't wake up and thank god that I had the opportunity to meet him. If it wasn't for Earl Smith, I'd probably be out digging ditches somewhere."

Some administrators may have felt he didn't deserve a second chance, but Smith stood by him, he said. "The words [Smith] said that I'll never forget are, 'People can make mistakes and people can change."

Can and do.

James Cousins '75, a transfer student, initially felt lost at Colby but with Smith's unflagging encouragement buckled down and excelled. Cousins is now a physician who runs vital refugee programs in Southeast Asia, and he and Smith remain close friends.

Boyd "Byrd" Allen III '75 is now a hydrogeologist in Boston. In 1971 he was a first-year student hauled into the dean's office because he and his friends were using record albums as Frisbees and sniping at a neighboring dorm with a slingshot, among other infractions. Social problems were compounded by Allen's spotty academic performance. Allen says Smith could have sent him home but didn't. "I think Earl has the ability to recognize the qualities that somehow are buried in people," he said.