During his 25 years as president, the student population grew from 5,000 to 16,000. As a gesture of solidarity and good will, he signed each one of the 62,621 diplomas awarded in those years, putting his mark on every graduate of Indiana University. He explained during his 1962 commencement address: "During the past 25 years I personally signed the diplomas of all graduates. Neither printing press nor mechanical device of any type has been used to multiply my signature. Each diploma has been read as well as signed, one at a time. This has given me a sense of direct identification with each graduate. Many of the names I have recognized, recalling pleasant contacts and mutual experiences during college days. In other cases the names have brought to mind fathers, mothers, or other relatives of my undergraduate era or earlier. But whether I recognized the name or not, in the act of signing I felt some individual participation in the joy and satisfaction of each graduate who had won his degree with conscientious work and application."