American University - Talon / Aucola Yearbook (Washington, DC)

Page 15 text:

Hurst R. Anderson is a man of constant motion. His hands, his fingers jab the air to re-emphasize a point. He claps his hands to finish an explanation or to describe an idea. He cannot sit still, or when he does, he poises on the edge of his chair.

Page 14 text:

m • gSgSfcJWSI Dr. Anderson turned his eyes back up to- wards the (President ' s) Building. Did you know, he asked, that there ' s a house in Martha ' s Vineyard just like this one? that back area of the campus to the trustees of Sibley Hospital in return for a site for the University ' s School of Nursing. I wanted that land for expansion, he admitted. Feeling in nearby Spring Valley was running high against the proposed hospital ' s lo- cation, recalled Anderson, who said the neighbors had been referring to it as the butcher factory. In order to keep the hospital away from AU, the Spring Valley residents were planning to petition the District of Columbia Zoning Commission to rezone that area for single story resi- dences. Knowing that a rezoning hearing would take place and also knowing that the hearing room was small, Dr. Anderson chartered buses, rounded up students, and bused them to the hearing before the Spring Valley residents arrived. When they did arrive, there was no room. Stu- dents filled all of the seats and the standing room area. Dr. Anderson ' s delaying tactics worked only tempo- rarily, however, because the Com- mission voted to rezone the area by a 2-1 margin. What they told me in effect, said President Anderson, was that they were going to run me out of town before I ever got started. I told them they weren ' t going to scare me. And he wasn ' t scared. Following the vote by the commissioners, the University sued the Commission in an attempt to get the decision reversed. The judge who heard the case agreed with the University and reversed the Commission ' s decision on the grounds that it had no right to rezone land granted through federal charter, commenting that the land should be used as the University saw fit. The case, said Anderson, finally ended up in the United States Su- preme Court which upheld the judge ' s original opinion. That decision, re- called the president, was sustained at every level. If we had lost our court battle, today we would have a carved up campus.

Page 16 text:

Walking down the drive to the Hughes- McDowell-Leonard complex, Dr. Anderson paused again, his eyes sweeping the dormi- tories all completed during his tenure here. Pausing for a moment, he looked back towards the tennis courts. He explained here was originally to be the site for the John M. Reeves Com- munity Center, but that he had had second thoughts about the choice. That ' s one reason for the delay in building it, he explained. He further explained that if the Center was built in this area, there would be no room for parking nor for expansion for the proposed natatorium. When we decide to build it, it must be as large as we want it. I want to see that it has an area for our local students who commute. Some place for them to go, he added. As we walked on down the track, Dr. Anderson continued talking, re- calling that AU during the war had been the site of a bomb disposal unit. They ' d bury the shells, and when we ' d excavate for a building, we ' d dig the bombs up. We stopped again in front of the John F. Kennedy marker at the far end of the athletic field. It was on the site of this marker, said Dr. Anderson, that the late President Kennedy made public his plans for a nuclear test ban treaty while delivering AU ' s com- mencement address in 1963. As we stood there in front of the marker, Dr. Anderson reminisced about the events leading up to the address. He said the University had con- tacted President Kennedy ' s office well in advance of commencement con- cerning the possibility of him con- senting to be that year ' s speaker. In May, the University was notified that the President would come if the Uni- versity would move commencement to Monday instead of Sunday since the President would be in Honolulu on Sunday. Commencement was re- scheduled to Monday. The day before commencement, Pierre Salinger con- tacted Dr. Anderson informing him that President Kennedy wished to make a major foreign policy address at commencement. You ' re going to be swamped with the press, warned Salinger in asking permission for the address. President Kennedy was our guest, said Dr. Anderson, and we con- sented. The president recalled that President Kennedy had arrived at AU looking rested although he had just flown in from Hawaii. I had a wonderful sleep, Dr. Anderson re- membered him as having said. And President Kennedy had added, I hope you will be happy with what I say.