Ohio University - Athena Yearbook (Athens, OH)

Page 17 text:

BY JAN JOHNSTON Harry Crewson ' s term in office will be remembered by students, faculty and members of the community as a period that was not marked by decisiveness, but rather by the calm dialogue that he created at the university. The many unrests that his predecessor, Claude Sowle, faced in his administration seemed to come to a standstill when Crewson entered office, whether the reason being his failure to explore those issues further, or just the manner in which he approached them. Crewson seemed to have had admiration and service from both the students and the community when he became interim president in the summer of 1974. Because of his long involvement with university-community relations and 25 years experience as an economics professor, his face was familiar to Athens. Crewson was chairman of the Athens County Democratic Executive Committee from 1966-68 and the Athens City Council president for 10 years. He held the position of county commissioner for six months, resigning at the time he became the university ' s president. His associates have noted him for his rare ability to listen to all sides of issues, objectively, and then take actions. Naming an interim president for a one year period as the university approaced a crisis situation was no easy job, but the Board of Trustees decided on June 20, 1974, that Crewson, the only politician out of seven nominees, was to take over the duties of the resigning Sowle. He entered the office faced with the decreasing enrollment, more budget cuts, demands by the Concerned Black Students for increased minority entertainment, a potential strike by the university ' s non-academic employes and a campus that turned its eyes toward Crewson in hopes that he would have the answers to the university ' s problems. The fact that he was selected as an interim president had no adverse or any other type of effect on the way that he approached matters, in his opinion of his own administration. He did everything with authority and complete independence, he said. Crewson said he never dreamed of holding such a position, especially when he began teaching at the university in 1949. His initial goal in office, he said, was to keep his total attention on the educational missions of OU. He wanted to encourage and sponsor the academic quality of the institution because, that ' s what we ' re all about. Keeping his total attention on the academic quality, Crewson made reductions in the 1974-75 budget and gave faculty contracts without salary raises. In the non-academic areas, he continued enforcement of the freshmen visitation hours policy, which caused much controversy. He made no decision in the grapes-lettuce United Farm Workers conflict; he simply had the salad bowls in the cafeterias marked United Farm Workers or Teamsters ' Union. He discontinued weekly press conferences, open budget hearings and Open Line, the weekly radio-telephone talk show that Sowle had had. He said he felt he was not as well qualified as the former president, who had started the Open Line program, because 13

Page 16 text:

Decisiveness or Inaction? OU Turns to Crewson for Help Dave Williams ABOVE: Crewson in the President ' s office in Cutler Hall. OPPOSITE PAGE: Crews on takes the oath of office on September 1, 1974 in the president s house. 12

Page 18 text:

of the short period of time he had been in office. He said he would be unable to answer some questions spontaneously, without being able to do research. Public opinion of Crewson varied, some of the comments about him were: He ' s a low key person, which I admire. I ' ll at least say he sure did have a knowledge about his community. He let things stagnate that should have been taken care of, and used his interim presidency as an excuse for every long term effect decision that he didn ' t want to make. I could trip over him and not even know it was him, and as for what he ' s accomplished, all I see is salad bowls in the cafeterias marked UFW or Teamsters. ' He didn ' t have the press conferences every week like Sowle did — which says something about the type of person he is. I frankly don ' t see what more he could have done. When the time came for the presidential selection, Crewson ' s calm again prevailed. He never seemed to want to be considered out of the race, but yet never spoke enthusiastically about wanting to continue as president. On April 29, 1975, the Presidential Selection Committee chose Charles J. Ping as the new president, leaving Crewson with four months until the end of his term. 14