Southern Illinois University - Obelisk Yearbook (Carbondale, IL)

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PresidenT John Hull l892- l 893 dominaTed iTs aim in The TirsT decades oT iTs hisTory. lT was endless drill Tor Thoroughness in The common school subiecTs, wiTh emphasis upon Teaching Technique, ThaT made iT disTincTly a Normal school. An eTTorT To creaTe a law school, Tor which Judge A. D. DuTT was appoinTed dean, came To naughT Tor lack oT sTudenTs. A signiTicanT advance, however, in The Tield oT science ap- proaching a college level was made under The leadership oT Dr. Cyrus Thomas. The TirsT building, Old Normal, was desTroyed by a disasTrous Tire No- vember 26, I883, in The ninTh year oT The pioneering sTruggles oT The insTiTu- Tion. Much oT The equipmenT, including laboraTory apparaTus, library, and Turnishings, was saved by The heroic acTion oT sTudenTs and TaculTy, and in- sTrucTion was resumed, wiTh no more Than a week-end delay, in Temporary rooms provided by The churches and business men oT Carbondale. A Tem- porary building was compleTed in early January T884-, aT a cosT oT 56,000 raised by Carbondale ciTizens. This wooden sTrucTure in The Torm oT a Greek cross, erecTed on The siTe now occupied by The Old Science Building, served The school Tor Three years-l88'4 To I887-The exercises OT commencemenT week being carried on in a TenT. lT is noTeworThy ThaT There was no decrease, buT raTher a slighT increase, in enrollmenT during These Tragic years. A new building was provided by acT oT The lllinois LegislaTure, approved June 27, I885. This building, now called Old Main, was dedicaTed and TirsT occupied on February 24, l887. IT served all purposes oT The school Tor a number oT years, and sTill provides sevenTy per cenT oT The classroom space oT The UniversiTy. On The reTiremenT oT Dr. RoberT Allyn, The board oT TrusTees elecTed ProTessor John Hull, a naTive oT SouThern lllinois and a member oT The Tac- ulTy, To succeed him as presidenT. ProTessor Hull had been broughT To The TaculTy Trom Old Normal To re-organize and superinTend The Training School, a work which he accomplished in The besT TradiTion oT The normal school. His personal unpopulariTy made The one year oT his presidency an unhappy one Tor himselT, buT he gave The young insTiTuTion a wide and Tavorable pub- liciTy in The Tine exhibiT which he prepared Tor display aT The World's Columbian ExposiTion aT Chicago in l893. A new board oT TrusTees, appoinTed by Governor John P. AlTgeld, called Dr. Harvey W. EveresT To The presidency. PresidenT EveresT, like Dr. Allyn, was a minisTer who had achieved a disTinguished career as a college presidenT: TirsT as The successor oT James A. 6arTield aT Hiram College, and Then as presidenT oT Eureka College, oT BuTler UniversiTy, and OT Gar- Tield UniversiTy. The Tour years oT Dr. EveresT's presidency oT SouThern saw a disTincT Trend Toward The liberalizing oT The curriculum, wiTh more empha- sis upon The liberal arTs TradiTion. A new building To provide Tor an expanding library and museum, laboraTories, and gymnasium was erecTed during Dr. Ever- PresidenT Harvey W. EveresT I893-I897 PresidenT Daniel B. Parkinson l897-l9l l esT's presidency aT a cosT oT 540,000 This, The second building in SouThern's expanding physical planT, is now called The Old Science building and is noTe- worThy Tor iTs disTincTive Type oT archiTecTure suggesTive oT a medieval casTle. Dr. D. B. Parkinson was made acTing presidenT in l897, and elecTed presidenT The nexT year. He had been a member oT The TaculTy Trom The beginning, and had served boTh as regisTrar and vice-presidenT. Under his adminisTraTion, SouThern reverTed To The normal school emphasis. The inTlu- ence oT The school was becoming more widely TelT, as a resulT oT The Trained leadership iT senT ouT. A much beTTer co-operaTion oT school superinTendenTs was aTTained, and a much needed expansion OT physical planT TaciliTies was achieved. Dr. Parkinson's eTTecTive campaign Tor new buildings came To TruiTion in securing appropriaTions oT 525,000 Tor The presenT Wheeler Library in l903, and 350,000 Tor a model school Tor pracTice Teaching lAllyn Buildingl in l907. His mosT persisTenT eTTorT, againsT sTrong resisTance, was Tor dormiTory TaciliTies, which he Tinally accomplished in The lasT year oT his presidency wiTh The dedicaTion oT AnThony Hall, accommodaTing sevenTy- Tive girls, in SepTember, I9l3. Thus Tar, This is The only provision ThaT has been made by sTaTe appropriaTion Tor This TirsT among many musTs, The ade- quaTe housing oT sTudenTs. 6

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Ihlisloviccll Slselch olf 'SOUIIIWQPH In This Diamond Jubilee year, The UniversiTy loolcs back in reTrospecT To The progressive sTages of iTs developmenT wiTh ever widening horizons Trom small beginnings To greaT TulTillmenT. The Normal School oT sevenTy-Tive years ago had iTs incepTion in The greaT need Tor Trained Teachers Tor The common schools OT Illinois. The Normal school movemenT came wesTward Trom Massachu- seTTs To Illinois in The mid-years oT The lasT cenTury, and was parT oT The educaTional renaissance in Illi- nois which saw The TormaTion oT The Illinois Educa- Tional AssociaTion, The publicaTion oT an Illinois school iournal, The creaTion oT The oTTice oT STaTe SuperinTendenT oT Public lnsTrucTion, The TirsT law providing Tor a sTaTe sysTem of Tree schools, and The esTablishmenT oT The Illinois Normal UniversiTy aT Normal, Illinois, in I857. Twelve years aTTer The TirsT Illinois Normal school was creaTed on The model of The Horace Mann sys- Tem oT Teacher Training, The urgenT need oT SouTh- ern Illinois resulTed in The creaTion oT a similar school aT Carbondale, wiTh The high sounding name, SouThern Illinois Normal UniversiTy. MeeTings oT educaTors and public spiriTed ciTizens aT Salem, aT Carbondale, and aT CenTralia during The summer oT l868, broughT eTTecTive pressure Tor The creaTion oT such a school. Ably assisTed by STaTe SuperinTend- enT NewTon BaTeman and PresidenT Richard Ed- wards oT Old Normal, The cause was won when The Illinois General Assembly passed The CharTer AcT which was signed by Governor John M. Palmer on April 20, I869. UniversiTy, as iT appears in The charTer name oT Old Normal and SouThern, was added To The TiTle To enable The Normal schools To share The public land or seminary Tunds. The TirsT board of Tive TrusTees, appoinTed by Governor Palmer, was conTronTed wiTh The diTTiculT Taslc oT Tinding The besT locaTion Tor The newly au- Thorized Normal and To carry Torward The erecTion of a building. The locaTion problem immediaTely became a conTroversial issue among several rival bidders, resulTing in much biTTerness which persisTed as a handi- cap Tor many years, in The early his- Tory of The school. Even yeT one hears repercussions oT ThaT heaTed conTesT. Carbondale secured The coveTed prize, ouTbidding oTher claimanTs by an oTTer oT Sl50,000 in bonds as well as giTTs oT land. ConsTrucTion was sTarTed in The auTumn oT l869, buT misTorTunes delayed iTs progress. The accidenTal deaTh oT The conTracTor, OLD NORMAL SouThern's TirsT building desTroyed by Tire. I874-l883 J. M. Campbell, ne- cessiTaTed a reor- ganizaTion OT The proiecT and addi- Tional Tunds by leg- islaTive appropria- Tion. Finally, a beau- Tiful Three - s T o r y sTrucTure, a model Tor iTs Time, was dedicaTed July I, I874, and immedi- aTely opened iTs doors Tor sTudenTs. This TirsT hisToric session oT SouThern Illinois Normal Uni- versiTy was a sum- mer insTiTuTe, wiTh a TirsT TaculTy oT nine members and an en- roIImen+ oT TiTTy- Three sTudenTs. EirsT regular session of The school began on SepTember sixTh. Dr. RoberT Allyn, a New Eng- lander and MeThodisT minisTer, who had previously held Three college presidencies, was called Trom The presi- dency oT McKendree College To head The school. Dr. Allyn had a compeTenT TaculTy and an eager sTu- denT body, buT iT is diTTiculT To comprehend how greaT was The problem conTronTing him. To creaTe a college of high scholasTic sTandards ouT oT The raw maTerual aT hand, required The paTience and ripened wisdom oT a sTaTesman in educaTion such as Dr. Allyn proved To be. An ambiTious classical curriculum of ThaT Time had To waiT Tor preparaTory Training oT a mulTiTude of SouThern Illinois youTh, whose meager preparaTion in common branches was hardly suTlicienT Tor admission To a modern accrediTed high school. The school had been broughT inTo being primarily To Train Teachers Tor The SouThern Illinois common schools, and This Taslc PresidenT RoberT Allyn I874- I 892

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ProTessor H. W. Shryock, as did PresidenT Parkinson, came To The presi- dency Trom The ranks oT The TaculTy, having served as an inspiring Teacher oT English and as regisTrar and vice-presidenT. One oT The chieT aims oT his adminisTraTion as a sTaTesman-builder, was To make SouThern more ade- guaTely serve iTs area, especially in The improvemenT oT rural schools. He gave college aThleTics a recognized, imporTanT sTaTus1 he achieved The rec- ogniTion oT SouThern as a Tully accrediTed, degree-granTing insTiTuTion. To aTTain These ends, The TirsT rural Teacher Training program, under The direcTion of W. O. Brown, was insTiTuTed aT SouTherng and William lvlcAndrew began To make aThleTic hisTory. The greaT increase in TaculTy required Tor The rap- idly growing school, gave opporTuniTy Tor raising The scholasTic level oT The sTaTT, and ouTsTanding men and women oT high specializaTion added sTrengTh To SouThern. Under The Civil AdminisTraTive Code oT The Governor Lowden admin- isTraTion, SouThern was broughT under The conTrol oT a uniT board, headed by The governor's direcTor oT RegisTraTion and EducaTion, in l9I7. This loss oT auTonomy, which prevailed under The old local board oT TrusTees, has noT always been aTTended wiTh happy resulTs. Among oTher handicaps, iTs build- ing program has been governed noT by acTual needs, buT by a sysTem oT 'gl I-'935 roTaTi-on oT allocaTion among The Tive Teachers colleges under The boards conrfol. PresidenT Henry W. Shryock On The sudden deaTh oT PresidenT Shryock in April, I935, Dean George D. Wham served as acTing presidenT in The Tow monThs inTerim, unTil The --W elecTion of Mr. Roscoe Pulliam, who came To The presidency oT SouThern Trom The superinTendency oT Harrisburg schools. PresidenT Pulliam's policy was To carry Torward The unTinished work of his predecessor wiTh The same general aims. He was a dynamic leader who, wiTh a sTrong TaculTy, made SouThern widely known locally and ThroughouT The naTion as one oT The highesT ranking Teachers colleges. SouThern's par- TicipaTion as a co-operaTing insTiTuTion and oTher leading colleges and univer- siTies in a naTion-wide sTudy oT Teacher educaTion under The direcTion oT The American Council on EducaTion, won Tor her an enviable sTaTus. A democra- Tizing OT college adminisTraTion, wiTh large parTicipaTion by boTh TaculTy and sTudenTs, was a disTincTive TeaTure oT Mr. Pulliam's policy. His greaTesT achievemenT was To win Tor SouThern iTs universiTy sTaTus by an acT oT The lllinois LegislaTure in June, l943. l PresidenT Pulliam's deaTh in March, I944, aT a criTical period oT SouTh- ern's new and ill-deTined sTaTus, was mosT unTorTunaTe. ProTessor Bruce W. Merwin oT The college TaculTy was permiTTed, as acTing presidenT Tor a Tew monThs, To do liTTle more Than carry on The rouTine maTTers oT adminisTraTion. Then Dr. ChesTer F. Lay was broughT To The presidency Trom The UniversiTy oT Texas in January, I945. The posT- war period of unresT, The rapid growing pains oT a new SouThern, These and many oTher TacTors conTribuTed To make iT an unhappy period oT uncerTainTy and unresT. A noTable vicTory was achieved, however, in The passage by The LegislaTure in I947, oT The bill which gave SouThern iTs legiTimaTe name, SouThern lllinois UniversiTy. AnoTher oT Dr. Lay's conTribuTions which deserves noTe was The esTablishmenT of The De- parTmenT oT Biological Science and Research, wiTh Dr. 'Carl C. Lindegren as The TirsT chairman oT The deparTmenT. The reTrospecT oT sevenTy-Tive years of SouThern's hisTory is besT under- sTood in Terms OT The insTiTuTion's inTluence in shaping The lives and desTinies of The many Thousands oT iTs sons and daughTers who have spenT happy, TruiTTul years wiThin iTs walls. Trained leaders have gone ouT To win disTinc- Tion in all Tields oT worThy endeavor. SouThern is proud oT iTs children. PresidenT Roscoe Pulliam l935-I944 PresidenT ChesTer F. Lay I945-I948 7