Brown University - Liber Brunensis Yearbook (Providence, RI)

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FACULTY AND ADMINISTRATION 29

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Traditionally the faculty and administration sec- tion of any yearbook restricts itself to recording the accomplishments of only men and women on the University's payroll. However, this year it seems necessary to include the work of a student, IRA CHARLES MAGAZINER, who in the past four years has proven himself to be one of the ablest and most influential administrators on the Brown campus. Irahe is simply Ira to everyoneis a phenom- enon and an experience which occurs very rarely in the life of any school. As President of the Class of 1969 for four years and as President of the Cam Club, he has effected so many changes that the entire temper and outlook of Brown is different than it was before he arrived. He founded Res Publica, he instituted GISP, he organized the most amazing Spring Weekend ever, he was featured in Glamour, he was co-author of the Magaziner-Maxwell Report and he is a Rhodes Scholar. His accomplishments are so multitudinous and important that he might be remembered for any one of them, but combined they add up to a legend of continuous successes unmarred by a single failure. Yet perhaps his greatest success and the one for which he would most probably want to be remem- bered is his work on educational reform. From the writing of Draft of a Working Paper for Education at Brown through the rallies on the Green to the establishment of the Maeder Committee, Ira has made the students, faculty and administration aware of the necessity for curricular reform. More than simple awareness, he has instilled an interest among students for concerned change realized through open dialogue between themselves and the powers that be. Peaceful changes in the University and willing- ness to enter into student-administration dialogue have not been the product of student initiative alone. President RAY LORENZO HEFFNER, faced with nu- merous policy issues this year, has shown an interest in student opinion that is relatively new to Brown. This past year he has had to deal with demands for curricular reform, the fight over Project Equality, the black student walkout and the question of the Uni- versity's responsibility to ROTC. A man who believes in the in-depth study of problems and cautious de- cision-making, President Heffner has included stu- dents on several vital committees and has generally shown considerable receptivity towards their wishes and those of the faculty. Although some have criti- cized his government by committee', it is undoubt- edly true that this method of running the University has led to greater faculty-student influence than would have been likely under a more authoritarian president. President Heffner is very much the pipesmoking academician in appearance and in manner. He adds a certain dignity and calm to Brown. In a time when the American University is constantly and conspicu- ously on the firing line he has managed to conciliate and take important steps towards major changes all the while maintaining the delicate balance that a university president must possess when pressed by both the Corporation and the more immediate Brown Community. President Heffner has an unenviable job at an unenviable time. Thus far, however, he has remained open to suggestions from all quarters. Magaziner

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As Associate Provost of the University, Professor of Engineering PAUL F. MAEDER learned what it was like to wield power in the negotiations to end this year's walkout; and near absolute power is what he frequently exercises as Chairman of the recently established Maeder Committee examining curricular reform. A brilliant administrator and engineerhe was very influential in the design of the Prince Engineering Research Laboratory and the Barus and Holley Building, and he has done considerable work for NASA in HoustonProfessor Maeder was an excellent choice to head this faculty-student committee, for he is ultimately concerned with providing students with the best possible educa- tional structure regardless of what changes have to be made. A forceful and respected speaker and theortician, he is a good man to have on the students' side. The same can be said for F. DONALD ECKELMANN who replaced Robert O. Schulze last year as Dean of the College. Dean Eckelmann rose from relative obscurity last year as Chairman of the Department of Geological Sciences to his influential post in University Hall, and he has made every effort to learn his Eckelmann