Purdue University - Debris Yearbook (West Lafayette, IN)

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answer in a few words. The corporate university today is a large and highly complex organization with more than ten-thousand employees and an annual cash flow budget of more than one hundred twenty million dollars. Its people are organized to serve not only the more than thirty-six thousand regis- tered students, but also thousands of others in the University extension and adult education programs. The president of a modern university is the responsible senior administrative officer and is the only person who can represent the University in its manifold relationships with its many constituen- cies. It seems that only the president can speak for and make the final ad- ministrative choices in the total deci- sion-making process which goes on con- tinuously in a changing and developing institution. Every segment of our society is inter- ested and has a stake in what the Uni- versity does and how it does its job. In its work, the University serves almost every type and kind of institution, both public and private, in the total econom- ic, social, and political matrix. A partial list of the University's con- stituencies with which the President and his staff must deal are: the Board of Trustees representing the people of the state, the General Assembly and the Governor representing the political authority of the state, the municipal and county authorities in the areas in which the University and its regional campuses are located, the staffs ofthe University A faculty, service, and cleri- cal, the student body of the University, the parents of the students, many de- partments and agencies of the Federal Government, professional and scientific societies, the industries of the nation which employ University graduates, the philanthropic and educational founda- tions of the country which support Uni- versity educational and research pro- grams, other countries throughout the world which send us students and with whom we have educational service con- tractsg and, finally, the alumni of the University, more than one hundred thousand strong, who are deeply inter- ested in and a vital supporting force for the freedom and maintenance ofthis University. DEBRIS: But how do you fit into all this? HOVDE: In the final analysis, the Presi- dent is the only individual who can speak authoritatively and effectively for the administration, and it seems that every constituency of the University wants to go to the top for definitive ac- tion on almost every kind of problem, large or small. DEBRIS: So you're the one everyone looks to, you're the center of this complex. HOVDE: It seems that the President, by virtue of his authority and responsibili- ty, must also take the blame for every- thing that happens. He is responsible to all the constituencies ofthe University for everything that anybody does - individual students, groups of students, staff - that others may not approve or like, such as the live-in? in the Memo- rial Union in May, 1969. DEBRIS: So you look at the role of the University president as more ofa public relations role than as . . HOVDE: The relationship of the Uni- versity to all its constituencies is indeed a major public relations responsibility of the President and his staff, but the most important responsibility is that of organizing the management ofthe peo- ple who do the Universityis work so that its teaching, research, and public service programs are done efficiently and well. It is the quality of the work of a University that builds its reputation. DEBRIS: In other words, you're the one who coordinates all this? HOVDE: The primary administrative authority given to the President of the University includes two basic elements: first, the power to employ the staff and, second, the power to allocate the use of the University's resources of money and facilities. The authority to deter- mine the curriculum and the require- ments for University degrees is vested in the organized faculty ofthe Universi- ty. But it is the President's responsibili- ty to provide the manpower, facilities, and money to achieve the faculty-deter- mined academic objectives. DEBRIS: In relation to what the stu- dents did in the Union in May, 1969: The University President, as well as the remaining administration, has had a relationship with students that has in recent times been marked more and more by conflict. HOVDE: Conflict is not, in my judg- ment, the appropriate descriptive word. DEBRIS: But . . . HOVDE: There are some organized groups actively engaged in conflict with the establishment, there are other groups of students deeply interested in seeking changes in existing policies, procedures. etc. DEBRIS: Let me rephrase the questiong the relationship between administration and students has been marked more and more by confrontation. I-Iow would you explain this? HOVDE: The techniques of confronta- tion and protest are well known and thoroughly understood by the leaders and organizers ofgroups which seek to accomplish changes in the social, eco- nomic, and political structure of this society. The publicity which results from a confrontation dramatizes the problems and thereby stimulates action and reaction to the solution of society's problems. The right of free speech and the right of citizens to assemble peaceably are Constitutionally guaranteed. When organized confrontation interfere with the rights of other citizens, they are un- lawful and must be dealt with accordingly. DEBRIS: How do you explain the many student takeovers ofadministration and other campus buildings? HOVDE: The takeover ofa university building by a group of students is a de- liberate and organized operation in- tended to achieve by force as objective of the group, but the answer to your question can be given only by the lead- ership ofthe group which planned and carried out the takeover . DEBRIS: But isn't this something that has just come into being in the last cou- ple ofyears. HOVDE: No, student riots, demonstra- 23 DEBRIS l

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DEBRIS Now, after twenty-five years as Pres- ident of Purdue, Dr. Hovde has an- nounced his intention to retire. Though expected, the impact ofthis decision has been great. The questions raised by the action, concerning both Dr. Hovde and the Presidency, make this subject a logi- cal place to begin the interview. DEBRIS: Dr. Hovde, one of the most significant events of the 1969-70 school year has been the announcement of your intention to retire in June of 1971. What prompted you to choose this spe- cific date? HOVDE: 1 chose this date for several reasons. First, I will have served as President for twenty-five years, and I believe, as do many other knowledge- able individuals, that the University would be better served with the new, vigorous and energetic leadership need- ed to help face the gigantic and complex challenges that lie ahead for all ofhigh- er education in America. My personal service contract with the Board of Trustees permitted me to choose my retirement date provided that notice of a year and a half be given to enable the Board to undertake the search for and appointment of a new President. Another reason is that I believe I still have a few years of important service to give to the University, primarily in the work associated with the University's new fund drive, the success ofwhich will mean a great deal to the future of Pur- due. The demands upon the time and energy ofthe President are so great that he cannot devote the necessary time to the fund-raising aspect of his total responsibility: DEBRIS: Your intention to retire has presented this matter of seeking a suc- cessor. Could you go back these twenty- five years and relate some of the cir- cumstances and events surrounding your succeeding Doctor Elliott in 1946? HOVDE: Dr. Edward C. Elliott, my predecessor, reached the mandatory retirement date in June of 1945. The nation was still at war, although Ger- 22 many capitulated in May 1945. Purdue's famous Dean of Engineering, Dr. Andrey A. Potter, was named Act- ing President in July 1945 to serve until a new President was chosen. In the spring and summer of 1945, the then Board of Trustees compiled a long list of potential candidates, many of whom were at that time engaged in war work, as I was. I was told that my name had been put on the list by Dr. James Conant, the then President of Harvard, under whom I worked for several years of my wartime service, and by Dr. Vannevar Bush, Director of the Office of Scientific Research and Development. I was personally approached by a member of the Board of Trustees early that summer to ascertain whether or not Iwould be interested in Purdue. My answer was, Yes , and this was fol- lowed by other interviews and an invita- tion to visit Purdue that summer to meet other members ofthe Board. In August, after the war in the Pacif- ic came to its end, the Board offered me the opportunity to come to Purdue as its new President. I told the Board at that time that I could not report for duty until January, 1946, since I was obligated to supervise the closing down of the rocket research programs and laboratories to peacetime direction under the auspices of the Army, Navy or Air Force. DEBRIS: Did you have a career of this nature in mind? HOVDE: My career in educational ad- ministration began with my first job in 1932 when I was appointed Assistant Director of a newly established experi- mental college at the University of Minnesota, called the General College. I had returned that year from my stud- ies as a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford Uni- ersity in England and I became direct- ly involved and interested in many of the new ideas in higher education which were being tried out at the University of Minnesota at that time. Special general education survey courses were being developed. New counseling techniques in breadth and depth for all students were being tried. Audio-visual tech- niques were being developed. New examination techniques were being tried - all of which were primary ef- forts that later were adopted through- out the structure of higher education in this country. In 1936, I left the University of Min- nesota to go to the University of Ro- chester in Rochester, New York, as As- sistant to the President and there ob- tained further experience in many areas of university administration in one of the leading private institutions in the East. Early in 1941, when the nation was beginning the process of building its military defense, I was invited to join the staff of the National Defense Re- search Committee to serve as director of a mission stationed in London, Eng- land, to handle the exchange, between the two countries, of scientific informa- tion on the instrumentalities ofwar. My wartime service extended over a period of nearly five years. When it ended, I was involved in the management of the rocket ordinance research program which developed new rocket weapons for the three Services. DEBRIS: A man of your background must have been of interest to many in- stitutions, why did you choose Purdue? HOVDE: I did not choose Purdue - Purdue chose me. I accepted the Purdue invitation because, for one, Purdue was a land-grant institution of the State of Indiana and I believe deeply in the land-grant philosophy. Also, Purdue was located in the Middle West where I wanted to live, and the major thrust of Purdue University was in the field of the pure and applied sciences and my own training and interests were directed to these areas of higher education. Fi- nally, at that time Purdue was a great university and had the potential of being one of the truly great universities of the entire country. DEBRIS: The administration of any school the size of Purdue is an enor- mous job involving a great many peo- ple. How would you define the role of the university president in the operation ofthe institution? HOVDE: This question is too big to

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tions, boycotts, etc., have occurred ever since universities first came into being. DEBRIS: O.K., but the idea of students taking over an administration building is something that was unheard often or twenty years ago. HOVDE: The number of such events has certainly increased markedly in recent years. However, educational history gives many examples from earlier times. DEBRIS: What you're saying, then is that students oftoday don't really differ from students of ten or twenty years ago. HOVDE: I do not believe students of today differ very much from university students of earlier times. Today's stu- dents are certainly better educated and better informed, and larger numbers of them are deeply interested in making this world a better place in which to live. In any university, the major prob- lems of our times - international rela- tions, racial relations, poverty, pollu- tion 3 are important subjects for dis- cussion, teaching, and research, but the university is not empowered to be a po- litical action agency. Much ofour diffi- culty in thinking about the university is semantic. The university, in so far as its facilities and resources are concerned, is a corporate entity established to pro- vide instruction to students and to per- form scholarly and research work. Be- yond that, Purdue University consists of more than twenty-five thousand indi- vidual students and eight thousand employees in Lafayette. No one, not even the President, can speak for all or represent the views of all members of the University on any matter of social, governmental, or economic concern. DEBRIS: This leads somewhat to the topic of the student speaking seat on the Board of Trustees. What are your opinions on this? HOVDE: I supported the action of the Board of Trustees of the University to invite the President of the Student Body to attend Board meetings and to have the privilege of speaking because this move supplied an improved method of communication between the Board and 24 the students ofthe University. The real problem, however, is - who can speak for the student body, which consists of undergraduate and graduate students, both men and women, regis- tered in all the different schools of the University? In any event, a student must be chosen, by some satisfactory method, for this position and must him- self be capable of communication with all elements ofthe student body itself, if this is possible. In a real sense, every action of the Board of Trustees and everything the University administration does serve the students of the University by pro- viding better facilities, better teaching, and a better environment in which to live and study - all this being done within the budgetary resources avail- able to the Board ofTrustees. The whole purpose and objective of the corporate university is to provide better educational services and oppor- tunities for its student body. But none of this effort is useful and effective un- less the student does his part - namely, take advantage of his opportunities and discipline himself to the personal pro- cess oflearning. DEBRIS: In considering the role of the university, what do you think is the fu- ture ofthe university and the higher education system as we know it today is? HOVDE: Higher education is going to be more important than ever before because more and better education in breadth and depth is required to meet human wants and needs. DEBRIS: Is it going to continue in the form it has had in the past? HOVDE: Institutions of higher educa- tion are constantly changing and in- creasing in number, but the basic re- quirement on the individual student will always remain the same - namely, the individual must really educate himself. Educators haven't learned yet how to pour learning into anyone. The population of our country alone will increase by another hundred mil- lion people by the turn of the century. The ways and means to provide better education for all the young people who will be born during the next thirty years will be found. DEBRIS: Getting back to the topic of being President of Purdue, what is it about this job that has led you to hold it for as long as you have? HOVDE: What I really enjoy isthe peo- ple. I enjoy the young people because they are bright, sharp, and interested. I enjoy the constructive nature of the work of the University. I enjoy the pro- fessors, because they have devoted their life in depth to their specialties. They are always looking ahead to the future. The research people are always working on things that are going to come true five, ten, fifteen years from now. So I enjoy the people, I enjoy the work, and enjoy the challenges. DEBRIS: What are your plans after your retirement next year? HOVDE: I will continue working for the University until I reach mandatory re- tirement age in 1974. Mrs. Hovde and I are going to maintain our residence in Lafayette because this is our home and our children and grandchildren are near us. We do not want to move anyplace else. DEBRIS: What do you intend to do af- ter those three years? HOVDE: I will find plenty to do as long as I maintain good health. There will be continuing opportunities for me to give public service of one kind or another. DEBRIS: In closing, Dr. Hovde, do you feel that the title of President of Purdue has hampered your being recognized or considered as an individual? HOVDE: A University President is an individual human being like everyone else. I have a wife and family that I dearly love and seven beautiful grand- children who like to come to our house. I have a great many friends here and elsewhere whom I enjoy. I have person- al likes and dislikes and I have social and recreational pursuits that I enjoy. I like to read, I like to play golf, and I like to play cards. Personally, the things I like to do, I like to do well. And like most other people, I do at times get angry and sometimes I get very emo- tional, particularly when someone in- jures Purdue.