Southern Illinois University - Obelisk Yearbook (Carbondale, IL)

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A TRIBUTE TO Story By Joyce Vonderheide During his term as president of SIU-C from 1948 to 1970, Delyte W. Morris changed a small teachefs col- lege of 3,000 students into an interna- tionally known university of almost 24,000 students. He was man un- afraid to work and make his dreams for southern Illinois come true. Concerned with helping students, he promoted financial aid and stu- dent work programs and constructed buildings that were accessible to the physically handicapped. In honor of the late president, April 9, 1983 was set aside as a day of trib- ute. The University held an open house featuring campus tours, exhib- its and musical performances by sev- eral campus groups. Various people who worked with Morris during his tenure as SIU president reminisced about him before the highlight of the day, the unveiling of a bronze statue of Morris. 22 ttMorris took a crumbling brick and made a mansion, J ohn Lonergan, an arrival to SIU during the early years of Morris term, said. When Morris began, the faculty, staff and commu- nity were used to doing without. Mor- ris changed their ideas of the status quo and made them accept ideas of expansion. He struggled to get dormi- tories, water lines, police and fire departments and more buildings and services. Lonergan was one of several people who recalls Morris bicycling across campus with his wife Dorothy and stopping to talk with students and staff. ttHe was a president who could be touched? Lonergan said. lTie was not in an ivory tower set aside from other people. He was part of the campus? Seymour Bryson, associate dean of the College of Human Resources, re- called Morrist warmth and his work photo by Doug Janvrin in attracting minority, international and disabled students to the university. ttAll of America has benefited from his willingness to work against odds, to build a university that would pro- vide an essential service to black Americans and other underrepre- sented groups? Bryson said. 1tSIU under Morris became known as an institution where you would be wel- comed and be given an opportunity to be judged not by the color of your skin but by your abilities? William Norwood, a 1959 SIU-C graduate, said that in the late 1950s only three other major universities other than SIU-C had more than a five percent black student population. Remembering Morris as a vision- ary, Norwood, a nineyear Board of Trustees member, said, ttHe left a spirit of lean do, He left a spirit of we together can accomplish anything? News

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Governor J ames Thompson and U.S. Supreme Court J ustice Harry A. Blackmun were the guests of honor at the September 18, 1982 dedication of the Hiram H. Lesar Law School. Blackmun, a native of southern Illinois, was the keynote speaker at the morning ceremony dedicating the $7.6 million building. On her 25th birthday, Sharon Hutcherson won a run-off election for the Student, Trustee position on the Board of Trustees. The second-year photo by Brian Howe Year in Review law student beat five opponents with 1,010 votes in the February 22, 1983 election. The position was vacated in J anuary by Stan Irvin, who resigned to work in the J ackson County State's Attorneyls office. Early in the spring semester the campus and community learned of the perils of Harold McFarlin, SIU-C his- tory professor on leave because of con- gestive heart failure. McFarlin had become more than the victim of heart problems, he be- came a victim of the hard economic times. The 14-year professor of Rus- sian history was waiting for the $80,000 required by the Stanford Uni- versity Medical Center for a heart transplant. A transplant which would decide if McFarlin lived beyond the year that doctors had given him. As the semester progressed a com- mittee was formed, based in the his- tory department, and groups like the Inter-Greek Council organized car- washes and benefits for McFarlin; raising thousands. Among those ef- forts was that of pop group REO Speedwagon who played a charity basketball game against staff mem- bers of WCIL-FM. They raised more than $2000. By the semestefs close, the Harold McFarlin Fund had grown beyond the $40,000 level and was matched by additional funds from a grant from the National Institute of Health. And on May 11, he boarded a plane for California where he would get his new heart. As state and federal monies became harder to come by for SIU-Cls Broad- a casting Servicels ttFestival 83,1 fund- raising effort for WSIU-TV in Carbon- dale and WUSI-TV in Olney produced record-setting results. Totals for the 18-day ttFestival 183 included $112,650 raised through- phone-in pledges by 4,325 people throughout the station,s viewing area. The station, which offers students 1 hands-on experience in broadcasting, also received $18,500 in pre-Festival membership renewals. El 21

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Betty Mitchell, assistant professor of English, remembered Morris as a problem-solver, planner anti builder. Mitchell said Morris personified the word tubiquitous, because his work extended beyond the campus to the entire southern Illinois community. Calling Morris a giant in higher education, Board of Trustees member, Ivan Elliott, said, itHe moved forward aggressively and seized all available opportunities? In SIUis first 75 years, almost 5,000 students received degrees, Elliott said. When Morris retired in 1970, over 7,000 degrees were conferred. ttThe seeds he planted grew with unprecedented rapidity into a broad professional school program? Elliott said. ttOnly now do we realize how far ahead he planned? The statue of Morris, placed in the Hall of Presidents in the library hear- ing his name, was unveiled by Mor- News ris, widow Dorothy, son Peter and grandsons Brett and Trevor. Addressing the 500 people at the dedication ceremony, Peter Morris said, ttWe dedicate this statue as a symbol for a symbol. This becomes a symbol for the university that was developed for the people? The one-and-a-quarter lifesize statue was sculpted by Fredda Bril- liant, an internationally known artist who has sculpted such people as Mahatma Gandhi, R. Buckminister Fuller and Pandit N ehru. Brilliant and her husband, SIU-C professor emeritus Herbert Marshall, were good friends of Delyte and Dorothy Morris. itI watched what he did for the uni- versity? Brilliant said in an inter- view prior to the unveiling. 01 never saw anybody so conscientious. To him this university was the world. And I thoughtrthere should be a sculpture of him one day? photo by Doug Janvrin 23