Southern Methodist University - Rotunda Yearbook (University Park, TX)

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resulted in the student ' s applying for an injunction, but the court upheld the University. Afterwards, the penalty was changed from expulsion to permanent suspension. At the last faculty meeting of the Uni- versity ' s second year, on June 5, the roll of fifty candi- dates for bachelor of arts degrees and fourteen for master of arts degrees was approved. The nation-wide influenza epidemic was so prev- alent when the 1918-1919 session opened that a committee of three was appointed at the first faculty meeting to aid in combating the epidemic. January 15 brought the authorization of the annual memorial services for the student war-dead to be held each November 11 at the hour of eleven. Spring brought Mr. and Mrs. W. W. Fondren ' s donation of $10,000 to found the Fondren Lecture series. The last faculty meeting of the session was marked by the approval of President Hyer ' s suggestion that the Uni- versity provide ten scholarships to be given to men incapacitated by war service. Before the session closed, the gymnasium, the first building erected after the opening of the University, containing a swimming pool, basketball court, bowling alley, and other gymnastic equipment, was completed. In the fall of 1919, Dr. Albert S. Pegues replaced John H. Keen as Dean of the Uni- versity and Miss Mary B. Murphey was made Dean of Women. The first Rhodes Schol- arships awarded to S. M. U. students were received by Jack Doty and George Thomas in November. Disciplinary problems in the 1919-1920 semesters were evidenced by inauguration of the requirement that each student sign an anti-hazing pledge; by the record, found in the December 2 minutes, of the suspension of five students and punish- ment of eight others for hazing; and by the March 4 report of the chairman of the disci- pline committee, that a live wire leading to the gymnasium was cut during the party of the preceding Friday night. Sorrow struck the Campus on February 14 in the form of the death, the first among the faculty members, of Professor Frank Seay. The un- satisfactory financial conditions of the University caused great uneasiness in the minds of the trustees. The debt, which had been reduced to $304,000 at the beginning of 1919, had increased to $358,000 at the end of the year and was steadily rising. To give the trustees fuller sway and to spend more time teaching. President Hyer tendered his resignation on February 8, 1920, pointing out in his letter of resignation that in spite of the brilliant achievements of the young school, it was necessary to go to the friends of the University and tell them that if the bright prospects of the school were to be real- ized, or even if it were to be kept alive, it would be necessary to have more money. Dr. Robert Stewart Hyer may well be regarded as the outstanding figure that gave the institution academic standing from the first. At a time when the world was at war, with the resultant financial confu- sion, he stepped into his position confidently, with every hope for success. His duties included the ap- proval of architectural plans, the selection of a fac- ulty, the development of a curriculum, the acquisition

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■p In addition to Dallas Hall, the trail-blazers were greeted by Atkins Hall, North Hall, South Hall, and Rankin Hall. Under Vice-President Boaz, The 1912 Endowment Fund, amounting to $279,178, had been raised, and by June 30, 1913, President Hyer had re- ported the successful completion of the campaign for the first million for buildings and other equipment. May 20, 1914, had marked the endorsement of the University by the General Conference of the Metho- dist Episcopal Church, South. As of April 30, 1915, the net assets were $2,521,767 in land, buildings, and notes. Such was the optimistic situation in which the initial stu- dent and faculty bodies discovered S. M. U. During this first year Alpha Omicron Pi was founded as the first Greek social organization on the Campus. Harvard Red and Yale Blue were selected by Dr. Hyer as the school colors. The hilltop Library grew to contain 7,000 books. On January 18, the faculty voted for the establishment of the University Church, which was later to become Highland Park Methodist Church. Alpha Theta Phi, the first honorary scholar- ship fraternity, was organized at a faculty meeting, March 18. Annual Senior Recog- nition Day was inaugurated. May 8; the first faculty and senior baseball game ended in an overwhelming victory for the seniors; and the yearly Commencement Play by the Arden Club was initiated by the pr oduction of As You Like It in Arden Forest during Commencement Week. These traditions are still observed each year. At the first commencement exercises on June 13, twenty-three B. A. degrees and seven M. A. degrees were conferred. Composed of the College of Liberal Arts, the School of Theol- ogy, and the School of Music, S. M. U. had already taken an important step in academ- ic development and its reward was membership in the association of Texas Colleges. S. M. U. started on its way to athletic fame during the 1916-1917 semesters when the University became a member of the Southwest Conference and the title Mustangs was chosen for all S. M. U. athletic teams. In the fall, T. A. Abbott became President of the student body, and Kenneth Foree, Jr., looking forward to the day when he would be one of the Editors of The Dallas Morning News, began editing The Campus. The faculty support to the Students ' Self-Governing Association in its efforts to abolish hazing even to the extent of expulsion of the offending student eventually resulted in banishing the practice from the Campus, although there were a few instances which received prompt and severe punishment. In November the first rule for compulsory church attendance was adopted. On November 27, disaster struck in the form of a fire which destroyed South Hall, one of the men ' s residence halls. The World War added the United States to its list of victims on April 5, and on May 7, a resolution was adopted by the S. M. U. faculty in favor of compul- sory military training for all male students for next year. The minutes of May 16 record the first expul- sion of a student for improper conduct. This expulsion Itiaa 1 It ■«i OiMi kfe: pbcEH oiftitni Uinov •esqaia • J

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of proper laboratory materials, and the apportionment of funds to the various departments. Working with the co-operation of the Board of Trustees, he had per- formed these tasks ably, building always toward the future. On February 20, Dr. Hiram A. Boaz was elected as the new President of the University. Realizing the truth of Dr. Hyer ' s statement, President Boaz started immediately on a $1,000,000 campaign. The General Education Board of New York agreed to raise one-third of the amount on the condition that the University itself would raise the other two-thirds. By November the drive was proclaimed a success, and the Million Dollar Campaign to liguidate the debts was finished. Further financial aid was received through the $100,000 endowment given by Mr. and Mrs. S. I. Munger on March 26. On February 20 the first Commerce School course was introduced. The Fondren Lectures, endowed in the spring of 1919, were held for the first time in April of this session. On June 1, Ray Morrison, who had reported for work in June of 1915 and had served as coach, Y. M. C. A. Secretary, and professor of Mathematics, was given the official standing of Director of Athletics. The opening of the next session was greeted by a curriculum expanded to includt a B. S. degree, the beginning of the Extension School, and a new business manager in the person of Dr. A. D. Schuessler, who had been appointed July 8. It was also at this time that the Department of Commerce was inaugurated at the request of Dallas busi- ness men, and a $50,000 endowment given for a Professorship in the Department of Geology by W. B. Hamilton. September found the University purchasing on Airline Road, a block north of the Campus, a two-story building, which was remodeled into eight apartments for the use of married Theology students. The first courses in Journal- ism were offered this session and were taught by A. Gayle Waldrop, who resigned at the end of the year. The Journalism Department, which was then only a division of the English Department, was housed with the School of Commerce in a little wooden build- ing constructed especially for that purpose. Beside it was erected a similar shack for the Chemistry Department. This shack burned in 1930, destroying all the laboratory equipment. By the time school started again in September, 1921, construction work on the steel stands, provided through the efforts of some Dallas business men, for the west side of the stadium had been begun. It was about this time that the University received a $355,809.55 endowment from the will of the late Colonel L. A. Pires, and that the University was ad- mitted to the Southern Association of Colleges and the Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools of the Southern States. Spring saw the erection of steel stands donated for the east side of the football field by Jordan C. Ownby at a cost of $10,000. In May, 1922, having been elected to the episcopacy, President Boaz handed in his resignation, made effective July 7, 1 U.: L