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

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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

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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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I ■ •Reapportionment fe. Working with tees,hehadper- always toward the • Boaz was elected 3ity. Realizing the sident Boaz started JoardofNewYork iversity itself would a success, and the ither financial aid lrs.S.I,Mungeron is introduced. The e first time in April ork in June of 1915 Mathematics, was xpandedtoincludt usiness manager in It was also at this uest of Dallas busi- the Department of chasing on Airline ' QS remodeled into courses in loumal- p, who resigned at ily a division of the ittle wooden build- a similar shack for all the laboratory nworkon the steel [or the west side of iversity received a wiH of the late Jniversitywasf jfCoEegescmdtje jarySch(«lsof e ..ectionof eel hefoo President julyl copacy. ideeSectivei and Dr. James Kilgore was asked to serve as Presi- dent until a permanent selection could be made. By this time the foundation for a great university had been laid and work was continually progressing. The chief problem was that the physical properties of the school were still inadequate to meet the needs of a growing student population. The next fall, work was begun on Marvin and Pierce Halls, two additional apartment houses for married Theology students, consist- ing of four apartments each. September also brought the resignation of Miss Mary B. Murphey as Dean of Women and a new Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, Elzy D. Jennings. The spring of this 1922-1923 session was filled with important events. January 1 marked the completion of Marvin and Pierce Halls, and the tenth of that month brought the first issue of The Semi-Weekly Campus. This publication, whose Editor was George Bond, was the first to bear the name under which it is still published. Dr. Charles C. Selecman, then pastor of the First Methodist Church of Dallas, was elected to the Presidency on March 21, to take office April 2. Dr. Selecman took over his new assignment diligently and, except for the worst years of the depression, his regime was noted for its material advancement of the University. On March 26, Mr. R. Harper Kirby and his wife, Mrs. Annie Kirby, of Austin, presented the University with $100,000 for the erection of a building to house the School of Theology. Ground- breaking was held June 1 1 , with three bishops taking part in the ceremony. The Cam- pus Beautification Committee, consisting of several prominent local citizens, started its work the same year, and employed Bremer W. Pond, a Boston landscape engineer, to make a plan for the campus. It was in pursuance of the sketch he submitted that tele- phone and light wires have disappeared into an underground service tunnel and that Bishop Boulevard, which formerly came almost to the steps of Dallas Hall, has re- treated a block away, leaving the intervening space for a lawn. A signal achievement for the 1923-1924 session was S. M. U. ' s first Southwest Con- ference football championship. On Thanksgiving, the Mustangs played at the State Fair Park Stadium against Baylor University before the largest crowd that ever wit- nessed a football game in Dallas. Pikers ' Day, now a traditional spring event, was held for the first time that fall. On New Year ' s Day, Mrs. Ora Nixon Arnold of Houston, by a gift of $120,000, endowed the George F. and Ora Nixon Arnold School of Govern- ment. April 3, the cornerstone for Kirby Hall was laid; April 21, the Million Dollar Cam- paign begun in 1920 was completed, $333,333.33 having been donated by the Rocke- feller Board; and April 30, Lay ton W. Bailey was elected Business Manager of the University. Substan- tial financial aid was received about this time from Mrs. W. D. Haynie of Rice, who endowed the Haynie Professorship of Pastoral Administration; from Mrs. E. A. Lilly of Pearsall, who endowed the E. A. Lilly Professorship of English; from Mr. and Mrs. J. J. Perkins of Wichita Falls, who completed a Professor- ship endowment of $50,000; from a legacy of $22,348.- L