St Edwards University - Tower Yearbook (Austin, TX)

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The Heat is on for Brother Stephen — “T vealways been the youngest person at something. My age hasn’t been a problem. I just don’t think about it. The only thing I ask of anybody is that I’m free to be myself and that I don’t have to play the role of college president. There are a number of students who know me pretty well, and I continue a kind of normal, natural relationship with them. I don’t try to assert myself as the president. In the long run, you don’t gain respect or cooperation by virtue of your position or your title—that comes from personal rapport and your effectiveness on another level. You don’t descend from on high. 99 122

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j | over the nominal opposition of Congressman Paul McCloskey, Jr., of California, who thought the President too conservative, and Congressman John Ashbrook of Ohio, who thought him too liberal. In the course of his campaign the Presi- dent strongly supported locally controlled schools and opposed the busing of school children to achieve racial balance. He spoke out against abortion, legalization of mari- juana, welfare for those who refused to work, and amnesty for those who refused to fight in Vietnam. But he maintained a very low profile throughout the campaign and rarely ap- peared on television. He made several paid political speeches on radio, but generally avoided the campaign trail. Instead, Mr. Nixon chose to stay at his desk in the White House, projecting an aloof and dignified image of a nonpartisan President who was above the demand of party politics. His bumper stickers read simply, in red and blue letters on white background, “Re-elect The President.” Meanwhile, George McGovern was doing all he could to play into the President’s cam- paign strategy. The Democratic convention itself had made enemies for McGovern. In- stead of the usual collection of party reg- ulars, big-city bosses, and labor chieftains, many of the delegates were youths, women, and b lacks attending their first convention. Chicago Mayor Richard Daley, a king- maker of past conventions, was not allowed to attend this one. The credentials com- mittee ruled that his elected Illinois delega- tion was in violation of the party’s reforms. George Meany, AFL-CIO president who had soured early on McGovern, was present at the convention only to work against him. McGovern further offended party regulars when he named Utah national committee- woman Jean Westwood as chairman of the Democratic National Committee, replacing Larry O’Brien. Although Daley later agreed to work for McGovern’s election, Meany refused to endorse him, and organized labor, like the Democratic Party, was divided on McGovern. The worst setback to McGovern’s campaign was the disclosure in Custer, South Dakota on July 25 that his 42-year-old vice- presidential running mate, Senator Thomas F. Eagleton of Missouri, had undergone psychiatric treatment. McGovern’s immedi- ate reaction to Engleton’s surprising an- nouncement was a pledge of “1,000 per cent”” support, but a few days later McGovern decided to drop Eagleton on the grounds that the controversy would cloud the real issues of the campaign. McGovern’s leadership image was damaged further when he failed to persuade DOONESBURY IN ST LOUIS THIS MORNING, SENATOR GEORGE Mc GOVERN ANNOUNCE? Hs FINAL eae Cit ey DEFENSE 2, © 1972 G. B. Trudeau 3 ao z 5 2 3 z THE SENATOR SAID THAT HE WAS COLETELY COMMITTED T0 THIS POUCY AND ADDED THAT “I AM 2300°%7% : BEHIND: FAR-RANGING REFORM IN THE AREA OF APPROPRIATIONS (2e2 le, MILITARY. ” ADDRESSING A PRESS CONFERENCE, THE SENATOR SAID; “IT 1S TIME TO CUT THE FAT ANP WASTE FROM EXTKAVACANT MILITARY SFENDING IF ELECTED T LEDGE TO DO JUST THAT MN eg) N OTHER NEWS, THIS AFTERNOON N CHICAGO, SENATOR Mc 6OVERN CHANGED HIS MIND. Copyright, 1972, G.B. Trudeau. Distributed by Universal Press Syndicate. a half dozen prominent Democrats, in- cluding Senator Edward Kennedy, to replace Eagleton. He finally settled on (or for) Sergeant Shriver, Kennedy’s brother- in-law. In the campaign McGovern attempt- ed to make an issue of alledged Republi- can corruption, pointing out the involve- ment of ITT in the original plans of the Republican Party for San Diego conven- tion, and the then still sleepy, still comically James Bondish Republican break-in at the Democratic National Headquarters at the Watergate office- apartment complex in Washington. At the same time, trying to present a more moderate position on explosive issues such as amnesty, abortion, marijuana, tax reform and defense cuts, McGovern only succeeded in raising further doubts among voters about his credibility and decisiveness. Another Nixon Bumper sticker, referring to Nixon, read, “Now More Than Ever!” On November 7 the American people agreed and voted overwhelmingly to give Richard Nixon his “Four More Years.” The President lost only Massachusetts and the District of Columbia in securing 60.7% of the popular vote, a figure second only to Lyndon Johnson’s 61.1% in 1964. Mr. Nixon’s 520 electoral votes was surpassed only by Franklin Roosevelt’s 523 in 1936. Mr. Nixon won his landslide by breaking up the old coalition of black, Jewish, and Roman Catholic voters, part of the “Roose- velt Coalition” since the days of Depression. He also gained large portions of the blue collar and newly-enfranchised youth vote. But the victory was a personal, not a party, triumph. The Republicans had hoped to pick up the 5 seats they needed to take control of the Senate in the 93rd Congress. Instead, they lost 2. In the House of Repre- sentatives, the Republicans gained only 14 of the 39 new seats they needed to gain con- trol. It was the first time in any U.S. election that a party winning the presidency with a sweep such as Mr. Nixon’s failed to take both housed of Congress. Another Bumper sticker explained the reason pretty well. It said, “Democrats for Nixon.” 121

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Wine he entered St. Edward’s in 1959, Brother Stephen didn’t try to hide his disappointment. He was a native Californian, he had spent a year as a Holy Cross novice near the University of Notre Dame, and he had spent a week on the Notre Dame cam- pus at the end of his training. So Texas and St. Edward’s didn’t have much to offer him, he thought. Brother Stephen hasn’t doubted since through four years as a student, seven as a teacher and administrator, and now as the life goes whole reversed. 99 lives can 21st president of St. Edward’s University. Certainly the quality most striking about Brother Stephen is his overwhelming faith in this university. Indeed, Brother Stephen’s faith has been more than idle dreaming. While chair- man of the Division of Teacher Education he created the Center for Teaching and Learning, and as Academic Dean was a major force in the development of Model Q, new interdisciplinary majors in criminal justice, bilingual-bicultural education, and environ- mental studies, and the Project Excel and CAMP programs. Before his selection as president by the Board of Trustees after a search committee had screened some 50 candidates, Brother Stephen had served as Interim President for eleven months following the resignation of Dr. Edgar L. Roy. Two days after the Board’s decision was announced Brother Stephen described his selection to some in- quisitive high schoolers in Temple as “escaping from purgatory into hell!”’ No doubt the heat is on for Brother Stephen, but he’s been in the kitchen through the most dynamic and unsettling seven years this hilltop has seen. The next seven promise to be no less interesting. 6é Seinen: I’m concerned about the impact that a decision will make, but generally I don’t worry. You know the earth is probably a billion years old and on and important things happening. But there are lots of things that don’t make that much difference. There are people whose be consumed in details—but in the great spectrum of Western civilization all the decisions we make everyday, it seems to me, are not all that earth-shaking. There are very critical problems that must be well thought out and whose implications must be carefully weighed, but decisions must be made and not worried about. There are very few things that can’t be there are really 123