University of Miami - Ibis Yearbook (Coral Gables, FL)

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lize on it. With the war just around the corner in the early 1940 ' s, planning was underway in the United States for the war effort. There was a debate at the time Should the armed forces utilize existing facilities or build new ones for the training of service personnel? Offering the University of Miami as a testing ground and a perfect place for service training, Dr. Ashe man- aged to get the U.S. government to agree to use the existing facilities of UM in the training of RAF pilots from Britain. The program proved successful and the govern- ment was convinced that existing facilities would be in the best interests of the armed forces. Thereafter, the Miami area became one of the main training centers in the nation for all branches of the services. Dr. Melanie Rosborough remembers: First the British cadets of the Royal Air Force came here to train. They lived at the San Sebastian Building with American aviation cadets. Then the war broke out and Miami obtained the Navy V-12 and V-5 programs, and the Army Civilian Defense Training Program. Over 3 4 of our men students were in uniform and it was really amazing how much this school could do for them. Thousands and thousands of armed forces personnel were sent to Miami Beach to get officer ' s training, so they became acquainted with this area and they liked it. This is one of the main reasons for the sudden growth of the Miami area im- mediately after the war. Boys then were just eager to sign up and get into the war. The attitudes of the boys were totally different from the other recent wars. They were extremely idealistic and felt that they were working to save the world for democracy. They were all absolutely sincere. I taught a class in Air Navigation with 42 students. In the third month of 18 The halftime activity at the UM-Stetson basketball game in 1953 was a football free-for-all.

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little later, Florida Power and Light had been ordered to make a refund to all cus- tomers on a light bill, so students went from house to house asking people to donate their F.P.L. refunds to the University. The drive was successful. President Bowman Foster Ashe, the leader of the University through its most perilous times, was just the type of person needed to keep the unstable University from toppling to the ground. As a veteran fac- ulty member put it some years ago, the Uni- versity always seemed on the verge of bank- ruptcy and greatness. Dr. Tebeau: Bowman Foster Ashe was a realist because of his experiences. I suppose that it even would be correct to say that he was an opportunist in the sense that he had a great capacity to recognize possibility and potential when he saw it. He exhibited enormous confidence, realizing that this area was destined to eventually grow and become a center for study in tropical fields and inter- American relations. Dr. Rosborough: If Dr. Ashe hadn ' t had so much vision and energy the kind of man who couldn ' t see defeat this school would not be here to- day. Applying his confidence and abilities toward insuring the growth and stability of UM, Dr. Ashe is credited with many of the actions which saved the school from disaster on numerous occasions, notably during that first decade. But Dr. Ashe was not only expert at putting out the fires of financial and administrative difficulties, he was an innovator who could spot a trend and capita- ' We ' ve wrestled with this ever since Ashe ' s time. That ' s why the tag ' Sun Tan U ' hurts so much, be- cause it ' s something we ' ve been fighting ever since 1926. The UM Symphony, under the baton of director Arnold Volpe, prepares for a performance at Miami Senior High, c. 1938. 17

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r UM students go to a day at the races, c. 1949. the course, I walked into the class and there were only 11 students left. The rest of the boys had been called for and had to leave. It was felt that all these cadets should have some experience in mapping out courses over enemy terrain under simulated flight conditions. One of the methods my class used to accomplish this was the construction of a small platform on the top of the Coffin Tower, at one corner of the Anastasia Building, under which was painted a huge map of central Europe, spread all over the ground below. This was the area they would probably be flying in. They then had to map their courses under terrific noise conditions so they would have to think and concen- trate while bombing was going on. In order to raise a lot of din, tin garbage pails were banged together. While mis usage of UM for training purposes was a clever way to keep the University strong, it was also an abso- lutely essential means of keeping UM alive. Dr. Tebeau: If the University had not been converted largely into a training center, the severe reduction in enrollment might well have forced its closing for economic reasons. The student body was composed largely of men of military age who would have left UM vir- tually empty. The expansion of the defense train- ing was limited only by lack of class- rooms and housing for trainees and their officers. In consequence, UM emerged from the war with its facilities increased and its credit and financial position im- proved, ready to move forward with the rapid expansion of the community. A radical change was in the near 19