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

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...-. -- :ir;i n II Senator Edward Kennedy visits UM to present a grant to the Mailman Center for Child Development of a half-million dollars, 1967. Ferre Graduate Building, the MacArthur Engineering Building, the LC Building, the Medical Research Building at Jackson Mem- orial Hospital Center, four Marine Science Buildings on Virginia Key, the Volpe Music Building, the Pick Music Library, the Fill- more Band Hall, the Green Orchestra Re- hearsal Hall, the Panhellenic Building, the Health Center, additions to the Lowe Gallery and the Athletic Buildings, and the beginnings of fraternity houses and re- ligious centers on or near the campus cov- ered the former forest. Planned for the near future were a new and enlarged Student Union, a computer center, a science building, and a major medical center all of which were completed in the 1960s. Another of Dr. Pearson ' s projects was upgrading Miami ' s academic reputa- tion. Always very defensive about UM, Dr. Pearson sponsored the upgrading of the Law School. In 1954 the Law School began, for the first time, to require an undergraduate degree for admission. The honors program for undergraduates was initiated in 1957, and finally, in the last year of the decade, doctoral programs were instituted and offered for the first time. Desegregation finally became an issue at Miami in the late 1950s. Social cus- tom and municipal and state law imposed segregation. It had once been necessary to cancel a game with Penn State because the social courtesies offered to the white members of the visiting team could not also be afforded to the black members on the team. Dr. Tebeau writes: After the Supreme Court decision on this issue on May 17, 1954, more and more questions arose about integration. The University fell into line but nowhere led the parade. Pres- ident Pearson ' s position remained con- servative all along. In January, 1959, he stated it the opinion of the Board of Trustees and the administration that in- tegration at UM was inevitable. The only question was when and how. He refused, he said, to take the leadership to change Florida ' s educational policies ' just to prove we are leaders. ' Nor, he said, vould he seek the enrollment of an un- qualified student ' just because we should prove that w e will take one. At the proper time, this University can adopt a policy of integration with no internal problems whatever. ' Finally, on Febraury 10, 1961, the Board of Trustees voted to admit any qualified student be- 23

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Jay F.W. Pearson took the reigns, frat- ernities had started establishing their own houses, dormitories were under construc- tion, a student union had been running for a few years, and the number of students enrolled had finally stabilized at a rela- tively high figure. The financial pros- perity of Florida was lifting all the other institutions of the area up with it. Life on campus was closer to what we know today, but many important differences still remained. Women living in the apartment areas occupied a section of the campus enclosed by a seven-foot high chain link fence a seemingly impenetrable barrier to rambunctious panty raids and other fiftyish pranks. Curfews were in effect, no alcoholic beverages were allowed in University housing, and the no-necking rule was strictly enforced on campus. Academically, the situation improved steadily. The early professors had shaped the future of the institution by starting from scratch. As Dr. Tebeau recalls: There were several attractive things about this place. We were in the midst of a growing situation. From the day I came here in 1939, there was improvement. I felt that I had a part in bringing this school up. There aren ' t too many places a teacher can go and feel this way. Another thing was the unbelievable freedom to teach, which is not to suggest that any of us were radical. Nobody here ever tried to inhibit any professor from trying some- thing different, if it was at all rational. Many professors have told me that the reason they stayed here through all the problems of the first 25 years was that they had the freedom to develop their own courses to a degree that would sufficiently encourage them to stay on. Other schools with more prestige would place a profes- sor into a niche from which he could not extricate himself. Unfortunately, this freedom is not present to the old degree here anymore. The size and complexity of the University does not allow as much leeway as we had then. The din and confusion of construction were an ever-present accompaniment of academic activity during the 1950s as the fledgling university enlargened its facilities and began to make use of the great area of land at the main campus. Dr. Pearson found himself almost obscured by the exponential growth of the physical plant. During the 1950s, Eaton Hall, the Ashe Building, the first of the de Hirsch Meyer Law School Buildings, the Aram ' Gosh ' Goshgarian, left, in his 1949 campaign for president of student government. He was the first non-fraternity president of the Student Association. Ferr Engin Medic orialf morel toisa fteHf Galleri bejini lijjou; ercdtl nearfi Staler sdenci Ano School P De 22

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ginning in the summer of that year. There were no incidents that summer, and none until the more militant events of the late 1960s. The late 1950s was also a time when UM began to attract national attention, not only for its incredible expansion academically and financially, but for its notorious Sun Tan U image. As Dr. Tebeau remembers, One thing the Univer- sity administration has always had to answer was, How can you operate a serious educational institution in an entertain- ment oriented community? Somebody once asked President Ashe how he could carry on an intellectual life in a climate like this. He said that he really didn ' t know since he wasn ' t an intellectual himself, which was far from being true. But he would point out that civilization was born in the tropics, not the temperate zones. We ' ve wrestled with this ever since Ashe ' s time. That ' s why the tag ' Sun Tan U ' hurts so much, because it ' s some- thing we ' ve been fighting ever since 1926. It stems from an association with an area where horse racing, polo playing, money, recreation, and Miami Beach compose the image rather than the reality. Other people just write the place off. That ' s why it ' s important to maintain areas like the Marine Science School with a national reputation. While Miami may never change its climate, its students themselves have changed immensely. The first students were victims of the Depression. Most of the students of the 30s were Miami people who wanted to go to school but couldn ' t afford to go anywhere else. After World War II, the GIs who came here did not have money because they came at Uncle Sam ' s ex- pense. There always have been those stu- dents who came here for its location and climate only. That proportion grew rapidly in the 1950s and 60s because UM ' s growth was a product of the growing afflu- ence of the entire country. All college students today have far more money than they ' ve ever had before. But there is too much of an attitude that all the students here are well-off. There are quite a few who wonder about their next meal. As to the type of student now attend- ing UM, this was and is a conservative community. It is conservative now in that the degree of student unrest active dis- sent is rather low. The only major unrest at this school occurred after the Kent State shootings in May, 1970. This was the only time UM encountered a threat of serious violence. The school was closed down from 2:30 Thursday afternoon until Monday morning. Some other schools never reopened for the rest of that semester. As an upshot of that period, students did begin to have much more say about what went on. Before the 60s, the students did not have any role in University decisions, but they didn ' t want that role either, so there was never any conflict. The area 24 truste dowi a brie sofre Theo loan) social St been