University of Minnesota - Gopher Yearbook (Minneapolis, MN)

Page 29 text:

Class of '88 reunion, 1928 COFFEY: FINAL SYMBOL OF UNITY When Ford left the- University in 1941, Walter C. Coffey stepped into his place. This might have been called the ultimate symbol of unity between the two campuses farm ami main, for Coffey had formerly been dean of the School of Agriculture. The new president didn't start college himself until he was in his twenties when he enrolled in some animal husbandry courses at the University of Illinois, decided he liked the academic life and ended up president of one of the largest universities in the nation. Once again the nation was sneering “Dontcha know there’s a war on?” The campus knew. Men in V12 units and other V-number units swarmed over the campus and made it their home for the duration. Coeds dreamt of days when dates were plentiful. Students went to school the year around, with two days vacation between spring and summer quarters. They called it acceleration. Nineteen-forty-five brought the end of the war and the end of Coffey's administration. James L. Morrill took over the post-war presidency. His arrival was heralded by the sound of the shuffling feet of veterans waiting in line for supplies under the (»I bill. To handle the great influx of veterans — enrollment now passed the 27,000 mark — temporary buildings were thrown together in record time. 1951: ANOTHER HIGHLIGHT IN THE BODY OF THE STORY? In the latter years of this half century a vast, new permanent building program was initiated. Temporaries were replaced by such structures as Ford and Johnston halls. 11' put up two new buildings and tore one down. Some of the old familiar threads arc running through our current history. University budget problems in the legislature, cries for loyalty investigations of faculty members and the threat of war are all off the same historical spool. It is therefore difficult to say whether this generation of students has been privileged to attend the University at the peak of its history, or whether it merely has witnessed another highlight in the body of the story. Growth of the campus, 1891 to 949 Page 25

Page 28 text:

FORD: NO CASH, NEW WAR THREATS lun ton hall library, 192i DEPRESSION: HILLS AND VALLEYS It was during the thirties that the Institute of Technology was born. The old College of Engineering had been having a bad time up to that point. It was suffering from a tremendous turnover of personnel, acute lack of space and inferior equipment. It was also lacking in prestige. The first dean of IT was Samuel Colville Lind, who came to Minnesota in 1926. He found his new college was made up of academic hills and valleys—some departments, like that of chemistry, were strong, others were weak. Lind and those who followed him succeeded first in equalizing the various departments, then in raising them all to a more respectable standard of performance. This was the depression era, and, like almost every other institution, the University was having financial difficulties. The number of student loan applications rose alarmingly. Funds ran out. Coffman asked the legislature for $100 million and got only two-thirds of it. When things were blackest, the Federal Emergency Relief administration saved the day with a plan that extended to all non-profit collegiate institutions. The project was a glorified relief program whereby federal students were assigned to work and study at the University. The move helped relieve the unemployment situation and also raised funds for the University. At the start of the academic year in 1958 President ('off-man died. The Regents asked Guy Stanton Ford, who had been filling in as acting president during Coffman's illness, to continue as acting president until a permanent one could be found. Ford refused. Then they asked him to take the presidency as a [KTmancnt job. He accepted. With another war on the horizon, the new president was naturally reluctant to begin any long range experiments. But he did manage to get the business department reor ganized. The School of Business gained a lot of ground when its head, W. E. Hotchkiss, lured Alvin Hansen and F. B. Garver away from Brown university. The two men were unlike in temperament and method — Garver was slow and thorough, Hansen was erratic and brilliant; but they complemented each other perfectly and contributed much both to economic literature anti to the University School of Business. The story of Journalism’s rise at the University roughly parallels that of the Business school. In the thirties journalism put new emphasis on professional training and revised its curriculum in order to make a greater appeal to the serious-minded student. Journalism was promoted from a department to a school in 1942, only two years after it moved into its present quarters at Murphy hall. Home economics lab class, 1921

Page 30 text:

Hoard of Regents New Faces in Critical Year The death of Fred H. Snyder, the resignation of Albert J. Lobb and a threatened loyalty oath for teachers made this one of the most tumultuous and critical years in the history of the Hoard of Regents. It was a year in which regents throughout the country held the precious life and death ol academic freedom in their hands. The Regents this year grieved the loss of one of their greatest names—Fred H. Snyder. A member of the Regents for sS years and its chairman since 1914, Snyder died in February after he had stepped down as chairman of the Hoard in the fall and had resigned as an active member in January. He was 91. President J. L. Morrill praised Snyder as the man who has done more for the University than any other single individual. Ray J. Quinlivan of St. Cloud succeeded Snyder as chairman. New regents were l)r. Charles Mayo of Rochester who re- placed the retiring Lobb, and Lester A. Malkerson of Minneapolis who was appointed to lilI the vacancy left by Snyder. It was the greatest change of personnel the Regents have experienced in any one year of its history. The Regents avoided entering into the controversial loyally oath question (except in closed sessions)—thus preventing the conflict which has shaken the confidence of college and university professors throughout the country. President Morrill said in February that he and the Hoard of Regents knew of no one on the staff who is engaged in subversive activities of any sort. 1 lc told house and senate committees in the state legislature that the American flag (lies over the University buildings just as it lltes over this capiiol. and it (lies in our hearts just as it does in the hearts of the legislators. Quinlivan: Succeeding Snyder as board chairman Malkerson and Sky berg: The old and new. UotUt. IVERSITY or NNESOTA Page 26