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Page 11 text:
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road to academic excellence had been thwarted. The Law School remained without a Dean and the English department was similarly coordinated by a board. Most resignations were neatly kept unpublicized by the University’s Public Relations staff as individual departments suffered losses. Dean of Social Sciences Richard Park. Drs. Philbrick and Meritt in English. Perrow in Sociology, Chinitz and Rich-man in Economics, and innumerable departures which administrative elites dispelled as “the normal turnover.” Improvements were few and eluded the realm of faculty. Dr. James Kchl entered as Dean of Liberal Arts, making some promising revisions in the distribution requirements. The administrative structure changed with the elimination of four Vice Chancellor posts, leaving Drs. Kurtzman, Van Duscn and Peake as the ruling triumvcratc. Athletics received a rude awakening as Athletic Director Frank Carver took liberty with his conscr- vativism and appointed a new head football and track coach. The substantive changes reflected the growing concern for emphasizing an efficient administrative structure for Pitt’s new state-related status, instead of the pre-Kurtzman emphasis on building a scholarly faculty and adding depth to curriculum. Complaints echoed through the hallowed halls as apprehensive faculty and students voiced concern. Chronic complaincrs were told “it’s all for the better,” “there will be no loss in academic concerns,” “you’re not thinking in long-range terms.” Then the long-range terms were exposed in a pathetic commencement ceremony. The main speaker was Dr. H. Guyford Stever, President of Carnegie Tech, and honorary degrees were awarded to Frank Magee and William Rea, both members of Pitt’s Board of Trustees, and Dr. Sidney Marland, Superintendent of Pittsburgh Public Schools. Pitt will now seek academic excellence by regional emphasis. Dr. Kurtz-man simultaneously emphasized the need to “re-examine our responsibilities to the community,” and to seek the “help and cooperation” of community leaders while having no intention of becoming limited to this region.” Ironically, an earlier move for academic excellent with regional improvement as a by-product had been thwarted by the refusal of the Mellon elite to support the University during its crisis. Panther Hollow had been designed to diversify the regional economy and supply an invaluable source of research income for academic purposes. Panther Hollow failed, Litchfield’s plan was crushed, and now Pitt must cooperate on the terms of the community elite. Commencement confirmed the fears of the chronic com-plainers—Pitt’s place in the sun was being replaced by its serving as another institution dominated by the interlocking directorate of the Mellons. The forward look had become the inward look. Transition had begun.
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Page 10 text:
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Transition—the movement from one place to another; a change of state; the movement to a new outlook: a change of style. Transition creates an an atmosphere of uncertainty, ambiguity, unrest, fluctuation, and constant turmoil. It is a time for the unexpected and the norm is abnormality. 1966 was a year of transition for Pitt. Once fiscal tremors first rocked the Cathedral’s immovable foundation in 1965, change became inevitable. Chancellor Edward H. Litchfield left the University and a dream left Pittsburgh. The goal of a private University with an academic orientation became an Alice-in-Wonderland tale as the realities of capital expenditure said: “deficit.” A reactionary movement replaced that dream, pointing to the “old fashioned bargain days” when Pitt’s prime goal was serving the community with low tuition and classrooms for the Pittsburgh masses. Community service first, academic concern second. Money became the by-word. Dr. Stanton Crawford acted as Chancellor guiding the University to its new perspective, preserving the status quo, and ultimately suffering a fatal heart attack. David Kurtzman, ex-Governor David Lawrence's financial right-hand man, was brought here on contract to set the books straight. Strict fiscal measures were employed, maintenance and security staffs cut, and faculty received little financial encouragement. Crawford spoke as Kurtzman and Dr. Edgar Cale, Vice Chancellor of Development, lobbied ’round the clock for increased aid. University affairs became increasingly tied to state politics as Democrats and Republicans used the University as a political football. The state aid came in late summer, tuition was lowered, and admissions of commuter and in state students received prime emphasis. Administrative elites began conscious modeling of Pitt after those more noted academic institutions, Penn State and Temple. The financial balance sheet received a large credit, the academic balance sheet an immeasurable loss. Externally there was little evidence of the school’s changing demeanor. Construction took its usual place in the drab Oakland landscape. I he Hillman library rose steadily, the Frick Fine Arts Building opened, construction of terraced athletic fields began, an addition to Salk I fall emerged, and a proposed annex to Langley Hall was announced. All appeared to be booming as in the farsighted Litchfield plan. Inside the hallowed halls of concrete and steel, all was busting. Personnel changes proliferated as new turns were constructed in the corridors of power. Some seemed good, too many seemed bad. If you wanted a man from Pitt, 1966 was the year to get him. In the merry-go-round atmosphere of academia professors are continually lured by competing schools with variable financial and status offers. Pitt was in crisis— it was low on finances and its endeavor to climb the rocky
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