University of Pittsburgh - Owl Yearbook (Pittsburgh, PA)

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 d Two years ago there was a statesman leading Pitt. He tall, graying at the temples, and was to students the essence ofcoothncss. His name was Chancellor Edward Litchfield. His unique eontribution to this University remains despite his departure. He plunged Pitt into a huge aeadcmic and physical expansion program. His dynamism, however, could not procure sufficient funds to meet the growing expenses. Well-documented articles in Science magazine said dissension between Litchfield and trustees caused his departure. The only certain facts arc that Litchfield gave Pitt a respected academic standing and now successive administrators have secured the state-related funds to insure that status. KM kaJ li m

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Two years ago Pitt made the big-time. Headlines flashed in local and national publications about the dissolution of Edward Litchfield’s pipe dream. Science magazines ran a meticulously researched series on the causes of the fiscal problems. The flash was short, not sweet, and the past two years have been spent in quiet austerity. Dr. David Kurtzman came from the Eels Institute in Philadelphia to apply his financial wizardry. He and a corps of diehard University administrators and state legislators created the University of Pittsburgh in the Commonwealth System of Higher Education. State-related became the by-word of the new Pitt with guaranteed state funds reducing tuition costs for students and giving the University privied access to state resources. Now the University lias made the transition from the Litchfield era to the state-related era. The question remains— What next? Throughout the fiscal crisis there were continued worries about declining academic status. Talk grew of the reincarnation of a street-ear University geared solely to concerns of, by, and for Western Pennsylvania. Good academicians would then leave the University to produce automatons to fill the region’s needs. Yet the staunchest support during the crisis came from the faculty. Although some left the University, administrators said there was not much variance from the normal turnover rate. Salaries have since been made secure and a number of departments have begun vigorous expansion of programs and faculty. While the University has the