Washington State University - Chinook Yearbook (Pullman, WA)

Page 18 text:

enemies of the school, who desired only to see its downfall, and withstand the mud- shnging of their paid newspapers. It has been necessary for our president to pass through all such conditions as these to realize his aim. How it has been possible for him to master such circumstances, to cope with such odds, and emerge victorious, few of us can tell. He alone knows. We might surmise his success due to persistency, keen judgment, strong will power, and organizing ability. In any case, those who are acquainted with Presi¬ dent Bryan will say that he has all of these qualities. The results that he has accomplished show that he has worked with an untiring energy, that his judgment Old College Hall has seldom erred, that he has ruled with an iron hand, and that his plans of organi¬ zation have developed until the State College stands today as a record of his con¬ structive ability, as a monument to his great work. Such achievements, such qualities as these, no doubt, explain why President Bryan is recognized to be so great an administrative genius; they explain why he has attained so high a position of prominence in the minds of those who have known him or felt his influence. But there is still another quality in his life that means more than any other to us as students who come in contact with him daily, and Ten

Page 17 text:

has served in that capacity for eleven years with perfect satisfaction to the trustees, patrons and people at large. He took charge at a time when the prestige of the institution was not high, and when it was greatly in need of reorganization. Pro¬ fessor Bryan has really re-created the University and made it one of the foremost educational institutions in the state. He has been a tireless worker and displayed great powers of organization. As an instructor he is not surpassed in the state. His intelligent energy and high scholarship easily give him a place among the leading edu¬ cators of this state. He has been president of the State Teachers Association and of the College Association of Indiana. President Bryan was called from Vincennes to take up his work at this College on September 13, 1893. The life of the institution was at ebb tide. Nothing in the way of courses or text books were provided. The institution was in a state of disorganization. And, too, it was the time of the financial panic. Added to this was the failure of wheat crops in Washington. Indeed, the prospect was enough to discourage the strongest heart. At such a time many a man would have failed. In fact. Professor Lilly and Professor Heston, the two preceding presidents, had failed miserably. But President Bryan met the situation with a dauntless spirit, and opened the college year in a little old red wooden building known as College Hall, with a faculty of ten and a stu¬ dent body of twenty-three. However, if the first year was discouraging the follow¬ ing years were doubly so. The crop fail¬ ures continued. A period of general de¬ pression ensued. Yet, President Bryan never once wavered from his course. These inevitable circumstances only caused him to work with greater zeal and determi¬ nation. Moreover, his task was made incon¬ ceivably harder because of political and social opposition. For it was necessary for him to lobby with narrow-minded Pres. Bryan at Thirty-five politicians and explain the needs of such an institution, to postpone improvements until appropriations could be secured, to explain to the ignorant and uneducated, who knew nothing concerning the College, and cared less, to overcome the attacks of the Nine

Page 19 text:

I I I I I which is, in a measure, indicative of his success. It is his willingness to ever lend an attentive ear to those students who are in need of guidance. Never, no matter how heavy his own duties and cares, has he refused to listen to the troubles of the student. It has been he to whom we could look at all times for friendly advice and wise direction, who has been ever ready to point out the right course and suggest the best methods. It is because of this interest, this attention to the welfare of the students, that he has won such a warm place in all our hearts. And, as we see him day after day on the campus, as we associate with him in social and business life, this feeling of respect and of reverence passes into a love which knows no les¬ sening or weakening, but grows deeper and stronger as time advances. And so, in addition to the qualities that make of President Bryan an adminis¬ trative genius, which we admire, comes that which commands respect and love. The influence such a life has upon others, in how deep a sense such a personality is educative to every human soul with which it is associated, we cannot say, we can only feel. President Bryan offers to us a shining example of a character which long has stood square and firm before the world—a great man using great gifts in the service of state and of that state’s people. Anything we might say or do, in expression of our deep feeling of regard for our president, would be weak as com¬ pared with his great service. We can only voice this sentiment: President Bryan, every one of your students, from those to whom you handed diplomas in 1894 to those to whom you will hand diplomas in the future, look to you as a great leader of a great movement. We salute you as the ideal to which we may well aspire but hardly hope to reach. I t Eleven