West Virginia University - Monticola Yearbook (Morgantown, WV)

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OKLAHOMA BOUND JAMES G. HARLOW

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LOOKIN ' FOR A WESTERLY WIND by Norm Eiscnberg Not an ounce of hostility, or a sense of weariness that time sometimes lends to people can describe James Har- low. Simply content with the present winds, he will most likely leave this university with more energy than it deserves of him. He can share it. It must be said that when President Harlow retires this June because of age, this legacy will not alter history- pages or provoke provocative after dinner talk. TIME magazine will probably never vote him Man of the Year and Mike Wallace will find little reason to interview him on 60 Minutes. No, James Harlow will pass on quietly and it probably won ' t bother him a bit. As for simplicity, there isn ' t a better ambassador which offers no surprise that when asked what his major responsibilities were these past ten years, he neatly bypasses his own importance. You must remember that a university president doesn ' t do very much, he said. His main job is to make it so other people can work. The real work of the university is done in the classrooms and in the research extensions. Harlow compares his managing responsibilities to that of a mayor, considering his efforts to provide students with more efficient transportation from campus to campus and better housing. These areas and others, Harlow believes, have grown accordingly with university size, which has doubled since he became president in 1966. Harlow is confident more students will assure a flow of diversity among the university ' s many schools and departments. During his tenure, Harlow came in contact with another new phenomenon in college life, student unrest. I think what we saw in the run from 1967 to 1972 was for the first time on a national scale a focusing of frustra- tions and conflicts that all young adults felt at that time in the United States. It took form then because there was a commonly dis- liked activity. A major reason for discontent, says Harlow, is a stu- dent search for identity. The result of this is that all stu- dents are enduring internal discomfort of some magni- tude. As to his immediate future, his retirement from the pres- idency comes first. Then Harlow and his wife plan to move back to Norman, Oklahoma where they both are natives. 22

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