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ANN ARBOR, MICHIGAN,_
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Ruthven. Era
Distinguished
ByExpansion
To End 22 Years:
Retires June 30
By PAUL BRETLINGER
Daily City Editor
President Alexander G. Ruth-
Yen will retire from his duties or
June 30 this year, after a 22 yea
period of leadership during a ser-
les of world crises.
His administration , has bee
marked by tremendous physica
expansion of the University, ac-
companied by important adminis-
trative reforms. All this wa
brought about amid the trials of
depression, war and cold war,
PERHAPS THE most noticeable
of President Ruthven's accom-
plishments has been the mammoth
construction program which has
completely changed the face of
the campus since 1929.
Imagine if you can a campus
without the West and East Quads;
without Stockwell, and Mosher-
Jordan Halls; without the Rack.
ham Building, Burton Tower, the
Health Service, the Administra-
tion Builciing and the business ad-
ministratior_ school building. None
- bO ithese ' buildings were around
when President Ruthven was In-
stalled on Oct. 4, 1929.
Other buildings which have
been built since then include:
Kellogg Institute, the Maternity
Hospital, the additions to the
Chemistry and the East Engi-
neering buildings, Victor Vaughn
House, Alice Lloyd Hall, the
Food Service, a huge addition to
the Union and the School of
Public Health.
Even the Student Publications
building is part of the Ruthven
building program, as is the Law
School's Hutchins Hall, the Law
Library and the John P. Cook dor-
mitory in the Law Quadrangle.
The Veterans' Readjustment Cen-
ter and the University Terrace
apartments are also among the
recently completed additions to
the University's physical plant.
The athletic plant has seen the
construction of an addition to the
stadium, new baseball stands, an
addition to the coliseum and a
new golf clubhouse since 1929.
* * *
ALL THIS expansion of facili-
ties came as a result of a rapidly
growing student body. Fewer than
10,000 students were in residence
here when President Ruthven took
office.
Enrollment reached a post-
war peak of about 22,000 in
1948, and is now down to slight-
ly under 20,000.
Dollarwise, the value of the
University's plant has more than
doubled. As of last June 30, this
amounted to $90,756,605, not
counting the value of buildings in
process of construction.
In 1929, the building assets
amounted to only $35,221,708.
ONE OF THE most striking in-
novations of the Ruthven adminis-
tration was the launching of the
Michigan House Plan-the resi-
dence hall program,
This was done "to bring students
together-to give them a well-
balanced diet and more comfort-
able living quarters," according to;
President Ruthven. Before the;
plan went into effect, most stu-
dents lved in widely scattered
rooming houses or fraternities and
sororities.
World War H proved to be a
temporary stumbling block in
Board Picks OS eep
As Eighth'U' President
Harlan Henthorne Hatcher, vice-president of Ohio State University,
was named the eighth president of the University at 11 a.m. today.
Hatcher, a 52-year-old author and civic leader, will succeed Alexander
G. Ruthven, who will begin his year-long retirement furlough on July .
, , , *> Hatcher will take up his duties
'Regents Reach Dt eiecisiton
A fle LongDliberation
More than a year of painstaking deliberation by the Board of
Regents lies behind the selection of Harlan H. Hatcher as the Uni-
versity's new president.
No special committee made the selection-because of its impor-
tance the entire Board took part in the choice, acting as a committee
of the whole under the chairmanship of Regent J. Joseph Herbert
of Manistique.
More than 100 names were considered. These came from promi-
nent alumni, educators, and other interested persons who knew of
Praiin d Rlh~a1 fnfnn ar
-Courtesy Ann Arbor News
RETIRING PRESIDENT ALEXANDER G. RUTHVEN
. Ureszien .ruthvens iorthcoming<
retirement.
Starting with this huge list of
names, the Regents traveled
gate the quaIi icaiio s of the
various candidates. This invest-
igation was carried on largely
by contact with persons well
acquainted with the work of
those being considered.
In addition, the Regents at-
tempted to get first hand interviews
with all the candidates, without
letting them know they were be-
ing considered for the University
presidency-.
I
President
Turnove
Rate_ High'
By NANCY BYLAN
Dal soiaeEio
NEW PRESIDENT HARLAN H. HATCHER
Educator Extraordinaire Leaves Mark
!i?
By DAVE THOMAS
Daily Feature Editor
SOMETIME after 5 p.m. on the
last day of June, a squarely-
built Scotchman will rise from his
desk on the second floor of the
Administration Building, bid his
secretary good evening and stride
from the prestige and responsibili-
ty which pervades the office of a
university president into the more
leisurely life of a well-deserved re-
tirement.
His escape will not be unob-
served. A crowd of facultymen, ad-
ministrators and other friends will
be on hand to see him off. There
will be photographers and a row
of newspapermen and perhaps a
tardy business caller who will want
to know what all the fuss is about.
THE DIGNIFIED 69-year-old
educator will be in the best of
humors. He will comply with the
requests of photographers, stand-
ing erect one hand in a coat pocket,
the ribbon of his pince-nez flowing
with a scholarly assertion from
around his neck to the breast poc-
ket of his summer suit.
There will be warm handshakes
and good-natured words of appre-
ciation with old friends in the
modern surroundings of the recep-
tion room.
Then, Alexander Grant Ruth-
ven, for 22 years president of
one of the largest educational in-
stitutions in the world, will po-
litely but firmly break away
and head homeward, there to
begin with Mrs. Ruthven the im-
mense task of sorting and pack-
ing the accumulated gifts and
acquisitions of their stay in the
white stucco house on South
University where all but one of
the University's seven presidents
have made their homes.
As he walks along the shrub-
lined walks, through the lengthen-
ing shadows of trees and buildings,
Alexander G. Ruthven may well
allow himself a broad smile of,
satisfaction. He will have just
completed a period of service as
president which is longer than any
other man now in top office in a
state university.
The University whose control he
will have just relinquished has re-
search and extension branches
scattered from South Africa to
northern Michigan and boasts
some of the finest undergraduate
and graduate schools in the coun-
try.
A faculty of 1,300, includ-
ing many of national and inter-
national fame, is engaged in
public service, research and the
instruction of more than 20,000
students,iutilizing a plant invest-
ment which tops $90,000,000.
These figures are twice what
they were in 1929.
Endowment funds now total
more than $25,000,000, six times
what they were a generation ago.
Where hundreds of students
formerly lived in frequently-inade-
quate lodgings, thousands now en-
joy a vast dormitory system.
A university which was torn
with dissention and rivalry when
he assumed office, now functions
smoothly with a minimum of
friction.
A progressive education program
which forced the resignation of his
predecessor has been established
and even extended.
The University, through its
alumni organization and research
prestige, has captured the imagi-
nations of citizens across the na-
tion and passed the half-way mark
in a drive to raise $6,500,000 for a
research project into the problems
of living in the atomic age.
The University enjoys an annual
appropriation from the State
Legislature more than four times
as large as in 1929.
,* *
ALEXANDER G. Ruthven would
be the first to protest that
others in addition to himself had
a hand in this unprecedented rec-
ord of development. The two dec-
ades of his administration were
turbulent and often discouraging,
but in the end they were decades
of great progress for U.S. educa-
See RUTHVEN, Page 5
LITTLE BY LITTLE, the field
was narrowed. Some candidates
weren't available. Others did not
meet the Regents' standards for
the post.
When only two or three can-
didates remained, the Regents
paused and "began searching
our own souls," according to
Regent Herbert. They did this
to be sure that they had applied
the proper yardsticks to this
most difficult decision.
At a meeting Saturday, the
committee of the whole recom-
mended that the Board of Re-
gents appoint Hatcher to the
presidency. Yesterday, Regents
Herbert, Otto E. Eckert, Roscoe
0. Bonisteel and Murray D. Van
Wagoner, acting on behalf of
the committee of the whole, met
with Hatcher in Toledo and ten-
dered him the post.
Hatcher having accepted the of-
fer, the Regents met at 10:50 a.m.
today, and announced his appoint-
ment after a 10-minute meeting.
Although the University hasn't
had one for 22 years, new college
presidents are as common as blue
books in April.
On the average they are appoint-
ed in droves of more than six and
a half per month-or at least they
have been since January, 1950. Be-
tween that time and April of this
year, a total of 93 colleges and
universities acquired new chief ex-
ecutives.
* . ,
IF APPOINTMENTS have
moved at this rate for the past two
decades, then an estimated 1,700
new college presidents have ap-
peared on the academic scene since
this University last named one.
Most of the last year's 99 va-
cancies, which called these new
presidents into being, were the re-
sults of resignations for greener
fields. Of 59 such presidential exits,
the majority were made by men
who accepted new appointments in
the field of education.
A sizable number, however,
were whisked away from their
ivory towers by President Tru-
man to fill newly created mobili-
See AMERICAN, Page 2
as president of the University on
Sept. 1.
The long-awaited announce-
ment, culminating an intensive 18-
month search by the University
Board of Regents, came suddenly
early this morning.
The Regents actually reached
their decision Saturday morning
but adjourned in order to offer
the position to Dr. Hatcher. Ob-
taining his acceptance, the Re-
gents reconvened this morning to
formalize the appointment and an-
nounce their decision.
* * *
THE ANNOUNCEMENT itself
was made at 11:01 a.m. by Regent
J. Joseph Herbert at a drama-
jpacked press conference att nded
by newspapermen from P11 over
the Ste t,
Regent Herbert, chairman of
the Board's Committee of the
Whole, described President-
elect Hatcher as "a leader who
meets the test of Michigan's
great traditions."
Athis home in Columbus, Ohio,
cher said, "I look forward with
great interest to the privilege of
serving the University of Michigan
in this period of responsibility and
opportunity." ,
e .
HATCHER, a native of Ironton,
Ohio, prepared for college at More-
head Normal School in Kentucky.
He received his A.B. at Ohio State
in 1922, an A.M. degree in 1923 and
his Ph.D. in 1927.
In addition, he did post-
doctoral work at the University
of Chicago and spent a year in
Italy, France and England stud-
ying the Renaissance.
Hatcher became an instructor
of English at Ohio State in 1922r
and was appointed full professor
of English in 1932. Serving ad'dean
from 1944-48, he became vice-
president in charge of faculties
and curriculum in September, 1948.
* * *
NOTED AS one of Ohio's most
outstanding citizens, Hatcher was
given the Ohio Governor's Award
for Advancement of Ohio's Prestige
in 1949. A year later he received
the Ohioana Grand Medal for his
books on Ohio and the Northwest
Territory. The citation character-
ized Hatcher as an "Inspiring
teacher, judicious educator, dis-
tinguished man of letters, historian
of Ohio."
.I
SEVEN PRESIDENTS IN 144 YEARS:
Early 'U' Chiefs Faced Vehement Criticism
j
. * *
* * *
* a *
By JANET WATTS rm;.
Daily Associate Editor
WHEN THE University's eighth
president takes " office, he
probably will be free from the
cries of religious sectarianism,F
pressures of medical theory fa-
naticism and squabbles with the:
State Legislature which plagued
many of his predecessors.,
Charges of secularism and athe-
ism made against many of the
University's early presidents can
be traced to the philosophy onn
which the University was found-
dy Dutch stubbornness which of-
fended many of the rugged indi-
vidualists he worked with in the
West.
* * *
MANY of the Ann Arbor towns-
people thought Tappan was
pompous and unfriendly. And
even his wife reported that he had
thought of his task as president
made him a kind of educational
missionary to the uncultured
West.
But Tappan easily won the re-
Hatcher was married to the
former Ann Gregory Vance, of
New Haven, Conn., in 1942. The
Hatchers have two children,
Robert Leslie, age 7, and Anne
Linda, age 5.
Ranked as one of the nation's
top scholars, because of his at-
tainments in English and his his-
torical writings, Hatcher has long
been regarded as one of the "great
educational leaders in the coun-
try."
His students have labelled him
"an inspiring teacher" and his col-
leagues have cited him as "a
teacher and administrator with
vision, a man who gets things done
through cooperation and effective
: s;
.semma - me o