Southern Methodist University.

Shared governance had a short life at SMU. The concept was popular from initial research forays into its feasibility for the university in the 1960s until the death of the University Assembly in 1975. The University Assembly grew increasingly unpopular with the SMU faculty over time.

SMU has offered graduate degrees since its inception in 1915. The graduate school appears to have grown quite slowly during the 1910s and 1920s, thus, much of the documentation in the early part of the collection relates to enrollment numbers and expenses incurred for the school. The graduate school has grown rapidly over the course of the twentieth century, the university having added a number of master’s and doctoral programs at its various colleges, including Dedman College.

Southern Methodist University opened for classes on September 22, 1915. The new university was made up of 35 faculty members and 706 students. The entire university (other than housing) was originally housed in Dallas Hall.

Dr. Robert S. Hyer served as the first president of SMU from 1911, when the university was chartered, until 1920. Frank Reedy worked as SMU’s first bursar. In that capacity, Reedy was technically the school’s financial officer, but his duties went far beyond simply keeping the books in order. He also worked as a public relations officer and performed various other duties.

John H. Keen served as dean for the first several years of SMU’s existence. Keen had come to SMU from the University of Texas, and he worked at the new university until 1918. John Preston Comer temporarily worked as dean for about a year, and President Hyer appointed Albert Shipp Pegues as the new permanent dean of the College of Liberal Arts in 1919, although users should note that the collection’s correspondence coming from the dean’s office was directed to either Keen or Comer.

SMU set high expectations for students. Academic requirements remained largely unchanged until the 1940s. Students were required to take one year of both English composition and literature. Two years of a foreign language were necessary to gain entry into SMU, as well as a Bible course; students were also expected to take math, two science lab classes, and two classes in physical education. Attendance at chapel services was also required, and class attendance was strictly monitored; many of the letters from the Dean’s office in this collection reprimand students for excessive class absences. Tuition in 1915-16 was $35 for a term of twelve weeks.

In terms of university affairs, the principal activity during these early years was expansion of both the school’s physical plant and the number of faculty and students; this expansion led to considerable financial troubles. Student enrollment grew from 706 in 1915 to over a thousand in 1917, and over two thousand by 1924.

Faculty size also increased, but university debt grew through the mid-1920s. Operating and building construction costs left SMU with a debt of about $262,000 at its opening. Although the school could boast a modest endowment, SMU sustained $363,000 in debt by the time President Hyer left office in 1920.

World War I no doubt adversely affected the school’s ability to recruit students and build up its revenue. The university had only completed one full academic year by the time the United States entered the war in April 1917, and enrollment plunged 30 percent for the 1917-18 year. President Hyer encouraged as many male students as possible to remain in school until called into military service, and he also called for military science classes to be instituted.

Although SMU was not able to secure the services of a trained officer from the War Department to oversee military-related classes and drilling, the federal government instituted the Students’ Army Training Corps. The program enabled male college students less than twenty-one years of age to receive some army training, in preparation for possible call-up by the draft, but without having to put their college education on hold. A unit of the SATC was established at SMU; those in the Corps received regular pay, wore army uniforms, and lived under army regulations.

Many Americans entered the armed services to fight in World War I, but American participation in the war only lasted about a year and a half. The armistice signed in November 1911 led to the demobilization of the SATC the following month.

Sources:

Bulletin of Southern Methodist University: Annual Catalogue 1915-16 (Vol. I, No. 7), June 1916, pg. 21.

Maddox, Ruth Patterson. Building SMU: A Warm and Personal Look at the People who Started Southern Methodist University, 1915-1957. Odenwald Press: 1995.

Terry, Marshall. From High on the Hilltop: Marshall Terry’s History of SMU, with Various Essays by His Colleagues . Dallas: DeGolyer Library and Three Forks Press, 2009.

Thomas, Mary Martha Hosford. Southern Methodist University: Founding and Early Years . Dallas: SMU Press, 1974.

The 1960s marked the 50th anniversary of Southern Methodist University’s establishment and opening. In a paper written around 1961, President Willis M. Tate noted that SMU enjoyed a good reputation within the city and among its alumni as a center of higher learning. Many thought, however, that some sort of overarching plan for how SMU should develop itself in the future was needed. By undertaking a process of goal-setting and improvement of its academic offerings, SMU could eventually compete credibly with any private university in the country.

Many within Dallas saw the absence of a major private university in the city, as well as the general lack of well-known colleges and universities throughout the American southwest, as a problem that SMU could remedy. The pride that Dallasites and SMU alumni had for the school and what it had done in the first half-century of its existence was, at the same time, mixed with uncertainty as to where SMU was headed, and what it should be known for. As President Tate’s report noted,

Also influencing the development of a university master plan was the growth in the number of people attending colleges and universities in the decades after World War II, especially those born after the war who reached college age during the 1960s. By this time, a college education was becoming more available to more people. This rise in the population, and the greater general prosperity, meant that institutions of higher learning nationwide would have to expand (and if necessary, refine) their operations to effectively handle larger numbers of students.

The SMU Master Plan Proposal, submitted in January 1962, argued that the school should use its upcoming 50th anniversary, and the changes taking place within American higher education, as an opportunity to identify its goals and areas of needed improvement. "The obligation," the proposal said, "of higher education in the United States has never been so great…That this University is presently in a dynamic period of development…only emphasizes the need felt for sound, specific, and creative planning."

In light of the recognized need for a high-ranking private university in the southwest that could prepare students to take on jobs in the rapidly expanding regional economy of the 1960s, the school needed to hire and retain top-notch faculty and high-performing students in greater numbers, as well as establish graduate programs in science and technology. As a draft of a request to the Carnegie Foundation for financial assistance in putting together a master plan stated, "Southern Methodist University is presently not meeting the need for a center of higher education where advanced graduate programs and sources of information and consultation are available." Further, "The general need for Southern Methodist University to be a primary intellectual resource for Dallas and the surrounding region is now very great and may well be a key factor in the future growth and progress of this area."

With all of this in mind, SMU began the process of creating a master plan in the fall of 1961 under the direction of President Tate. Many people, both within and outside the university, played roles in shaping the plan. The project was comprised of the President, several members of the administration, three professional staff members hired by the school in the drafting of the plan-all making up the Master Plan Steering Committee. Three prominent educators with national renown served as Senior Consultants for the project.

One of these consultants was Dr. Jesse Hobson. Hobson was appointed as a research consultant to the university in 1961. Hobson had previously served as director of the Stanford Research Center in Palo Alto, California. He received a Ph.D. from the California Institute of Technology, and was recognized for his background in engineering and research. After helping create the SMU Master Plan, Dr. Hobson remained at the university from 1963 to 1965 as SMU’s vice president for coordinated planning. His Master Plan papers comprise Series 2 (Boxes 4 and 5).

In addition, six prominent SMU professors took part in creating the master plan. The main author of the Master Plan was Marshall Terry, as a member of the Steering Committee. Terry served as an associate coordinator of the plan, and director of public relations. Six professors made up the Faculty Planning Committee, and nine faculty task forces were set up as well. Also involved were the Council of Deans and a Committee of Fifty, made up of citizens and groups not formally connected with the school: local and national figures, church members, and professional, cultural, and industrial groups. A Student Committee of Ten was also set up to give the student body an opportunity to offer their recommendations.

From the fall of 1962 through the spring of 1963, those involved in the project undertook a lengthy review of what SMU looked like at the time, followed by planning on what needed to be done in the future. The various task forces compiled reports on their respective areas of focus, the Faculty Planning Committee conducted hearings, and meetings were held by the President with the faculty to solicit their input on the master plan proceedings.

The Southern Methodist University Master Plan was officially approved by the faculty on May 10, 1963.

Containing 36 recommendations, the Southern Methodist University Master Plan was conceived of as a 4-year plan. The anticipated cost was $41,780,000; of that amount, $32,780,000 needed to be raised in the next several years.

The 36 recommendations listed in the approved Master Plan addressed issues such as: defining the purpose of the university as a liberal arts, research, and graduate institution; recruitment of the best students and faculty possible; reaffirming its status as a part of the Methodist Church; establishing guidelines for the desired size of the student body, set at 6,000 undergraduates by the 1968-1969 academic year; faculty salary; improvement of the School of Engineering and establishment of a graduate program therein; development of several more Ph.D. graduate programs, with an anticipated total of 8 such programs by 1968-1969; rearrangement of some university offices and creation of new administrative positions; growth of SMU’s endowment to $75,000,000; and $10,000,000 in funding for improvement and construction of school facilities (with this money being included in the final $41 million figure listed above).

One of the more innovative ideas proposed by the Master Plan was the creation of a University College, to be in place for the beginning of the 1964-1965 academic year. The purpose of the College was to provide an improved curriculum of basic, interdisciplinary courses, taught by faculty members from the entire university, to all incoming freshmen students.

The idea of the College would be to provide each entering undergraduate student with exposure to the different disciplines and areas of study within SMU, giving those students who were undecided on their major field of study a greater ability to choose one. Students who knew already what area of study they wanted to focus on would also have the option of beginning professional studies within the College. Once a student completed the course requirements of the University College, they could then enter one of the schools of the university to begin work in their major.

Although alumni interest and support had risen, most alumni seemed to have a confused image of their alma mater, and their financial support was not and is not yet what it should be. The general public in Dallas (and in Texas) was divided on the idea of what SMU was and was trying to be and do; some thought that SMU was trying to be a ‘Harvard of the Southwest’ and was getting ‘too big for its britches,’ while others still saw SMU as a football social school of not much real academic substance. The Master Plan, if for no other purpose except to serve as a vehicle for clarification and definition of the University and its goals, was urgently necessary for all these groups . (original emphasis)

Student publications appeared on the SMU campus as early as 1915. In those early years, the student body owned, controlled, published, and distributed the campus newspaper, yearbook, and student directories. Humor magazines and papers appeared periodically as well.

The Southern Methodist University Students’ Publishing Company, incorporated in 1930, established a free press responsible for producing the newspaper, the yearbook, and student directories. The company, now called the Student Media Company, Inc., is a non-profit Texas corporation that operates independently from SMU. It publishes The Daily Campus and Rotunda yearbook, both of which are edited by students. KPNI Radio (formerly KSMU) was supported and owned by the Student Media Company from 1964 – 1989 and from 1995 – 2003. It also publishes the Directory of Students, Staff, and Faculty .

Over the years, frequency varied from once or twice a week to daily. The SMU newspaper has also changed names many times throughout its publication:

SMU Times - Volume 1, numbers 1-14 (September 11 – December 18, 1915)

Campus - Volume 1, number 15 – Volume 8, number 12 (January 14, 1916 – December 8, 1922)

Semi-Weekly Campus - Volume 8, number 13 – Volume 22 (January 10, 1923 – May 1937)

Campus - Volume 23 (September 1937 – May 1938)

Semi-Weekly Campus - Volumes 24 - 25 (September 1938 – May 1940)

Campus - Volume 26 (September 1940 – May 1941)

Semi-Weekly Campus - Volumes 27 – 28 (September 1941 – May 1943)

Campus - Volumes 29 – 30 (July 1943 – June 1945)

SMU Campus - Volume 31 (September 1945 – August 1946

Campus - Volume 32, numbers 1 – 15 (September 27 – November 16, 1946)

SMU Campus - Volume 32, number 16 (November 20, 1946 – 1969)

The Daily Campus - 1969 - Present

The Student Media Company Inc. and its board, unlike many college newspapers, have enjoyed a unique independence from faculty review. While the editors recognize their responsibilities to the students and to the administration, the SMU Students' Publishing Company has been controversial at times. The administration often disliked what was printed, and on a few occasions, the student body protested the newspaper’s negative publicity concerning the athletic program.

Southern Methodist University was established in Dallas by an Educational Commission appointed in 1910 by the five Annual Conferences of The Methodist Episcopal Church, South in Texas. These Annual Conferences confirmed the work of the Commission, which resulted in the University being chartered by the state of Texas on April 17, 1911.

The University was designated the connectional institution for all Conferences west of the Mississippi River by action of the Methodist General Conference in 1914. First classes were held in 1915. By an act of the Uniting Conference of The Methodist Church in 1939, the University is operated by Trustees elected by Methodist conferences in the South Central Jurisdiction, comprising the states of Arkansas, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas.

In 2007, Southern Methodist University is on the verge of commemorating its 100-year anniversary, to be celebrated in 2011. Boasting an enrollment of roughly 11,000 students, SMU confers undergraduate, graduate, and professional degrees through seven schools: humanities and sciences; business; performing, visual, and communication arts; engineering; education and human development; law; and theology.

Conceived in the fall of 1971 and created the following spring, the Southern Methodist University Philatelic Center grew out of an informal stamp collecting course taught at SMU by Dallas businessman Harold Wineburgh in 1970 and 1971. Other key members were Dr. Keith Baker, Eugene K Sanger, Jack Whitehurst and Si Kahn. The Center’s purpose was to create a gathering place for regional stamp collectors’ stamp collections and philatelic books; to sponsor workshops in stamp collecting at SMU; assist local stamp clubs; and serve as a vehicle for tax-deductible donations of money or philatelic materials for the furtherance of philately in the region.

The organization quickly grew to about one hundred members and began to plan for annual symposia, the first of which was held in February 1973. The Center’s Executive Committee also petitioned Fondren Library for a secured space in the Erin Bain Jones library room dedicated to philatelic materials gathered by the Center. Although the organization’s beginnings were promising, by 1975 local interest in the Center had waned and several key members of the executive committee had retired from the club. Therefore, the Center disbanded itself on May 24, 1976 and transferred its funds to SMU’s unrestricted endowment account.

Founded in 1915, Southern Methodist University Woman’s Club has been in existence since the opening of the university. At the time, there was no way for the faculty members’ wives to become acquainted with each other. In the fall of 1915, the wives of P.B. Kern, Ray Morrison, John McIntosh, and sixteen other women created The Faculty Wives Club.

The next year, membership was broadened to include female faculty and executive heads. The Faculty Wives Club then became the University Woman’s Club of Southern Methodist University. The club’s name changed again in 1968 to its current name: the Southern Methodist University Woman’s Club.

The SMU Woman’s Club is a social club, in which women congregate to discuss current events, produce plays, and volunteer for the university community in the spirit of friendship.

While still the University Woman’s Club of SMU, the SMU Woman’s Club created the Mary B. Murphey Scholarship, named after an early president of the Woman’s Club and a Dean of Women. In the 1950s, the Mary B. Murphey Scholarship became the University Woman’s Club Scholarship. It was renamed again in the mid-1970s to its current name: the Southern Methodist University Woman’s Club Scholarship.

The records end in 1991 when SMU began to manage the scholarship. Previously, the SMU Woman’s Club Scholarship Committee had controlled all aspects of the scholarship.

SMU-in-Taos (originally known as the Fort Burgwin campus) is Southern Methodist University’s campus in New Mexico. It started as an archeological dig, but has grown to be a full-fledged campus with an information commons and classes each summer.

By the mid-1950s, the property had been acquired by a lumber company. Fortunately, the owner of the lumber company, Mr. Ralph Rounds, was an amateur archaeologist who had heard stories of the fort's existence. To relocate the lost fort, Rounds enlisted the help of archaeologist Fred Wendorf, now Professor Emeritus in SMU's Department of Anthropology. After Wendorf located the remnants of the log fort, Rounds provided financial support for Wendorf and his associates to excavate and rebuild fort structures based on sketches of the original buildings. Reconstructed, Fort Burgwin was designed to serve a new purpose--education.

Envisioning Fort Burgwin as the ideal setting for academic programs, Southern Methodist University began in 1964 to acquire the property with support from the Rounds Foundation and the Honorable William P. Clements, Jr., then-chair of the University's Board of Governors and Texas governor from 1979-83 and 1987-91. Eventually, the University added adobe casitas for student and faculty housing, classrooms, a dining hall, and a multi-purpose auditorium. In 1992, Fort Burgwin became SMU-in-Taos. In 2004 a state-of-the-art computer facility and library, the Fred Wendorf Information Commons, was constructed on the Fort Burgwin campus.

Resurrected and restored, Fort Burgwin thrives as a center for academic discovery, experiential learning and scholarly research. Now the summer campus for SMU-IN-TAOS, the program offers academic courses in the humanities, natural and social sciences, performing and studio arts, as well as archaeological and anthropological research.

Source:

“History of Fort Burgwin and SMU-in Taos,” from SMU Website, http://smu.edu/taos/overview.asp, on August 19, 2010.

Founded in 1915, Southern Methodist University Woman’s Club has been in existence since the opening of the university. At the time, there was no way for the faculty members’ wives to become acquainted with each other. In the fall of 1915, the wives of P.B. Kern, Ray Morrison, John McIntosh, and sixteen other women created The Faculty Wives Club.

The next year, membership was broadened to include female faculty and executive heads. The Faculty Wives Club then became the University Woman’s Club of Southern Methodist University. The club’s name changed again in 1968 to its current name: the Southern Methodist University Woman’s Club.

The SMU Woman’s Club is a social club, in which women congregate to discuss current events, produce plays, and volunteer for the university community in the spirit of friendship.

John Gates attracted attention at Southern Methodist University and the city of Dallas when he was invited to participate in a panel on world issues hosted by the Student Forum Committee. An avowed communist, Gates came to campus on April 23, 1958.

He was born in New York City in 1913, the son of Polish Jewish immigrants. He briefly attended City College and became a member of the Communist Party in 1931. After about two years of college he moved to Ohio and made an unsuccessful run for public office. He fought against the fascists in the Spanish Civil War as a part of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade, and he enjoyed the distinction of becoming the highest-ranking American to fight in that conflict. He also served as a paratrooper in the European theatre during World War II.

Gates worked for several years as editor of the Daily Worker, a party newspaper that halted production in early 1958 due to financial difficulties. Described as "once a guiding genius of the Communist Party in the United States" by the Dallas Morning News, Gates and the party leadership had parted ways over his belief that the party had become too subservient to the Soviet Union, as well as his assertion that the CPUSA had failed to be a real force for change. Gates had been sent to jail in 1949 along with several other party members after being convicted for plotting to overthrow the government.

Although still a communist, Gates said, "I feel that the Communist Party has ceased to be an effective force for democracy, peace, and socialism in the United States…I have come to the reluctant conclusion that the party cannot be changed from within and that the fight to do so is hopeless."

News that SMU, an institution affiliated with the United Methodist Church, had invited a communist (albeit, one who had broken with the Communist Party’s leadership) to give a talk on campus provoked a considerable deal of criticism. A local civic group, the Public Affairs Luncheon Club, countered that the Student Center Governing Board should not "permit the prestige of a great Christian university to be used to dignify and promote a self-acknowledged atheist and unregenerate follower of the Communist line." The club sent a resolution condemning the invitation to SMU President Willis M. Tate and the student committee who had asked Gates to speak. The SMU Mothers’ Club also voiced opposition to the event.

President Tate nevertheless asserted that Gates would be allowed to present his views. "SMU realizes the importance which the subject of communism holds," Tate said. "Through Gates, the subject can be intelligently scrutinized."

The event was opened to the public, and Student Center Board president Marie Murphy announced that the talk would be moved from the Student Center to McFarlin Auditorium to accommodate a larger crowd. The nature of the event was changed; however, rather than giving a full-fledged speech, Gates would give some introductory remarks and then take questions from a panel of faculty and students.

The panel was comprised of SMU Chaplain J. Claude Evans, religion professor Douglas Jackson, government professor Lloyd Wells, Mary Murphy, and Student Forum Committee Chairman Spencer Harris. The moderator was Glen Costin, who had served as executive director of the Dallas Council on World Affairs. In addition, FBI Agent Herbert A. Philbrick, who had infiltrated the Communist Party and had assisted in the 1949 conviction of Gates, also participated.

Reaction from those who attended seemed to be positive overall. Forum Committee Chairman Harris thought the event was a success and that students benefitted from hearing Gates’ opinions, even if they did not share those opinions. The performance of the professors who questioned Gates was praised as well. An editorial in the Dallas Morning News, however, criticized Gates for apparently taking more than his allotted share of time to make an opening statement and for personally attacking Philbrick. The News seemed to think that Philbrick had more effectively presented his views than did Gates.

Gates died in Miami Beach, at the age of 78, in May 1992.

Sources:

"Ex-Editor for U.S. Reds Plans Speech at SMU." Dallas Morning News, March 17, 1958, pg. 2.

Folkart, Burt. "John Gates, 78; Ex-Top U.S. Communist." Los Angeles Times, May 26, 1992 (no page given).

"John Gates." Spartacus Educational: http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/SPgates.htm . Accessed September 30, 2009.

"Gates Talked a Good Game." Dallas Morning News, April 25, 1958, pg. 5.

McCullar, Clardy. "Tate Defends Forum Plans." Dallas Morning News, March 21, 1958, pg. 1.

"Professors and Gates Win Student Plaudits." Dallas Morning News, April 24, 1958, pg. 2.

"SMU Asked to Cancel Red’s Talk." Dallas Morning News, March 18, 1958, pg. 1.

"SMU Opens Gates Talk to Public." Dallas Morning News, March 25, 1958, pg. 1.

Established in the fall of 1996, Southern Methodist University’s William P. Clements Center for Southwest Studies promotes research, teaching, and public programming in a variety of fields. The Center supports three annual Research Fellows (year-long, residential fellowships), provides short-term research support for SMU faculty and visiting faculty, subsidizes the publication of books on Southwestern America, including the Library of Texas series, sponsors graduate student research and enriches their intellectual life, particularly Ph.D. students in the departments of History and Anthropology. The Clements Center’s post-doctoral research fellowships are geared to individuals in any field in the humanities or social sciences doing research on Southwestern America or Texas. The fellowships are designed to provide a year away from normal duties for senior or junior scholars to bring book-length manuscripts to completion.

The Clements Center also offered an interdisciplinary major and minor in Southwest Studies for undergraduates at SMU, and invites undergraduate students engaged in advanced research on the Southwest to apply for financial support from the Center. In addition, the Clements Center presents public programming, including lectures, seminars, and symposia, convening monthly meetings of SMU faculty, staff, and graduate students with interests in the Southwest, and awards the annual William P. Clements Prize for the Best Non-Fiction Book on Southwestern America.

Southern Methodist University was established in Dallas by an Educational Commission appointed in 1910 by the five Annual Conferences of The Methodist Episcopal Church, South in Texas. These Annual Conferences confirmed the work of the Commission, which resulted in the University being chartered by the state of Texas on April 17, 1911.

In 2010, Southern Methodist University is on the verge of commemorating its 100-year anniversary, to be celebrated in 2011. Boasting an enrollment of roughly 11,000 students, SMU confers undergraduate, graduate, and professional degrees through seven schools: humanities and sciences; business; performing, visual, and communication arts; engineering; education and human development; law; and theology.

The collection includes the dedications of some of the most commonly used buildings and locations on campus. Dedication programs in the collection include, but are not limited to: the Perkins Administration building; the Fondren libraries; Residence Halls; the Umphrey Lee Student Center; and buildings within the Owen Fine Arts Center.

Also included are programs for campus ceremonies such as the inauguration of Willis M. Tate, the unveiling of the Robert S. Hyer bust, and the dedication of the World War II Memorial Plaza.

The first Commission on the Status of Women was formed in 1971 in order to conduct a study at Southern Methodist University of what the U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare called a "discriminatory attitude in regard to female employees in general." The Commission concluded its study by December 1971. The second Commission on the Status of Women formed in 1972 to assist the Vice-President, Dr. Charles R. Vail, and the Provost, Dr. H. Neill McFarland, in implementing the goals of the Affirmative Action Plan in relation to women. This Commission disbanded in 1974.

Southern Methodist University president James H. Zumberge re-established the Commission for the Status of Women in May of 1976 based on recommendations established by the SMU Affirmative Action Plan and the Women’s Faculty Caucus. Zumberge charged the Commission with the following responsibilities:

Zumberge selected members for the Commission by asking for recommendations from deans and women’s groups on campus, as well as from various individuals. Membership included representatives from the faculty, student body, administrative staff, and non-academic employees. Bonnie Wheeler, Associate Professor of English, was the first chairperson of the Commission. There were 18 members when the Commission had its first meeting in September of 1976.

When R. Gerald Turner became president of SMU in 1995, he would return the Commission’s yearly report with a set of action items or next steps proposals-with copies to the departments connected with each issue. Some issues, of course, take years to resolve, but others were funded or resolved quickly.

Sources:

Richardson, Darlene. "Women’s committee defines goals." The Daily Campus, September 28, 1976, pg. 1.

assist in enlarging the pool of candidates available for employment at SMU, undertake a study to determine the best methods through which personal and professional development could be achieved within the university environment and advise the appropriate administrative officials of actions to be recommended, help to sensitize the university community to the imperative of achieving equality of opportunity and treatment for women, focus attention of faculty and students upon the importance of actively encouraging women students to enter academic and professional training in fields other than those traditionally filled by women, and work closely with the President’s Committee on Equal Opportunity, using it as a resource body and as an instrument for complaint resolution.

Southern Methodist University was established in Dallas by an Educational Commission appointed in 1910 by the five Annual Conferences of The Methodist Episcopal Church, South in Texas. These Annual Conferences confirmed the work of the Commission, which resulted in the University being chartered by the state of Texas on April 17, 1911. Classes began in September 1915.

In 2010, Southern Methodist University is on the verge of commemorating its 100-year anniversary, to be celebrated in 2011. Boasting an enrollment of roughly 11,000 students, SMU confers undergraduate, graduate, and professional degrees through seven schools: humanities and sciences; business; performing, visual, and communication arts; engineering; education and human development; law; and theology.

SMU was chartered in 1911 and opened for its first academic year in the fall of 1915. A number of university events have been held during the university’s nearly 100-year history to recognize the completion of degrees by students.

The type of events held has changed over the years. The most common event has been the commencement exercises at which degrees are conferred. This has traditionally been held at the end of the spring semester in May or June, but during SMU’s history, other commencement ceremonies have been held in February, August, October, and December.

In addition to the commencement ceremony, SMU has also held convocations or school assemblies to recognize outstanding students (Honors Day, Senior Recognition Day, Academic Awards ceremony) and religious services for those graduating. For many years, the university held a Convocation Religious Service (also called, at different times, the Convocation Sermon or the Baccalaureate Service), followed by an Organ Recital, and Senior Vespers. A religious service is still held today prior to commencement, but both the Organ Recital and Senior Vespers have long since been discontinued.

Other university convocation ceremonies have included opening convocations, at which administration and faculty officially welcome incoming freshmen students, and special convocations to honor important university visitors, such as the September 1975 convocation honoring U.S. President Gerald R. Ford.

The first series of commencement events was held on Sunday, June 11 and Tuesday, June 13, 1916. Graduates and their families attended a religious Convocation Service, as well as a Senior Vespers service that Sunday. Degrees were conferred on the first SMU graduating class two days later. The class was composed of graduates who had arrived at SMU for their senior year and students receiving masters’ degrees.

Over the years the listing of events celebrating commencement has changed. For example, events held in 1932 (the 17th Convocation, as described on the programs) included the Convocation Sermon, an Organ Recital, Senior Vespers, and the Commencement Exercises, held on June 5-7. The 1967 program included a Senior Vespers, Baccalaureate Service, and Commencement. By the 1980s, Commencement was divided up into the university-wide ceremony, and smaller ceremonies held for the various schools and departments within SMU (Dedman College, Cox School of Business, Perkins School of Theology, etc) at which graduates would actually receive their diplomas. Events held for the 1983 Commencement included Baccalaureate and Commencement Convocation, in addition to the smaller ceremonies.

By the 1930s, SMU was holding two commencement ceremonies per year, in May/June at the end of the spring semester, and in August/September around the beginning of the new academic year. In 1937, for example, the school held one commencement on June 1 in McFarlin Auditorium, and another, smaller ceremony later on August 20 in front of Dallas Hall (with both ceremonies comprising the 22nd Annual Convocation). During the 1940s, the university held other commencement ceremonies as needed, and during this period, SMU held 3 or even 4 graduations during the year. During 1945, commencement exercises took place in February, June, August, and October.

In the 1990s, SMU established a December Recognition Ceremony to honor students completing their degrees at the end of the fall semester. This later became the December Graduation Ceremony, and although it was not officially a convocation, the university continued to honor its graduates in the school-wide commencement exercises held each May.

This increase in the number of graduation ceremonies-and the need for larger venues for these ceremonies-has reflected SMU’s growth. The first several commencement convocations were held in the auditorium on the third floor of Dallas Hall. SMU’s gymnasium was briefly used during the 1920s for commencement activities until the construction of McFarlin Auditorium by the latter part of the decade. Commencement, as well as the Convocation Religious Service and Organ Recital were held there starting in 1927. The front steps of Dallas Hall became the location for the Senior Vespers service during the many years this event was held (it seems to have been discontinued by the 1970s). Ownby Stadium was also used for several ceremonies during the 1950s, and Moody Coliseum has been the site of commencement since 1956.

From the first commencement in 1916, the university’s administration emphasized the importance of observing the ceremony and solemnity of the gathering, as much as honoring those who were being granted degrees. Through the first half-century of SMU’s history, commencement was widely regarded as a cherished and essential part of each student’s college years. It represented the crowning moment for those who had successfully navigated the rigorous academic requirements, as well as a sort of “last hurrah,” since those who took part in commencement and received degrees were graduated, and thus finished with their college career.

It seems that from the 1960s onward, the general importance of commencement has faded somewhat, since that period marked the beginning of a greater accessibility of a college education to a greater number of people. The fact that more people have been able to go to college, and thus receive degrees, has removed some of the aura of uniqueness and majesty that colleges and universities tried to impart to their commencement convocations.

This more casual attitude toward the ceremony, as one member of SMU’s faculty has noted, resulted in “student denigration of, and absence from, commencement, decoration of regalia, drinking during the service, catcalls…and random participants’ departures during the ceremonies…All of this has occurred at many institutions-but, thankfully, in small numbers at Southern Methodist University.”

Sources:

Southern Methodist University convocation and commencement records

Lorn Lambier Howard, “Southern Methodist University Commencement Development: 1916-1988,” written in 2007-08.

Southern Methodist University in Dallas was chartered in 1911 and opened for classes in the fall of 1915. Two schools were established in 1925: law and engineering. The SMU School of Engineering was created thanks to the efforts of the Technical Club of Dallas, the North Texas Chapter of the American Institute of Architects, and the university.

The original idea of founding an engineering school at the new university in Dallas appears to have come from the Technical Club of Dallas. The organization was made up of engineers throughout the southwest region of the United States who represented the several different branches of engineering.

The idea for the new engineering school, approved by the Board of Trustees in February 1925, was for a cooperative method of education in which students would engage in classroom learning and acquire practical experience by working in regional companies. Engineering students rotated between four weeks of classes and four weeks of industry training. The course of study for SMU’s engineering school provided for a five-year program; upon completion students received a B.S. degree in engineering.

In its early years, SMU housed all of its classes and administrative operations in Dallas Hall, but it embarked on its second round of campus building in the 1920s. This period saw the completion of McFarlin Auditorium, Kirby Hall to house the School of Theology, and a frame building for the School of Engineering. The building and equipment needs of the engineering school were met with a $10,000 donation through the combined efforts of the Technical Club and the American Institute of Architects. Faculty salaries were paid from student tuition.

The new engineering school was not at all lacking in applicants. Incoming classes of 60 were expected, but the 1925-1926 academic year actually began with 126 engineering students. SMU thereafter set a ceiling of 120 students for each incoming freshmen class. As with the SMU School of Law, the engineering school did not initially have all five years’ worth of courses available. The first year course load was the only one offered in the fall of 1925, with the full course of study available by the 1929-1930 academic year.

The Technical Club provided further assistance by pairing the new school with local companies where students would receive their workplace training. In its first several years the School of Engineering partnered with thirty to forty different firms located in several cities across Texas.

Funding was not a problem through the second year of operations, but the curriculum called for third-year engineering students to select an area of specialization in either civil, electrical, or mechanical engineering. This required more funding for faculty and equipment costs. With the beginning and persistence of the Depression, funding remained a constant source of concern, as did the diminished number of companies that were financially able to take on engineering students as trainees.

Earl Hugo Flath served as Engineering’s first dean. Dean E. H. Flath guided the new school through its early years until his retirement in 1960.

Early curriculum changes included the elimination of architecture courses (the school was briefly named the School of Engineering and Architecture), as well as the discontinuation of the Bachelor of Science in Engineering Chemistry Program. The four-week periods of classroom and industry training were changed to six-week intervals beginning in the 1938-1939 academic year, and although the school began offering professional degrees in electrical, civil, and mechanical engineering in 1940 to complement its undergraduate degrees in those areas, the professional degree programs were dropped in 1958 due to lack of students.

During the World War II years the School of Engineering participated in three defense-related programs that provided training for both students and defense employees: the Civilian Pilot Training program, the Engineering Defense Training Program (later renamed the Engineering, Science, and Management Defense Training Program), and the Navy College Training Program (commonly referred to as the V-12 program).

SMU’s School of Engineering experienced the same jump in enrollment that many other educational institutions did in the postwar years. The school awarded 17 degrees to its first graduating class in 1930; 40 were granted in 1940, and 206 by 1950.

After three years of holding classes in the original one-story wood frame building, the engineering school received space in Patterson Hall in 1928. A new engineering building, Caruth Hall, was built in the late 1940s, and a smaller building with lab space was completed in 1951. During the 1950s, nautical engineering equipment, a supersonic wind tunnel, a Univac Scientific Computer, and later a Univac analog computer, were all acquired as part of the continuing efforts to improve the school.

The SMU Foundation for Science and Engineering was founded in 1965 to provide funding for school projects and keep the school in touch with developments in the engineering industry. More emphasis was placed on research, and the school was renamed the SMU Institute of Technology. A Ph.D. program in engineering was created, and the school made greater use of technology via televised classes.

The engineering school was the target of proposed budget cuts in the late 1980s. Incoming President A. Kenneth Pye confronted with increasing university debt and the aftermath of the "death penalty" football scandal, advocated the elimination of the civil and mechanical engineering department as part of a series of cost-saving measures unveiled in late 1989. Pye noted the declining number of students enrolled in the department, and argued that the move would benefit the electrical engineering, computer science, and operations research areas of the engineering school. The faculty argued that the proposal would lead to reduced enrollment and a weaker engineering program overall. President Pye later revised his proposal, and only the civil engineering program was cut.

The School of Engineering has been marked by physical expansion, student growth, and a new school name during the late 1990s through 2009. The Jerry R. Junkins Building, containing classrooms and electrical engineering labs, opened in 2002. Although Junkins was the first building constructed for the engineering school in half a century, the school received another new building in 2006; the J. Lindsey Embrey Building became the home of the Environmental and Civil and Mechanical Engineering departments. And construction on a new J.J. Caruth Hall (to replace the original Caruth Hall opened in 1948), which will house the Engineering Management, Information and Systems, and Computer Science and Engineering departments, began in 2008. The new Caruth Hall will be the final addition to SMU’s engineering complex.

The school also received a new name in the fall of 2008. Engineering was the only school within SMU that had not been named for a donor, but with a donation from SMU alum (and founder of Lyco Energy) Bobby Lyle that year, the school was renamed the Bobby B. Lyle School of Engineering. Mr. Lyle’s donation, combined with the proceeds from a fundraising drive, were to be used for a lab similar to that used by aircraft manufacturer Lockheed Martin in the design of military aircraft (the first such lab built for an American university), additional engineering programs at SMU to be conducted in partnership with Lockheed Martin, the establishment of a new Center for Engineering Leadership, and a new engineering minor.

Sources:

"All Eyes on SMU’s New Junkins Building." Dallas Morning News, August 22, 2002, pg. 18A.

Miller, Robert. "Work Starting on SMU’s Caruth Hall." Dallas Morning News, May 9, 2008, pg. 2D.

Norris, Mark. "Engineering School to Bear Oilman’s Name-Dallas Man’s Gift is Part of Efforts to Raise Profile of Program." Dallas Morning News, October 17, 2008, pg. 3B.

O’Neill, James M. "Designing a Greener Building: SMU Engineering an Earth-Friendly Campus." Dallas Morning News, September 3, 2006, pg. 1B.

Pryzant, Connie. "SMU Engineering Cutbacks Debated." Dallas Morning News, September 3, 1989, pg. 34A.

Pryzant, Connie. "SMU Trustees OK Proposals Including Budget Cuts." Dallas Morning News, December 2, 1989, pg. 36A.

Schulz, David Alex. "1925-1985: Sixty Years of Engineering Change." SMU Engineer, No. 85-3.

Thomas, Mary Martha Hosford. Southern Methodist University: Founding and Early Years . Dallas: SMU Press, 1974.

Wertheimer, Linda K. "Building Prestige at SMU-New $15 Million Facility May Put School on Engineering Map." Dallas Morning News, August 21, 2002.

Although Southern Methodist University obtained its charter in 1911, the doors of the University were not opened until September of 1915. Originally, the College of Arts & Sciences comprised the core of SMU’s early curriculum. It was renamed the College of Humanities & Sciences as SMU’s academic course curriculum expanded to include relatively new fields such as Sociology, Women’s Studies, Telecommunications, and Urban & Environmental Studies.

In 1981 the College of Humanities & Sciences was renamed once again, this time as Dedman College, for the late Robert H. Dedman, Sr. (1926 – August 20, 2002) and his wife, Nancy McMillan Dedman; SMU alumni whose gift endowed the college and enables SMU to remain committed to its legacy as a liberal arts university.

Dedman College is the heart of SMU. It is home to the humanities, social sciences, and natural and mathematical sciences. Based in historic Dallas Hall, Dedman College provides the solid foundation of a liberal arts education to all SMU students through the University’s General Education Curriculum.

All SMU undergraduate students begin their studies here. Students complete courses while in Dedman College to prepare for their majors and to explore options before declaring a major at the end of their first or second year. About 40 percent of SMU’s undergraduates choose majors in Dedman College.

Not only the oldest academic unit at SMU, Dedman College is also the largest and most diverse. More than 250 full-time faculty members, including 23 endowed professorships, are based in Dedman College. Undergraduate students in Dedman College may major in more than 50 baccalaureate degree programs and minor in more than 50 areas. There are 16 departments, as well as numerous interdisciplinary and pre-professional programs. In addition, there are 18 graduate programs leading to a Master’s degree and 12 programs leading to a Doctor of Philosophy degree.

In 1966 SMU celebrated its 50th anniversary with a wide variety of events that showcased the university. Then President Willis M. Tate and Graduate School Dean Claude Albritton casually suggested an event that did "something special for the ladies." Neither of the two men thought the event would produce the lasting legacy on the campus, city, and region that it has.

Dean of Women Emmie V. Baine did not take the small event "for the ladies" lightly. Instead she programmed a hard-hitting event that explored the role of women in society. She crafted a two day symposium entitled "The Education of Women for Social and Political Leadership." While not highly visible, there existed a latent Women’s Movement in Dallas at the time. Just a few years earlier Betty Friedan had published The Feminine Mystique and Dean Baine had brought her to campus. The interest of students was overwhelming and they gave her a standing ovation. Similarly, the first women’s symposium provided the needed space for the women of Dallas to voice their concerns. The response to the event was astounding; planned for 150 it drew more than 400 participants. The keynote speakers of the first symposium were Marietta Tree, former U.S. ambassador to the U.N.; Dr. Carl N. Degler, professor of history at Vassar College; Dr. Helen V. McLean, psychiatrist at the Institute for Psychoanalysis in Chicago; Dr. Mary I. Bunting, president of Radcliffe College; and Viola H. Hymes, chairman of the governor’s Commission on the Status of Women for the state of Minnesota.

The momentum sprung from the 1966 symposium carried over into the next year. The second Women’s Symposium in 1967 built upon the initial impetus of the first symposium and further encouraged stronger relationships between women leaders and SMU students. The early symposiums were, as one woman described them, "a once-a-year intellectual feast" for the women of Dallas. In 1974 under the conference theme of "Can We Be Human Together?," men were welcomed to participate as workshop leaders and facilitators. Topic themes of later symposia emphasized women’s rights as issues of national and global importance. In issues like food scarcity, increasing national inequality, and student activism, women’s roles were seen as central. The depth and quality of the programs helped create an annual symposium that grew to be the longest running program in the nation.

Emmie Baine coordinated the Women’s Symposium until 1987 when she stepped down. Under Baine’s leadership the symposium covered topics that ranged from leadership to sexuality to politics. She brought respected guests such as Margaret Mead (1970), John Kenneth Galbraith (1979), Coretta Scott King (1983), and Maya Angelou (1987) to the SMU campus to interact with students and community members. SMU and Women’s Symposium alumna Sandra Tinkham took over the helm from Baine in 1988.

The change in leadership did not interrupt the momentum of the program and in 1990 the symposium celebrated its 25th anniversary. By 1990, after 24 years of programming, the Women’s Symposium had attracted at least 15,000 individual participants, 81 eminent scholars and writers, over 300 speakers and consultants, and hundreds more local Dallas volunteers.

The Women’s Symposium was the genesis for many other Dallas groups. Many organizations could trace their origins to the SMU Women’s Symposium like: Explore, an eight-week education program that helps women; The Women’s Center of Dallas, an organization that works to change society’s stereotypical expectations of women; Women’s Issues Network, an advocacy group supporting equality of opportunity; The Dallas Women’s Foundation, an inter-generational, multi-ethnic inclusive women’s organization that writes grants for innovative programs for women and children; the Dallas Chapter of the National Organization for Women; the Women’s Equity Action League; and the Women’s Political Caucus and the Women’s Coalition. As Vivian Castleberry described the symposium, it "began as a gentle breeze…" and became "a persistent tailwind that has challenged mindsets, disturbed comfort, and jarred complacency for a quarter of a century."

Sources:

Castleberry, Vivian. "A Forum for Challenge and Change," SMU Magazine, Winter 1990: 19-21. Found in Folder 2 Box 20.

Castleberry, Vivian. "Whatever Happened to the Women’s Movement?: An Eyewitness, uh, Her story of Three Decades of Progress for Dallas Women," D Magazine, 1987: 78-83. Found in Folder 5 Box 20.

Women’s Symposium, "1967 Women’s Symposium-Working Notes," Folder 10 Box 1.

September 28, 1915 is recognized as the official date when Southern Methodist University opened the doors of Dallas Hall to its first students, but the university actually issued its first degrees in 1912 before Dallas Hall was built. SMU no longer has a medical school, however, for the brief period that the university’s school of medicine existed, it held the distinction of being the first school to be established and the first school to award degrees.

In October 1910 courses for the eighth annual session of the Southwestern University Medical College-based in Georgetown, Texas-began one hundred sixty miles north of Georgetown. The college was housed in a 90- by 100-foot building made of gray pressed brick located on Hall Street in the heart of the small but growing city of Dallas.

The move presaged the Board of Trustees’ official transferring of its medical school to SMU on April 14, 1911. On that date, Southwestern University Medical College became the Medical and Pharmaceutical Departments of Southern Methodist University, following the recommendation of a commission of clergy and laity appointed by the Methodist Episcopal Church South. On May 31, 1913, fourteen medical school graduates received their degrees, making them the first graduating class of SMU. Among them was John William Macune, who went on to have an illustrious career in both the military and medical fields.

Despite the medical school’s success in achieving a Class A status by the standards established by the Council of Medical Education of the American Medical Association, SMU’s Board of Trustees disbanded the medical faculty in the summer of 1915, citing financial concerns and the more stringent admissions requirements as the reasons. "[F]inancial conditions," the board explained, "are such that the great expense of such a department is not considered justifiable for the limited number of students, and the money can be spent to better advantage in the college of liberal arts."

Although the decision to suspend the Medical and Pharmaceutical Departments of Southern Methodist University was deemed temporary-indeed it was to last only a year, the programs never resumed operations. The medical building was sold to the State Dental College, and much of its medical equipment was purchased by Baylor University.

The first student handbook of SMU was called The M Book and was published by the YMCA organization starting in 1916. It contained information for orientating new students to campus. Included in The M Book was information on clubs, classes, buildings, sports, proper clothing attire, student government, traditions, cheers, and religious groups.

Beginning in the fall of 1962 the YMCA stopped publishing the student handbook. Instead, the Student Senate began publishing the Student Handbook, which contained the official university policies, a complete list of SMU activities and organizations, information on services and facilities which SMU offered, and university regulations. It lasted six years.

In the fall of 1968 the Office of the Vice-President for Student Affairs began publishing the SMU Enchiridion . The SMU Enchiridion was a manual of rules governing students of Southern Methodist University and mainly contained rules and regulations. It was published for eight years.

During the 1973/74 school year the Student Senate of SMU published doing it, or a student handbook, which was a student handbook with more depth and humor than the Enchiridion . It contained information about academics, student activities, special programs, organizations, campus facilities, counseling, and entertainment. Doing it lasted only one year.

Inside SMU: The Student Handbook was published in the fall of 1975 as the new student orientation handbook. It lasted only one year.

The university student handbook took another form during the 1976/77 school year, as FOCUS: SMU Student Magazine . It was published for six years before the student handbook changed names yet again and became the Peruna Express in the fall of 1982. The Peruna Express contained similar information as the others with an added "Big 'D'" section, which was an extended section on entertainment in the city. This version of the student handbook lasted until 2005.

Beginning in 1994 the office of student affairs began published the code of conduct separately from the student handbook, as SMU Policies for Community Life . This volume contained only university rules and regulation, lasting for five years.

The SMU Peruna Express reemerged in 2000/01 and was published by the student senate as a handbook and orientation guide.

By the 2004/05 school year, the name was changed back to The Student Handbook and contained university regulations and a planner for incoming students.

In 1933 and 1934 Southern Methodist University’s Men’s and Women’s Panhellenic organizations each produced separate musical comedies. After the 1934 performances, SMU student Charles Meeker proposed that the organizations produce a co-ed performance the next year. In 1935 the Panhellenic organizations presented a co-ed production, Plato’s Daughter, and the Script and Score Club was founded later that year. The yearly performances grew quickly in popularity, so that by 1937 the organization had become SMU’s largest student organization. However, the constraints of World War II brought an end to the program after the 1942 show. Script and Score was not reinstated at the war’s end or for several decades thereafter.

Reflecting on his fond memories as Script and Score club president and as producer of the 1942 Script and Score performance, TV producer and visiting SMU professor Bob Banner sought to revive the program while serving as a distinguished visiting professor at SMU during the 1980s. Working with the Program Council and Student Foundation beginning in 1987, Banner revived the program. After two years of planning and preparation, and with the aid of SMU supporters Ruth Sharp Altshuler, Linda McElroy Gibbons and Richard and Susan Collins, SMU students produced the musical comedy We’re Back in April 1989.

Dr. Paul Hardin III became the sixth-and at 41, the youngest-president of Southern Methodist University, in 1972 upon his election by the Board of Trustees, and was formally inaugurated in November of that year. He was known for his youth and vigor, and enjoyed a very positive reputation as a scholar and university administrator prior to his arrival at SMU. Dr. Hardin’s tenure as president, however, was unexpectedly brief: due to deep disputes with the Board, he resigned in June 1974.

Paul Hardin III was born in Charlotte, North Carolina on June 11, 1931. He and his family were active Methodists. His father, Paul Hardin Jr., was elected a bishop in the United Methodist Church. The future president of SMU attended Duke University, majoring in English and holding membership in Phi Beta Kappa; he graduated with an A.B. in 1952. He attended law school at Duke, where he served as editor-in-chief of the Duke Law Journal, and graduated first in his class in 1954.

Hardin married Barbara Russell, also a graduate of Duke, in 1954. They had three children: Paul Russell (Russ), Sandra, and Dorothy (Dottie).

Following law school, Hardin served for two years in the United States Army Counter Intelligence Corps. He briefly practiced law in Birmingham, Alabama for two years after his military service. In 1958, he returned to his alma mater as a member of the Duke Law School faculty as an assistant professor. Dr. Hardin taught at Duke until 1968, and also worked as a visiting professor at the University of Texas (summer 1960), and the University of Pennsylvania (1962-1963).

In September 1968, Hardin was elected as the eighth president of Wofford College, a Methodist-affiliated liberal arts college in Spartanburg, South Carolina. During his time as president of Wofford, he was elected a member of the Board of Trustees at Duke. He also served as president of the National Association of Schools and Colleges of the United Methodist Church, as director of the Southern University Conference, chairman of the South Carolina State Tuition Grants Committee, and as a member of the South Carolina Government Reorganization Commission. He was also a member of the Durham, North Carolina Rotary Club during his years as a professor at Duke, and later worked as Director of the Spartanburg Chamber of Commerce.

Hardin coauthored two books, Cases and Materials on the Administration of Criminal Justice, and Evidence: Cases and Materials, and published articles in the Pennsylvania Law Review, Yale Law Journal, and the Duke Bar Journal .

At SMU in Dallas, the Board of Trustees had established a special committee charged with selecting a new president following the 1971 announcement by President Willis M. Tate of his retirement. SMU had recently modified its method of executive governance; in past years, the university president had been responsible for all executive and administrative duties. By the early 1970s, however, the university thought that the job of president was becoming too large for one person to effectively handle.

The Board of Trustees thus divided up the responsibilities that had previously been handled solely by the president: the president would thereafter be responsible for all day-to-day administrative decisions, and would function as the chief operations officer for the university. The position of university chancellor was established, and that officer would work as a sort of public-relations official for SMU, and would be in charge of fundraising.

Dr. Tate assumed the position of chancellor, but a new president for SMU would have to be chosen. The special committee set up by the Board reviewed a total of 172 candidates for president over a four-month period. After meeting with Dr. Hardin, the committee unanimously nominated him for the position in March 1972. He was officially elected by the Board on April 10, 1972.

Dr. Tate, who had served in the dual roles of president and chancellor since November 1971, ended his tenure as SMU president when Dr. Hardin took office on July 1, 1972. In a letter released to the general faculty following the Board’s election of Hardin, outgoing President Tate said, "He is the Search Committee’s first and only choice. Words are inadequate for me to express my joy in finding someone so ably qualified to lead SMU. Paul Hardin, III is a first class educator, an able administrator, and a fine churchman."

President Hardin was formally inaugurated as the sixth president of SMU in November 1972. SMU had not held an inauguration since 1955, and the new president wanted his to be as simple and cost-effective as possible. The event took place on November 16, 1972 in Moody Coliseum. Members of the Board of Trustees, faculty, and student body-as well as representatives from colleges and universities from across the country-were in attendance, as President Hardin was presented with the symbols of his office: the Bible, the university mace, keys, seal, and the presidential medallion.

Hardin described his job as president as a "seven-day-a-week job," but remained interested in teaching; during his tenure at SMU, he maintained faculty rank as a professor of law, and even found time to teach a course on torts to first-year law students for the fall 1973 semester.

Hardin served an unexpectedly abbreviated presidency. He encountered problems with the Board of Trustees, including two prominent controversies in the early months of 1974 that deepened the divisions and led to his departure after only two years as president.

Problems with the SMU football team had led Hardin to consult with Southwest Conference officials about violations committed in the program-the most disturbing of which was the illegal practice of making pay-offs to players (in a precursor of what was to come in the late 1980s). The Conference elected to place the football team on a one-year probation. Some trustees apparently thought that Hardin had handled the issue poorly in not bringing it before the Board first; Chancellor Tate was upset upon learning of the President’s supposedly indiscreet manner of handling the problem.

Not long after the football incident, another controversy further undermined Hardin’s standing with trustees. The SMU Law School had been affiliated with the Southwestern Legal Foundation, which maintained a presence on campus. In a dispute between the law school and the foundation, Hardin took the side of the former; the result was the departure of the foundation from SMU.

These two controversies, and the growing estrangement of Hardin from the trustees, undermined his ability to lead. SMU as a whole was dealing with a more difficult economic climate. With the rising price of oil and a weakening economy, SMU was confronted with rising tuition costs, decreasing freshmen enrollment, and the need to make budget cuts in academics.

Hardin’s sudden departure ignited debate over the exact reasons for it, and criticism from the faculty that the trustees had not handled the affair very well. In its July 19, 1974 issue, the Texas Methodist reported that the chairmen of the SMU Board of Governors and Board of Trustees met with Hardin, told him that both groups had lost confidence in him, and requested his resignation. The overwhelming opinion by the governors and trustees seemed to be in favor of his departure. He thus submitted his resignation, and a majority of the trustees voted to accept it. But according to a report sent to the Faculty Senate, several members of the Board withdrew their acceptance of his resignation after learning that his action had not been strictly his own decision, but that he had in fact been asked to resign.

The report further noted that the faculty and members of SMU’s administration had been left out of both the decision to ask for Hardin’s resignation and the decision to accept it. The Texas Methodist, in the same article, questioned,

Likewise, the faculty as a whole was not happy at how the matter of resignation was handled. In a letter sent to Chancellor Tate, several members of the faculty called the actions of the Board "improper and ill-timed," lamenting the unnecessary damage to the reputation of SMU that had resulted, and noted their "deep sense of dismay and indignation at what has been done."

The request for his resignation surprised Hardin. In a report to the Executive Committee of the Faculty Senate, sent two weeks after his departure, Hardin stated, "I do not know why I was asked to resign…I was told only that I had lost the confidence of the Board of Governors…I was told the problems were external. No further explanation was made." And although Hardin later heard that the two boards asking for his resignation were not as solidly supportive of such a move as he may initially have thought, he decided not to try to rescind his resignation. He chose not to cite any particular reasons behind his actions in his announcement.

President Hardin officially resigned on June 30, 1974. Chancellor Tate resumed the duties of the office until a new president could be chosen. The Board of Trustees established a special committee to find a replacement that fall. Efforts to nominate a new president initially failed, as the committee’s only remaining candidate for the job withdrew his name from consideration. The Board thereupon designated Tate as president. The university began its search again for a full-time replacement for Hardin, this time concluding with the unanimous selection of Dr. James H. Zumberge, chancellor of the University of Nebraska, in September 1975. Dr. Zumberge took office the following month.

In the years after his resignation, Dr. Hardin served as president of Drew University in Madison, New Jersey from 1975-1988, and returned to North Carolina in 1988 as chancellor of the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. He worked briefly as interim president of the University of Alabama, Birmingham in 1997, and has held the title of chancellor emeritus at Chapel Hill since 1995.

Source:

Collection of records related to Southern Methodist University president Paul Hardin

How could [SMU] suddenly have its President ousted without proper cause being shown for such drastic action? And how could a President who was unanimously elected two years previously by the Board of Trustees-upon the recommendation of a Search Committee made up of representatives from the Trustees, faculty, administration and student body-and re-elected by acclamation less than six weeks previously by the Board of Trustees, be deposed without a subsequent meeting of the Trustees?

Barbwire was the newsletter of the Independent Student Association on SMU. It was published from 1950 to 1951 and there are nine issues in this collection.

Cupid Darts was a single issue of Valentine day poetry published in 1922. There is only one issue.

The Daily Compost was a satirical mock newspaper that contained largely made up stories about happenings on campus. It ran from 1977 to 1979. There are 26 issues in this collection.

Espejo (Spanish for mirror) was a student run literary review at Southern Methodist University. Espejo contained prose, poetry, music, art, and photography all done by SMU students and faculty. It was published semiannually from 1961 until 2003. The collection is not a complete run. After its end in 2003, Espejo reemerged as a literary website and continues today (See: http://smu.edu/english/creativewriting/espejo/ ). The collection spans the years from 1962-1992, it is incomplete. Missing are the years 1964-1966; 1975-1980; 1993-2003.

The Firebrand was a conservative paper that believed that communists were present on campus and present in the Civil Rights Movement. It largely disagreed with all civil rights and anti-war demonstrations. It ran in 1967, and there are only three issues in this collection.

The Grampus was a literary review that began in 1933 and lasted until 1934. This collection contains three issues of the review. Henry Nash Smith contributed to the Grampus, as well as Allen Maxwell, who would later become the editor of the Southwest Review .

Hilltopics is an independent newsletter that covers campus events and controversies. It often offers opposing or alternative views from that of the daily newspaper. It ran from 2004 to 2010.

Hoof Prints was a campus magazine published by SMU students from 1952 to 1954. It contained news articles, short stories, humor pieces, and illustrations. This collection contains seven issues of Hoof Prints .

The Independent was the newsletter for the Independent Student Association on SMU. It was published in 1945 and this collection contains one issue.

The Independent Reporter was the newsletter for the Independent Student Association on SMU. It was published in 1953 and there are two issues in this collection.

Insite was the newsletter established by the Student Senate of SMU to create a public forum for students to voice their opinions. It ran from 1966 to 1969 and was critical of university policy on issues, such as the University’s refusal to dispense birth control to undergraduates. There are nine issues in this collection.

The ISA Pony was the newsletter from the Independent Student Association on SMU. It was published from 1953 to 1954 and there are seven issues in this collection.

Le Sourire was the fine arts committee of Umphrey Lee Student Center’s monthly news paper that informed the SMU campus of fine arts happenings on campus and in Dallas. The collection contains two volumes from November and December 1965.

Limbo: The Magazine Section of the SMU Campus was a humor magazine published from 1949 to 1950. There are seven issues in this collection.

The Methodist Student was the official newsletter for the Methodist Student Movement on SMU. It contained stories about Methodism and information on the events of the group. There are four issues in this collection.

The Muddler was a satirical paper started in December of 2007 and stopped publication in May of 2010. It made fun of current events and often disagreed with the Daily Campus .

The Mustang was the publication of the SMU Mustang Students’ Party, an organization opposed to the Committee for Representative Student Government (CRSG). It largely opposed all CRSG candidates and informed students on Students’ Party candidates. It ran in 1950 and there is only one issue.

The Mustang Post was a conservative publication at SMU that ran from 2006 to 2008. There are nineteen issues in this collection.

Not the Daily Campus was the mock newspaper of the Kappa Sigma Fraternity. It ran in 1983 and there are two issues in this collection.

The Peruna Press was the activities calendar/events page of the student center. It ran from 1972 to 1973. There are five issues in this collection.

Senate News was the newsletter from the Student Senate. It contained information on student senate proceedings. It ran in 1968 and there is only one issue.

The Snort was a humor magazine published in 1931. There is only one issue in this collection.

Tenedor: Revista Literaria en Español de los Estudiantes de Southern Methodist University was a Spanish literary review on the SMU campus during the late 1960s. It was named "Tenedor" (fork) because of a line from Miguel De Cervantes’ Don Quixote, "el conocimiento de sí mismo, Sancho, como la comida rica, no merece ser agarrado y engullido, con las manos, sino escogido y saboreado, con el tenedor, invención cortesana de la raza humana." (Understanding of yourself, Sancho, like good food, does not deserve to be grabbed and wolfed down, with your hands, instead it should be picked up delicately and savored, with a fork, an invention of the human race.) The collection contains volume one and two from the Fall of 1967 and the Spring of 1968.

Undergrunt was a satirical paper that made fun of the other independent publications on SMU during the 60s, mainly the Firebrand . It ran circa 1967 and there is only one issue in the collection.

Veritas was the newsletter from the Students for Democratic Participation (SDP). SDP wanted greater student involvement on campus. It was published in 1981 and there is only one issue in the collection.

Venture was a literary magazine published in June 1946. It contains shorts stories that deal with themes of war, sacrifice, racial integration, love, etc. A few stories were written by returning veterans of World War II. The collection only has one volume.

The Yellow Dog was a satirical magazine published in April 1917. There is only one issue in the collection.

This is a list of all publications in this collection in chronological order:

The Yellow Dog (1917)

Cupid Darts (1922)

The Snort (1931)

The Grampus (1933-1934)

The Independent (1945)

Venture (1946)

The Methodist Student (1948-1949)

Limbo: The Magazine Section of the SMU Campus (1949-1950)

The Mustang (1950)

Barbwire (1950-1951)

Hoof Prints (1952-1954)

The Independent Reporter (1953)

The ISA Pony (1953-1954)

Espejo (1963-2003)

Le Sourire (1965)

Insite (1966-1969)

Firebrand (1967)

Undergrunt (ca 1967)

Tenedor (1967-1968)

Senate News (1968)

Peruna Press (1972-1973)

Daily Compost (1977-1979)

Veritas (1981)

Not the Daily Campus (1983)

Hilltopics (2004-2010)

Mustang Post (2006-2008)

The Muddler (2007-2010)

Although Southern Methodist University obtained its charter in 1911, the doors of the University were not opened until September 1915. Nineteen hundred and sixty-five marks the fiftieth year of SMU’s program of instruction. This anniversary was commemorated in special publications and events, beginning with June Commencement in1965 and ending with June Commencement of 1966.

Claude Albritton, Dean of the Graduate School of Humanities and Sciences was the Anniversary General Chair and head of the Anniversary Executive Committee. The remaining members of the Anniversary Executive Committee were W.L. Ayres, Vice President of SMU, and Marshall Terry, SMU’s head of public relations. President Willis M. Tate presided during its 50th Anniversary celebration and ceremonies.

There were a number of notable 50th Anniversary Celebration events including a lecture given by Olga Ragusa of Columbia University, commemorating the 700th Anniversary of Dante. The first Women’s Symposium, whose theme was "The Education of Women for Social and Political Leadership" was launched during SMU’s 50th Anniversary season. More generally, unique records of departmental events have been well preserved illustrating the different ways in which SMU celebrated its milestone.

SMU’s 75th Anniversary was given the theme "A Legacy of Learning," referencing the large strides the university had made from 706 students in 1915 to 9,000 students in 1986. The theme also emphasized the significant impact SMU students and alumni have had on the local and state level, making SMU one of the preeminent institutions for undergraduate education in the Southwest.

Southern Methodist University was established in Dallas by an Educational Commission appointed in 1910 by the five Annual Conferences of The Methodist Episcopal Church, South in Texas. These Annual Conferences confirmed the work of the Commission, which resulted in the University being chartered by the state of Texas on April 17, 1911. Classes began in September 1915.

In 2010, Southern Methodist University is on the verge of commemorating its 100-year anniversary, to be celebrated in 2011. Boasting an enrollment of roughly 11,000 students, SMU confers undergraduate, graduate, and professional degrees through seven schools: humanities and sciences; business; performing, visual, and communication arts; engineering; education and human development; law; and theology.