Rutgers University. Office of the President.
Biographical notes:
When Lewis Webster Jones arrived at Rutgers in early September 1951, the University was at a crossroads. For some time there had been discussion about making Rutgers the state university of New Jersey, but no action had taken place. He led the University during an enrollment boom brought by the end of World War II and the GI Bill. Rutgers was not equipped to handle the increased numbers and required expansion.
The first major issue Jones dealt with was the reorganization of the Board of Trustees in 1956 and the creation of a Board of Governors. He worked to establish state university status for Rutgers to reap the benefits of state funding. Jones began a huge building program that resulted in the construction of the several university buildings and dormitories.
During his time at Rutgers University, Jones also contributed to the university?s specialization. The nursing program was introduced in Newark in 1952 and within four years it had grown into the College of Nursing. In 1954, the Graduate School of Social Work and the Graduate School of Library Science were created. A bequest from Mrs. Florence Eagleton funded the Institute of Politics. Jones submitted his resignation in 1958 to bec-ome the president of the National Conference of Christians and Jews.
From the description of Records of the Lewis Webster Jones Administration Group I: Administrative Records, 1951-1959. (Rutgers University). WorldCat record id: 767568275
John Martin Thomas was born at Fort Covington, New York, a graduate of Middlebury College, and the Union Theological Seminary in New York City. He served as pastor of the Arlington Avenue Presbyterian Church in East Orange, N.J. from 1893 to 1908. In 1908, at the age of thirty-nine, he became president of Middlebury College and served at the Vermont school until 1921, when he became president of the Pennsylvania State College. He left Penn State in 1925 to become president of Rutgers.
By 1925 Rutgers University had shifted its focus to become as leading public educational institution, and its Trustees secured the services of a man who would lead the school in that direction. "The college has accepted a great responsibility in becoming a land-grant college of the State and in permitting the designation of the State University of New Jersey," declared Dr. John Martin Thomas (1869-1952), the twelfth president of Rutgers University.
A former college president, Martin possessed the administrative experience required to assume the leadership of a State University and he embarked upon his duties with characteristic vigor and determination. Dr. Thomas's five-year reign at Rutgers was marked by a period of growth and expansion in student enrollment, academic programs, and physical facilities; it was also a time of increased frustration over relations with the state. In 1925 when he assumed the presidency, Rutgers had 1,343 undergraduates and a total registration of 2,396. By 1930 the undergraduate population had increased to 2,662, and combined enrollment in the University was nearly 17,000 students. In 1925 the University Extension Division was established providing educational service to over 40,000 residents of New Jersey. The following year Dr. Thomas invited the Bureau of Education to conduct an extensive survey of the University and submit a detailed report, which was used to develop long range plans for the institution. As a result of the study, faculty salaries were increased and four-year courses in economics and business administration were added to the curriculum. In January 1927, the New Jersey College of Pharmacy in Newark was incorporated into the University, and in the same year the Bureau of Biochemical and Bacteriology Research was established. By 1930, the University consisted of seven schools and colleges: Arts and Science, Engineering, Agriculture, Education, the New Jersey College for Women, Pharmacy, and Chemistry.
With the growth of new academic programs came new facilities. The Dramatic Arts Building was completed in 1925, and one year later, Hegeman Hall, an addition to the Voorhees Library, and Van Dyck Hall. Construction at the Women's College included Recitation Hall and the Voorhees Chapel in 1926, and the Willets Infirmary and the Music Building in 1928. In 1929 three dormitories --Wessells, Leupp and Pell Halls--were begun on the Bishop Campus.
Throughout his term, Dr. Thomas and the Trustees deliberated over the University's relationship with the State of New Jersey. State appropriations had not amounted to the levels needed to expand the school into a State University, and the problem remained over the dual private-public role of Rutgers. By 1930, numerous attempts to resolve the differences had failed and on September 19, 1930, Dr. Thomas announced his resignation as president of Rutgers University. He had championed the idea of Rutgers becoming a state university but he had become discouraged with the lack of results. Upon his resignation he assumed the vice-presidency of the National Life Insurance Company in Montpelier, Vermont. He later became acting president of Norwich University. The Trustees of Rutgers University named Philip M. Brett, devoted Trustee and a graduate of Rutgers College, Class of 1892, as acting president. On February 26, 1952, John Martin Thomas died, at the age of eighty-two, in Rutland, Vermont.
From the guide to the Inventory to the Records of the Office of the President (John Martin Thomas), 1902-1932 (inclusive), 1925-1930 (bulk), (Rutgers University Libraries. Special Collections and University Archives.)
Academic Freedom Cases series of the records of Rutgers University President Lewis Webster Jones (1952-1956) documents the cases at Rutgers emanating from the search of Congressional The Committees for subversives in academia, meaning those who were members of or sympathetic to the Communist Party, during the McCarthy Era of the early 1950s. Three professors at Rutgers were dismissed or forced to resign after invoking the fifth amendment in refusing to answer questions concerning their possible Communist Party membership or affiliation. The faculty members were Simon W. Heimlich, Associate Professor of Physics and Mathematics, College of Pharmacy in Newark, and Moses I. Finley, Assistant Professor of History, Newark College of Arts and Sciences, both of whom were called to testify before the Senate Subcommittee on Internal Security (also known as the McCarran Committee), and Abraham Glasser, Associate Professor of Law, Rutgers School of Law in Newark, who was called to testify before the House of Representatives Committee on Un-American Activities (also known as the Velde Committee and HUAC ). The records of the series span from 1942-1958, with the pre-1950s materials relating to the professors' professional histories and the roots of the Congressional Subcommittees allegations against them. Reasons for Heimlich, Finley, and Glasser's refusals to testify included fear of perjury conviction, an unwillingness to incriminate others, and opposition to what they believed was a grave invasion of privacy.
At the time, Rutgers lacked a clear mechanism, as did colleges and universities nationwide, for handling a case of this nature, and President Jones and the University as a whole were under a great deal of pressure, particularly in the conservative climate of the times, to prevent any Communist infiltration of academia, whether real or supposed. The procedure was carried out through a number of Committees of Review, and ultimately through decisions of the Board of Trustees, the governing body of the University at the time. On September 26, 1952, following Heimlich and Finley's appearances before the Senate Subcommittee, Jones announced that he would appoint a Trustee-Faculty-Alumni Committee to review these two cases and advise him on further action. Tracy S. Voorhees, one of the Trustees, was appointed chairman. At this time Jones stated his belief that we cannot "allow academic freedom to be used as a cloak for incompetence; nor can we tolerate conspirators who claim its protection in order to destroy freedom." After reviewing the cases, the Committee presented a report to President Jones stating that the refusal of Heimlich and Finley to answer certain questions before the Senate Subcommittee raises "a real question as to their fitness to continue as teachers on the University faculty", and recommended review of the cases by a Special Faculty Committee. The University's Committee on Committees then met and recommended membership of a Faculty Committee, which would act as an advisory body to the Trustees. Dr. Bennett M. Rich, Associate Professor of Political Science, was named as chairman.
On December 3, 1952, the Special Faculty Committee issued a report stating there should be no charges against Heimlich or Finley and that the University should take no further action in the matter. However, the Trustees, who had final say in the matter, issued a resolution on December 12, 1952, stating "it shall be cause for immediate dismissal of any member of faculty or staff" who invokes the fifth amendment before an investigatory body in refusing to answer questions relating to Communist affiliation, and that Professors Heimlich and Finley would be dismissed as of December of 31, 1952 unless they conformed to this new policy. Neither chose to do so. There was protest to this decision by members of the faculty, who formed an Emergency Committee on the matter.
On March 19, 1953, Glasser was suspended by Jones following his appearance before HUAC, and the following month the case was referred to the Faculty Committee of Review of the Law School of Rutgers for "hearing, consideration, and recommendation to the Board of Trustees", as stated by President Jones, April 29, 1953. This Committee later issued a report, in response to questions which had been specifically asked by Jones, finding that Glasser had violated the policy of Board of Trustees in regard to use of the fifth amendment, and that no unusual circumstances mitigated this violation. Several weeks later Glasser submitted his resignation, which the Trustees accepted.
All three Professors believed, and the Special Faculty Committee of Review argued in its report, that they had been exercising a constitutional right, that their fitness as teachers had not been impaired in any way, and that they were currently being denied legal due process by the University. These beliefs were in marked contrast to Jones' view on the matter (which also embodied the view of the Trustees) in his January 1953 statement on "Academic Freedom and Civic Responsibility," which was issued in pamphlet form and was widely requested by administrators of colleges and universities from around the nation, who were struggling to create statements of their own on academic freedom. Jones argued that it was not the legal right to invoke the fifth which was in dispute, but the moral implications of using it, which reflects badly on the professors' obligations as teachers and as representatives of the University. He continued that the nature of the Communist Party is antithetical to academic freedom.
In accordance with the climate of the times, many agreed with Jones' view, often surpassing it in extremity, and exerted strong pressure for dismissal. These included the governor of New Jersey at the time, Alfred E. Driscoll, the media, which printed countless editorials condemning the professors in question, and the public, particularly alumni of the University.
As a consequence of the its policies, Rutgers University was censured by both the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) in 1956, and the Association of American Law Schools (AALS) in 1958. The censures were prompted by the University's policy of automatic dismissal, and failure to observe standards of academic due process. University policies on academic freedom and tenure were revised under the Board of Governors, a new governing body of Rutgers which went into effect September 1, 1956, following a statutory reorganization of the university, after which the AAUP censure was lifted. The AALS requested a rehearing for Glasser, which the Board of Governors denied, stating that although they did not necessarily agree with the decisions of the Board of Trustees, neither did they wish to judge them.
From the guide to the Inventory to the Records of the Office of the President (Lewis Webster Jones). Group II, Academic Freedom Cases, 1942-1958, (Rutgers University Libraries. Special Collections and University Archives)
Mason Welch Gross was born in Hartford, Connecticut, on June 3, 1911, the son of Charles Wells Gross and Hilda Frances (Welch) Gross. He received an A.B. and M.A. in Classics from Cambridge University in 1934 and 1936, respectively. Gross earned his Ph.D. in Philosophy from Harvard in 1938. On September 6, 1940, he married Julia Kernan with whom he had four children: Ellen Clariss (Mrs. Frank A. Miles), Katherine Wood (Mrs. Clayton H. Farnham), Charles Wells and Thomas Welch.
Dr. Gross began his career at Rutgers University in 1946 as assistant professor of philosophy and assistant to the dean of the College of Arts and Science. He previously had been an instructor from 1938 to 1942 at Columbia University. In the interim he served in the Army Intelligence Corps, where he was stationed in Italy during World War II. In 1949 he was made a full professor and took on the newly-created position of provost under the ailing president, Robert Clothier. When Clothier took an extended leave of absence because of his health, Provost Gross took over his duties as President of Rutgers. Clothier resigned in 1951 and Dr. Gross continued as provost under President Lewis Webster Jones. He was given the additional title of vice president in 1958. President Jones resigned the presidency in August, 1958, and in February, 1959, Gross was chosen as his successor. On May 6, 1959, Mason W. Gross became the sixteenth president of Rutgers University.
Mason Gross presided over a time of great change at Rutgers. During his tenure, the university's enrollment doubled from 18,000 to 35,000 and the annual budget of the institution rose from $18 million to $68 million. There was also great physical growth which included additions to the Douglass Campus, the purchase and development of Camp Kilmer into Livingston College as well as additions to the Newark and Camden campuses. Much of the money for this expansion came through state and federal legislation for which President Gross lobbied extensively.
There was also expansion and diversification of academic programs at Rutgers during the Gross administration. The Medical School was founded in 1961; the Graduate School increased its doctoral programs from 29 to 50; the Eagleton Institute of Politics was founded as well as the Urban Studies Program.
Dr. Gross was also a part of many political and social struggles. In 1965, he became embroiled in the controversy involving Rutgers professor Eugene D. Genovese, who stated at a "Teach-In" over United States involvement in Vietnam that he would welcome a Vietcong victory in Southeast Asia. The following year law professor Arthur Kinoy was arrested and physically expelled from a House Un-American Activities committee hearing because of his vocal and adamant defense of a client. In both cases the public saw these people as communists or at least communist sympathizers and President Gross drew criticism by resisting public pressure to dismiss both professors.
The late 1960's was also a time of great unrest and change on college campuses because of the Civil Rights Movement. On February 24, 1969, students took over Conklin Hall on the Newark campus of Rutgers, protesting the low enrollment of Blacks and other minorities. President Gross was able to defuse the situation and negotiated with the students. One result of these negotiations was a the Urban University Program, designed to increase the recruitment of African-American and Puerto Rican students.
Dr. Gross was active in a variety of professional, civic and charitable activities during his presidency. He served as trustee or member of the board of directors for Vassar College, the Taft School and Middlesex General Hospital. He was also involved with the American Cancer Society, the Mediation Board of New Jersey and the National Association of State Universities and Land Grant Colleges.
In 1971, after 25 years of service to Rutgers, the last 12 as President, Mason Gross retired. He became director of the Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation and served in this position until his death on October 11, 1977.
From the guide to the Inventory to the Records of the Rutgers University Office of the President (Mason Welch Gross), 1936, 1945-1971, 1936, 1945-1971, (Rutgers University Libraries. Special Collections and University Archives.)
"I seem to see a great university, great in endowment, in land, in buildings, in equipment, but greater still—second to none—in its practical idealism, and its social usefulness," declared Robert C. Clothier in November 1932. (1) The new president of Rutgers had inherited a relatively small institution, which had only recently become a university. Expansion was a necessary and inevitable goal for Rutgers, and he embarked upon a course that resulted in tremendous development in size and educational service.
Robert Clarkson Clothier (1885-1970) was born in Philadelphia, attended Haverford School from 1894 to 1903 and enrolled in Princeton. As an undergraduate he was editor-in-chief of The Daily Princetonian and served on the student council. Following graduation in 1908 he worked as a reporter for the Wall Street Journal and later joined the Curtis Publishing Company in Philadelphia as a personnel manager.
During World War I, Dr. Clothier was appointed to the War Department's Committee on Classification of Personnel. As lieutenant colonel of the General Staff, he served overseas as a special representative of the Secretary of War. Following the war, he helped form the Scott Company, personnel consultants for industry, and served as its vice president until 1923. He then returned to Haverford School as assistant headmaster and was later named as acting headmaster. In 1929, he was appointed dean of men at the University of Pittsburgh and remained in that position until he assumed the presidency of Rutgers in 1932.
Clothier's vision of growth and development for Rutgers coincided with the Depression and war years. State appropriations were drastically reduced during the early 1930s and private gifts were not forthcoming. He nonetheless encouraged a "friendly and understanding" relationship with the state and embarked on an expansion program. In 1935 he announced the acquisition of a 256-acre tract immediately across the Raritan River. The River Road Campus, as it was called at the time, soon featured playing fields for intramural and intercollegiate athletic programs, a 22,000-seat stadium, the Chemistry Building, a faculty village and a housing development for married students. By the 1940s, the University had acquired buildings along Georges Road for the College of Agriculture, buildings on College Avenue, and the President's House on River Road. It had constructed an annex to the Engineering Building, and transformed the Neilson Campus, now known as Voorhees Mall.
During the early years of Clothier's presidency, the curriculum was strengthened and new programs were added. The Graduate Faculty was formed in May 1932, two years later University College was established, and the following year the first graduate school of banking was initiated with the collaboration of the American Bankers Association. In March 1936, the Rutgers University Press was founded. Additional programs begun during Dr. Clothier's first decade included the Bureau of Biological Research, the Rutgers Research Council, the State Scholarship Program, and the departments of personnel and placement, alumni, and public relations.
With America's entry into World War II, Rutgers found itself once again in the throes of a national emergency. Clothier immediately committed the University's resources to the war effort. The campus became host to the Army Specialized Training Program (ASTP), which helped maintain enrollment levels in the University. The war had a devastating effect on the University; 5,888 Rutgers men served in the armed forces and 234 men and two women lost their lives overseas. Tragedy struck Dr. and Mrs. Clothier with news of the death of their son during a training mission as an Air Cadet.
During the postwar years, Rutgers renewed its call for growth and expansion. Clothier declared that University policy would be to accommodate "all qualified veterans and high school graduates for whom it is possible to provide, not just those whom it is convenient to take." Over 19,000 veterans flooded the campus to receive their education through the benefits of the G.I. Bill. In 1945, under the provisions of the State University Act, the state legislature enacted the designation of State University to all units of Rutgers. The Bureau of Mineral Research was founded in 1945, followed by the Institute of Management and Labor Relations in 1947, the Institute of Microbiology in 1949, and the Bureau of Government Research in 1950. In 1946 the College of Arts and Science, the School of Business Administration, and the School of Law of the former University of Newark were merged with the University to form Rutgers-Newark. In 1950, the University assumed control of a law school and the two-year College of South Jersey in Camden, extending the University to that portion of the state.
During this period of tremendous growth, Dr. Clothier also assumed many civic responsibilities. In the summer of 1947 he served as president of the New Jersey Constitutional Convention, held in the Gymnasium on College Avenue, that produced the modern state charter. He held membership in various clubs and associations, directorships in the Mutual Benefit Life Insurance Company and the Public Service Corporation of New Jersey. He also served a term as chairman of State Department of Higher Education's Division Against Discrimination.
In 1951 Robert C. Clothier retired from the presidency of Rutgers University, at the age of sixty-six. He was the recipient of honorary degrees from Princeton, Pittsburgh, Delaware, Temple, the State University of New York, New York University, Tusculum, Dickinson, and Lafayette. During his retirement he returned to Rutgers for numerous occasions and special events. He died on March 18, 1970.
(1) The "Administrative History and Biographical Sketch" of Robert C. Clothier is from Thomas J. Frusciano, "Leadership on the Banks: Rutgers' Presidents, 1766-1991," Journal of the Rutgers University Libraries , Vol. LIII, No. 1 (June 1991), 29-30. Available online (see Robert C. Clothier, 1932-1951 ).
From the guide to the Inventory to the Records of the Robert C. Clothier Administration, 1925-1952, (Rutgers University Libraries. Special Collections and University Archives)
Lewis Webster Jones was chosen as the fifteenth President of Rutgers University on September 7, 1951. Born in Nebraska in 1899, Jones graduated from Reed College and received his doctorate at the Brookings Graduate School of Economics and Government in 1927. He went abroad to work on post-doctoral studies at several European Institutions. Upon completion of these studies, Lewis Webster Jones stayed on in Europe and held many positions as an economist before joining the original faculty of Bennington College in 1932. Jones' career at Bennington was quite successful and in 1941 he became President. In 1947 Lewis Webster Jones left Bennington to take the position of President of the University of Arkansas. During his time at Arkansas, Dr. Jones enjoyed many successes, even being asked to serve as a member of the President's Commission on Higher Education.
When Dr. Jones arrived at Rutgers in early September of 1951, the University was at a crossroads. For some time there had been discussion about making Rutgers the State University of New Jersey, but no action had taken place. The end of World War II and the GI Bill created a boom in college enrollment that the University was not equipped to handle. Across the state, heated debates over the question of funding, expansion, and the general future of Rutgers were taking place. When Jones arrived on the scene, he inherited all of these issues from his predecessor Robert Clothier, and one by one he began to find solutions. The seven years that he spent at the University can be considered the most important transitional period in the history of the University.
The first major issue that President Jones dealt with was the reorganizing of the Board of Trustees in 1956. The reorganization was meant to give the state a larger role in the running of the University. The new Board of Governors was to have 11 voting members; six appointed by the Governor and five from among the Trustees. The Board of Trustees would continue to exist in an advisory capacity, to manage certain funds of the University and to oversee educational standards. Lewis Webster Jones worked to establish Rutgers as the State University in order to reap the benefits of State funding.
Along with becoming the State University, Rutgers underwent many physical changes during Lewis Webster Jones' time as President. Rutgers was already experiencing a deficiency in resources due to the past years of depression and war. In order to meet the demands of a growing student enrollment, the University would have to expand. Lewis Webster Jones began a huge building program which resulted in the construction of the Alexander Library, Demarest Hall, and the three River Dormitories (Frelinghuysen, Hardenbergh, and Campbell) on the College Avenue Campus. On the New Jersey School of Agriculture campus Lipman Hall was built, while the construction of new buildings for the study of horticulture and poultry began. The New Jersey College for Women, which had been renamed Douglass College, also began to plan for the building of two new dormitories and a health center, while Busch Campus became the home to the Waksman Institute of Microbiology.
During his time at Rutgers University, Dr. Jones also contributed to the specialization of the University. In 1952 the Nursing program was introduced in Newark and within four years it had grown into the College of Nursing. In 1954, two new divisions, the Graduate School of Social Work and the Graduate School of Library Science were created. The bequest to Rutgers by Mrs. Florence Eagleton funded the Institute of Politics. As a scholarly man, Jones understood Rutgers need for quality graduate programs. He worked to make them a reality for the University.
Lewis Webster Jones submitted his resignation on August 15, 1958. Dr. Jones was president during one of the most exciting and expansive times in the history of Rutgers University. Yet, he left Rutgers University after a successful term as its president in order to become the President of the National Conference of Christians and Jews. By 1965, he had retired to Sarasota, Florida. He remained there until his death in September of 1975.
From the guide to the Inventory to the Administrative Records of the Lewis Webster Jones Administration, 1951-1958, (Rutgers University. Special Collections and University Archives)
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Occupations:
Places:
- New Jersey--Camden (as recorded)
- New Brunswick (N.J.) (as recorded)
- New Jersey--Newark (as recorded)
- United States (as recorded)
- New Jersey (as recorded)
- Newark (N.J.) (as recorded)
- New Jersey--New Brunswick (as recorded)
