A Fitting Tribute for a Life ofThe sudden passing of former university president Stratton D. Brooks

in Kansas City on the early morning of January 18, 1949, came as a shockto thousands of his friends and associates .

Harold Keith, '28ba, '38ma, was probably the last University officialto interview Dr . Brooks prior to his passing . Keith in seeking backgroundmaterial for his outstanding book, Oklahoma Kickoff, enjoyed the phi-losophies of this eminent gentlemen as he raised the screen on passedevents when Dr . Brooks was the main factor in building for a greaterUniversity of Oklahoma .

Hundreds of Dr . Brooks' friends and former colleagues have in re-cent days reminisced over incidents of work and social occasions whereinDr . Brooks was on the "giving and receiving end" in the lives of thesepeople.

Personally, as a youngster, I was given an opportunity to begin mywork career upon graduation from the University by the then president,Stratton D. Brooks . The greatest philosophical lesson I have ever had inlife was his terse comment after a discussion, "Well go on over and seeJack Alley (Professor John Alley, former head of the government de-partment) and begin teaching school here on the side and work outyour graduate degree ." Then after a "Thank you, sir" and a start forthe door he arose from his chair and said, "Come back just a minute-remember son, you are starting on a life's work . You will find two classesof people in life-namely, the reformer and the fool . Never be a re-former!"

Mrs. Ima James Reaves who for years was head of the women's phy-sical education department at O.U . recently reminisced as follows :

"My first visit to President Brooks' office for administrative assistancecame in the spring of '19 after I had had a run in with Mr . Tom Fer-gurson (Stratton D.-The II-Fergurson) over the building of a thronefor the first May Day performance I staged on the O.U . campus .

"I had submitted my plans for a throne to Mr . Furgurson who gaveme a fast brush off by saying, we have a throne that we have used foryears and I'm not building another. I'm sure Dr . Brooks understood bythe manner I entered his office that I was in trouble . (My red hair wasstanding on end) . I stated my case . Dr . Brooks listened . He looked a bitamused . He asked if I had a drawing of what I wanted . I told him yes-

BY HAROLD KEITH, '29BA, '39MA

The sudden death at Kansas City in mid-January of Dr . Stratton D. Brooks, presi-dent of the University of Oklahoma from1912 through 1923, recalls the unusual cir-cumstances of his coming to Norman, hisliberation of the school from the Haskellpolitical yoke, and the enormous industry,patience and tact he expended laying thefoundation of what under Dr . GeorgeCross' leadership has become the fast-grow-ing modern University of Oklahoma to-day. While doing research for my bookOklahoma Kickoff, I followed PresidentBrooks' trail closely . Much of the materialin this article first appeared in my book . Italked to several of the older Universityfaculty and longtime Norman residentsconcerning him. I also had two personalvisits with him on May 16 and 17, 1944,one at my office and another at BennieOwen's home, during which he franklydiscussed his background, his ascension ofthe presidency of the University of Okla-homa, his handicaps here and how he triedto meet them .

FEBRUARY, 1949

Service

In later years a friend showed Brooks thesmall bust of himself tucked away neatlyin a nook of the Administration building,and remarked :"Looks like you're squeezed in there

pretty tight.""I've gotten out of tighter places than

that ." Brooks laughed in reply. His remarkwas by no means an egaggeration . Duringhis eleven-year tenure at Oklahoma, he wasconstantly and skillfully wrestling withpowerful forces as he sought to build a fineschool in the new state of Oklahoma, manyof whose inhabitants were opposed both tohigher education and to the taxation uponwhich it depended, and regarded with con-tempt and indifference the small Univer-sity which Dr. David Ross had established20 years before on the open prairie southof the raw, new town of Norman .Brooks was a native Missourian of Dutch,

English and Scotch ancestry ."I was born in Everett, Missouri in 1869

but in 1871, at the age of two, I took myparents across the river to Michigan, whereI grew up," he later described it . His father,Charles Brooks, was a frontier sheriff with

that it was in my office. He advised me to go back to the office and hewould see what he could do about it .

"Some thirty minutes later Mr . Fergurson came to my office askingfor the drawing. From that time on I put Dr . Brooks on a throne ofmy own."

In a recent letter from Marian Brooks Cralle, '15ba, '17ma, (Dr.Brooks' daughter) some of the comments were as follows :

"I spend most of my days writing in recent weeks when I am notspending it at the doctors . Many of father's Michigan friends were slowto hear of his passing . Even the ones Dorothy (Brooks Callaway, '22ma,Kansas City, Missouri) had wired were away from home . One was hiscollege roommate and cousin who lives in Madison, Wisconsin. Bothhis son and grandson are named Stratton and his daughter Marian-notfor me but from the great pioneer woman from whom I was named,father's mother .

"I know you will appreciate some excerpts from letters . One fromMr . Purdom, head of University of Michigan placement and appointments :

" `I think Mr . Brooks was Michigan's most distinguished alumnus inthe field of education . I think he was the most honest and courageousman I have ever known in education . At the same time he had a lovablecharacter and appreciation in people those things which stood for thebest' ."

"From Dean Charles Stocking (O.U . '12-'17), now at the Univer-sity of Michigan :

" `I am sure that I do not need to tell you that your father was one ofthe greatest and one of the most constructively useful men this countryhas ever known' ."

"Chester Westfall, '16ba, wrote a grand letter saying he thought heknew father better than any other O.U . student or any professor . I wishas ex-president of the Alumni Association he could write of father forthe Sooner Magazine rather than some stranger of the more recent stu-dent generations."

Thus thousands of friends of Dr . Stratton D. Brooks "look back inretrospect ." And now to an eloquent article paying a fine tribute to anoutstanding gentleman, scholar and citizen-Stratton 1) . Brooks .

Dr. Stratton D. Brooks, 1869-1949

Ted Bcaird, '21ba.

lots of vision who helped start a college inthe Illinois wilderness .

Let's look for a moment at the circum-stances which drew Brooks to the new stateof Oklahoma which before the various landruns two decades earlier had largely been agrassy wilderness over which passed theTexas cattle herds on their way to the rail-road shipping points of southern Kansas .The embryo University at Norman had

undergone an alarming deterioration dur-ing the Haskell political regime, Rev. A.Grant Evans, the second president, was afine, Christian gentleman who desired tooperate the school upon a strong admini-strative basis and improve the scholarshipstandards. However he could not escape thedomination of Governor Charles N. Has-kell's Board of Education which over-stepped the functions of good board mem-bers and handled much of his administra-tion themselves .

Consequently, the University from 1909to 1912 acquired an unsavory scholasticreputation both within and without thenew state. Much of its faculty was poorlyqualified . Much of it had been politically

7

appointed . Fires had devastated the campusin 1903 and 1908, destroying badly neededfacilities .

Brooks made a spectacular jump from apublic school superintendency to the presi-dency of the University of Oklahoma . Thatwas in keeping with the opportunist spiriteverywhere manifest in the new Oklahomacountry.

Educated at the University of Michiganand holding a master's degree from Har-vard (he also held an honorary degree,L.L.D ., from Colby College, Brooks hadgained from his public school principalshipat Danville, Illinois, LaSalle, Illinois, andAdrain,Michigan, a compentency, resource-fulness and hard practicality that was idealpreparation for his Oklahoma assignment .For six years preceding his appointment atNorman, he had been superintendent ofthe public schools at Boston and made manyfriends there.One of his best Boston friends was in turn

a very good friend of Dr . Nicholas Mur-ray Butler, president of Columbia Univer-sity . Butler had wide educational influence .Schools all over the nation frequently wentto him for his personal nominations whenthey wished to hire well-qualified teachers .

In 1911 Brooks had gone to Europe forsix months to study vocational education .When he returned to Boston, his friendstold him, "I declined a State Universitypresidency for you while you were gone.""Where?" asked Brooks, surprised ."At the University of Oklahoma," the

friend replied, "President Butler was askedto recommend a man for president outthere, and he asked me if you would beinterested . I told him no."

Brooks relaxed. He looked relieved ."Thank you!" he said, fervently . He

meant it . Every school man in the nationknew that the fledging University of Okla-homa was then the Peck's Bad Boy of allthe nation's collegiate educational insti-tutions . The East was still in a state of shocksince the summary discharge of PresidentBoyd and part of the old Oklahoma facultyby the Haskell political regime .Brooks forgot the incident until Febru-

ary, 1912 when he attended the annualmeeting in St . Louis of the Superinten-dent's Section of the National EducationalAssociation . There William A. Branden-berg, superintendent of schools at Okla-homa City and also a member of the newOklahoma State Board of Education, cameto Brooks and told him about the unfilledpresidency at Norman .

Brooks replied, coldly and positively, thathe wasn't interested . But Brandenberg wasnot easily discouraged . He prevailed uponthe Boston superintendent to meet the

Oklahoma board which had come to St .Louis to interview possible candidates forthe presidency . Brandenberg was also anx-ious to introduce Brooks to Bob Wilson,then Superintendent of Schools of Okla-homa . Wilson was also president of theOklahoma Board of Education, and itsmost influential member ."My train leaves in 20 minutes," Brooks

apologized, alter the introductions, "Whydo you wish to interview me? Is it not un-usual, to consider a public schools superin-tendent for the presidency of a state uni-versity?"

Wilson said, "Our State Board of Edu-cation also controls the Normal Schools ofOklahoma and has been accused of playingpolitics in the appointment of the presi-dents of them . In fact, Governor Cruce hassummoned us for trial on that charge andwe feel that it is desirable that we appointa president at the University whom noneof us has ever seen ."

"Besides," he added, "You have a na-tional reputation for freeing the Bostonschools from political influence. This mightbe helpful in our situation."Brooks told Wilson and the Oklahoma

board that the only way to keep politics out

DR . STRATTON 1) . BROOKS

of a school was to keep the Irish politiciansout of them .He told them that while he was not in-

terested in the presidency at Norman, thatif the board were sincere in its professed de-sire to place the University on a non-politi-cal basis, the new president, whoever hemight be, could not do it unless the Boardagreed upon, and lived up to, two basicprinciples .

"First," he declared, "All appointmentsof faculty and other employees must bemade only on recommendation of the presi-dent of the University . No member of the

Board should recommend, directly or in-directly, any appointee. The Board shouldvote yes or no, but should not substitute foran appointee they reject ."Secondly, the Board should have nothing

to do with the administration of the Uni-versity, either ."Wilson looked at the other Board mem-

bers and then back at Brooks . "That's a bigorder," he observed, "It leaves nothing forthe Board to do."But that fundamental, so frankly put by

Brooks in that original conference at St .Louis, was the basis upon which he later

SOONER MAGAZINE

accepted, and administered, the presidencyat Norman .

Years later Brooks said, "Whatever wasaccomplished during my eleven years aspresident of the University, was possibleonly because the Board of Education thatappointed me, and its successors, never vi-olated the basic principles set forth in thatfirst conference . Special credit should goto Hal Muldrow, who was president of theBoard of Regents during many difficultyears. His residence at Norman made himeasy to reach, but his steadfast refusal tohear complaints or discuss appointmentsexcept when presented officially to theBoard was of very great importance . AllBoard members will save themselves muchcriticism and inconvenience if they willmaintain this working standard ."

In spite of Brooks' disinterest in the job,Wilson believed the job was interested inBrooks . And Wilson, like Brooks, had ten-acity.Wilson invited Brooks to come to Okla-

homa in March for a conference and event-ually persuaded him to accept the presi-dency. Brooks was impressed when he firstsaw the new state of Oklahoma and hadan opportunity to evaluate the busy, friend-ly spirit of its people . The favorable impres-sion he received contributed importantly tohis decision to come to Oklahoma ."You told me in St . Louis that you

wanted to build a great University," BobWilson challenged, as he showed Brooksaround the campus at Norman, "Well, thisis the only state big enough to have onethat hasn't already got one.""That argument fetched me," Brooks

laughed thirty-two years later, "I didn'thave any answer for it ."There was a world of work to do . As the

best evidence of the University's poorstanding among its own citizens, Brookscited the fact that when he arrived at Nor-man and began scanning the catalogues ofneighboring colleges, he discovered thenames of more than 1,500 Oklahoma boysand girls who had gone out of the state toattend the nearby state Universities ofTexas, Kansas, Arkansas and Missouri .There was no confidence in the new stateuniversity . Most of the fathers and motherswere sending their sons and daughters tocollege back in their home states ."Although Doctor Boyd had things

worked out fine until his discharge, theschool had gone to pot when he left ."Brooks declared, "The state had no con-ception of what a university was, or oughtto be. There was no state loyalty nor con-fidence in the school . Many of the facultyweren't competent to teach the courses thecurriculum called for. Many students fromthe newOklahoma high schools came to usindifferently trained. I was anxious to build

FEBRUARY, 1949

a strong graduate school but you can't puta roof on first."Everywhere there were signs of politi-

cal interference . The Democrats had triedtheir best to root out all evidences of thepreceding Republican terriorial adminis-tration but the Republican seeds had beenplanted deeply . I still saw ample evidencethat Oklahoma Territory had largely beena Republican province run by Joe Cannonof Danville, Illinois . Everybody seemed tobe milking the school . One faculty membereven brought his cow to the campus withhim daily, pasturing her on the Universitylawn until he finished teaching and wenthome at night."Quickly the new president set about

strengthening the faculty . But he did notattempt a wholesale weeding out of thefaculty appointed during the previous ad-ministration .

"I know some of you were sent downhere by political friends who are now outof power," he told them, candidly, "Thatwon't hurt your standing with me . Youdon't have to please me, nor come to thefaculty receptions . You've just got to be agood teacher."

Brooks operated upon the theory thathis faculty should have full responsibilityin their various fields . He rarely inter-ferred . "Get a man you think will do agood job and let him alone," he explainedit later.His relationship with Bennie Owen, the

University's athletic director and footballcoach, seemed to work very well .

"Bennie invented football here, ownedit, contracted for it and paid for it . I toldhim it was his job and I wanted him to runit," Brooks said .Once the Oklahoma legislature dis-

charged Owen for a novel reason . The earn-est law-makers had just dismissed the one-handed teacher of a small Oklahoma col-lege because she presumed to take the tax-payers' money when she could play a pianowith only one hand . Many of the legislatorswere openly opposed to athletics andthought Owen's salary of $3,500 far toohigh ."The University has got a one-armed

football coach. Why don't we fire him,too?" somebody proposed and presto! Itwas done . But Brooks soon got wind of theaction and had it rescinded so quickly andquietly that Owen never learned of his dis-missal until one week after he had beenre-hired .Brooks had been born and raised in the

Middle West, and so he quickly learned tolike Oklahoma."There was a noticeable difference in the

attitude of the people of Oklahoma andthose of Boston," he said, "Unlike Boston-ians, Oklahoma didn't go in for precedent.

Nobody in Oklahoma was interested inyour ancestry . There was none of the com-placency, nor the superiority of New Eng-land in Oklahoma . Oklahoma City startledme when I first saw it in 1912 . The womenof Oklahoma City were better dressed thanwere the Boston women. It seemed to methat the styles in women's wearing apparelstarted in Oklahoma and went East. Ingeneral, the students in Oklahoma werebetter dressed, too. Broadly comparing Bos-ton and Oklahoma, I should say that inBoston everybody was against you if youhad a new proposal, but in Oklahomaeverybody was against you if you didn'tlisten to their new proposal ."

"I found Norman a lovely and delight-ful and hospital town . The people werecomfortably fixed . There was no poverty.Everybody knew everybody else . Also, Nor-man was the only place I had ever seenwhere you didn't have to pay money to beshaved ; the Southwest wind blewso straightoff the river that all you had to do was turnyour face one way, then the other, and letthe blowing river sand do the job."Once Charley Bessant, Norman banker,

invited Brooks to "go in with the boys"and give financial support to a local oilwell . Oklahoma then was an agriculturaleconomy which had just begun to becomeinterested in oil .

"I'll do it because I want to be public-spirited," President Brooks told Bessant,"But I hope you hit a dry hole ."

Bessant looked surprised, whereuponBrooks explained that Norman was a pleas-ant, tidy town to live in and he would re-gret seeing it become an oil boom town .

"It was a dry hole . They quit drilling at3,200 feet," Brooks chuckled 30 years later.Brooks was a remarkably able president.

He was a frowny, brown-eyed, ruddy-cheeked little man who wore a stubby mus-tache and walked at a half trot . He had a-trick of smiling with his eyes that was veryeffective when he wished to emphasize a-point. He was the finest executive the Uni-versity had ever had . When you went tohis office to ask for something, you always .knew when you walked out whether youhad got what you had gone after. Brookswould tell you yes or no in a flash and healways stood by his decisions. Bennie Owenlater said of him, "He made up his mindblam ."

"If I was in doubt about it, I'd say no."'Brooks later explained that quality, "Icould always change my mind later, afterI'd heard all the evidence . Besides, I hadalways disliked unreasonable delay. WhenI began teaching, I had stood and waitedas long as five hours trying to get to talkto some college president. Then when hefinally let me in he still wouldn't give mea definite answer."

He could apply his own theory in re-verse, too, as he demonstrated in his deal-ings with Gov. Robert L. Williams ."When Bob Williams said no, President

Brooks never argued with him," a mutualfriend of both said, "Instead, Brooks wouldtalk about something the governor wouldsay yes to . Aweek later, Governor Williamswould forget he had ever said no."

Brooks not only had imagination but wasan organizing genius whose plans workedout. He was fearless, aggressive and hadfine intuition. If some faculty member cameto him and asked for a raise with the hack-neyed explanation that he had just re-ceived a more attractive financial offer fromanother school and would have to resignunless Brooks immediately met the newsalary figure, Brooks was liable to reachquickly into his desk for pen and paper andthrusting them toward the astonished pro-fessor, say, "Then I suggest you write outyour resignation now. You might lose yournew job if you don't act fast," whereuponthe professor usually would decide to studythe matter a little longer.

Brooks was a good judge of human na-ture . Once when one of his most trusted em-ployees resigned to take a job with the Mar-land Oil Company, Brooks didn't try tohold him.Two months later the man was back,

complaining that there was too little to doworking for the oil company. He had beenused to working a full day at the Univer-sity and chaffed at the inactivity to whichhe was not accustomed .

"Have you got a place for me some-where?" he asked Brooks ."Why, I've never filled your place. I

knew you'd be back," the president replied.The man looked surprised and a little

hurt ."Then why did you ever let me go?" he

asked."Because if I had tried to dissuade you,

you would always have blamed me for keep-ing you from making a fortune in the oilbusiness," Brooks told him.

Brooks' campus reforms were legion . Itwas he who established a permanent fac-ulty salary schedule, sabbatical leave andpermanent tenure . He started and was thefirst contributor to the student loan fund .He originated the book exchange . He ac-quired for the University the MasonicDorm corner, the site of the president'shome-, and helped in the acquisition of thesixty acres between Brooks and LindseyStreets where the Stadium, Armory andBiology building now stand, also the forty-seven acres that comprise the drill field.The University secured during Brooks'administration more buildings than in anyother similar period . In fact, Ben Harrison,the state budget officer, used to say, "When

10

Doctor Brooks and the state legislature met,Doctor Brooks found out how much moneythere was in the state treasury, then askedfor all of it and usually got it ."

Brooks later disclosed his formula forsecuring new University buildings from theOklahoma Legislature ."You had to find what way the trend was

going," he said, "They used to try to getme to ask for one building. I always re-fused. I told them I wanted six . At the closeof the session, I would have found outwhich of the six buildings we had the bestchance to get, and we'd go after it . Butsometimes when I wanted an engineeringbuilding, I would have to take anotherahead of it because the trend was going thatway."Perhaps Brooks' outstanding achieve-

ment at Norman was his astute manipula-tion of the new state's legislatures . Al-though the president was quiet as a mouseabout politics and never gave any outwardindication that he participated in them, hewas always thinking a couple of steps aheadof the embryo law-makers, figuring outways to block them before they blockedhim. Brooks cultivated Elmer Thomas ofLawton, the state senator who owned Med-icine Park and was the legislature's key-noter. They were fine friends and boonfishing companions and spent many a dayon the bank of some stream discussing statefinance. In fact, Brooks got his recreationhunting and fishing, and also on his backat home beneath his rheumatic old Cadil-lac which the president himself personallyrepaired when it got out of kelter, whichit frequently did.(Among his fishing companions at Nor-

man in those days were Charley Bessant,the banker ; Dr . L. A. Turley, instructor inpathology ; Fred Reed, the druggist ; andDr . D. W. Griffin, superintendent of theState Hospital .)Once when a hostile legislator, offended

because Brooks hadn't consulted him abouta matter Brooks was sponsoring, accostedthe University president and angrilycharged, "You have discussed this propo-sition with everybody on the committee butme . Now I want to know why?" Brookscompletely mollified the man by replying,"Why I didn't think I needed to explainit to you. A man of your intelligence andinfluence doesn't need to have a simplematter like this explained to him." Theman's buttons literally popped off withpride.The new president enjoyed a fine rela-

tion of confidence with the State Board ofRegents, which until 1919 was known asthe State Board of Education. Here was apresident the board did not try to control.Its meetings in his office usually were mod-els of brevity, and when the annual budget

was discussed, Brooks' recommendationsusually were accepted without question ."Now gentlemen, here's the budget . Itdoesn't exceed the appropriation . I've donethe best I could. I recommend its approval,"Brooks would say. The board knew Brookspossessed enough sound business sense tohave the estimates drawn correctly . Usual-ly one of them put the motion for appro-val and the meeting hurried toward its in-evitably hasty conclusion .

Brooks got along well with the Okla-homa students . But first there had to be anadjustment . The students were in the habitof demanding a holiday upon the slightestpretext . A student walking around the ovalwould yell "Holiday! Holiday!" He wouldsoon be joined by a crowd, the clamorwould increase and the University author-ities often yielded. Fearing the effect thecustom might have on the legislature, sinceeach wasted school day also meant a wast-age of several thousand dollars of the tax-payers' money and might furnish groundsfor a reduction in the University appropri-ations, Brooks resolved to break the custom.One morning when the president was

sitting on the front porch of his house, heheard the cry go up on the campus, "Holi-day!" Quickly, he made his way to thescene, secured the attention of the noisy stu-dents, explained why the holiday wouldcause a squandering of state funds, and toldthem there would be no holiday.

"Holiday!" bawled some leather-lungedstudent, anyhow . Brooks reached in hispocket and pulled out a small black note-book. Looking at the offending student, hepretended to write down his name althoughhe had just arrived at Norman and hadn'thad time to become personally acquaintedwith many students .

"Holiday!" another student yelled andwithout a word, Brooks pretended to jotdown his name also . The same thing oc-curred six or seven additional times. Fi-nally the crowd dispersed .However, it was to meet one more test,

when Bennie Owen's all-victorious footballteam of 1915 defeated Texas, the students,without asking Brooks, gaily made plansfor a monster holiday all day Monday end-ing with a pep rally at 4 p.m. at which asteer was to be barbecued . Even the alumniand faculty helped plan the celebration .When the football team returned from Dal-las Sunday afternoon, it was met by a stu-dent with an old bus. The team was loadedinside the bus and the University bandplaced on top, and the students laid holdof a long rope fastened to the vehicle andbodily pulled the squad and band up anddown Main street and back to the Univer-sity .There they were met by Errett Newby,

the president's secretary, who told them

SOONER MAGAZINE

that Brooks was in favor of the barbecuebut said that there would be no holidayprior to it, and if the students took a holi-day anyhow, there would be no barbecue .Exhausted front pulling the heavy bus threemiles, the students were too tired to protest.There was a reason for their exhaustion .

President Brooks who had grown up on aMichigan farm and knew all about wagons,had secretly had the grease removed fromthe axle of the bus the day before .

President Brooks remained at Oklahomauntil 1923 when he accepted the presi-dency of the University of Missouri, thestate of his birth, whose emissaries had longsought him . Brooks was president at theUniversity of Missouri until 1931, and laterbecame educational director of the GrandCouncil of the Order of DeMolay withheadquarters at Kansas City, Missouri, ajob he held until his death.

But his heart, and also that of his wife,was back in Oklahoma where he liked thegracious hospitality of the people, wherenobody was interested in your ancestry andwhere all a man had to do to be shavedwas to bare his face to the clean, whiteriver sand blown by the southwest wind .When Mrs. Brooks died in January, 1941,

she was buried at Norman .

"My wife is buried here, and here'swhereI'll be buried," he told friends at Normanduring a visit in 1944 . He was bright andactive and cheerful right up to the day ofhis death.

Today they sleep side by side, close tothe campus of the University Brooks soably rejuvenated . That a man of Brooks'ability and enormous energy should cometo the presidency at exactly the time theschool was undergoing the difficult expan-sion from its old territorial order into thatof a large, busy, highly-specialized state uni-versity was the state's good fortune. Brookseventually rebuilt the damage done to theschool by the Haskell political hierarchyand restored the state's confidence in it .

Regents Approve Staff ChangesFour title changes, fifteen appointments and four

resignations were accepted and approved by theBoard of Regents in a meeting held January 12 .Among important job changes George E. Wad-

sack, director of registration, was named assistantto the dean of admissions and records while BoyceD. Timmons, '37Law, was appointed director ofregistration and office manager. Mr . Timmons wasformerly the recorder and office manager in theoffice of admissions and records .

Faculty appointments, all of which go into ef-fect next semester, are: Hugh M. Galbraith, spe-cial lecturer in psychology ; Leo M. Hurley, teach-ing assistant in mathematics and astronomyCharles M. Mauck, instructor in mechanical engi-neering; Mrs. Bess Moore, special instructor insocial field work .

Walfried J . Rcinthan, special assistant professor

FEBRUARY, 1949

Take il away, Leon!" Smiles Paul McClung, '49ba, outgoing editor of the Oklahoma Daily, studentnewspaper, while Leon Bert, editor for the spring semester, lays his plans beforc taping over the reins .

Bert, journalism senior, is a former managing editor and sports editor of the Daily .

in entomology ; Elizabeth Trent Rogers, '42ms,special instructor in Zoology, and Vernon A. Snow-barger, '42ma, special instructor in sociology .Faculty resignations effective in January 194'9

and December 1948 are : Jacqueline G. Harris,teaching assistant in chemistry; John B. Lennes,instructor in mathematics and William A . Sellon,'47m .ed, instructor in industrial education .Norman A. Guest resigned January 1 as grad-

uate assistant in physics .Graduate assistant appointments effective in Jan-

uary are:Cecillie Mary Blance Blockley, zoology ; ReginaldC. Bowers, '39-'40, industrial education; Brady B.Gilleland, English; Don Lee McIntire, electricalengineering; Robert T. Nethken, electrical engi-neering, and Harold Glen Shaklee, mathematics.Henry L. Bowman, '43, audio-visual technician,

and Albert J . Yanda, architectural draftsman, werechanged from half-time to full-time positions .

1)r. Laurence T. Rogers, professor of health edu-cation, was given the additional rank and title ofprofessor of health in the department of publichealth, and Dr. James O. Hood, '29ba, '31med,director of the University Health Service, was ap-pointed special lecturer in the department of pub-Iichealth in addition tohispresenttitle .

Dr . Clifford A. Merritt, professor of geology, was

Martha Graham, impressionistic dancer,and her company of 20 dancers and

musi-cans willgiveaperformance in HolmbergHall, Wednesday, March 16, at 8 :15 p.m .Tickets are on sale at the Women's Build-ing, University Drama School at the NorthCampus, and in Oklahoma City, at theY.W.C .A . Miss Graham was the first "MissHush" on a national radio program.The performance is sponsored by the

Womens Recreational Association at theUniversity .

given the honorary appointment of research asso-ciate in the division of geology and paleontologyin the University Museum .

New Daily Staffers ChosenThe start of the second semester found new faces

in some important student positions at the Univer-sity . A new editor took over the Oklahoma Daily,the student newspaper, at the beginning of theterm when A. L. Bert, Jr ., journalism senior, re-placed Paul McClung, '496a, now employed bythe Lawton Constitution . Bert, former managingeditor and sports editor of the Daily, hails fromArtesia, New Mexico . He is a veteran of WorldWar 11 and is married. His wife is the former JoanPark, '46ba.McClung served three years in the Army Engi-

neers Corps, leaving with the rank of lieutenant .He is married, has one daughter, Jean, 2. He wasa staff writer and issue editor of the Daily beforebecoming editor, staff writer on the Sooner Mag-azine,and amemberofSigma DeltaChi,national

professional journalism fraternity .Bert also succeeded McClung as a member of the

Board of Managers of the Oklahoma MemorialUnion. The Board of Managers is the ExecutiveCommittee in charge Of policy and operation ofthe Oklahoma Memorial Union. Under the Alum-ni Corporation charter the board is composed of thefollowing persons :L Three Alumni who are members of the Board

of Governors of the Corporation;2 . The Dean of Students ;3 . The editor of the Oklahoma Daily and presi-

dent of the Student Senate ; and4. Manager of the Oklahoma Memorial Union

Plant.The Daily editor is appointed for a semester .

Other members of the Daily staff, selected for thefirst eight weeks, include:

John R. Puckett, Holdenville, former sports andissue editor, managing editor ; Mort Glassner, Irv-ington, New Jersey, sports editor, and Patricia A.Shelton, Tulsa, society editor .