KU Chancellors
By Susan Hartley
Although many students would not be able to name even half of the former Chancellors of the University of Kansas, the names of these men live on in the every-day language of the University through the buildings which bear their names. With one exception, all the Chancellors were immortalized in this manner.
John Fraser, 1867-1874
The most famous building on the KU campus was old Fraser Hall, named after the second Chancellor, Gen. John Fraser. It was under his administration that the residents of Lawrence were persuaded to vote $100,000 worth of bonds to construct a building adequate to house the growing institution. Fraser, who had been a general for the Union during the Civil War, did not hesitate to plead his cause with the legislature, obtaining an additional $50,000 towards the completion of the building from them.
At this time the University was chiefly a Douglas County High School, but through the actions of Fraser, it gained wider attention. Fraser, for all his personal charm however, did not get
sonal charm however, did not get along well with the faculty and students, and resigned his position in 1874, after serving the University as Chancellor for seven years.
Francis H, Snow, 1890-1901
Joshua A. Lippincott, 1883-1889
Francis Huntington Snow, Chancellor from 1890 to 1901, was a man of many talents. He originally applied to the University in 1866 for the position of professor of languages. That position was filled by another man, E. J. Rice, but Snow was not without a job, for the University appointed him as a professor of mathematics and science on the original faculty.
He stepped into a field that was strange to him, but before he assumed the post of Chancellor in 1890, he had become famous as an entomologist, a botanist, a geologist, an ornithologist, a
zoologist, and a meteologist. Through lecturing and the sale of meteors, which he rescued from Kansas Fields, he earned enough money to buy a $5,000 organ for Fraser Auditorium and to finance numerous scientific expeditions all over the area.
When appointed to the position of Chancellor, Snow entered another unfamiliar field and turned in an equally good job as an administrator. He reorganized the University, founding the college of Arts, the schools of Engineering, Law, Fine Arts, and Pharmacy, and the Graduate School. Opposed by the Populist movement as well as inexperience, Snow managed to save his job and the position of Chancellor only by delaying a legislative bill which would have reorganized the University's administrative setup.
The only Chancellor not to have a building named after him was Joshua Allen Lippincott, the fourth
The first Snow Hall, built in 1885, was used by the University until 1930, but by 1934 it had completely vanished from Mount Oread. The building, located in front of what is now Watson library, was reported to have been destroyed by fire. The present Snow Hall was erected in 1934.
famous, among them Templin and Dyche. These men also have building namesakes.
Lindley, like Snow, had to fight for his position as Chancellor. He displeased the governor, Jonathan M. Davis, when he refused to let him mediate with faculty appointments, and was fired as a result. By delay through seeking an injunction against the dismissed order, Dr. Lindley was out of office only three days before the incoming governor, Ben Paulen, reinstated him.
The longest tenure in the job of Chancellor was held by Ernest Lindley, who served for 19 years from 1920 to 1939. His predecessor, Frank Strong, had served for 18 years from 1902 to 1920.
The Memorial Fund drive to erect the Union and the Stadium, the athletic direction of Dr. F. C. "Phog" Allen, and Lindley's influence in the institution of the National Youth Administration during the depression, were the highlights of his service. Also during this time came the generous Watkins and Summferfield gifts, which have provided housing, medical service, and scholarships for Kansas youth on a major scale.
led the traditional nightshirt parade, and had the students singing school songs and giving class and school yells. He was responsible for returning the Kansas-Missouri football game to the campuses of the Chancellor of the university. Serving for only six years, from 1883 to 1889, Lippincott is best known for recruiting such outstanding faculty members as Bailey in chemistry, and Blake in Physics. Several outstanding undergraduates stayed on to become two schools from Kansas City, where it had been held for many years. He was one of the leaders who organized the Missouri Valley Athletic Association, which brought the entire athletic organization into the University for responsible administration.
Frank Strong mixed business with tradition. He
One of Strong's greatest contributions to the prestige of the University was made by means of a hard hitting talk before a national meeting of university presidents about 1908 or 1909. A KU graduate studying in Germany had been denied a degree at a German university when they found his university was not a member of the Association of American Universities. That organization was a group of fewer than three dozen graduate work, library facilities and the like met certain standards.
Dr. Strong let them know in no uncertain terms that KU had a faculty and library fully up to required standards. Kansas was admitted to the elite group less than a year later, and remains one of the slightly more than 40 members. Strong served from 1902 to 1920.
The massive structure known as Strong Hall was completed, but nameless during Strong's administration. After his death in 1934, the legislature named it Frank Strong Hall.
The university's first Chancellor, Rev. R. W. Oliver, came very close to not having a university building for a namesake. He remained anonymous in this catagory until shortly after World War II when a men's scholarship hall was named for him. Actually, the Hall consisted of two houses, run under a joint administration, one called Sterling Hall, and the other Oliver Hall. They opened in the fall of 1949, and closed in the spring of 1955. Today Oliver Hall is known as the Infant Study Center of the Department of Human Development and Family Life. The Oliver name was removed when the men moved out in 1955.
Next year, upon completion of the University's newest residence hall at 19th and Naismith, the Oliver name will once again become part of the University's present and future, for the hall is to be named Oliver Hall.
Oliver, an Episcopal minister, was sent to Lawrence to see what was happening to the college the church had been attempting to establish there. Soon after his arrival, the legislature decided upon Lawrence as the site for the state university, and when the bill organizing the University was passed in 1865, Oliver was elected Chancellor. He led in the drive for money to erect the first building which had to be provided by Lawrence, and by September 12, 1866 a $50-
R. W. Oliver, 1865-1867
James Marvin, 1874-1883
Ernest H. Lindley, 1920-1939
Frank Strong, 1902-1920