Talk:Henry King Stanford

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As a student of the University of Miami from 1968 to 1972, I would like to give some personal remembrances of this great educator. Too often the true worth (or unworth) of a man (or woman) dies with those who remember him.

I have attended taught, or been associated with several universities, including University of Maryland, Johns Hopkins University, University of Southern California, and several smaller colleges. I have never met an administrator more loved by the students and staff, with excellent reason.

The period I attended UM were troubled times. Vietnam. Riots. Burning campuses. Student unrest everywhere. This one day something of extreme importance happened; for the life of me I can’t remember what. The rabble-rousers, of which I was one, decided to take over the campus. I remember that similar actions were happening at Stamford, NYU, and several other campuses, which were met by the expected maximum force by the administration. The results were predictable; while the campuses were not actually burned to the ground the rabble there tried their best to effectuate that end and came pretty damn close.

We had this big meeting. We were in great form. We knew all the buzz-words. “We’re gonna take over the campus!” We’re gonna burn it to the ground! <Bigger cheer.> “WE ARE THE POWER!” <Biggest cheer.> Then a hand goes up. “You!” said our leader (certainly not ME!) Who should stand up but our REAL leader, Dr. Henry King Stanford. “How long,” he asked, with total reasonableness, “are you going to close down the campus FOR?" No one knew. We settled on a week. Again Dr. Stanford stood up. “And exactly what,” he asked, “are you going to DO for that week?” This was a much harder question, and the only thing we could come up with was to have rallies and concerts. Still a third time Dr. Stanford stood up. “How about this – We can shut down the school for two days, you can have your concerts and rallies, then the rest of the week unlimited cuts and no exams. Those that want to go to classes can go, and the rest of you can do your protest thing.”

How could we refuse? Dr. Stanford was one of US and he agreed!

Yes they burned Stanford and took over NYU, caused millions of dollars of damage, ruined the future of hundreds of students who went to jail – but not at the University of Miami. Because Dr. Stanford was on our side. And we were on his.

Dr. Stanford’s office was on the second floor of the Merrick Building. You always knew when he was in because his door was open. It was open so you could walk in. He never was too busy to discuss any student’s concerns. He ate in the dining hall. He said if the food wasn’t good enough for him he wouldn’t feed it to his students. He walked around campus in his multi-color striped bell-bottoms and by my second week there would call me by name and ask how everything was going with me. When BellSouth raised the pay phone price to 25 cents, there was a small island where it stayed at 10 cents. You guessed it – the area right around UM – until Dr. Stanford left the board of BellSouth.

When Dr. Stanford took over his presidency, UM was a two bit college, “Sunshine U,” a party school with a football team and little else. When he left UM was a world class university. And you, Dr. Stanford, were a world-class president – but more than that – a man loved by the students.

Reference:

http://www.ironarrow.com/umhistory.html A Very Brief History of the University of Miami