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Cloyd H. Marvin

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Cloyd Heck Marvin (August 22, 1889 – April 27, 1969)[1] was the longest serving president of the George Washington University, from 1927 to 1959, and previously the then-youngest American university president from 1922–1927 at the University of Arizona. He was a freemason.[2]

Cloyd H. Marvin
12th President of the George Washington University
In office
1927–1959
Preceded byWilliam Mather Lewis
Succeeded byThomas H. Carroll
Personal details
BornAugust 22, 1889
Findlay, Ohio
DiedApril 27, 1969
SpouseDorothy Ellen Betts

Career

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Education and early career

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Marvin graduated from Riverside High School[3] and studied at Stanford University for two years from 1909 to 1911.[4] He gained degrees from the University of Southern California (A.B.,1915), Harvard University (A.M, 1917, PhD 1920), and the University of New Mexico (honorary L.L.D., 1923).[2] He was a Phi Delta Kappa member.[5] He was a World War I veteran.[6] He then taught at the University of California at Los Angeles, in two years rising from assistant professor to dean and public business adviser.[6][1]

University of Arizona

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In 1921 was hired to teach economics at the University of Arizona. Marvin became president of the University of Arizona in 1922, at 32 being the youngest American university president.[4] Choosing between building a student union building and a new library in 1924, he chose the latter (now the North Building of the Arizona State Museum).[7]

He resigned along with four members of the Board of Regents on January 19, 1927 in a scandal that drew national attention and is still studied in the 21st century.[8][9][10][11] In 1924, three faculty members that had been fired by Marvin appealed to the American Association of University Professors.[12] The AAUP launched an independent investigation and their report released in November 1924 was critical of Marvin's administration.[13] The report prompted editor Woodson Upshaw's Tucson Daily Independent, then a new weekly newspaper, to begin an editorial campaign against Marvin. This campaign led the Tucson Merchants' Association, strong supporters of Marvin, to begin an advertising boycott of the paper. This should have reduced by the advertising pool by 70%, but had the opposite effect of galvanizing interest in the affair, rallying independent advertisers and the Railroad Brotherhood, and quadrupling the paper's circulation, which quickly became a daily.[12]

The feud then spilled into the University's board of regents, even pitting Governor Hunt against Chancellor Ellinwood.[12] When one of the fired faculty was elected to the Board of Regents, removing his majority on the board, Marvin and his four supporters on the board resigned.[14]

George Washington University

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He was elected to succeed William Mather Lewis as President of George Washington University in June 1927 and took office that September.[14] He established a School of Government at the George Washington University in 1928 using $1 million donated by the Supreme Council of the Scottish Rite Masons, Southern Jurisdiction, a Masonic lodge.[15]

Cloyd Heck Marvin was the greatest and the worst thing that happened to GW. He built and destroyed; he mended and divided; he left a complicated legacy for his successors.

Andrew Novak, 2004[16]

Under Marvin the number of students doubled and faculty tripled, though over 100 protests were lodged against perceived unfair dismissals.[17] The Research Editor of the GW Hatchet, Andrew Novak, wrote of Marvin's "persecution of liberals among the faculty, his well-documented support of segregation and his constant disregard for the civil liberties of students".[17][18] Marvin oversaw the admission of the first black students to George Washington University in 1954;[19] he also oversaw the dismissal of an atheist in 1956, stating that "as a matter of policy, we do not have anyone teaching who does not have faith in God."[20]

The Cloyd Heck Marvin Center at George Washington University was named after him in February 1970.[21] After decades of protests over Marvin’s racist and antisemitic legacy, the building was renamed on June 29, 2021 as "University Student Center" following the recommendation of a committee of students, faculty, staff and alumni.[22]

Other work

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Marvin was President of the National Parks Association 1933–1935,[2] replacing Wallace Attwood and being replaced by William P. Wharton; John Miles wrote that "The record contains little evidence that President Marvin provided much leadership during his tenure".[23]

Marvin was deputy director for research and development in the War Department from September 18, 1946 to August 31, 1947, serving under Major General Henry Aurand, and he was then a Special Advisor to the Secretary of War, September 1947-9.[2][24] He received the Department of the Army's Award for Exceptional Achievement for this service.[25]

Personal life

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Marvin was born in Findlay, Ohio.[2] His parents were Ezekiel Cloyd Marvin, a businessman, and Ida Gertrude Heck.[4][26]

He initiated into a Masonic lodge in Portland Oregon in 1918.[2] He became a Knight Commander in the Scottish Rite, Southern Jurisdiction, in 1931.[27] He was a Republican.[4][28] He was a member of the American Legion.[6]

After Marvin died in 1969, his widow Dorothy Ellen Betts, whom he had married in July 1917,[28] donated $1 million (the result of her investing $20,000 over 13 years) in 1971 for the Cloyd Heck Marvin Student Center and theater.[29] His son Cloyd, a mathematician at Johns Hopkins University, died in June 2011.[30]

References

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  1. ^ a b "Dr. Cloyd Marvin, Ex-President Of George Washington U., Dies". New York Times. April 29, 1969.
  2. ^ a b c d e f Denslow, William R. (1959). 10,000 Famous Freemasons from K to Z. Vol. 3. Missouri Lodge of Research. p. 147. ISBN 9781417975792.
  3. ^ "New President of U.of A. Who is to Be a Visitor in Phoenix This Week". Arizona Republican. September 16, 1922.
  4. ^ a b c d Current biography yearbook. H.W. Wilson Company. 1950. p. 409.
  5. ^ The Phi Delta Kappan. Vol. 6–9. Phi Delta Kappa, Inc. 1966. p. 89.
  6. ^ a b c "Finis". Time. 1927-01-31. ISSN 0040-781X. Retrieved 2023-01-15.
  7. ^ Harrison, Jeff (August 15, 2001). "Going Down in History". UA News. Archived from the original on June 5, 2011. Retrieved August 21, 2011.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  8. ^ "Dr. Marvin Quits Arizona University; Four Regents Also Resign as the Result of Dissension in the Board". New York Times. January 20, 1927.
  9. ^ "Big University Elects Marvin". Prescott Evening Courier. June 13, 1927. Retrieved August 21, 2011.
  10. ^ Novak, Andrew Joseph (2006). "THE CLOYD HECK MARVIN YEARS REVISITED: Another Look at the University of Arizona's Controversial President". The Journal of Arizona History. 47 (2): 103–130. ISSN 0021-9053. JSTOR 41696966.
  11. ^ Abbott, Mary Huntington (1982). "The Marvin Affair". The Journal of Arizona History. 23 (1): 59–80. ISSN 0021-9053. JSTOR 41695643.
  12. ^ a b c Wright, Wilfred (January 1, 1927). "How Fighting Daily Won Over Ad Boycott". Editor & Publisher. 59 (32): 7.
  13. ^ "Condemns 'influence' in ousting teachers; Professors' Association Censures University of Arizona for Forcing Three Men Out". New York Times. December 11, 1924.
  14. ^ a b "Arizona Educator Given New Honors". Los Angeles Times. June 14, 1927.
  15. ^ "Capital University Gets Million Gift; Masons Donate Fund to George Washington for School of Government". New York Times. December 27, 1928.
  16. ^ Limmer, Amanda (2 December 2004). "Student writes book on university's longest serving president". GW Hatchet. Retrieved 22 August 2011.
  17. ^ a b Novak, Andrew Joseph (February 3, 2005). "Column: Rename the Marvin Center". GW Hatchet. Retrieved August 22, 2011.
  18. ^ Novak, Andrew (April 7, 2003). "A president's mixed past". GW Hatchet. Retrieved August 22, 2011.
  19. ^ "George Washington U. to Admit Negro Students". Jet. Johnson Publishing Company. July 22, 1954. Retrieved August 21, 2011.
  20. ^ "Atheistic Instructor's Reinstatement Sought". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. November 23, 1956. Retrieved August 21, 2011.
  21. ^ Pompan, Jonathan (February 2, 1998). "Marvin Center's 28th birthday". GW Hatchet. Retrieved August 22, 2011.
  22. ^ "Board of Trustees Approves Changing Name of Marvin Center". GW Today. June 29, 2021. Retrieved June 29, 2021.
  23. ^ Miles, John C. (1996). Guardians of the parks: a history of the National Parks and Conservation Association. Taylor & Francis. p. 121. ISBN 1-56032-446-5.
  24. ^ "News and Notes". Science. 104 (2703). American Association for the Advancement of Science: 369. 1946. Bibcode:1946Sci...104..365.. doi:10.1126/science.104.2703.365. Cloyd H. Marvin, of George Washington University, will be the new Deputy for Research
  25. ^ School & society. Vol. 67. Society for the Advancement of Education. 1948. p. 41.
  26. ^ Cook, Robert C. (1933). Presidents of American colleges and universities. Who's Who in American Education, Inc. p. 20.
  27. ^ "Cabinet Heads are Honored by Masons". Times Daily. October 21, 1931. Retrieved August 21, 2011.
  28. ^ a b National cyclopedia of American biography. Vol. 1. J.T. White. 1964. p. 378.
  29. ^ "Reluctant Wealth". St. Petersburg Times. May 8, 1971. Retrieved August 21, 2011.
  30. ^ "Cloyd H. Marvin". Washington Post. June 2011. Retrieved August 22, 2011.

Further reading

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