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Show ft 6 FEBRUARY 28, FOUNDERS DAY COMMEMORATIVE ISSUE B REWING Governor Tries to Sink the U, as the An Anti-Morm- THE DAILY UTAH CHRONICLE 2000 ZZLl - ? t on A. Faculty Squabble With Park L ' I? ' Urn- rt - " $ SHANE MCCAMMON Chronicle Feature Editor Despite the diffie .it's and tribulations it had encountered durini ts history, the University of Deserct appeared to be on the way to success and permanence by 18S0. The decade before, the jchooi had only closed its doors once (for a period), which was a marked change from the previous 20 years, and several policies and plans were in place to make sure the '80s would be the smoothest years yet. Finally, things appeared to be looking up. That's when the university ran into a bulldog meaner than budget woes a bulldog by the name of Eli H, Murray, territorial governor, 30-ye- one-ye- ar 4 I 1 WRJ ntttftP 0 ar " .1 'a r O 8 4 5 K ,A I J .;. ACID MURRAY-ATI- C Murray, who had been appointed governor of the territory by United States President Grover Cleveland, did not care much for members of Saints. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Da- y The feeling was mutual. "In no sense.. .is the sovereignty of church over state in unison with the language or spirit of the Constitution or your country's laws," he said in 1882, shortly after his arrival in Utah. "That political power is wielded by LDS church authority throughout Utah is a fact," Murray said. "That officers of the LDS Church exercise authority in temporal affairs is a fact." As far as Murray was concerned, the Regents and faculty of the University of Deseret were officers of the LDS Church and they had better watch out. Linda Higgins writes in her thesis, The UniverA Chronological Narrative, sity of Utah, that Murray "made no attempt to disguise his utter contempt for all things Mormon, and for all 1850-591- 9: intents and purposes, the University of Deseret was precisely that." Murray did his best to personally sink the university by repeatedly refusing to grant funding appropriated by the territorial legislature to the university, claiming there were insufficient funds in the treasury for the appropriations. For an institution that was searching under the few couches in its possessions for spare change, Murray's seemingly personal vendetta against the university was nearly devastating. One local journalist was so perturbed at Murray's antagonism toward the university that he dubbed the governor "Murray-ati- c acid." THE MORMON ISSUE But Murray was probably justified in his accusation that the university was essentially a Mormon tool "so as not to train up a godless people" and that the school was almost completely dominated by prominent church leaders. According to Higgins, 33 of the 37 total Regents were Mormon. Two of those 33 were bishops, eight were stake presidents, three were in the Presiding Bishopric or the First Council of the Seventy, two were in the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, and two were in the First Presidency. Higgins also notes that it wasn't uncommon for Regents meetings to be held in the office of Mormon President John Taylor not exactly proof that the university wasn't controlled by the LDS Church. Murray's accusations and his repeated refusal to give the university any money touched off public debate that not only interested administrators and local newspapers, but national publications as well. The Deserct Evening News, with its pro-LD- S Church stance, and The Salt Lake Tribune, controlled by Irish Catholics, traded potshots in their editorials and the university was caught in the crossHrc. The Tribune boldly proclaimed on its editorial page that "public monies should not be spent on a 'Mormon University'" and criticized the LDS Church for deeding public lands to a sectarian school. The Deseret News, according to Higgins, countered by "rciterateingj the church position that theology should of necessity be taught in schools religion was needed in the curricula so .,,,..1.1 in .'.lfc. m EWTMiir .TT. r 1. iffR ffil ii. " ,M Despite the efforts of Gov. Eli Murray, the U made tremendous gains the 1830s, benefitting from a galvanized public and a sympathetic legislature, which appropriated funds for the Main Building, shown at right. as not to train up a 'godless people.'" The Deseret News also called Murray an outright liar for his claims about insufficient treasury-fund- and attacked the governor when he attempted to shake up the Board of Regents, calling his action "gubernatorial usurpation." The debate, which increasingly devolved into ridiculous squabbling, was picked up in eastern newspapers, who concluded that while Murray was legally justified in his accusations and refusals to give he university money, he was going about things in a "less that politically deft" manner. Higgins reports that the Legislature rejected a bill introduced that would change the name of the university from the University of Deseret to the University of Utah, and, more importantly, rejected a proposal that would have made the territorial governor (Murray and his successors) chancellor of the school. Higgins also notes that the Legislature repeatedly went behind Murray's back to help feed the university, appropriating $10,000 in cash-starve- d 1886. SILVER LININGS Murray's desires to squeeze the 'Mormon University' dry was not only unsuccessful, but it actually galvanized the community in support of the university. If anything, Murray's acerbic ranti-ng- s helped the U more than anything the Legislature did during the 1880s. Higgins writes that "the indignation of the tjcrritoriai community manifested itself in "a backlash that jarred many previously apathetic citizens into making a concerted effort to ensure the school's survival." The best enemy the U ever had was replaced in 18S8 by a new governor, Caleb West. West quickly compensated the university for the lean years of Murray's tenure, getting the Legislature to appropriate for construction $85,451 projects and even more to loans the university had been back money pay forced to take out to stay operational during the early t88os. EGOMANIAC? Seemingly lost in trie hubbub of Murray's controversial years as governor was what was actually going on at the campus. But once the storm that had swirled around Capitol Hill for the first part of the decade dissipated, a new one blew into town and sat over the university's campus for the next three or four A NEW years. In die eye of the storrn was the once-u- n touchable University of Deseret president, John R. Park. Depending on who's talking, Park was either an extremely competent administrator, an "educational missionary" and a savior of higher education or a micro-managin- g needier who controlled the university and its faculty like marionettes. Park bad been university president for nearly two decades when the faculty began to question his jurisdiction and power. The faculty's beef, according to Higgins and Chamberlin, was that Park and the university were essentially synonymous a la Louis XIV. One reason for that was because no one had ever really explained to Park what his duties were. "Park had been disturbed for several years about the lack of definition of his presidential powers and had repeatedly requested that they be spelled out," Higgins notes. "The Board of Regents had never complied, and thus, largely due to Park's personality and sheer dedication...it seems inevitable that the major responsibility for decision-makin- g and instituting programs would fall on him." But instead of just sitting in his office, "instituting programs," Park took a hands-o- n approach, the university. The faculty, who unlike Park, had clear-cu- t responsibilities and job descriptions spelled out by Park himself, didn't always appreciate the scrutiny of the unchecked university president According to Chamberlin, Park was the one who decided the course of study for each class chose the textbooks and decided who graduatednot the faculty. And, perhaps even more of a slap ir. the face to the university's professors and instructors Park dropped in on classes unannounced to micro-managi- criticize students. The faculty formally organized into a body in 1885 and began to Hex a little bit of muscle over the man they at once adored and vilified. "Ultimately, the growth of faculty power and responsibility led to open confrontation with the president over his propensity to visit classes unannounced and to criticize the work of individuals whom he was not truly qualified to judge" Higgins writes. THE END OF AN ERA While Park and the faculty butted heads, the university continued to grow and, finally, after being open nearly 40 years, looked like it would succeed. Even though the eastern press often poked fun at the education in backwater Utah, Park and the university faculty instituted several new courses, including botany, physics, geology and geography. In 1886, the university conferred its first formal degrees, with Benjamin F. Howeils and Thomas D. Lewis each receiving a bachelor's of science. As important of a step it was to award degrees, perhaps more important for the university's future success was the abating of financial woes near the end of the decade. Despite the good news, Tark and the faculty still weren't talking, let alone dancing together at the many d dances. The power struggle between the president and the faculty would ultimately result in Park's resignation in 1892 and the consequent chaos of the faculty-sponsore- '90s. "The future seemed more promising than it had ever been," she writes. "Although the university was still little more than a rudimentary frontier school, a foundation substantia! enough to withstand the turbulence of the 90's had been laid." |
