The Masterson Crisis

I thought I’d let you all know that I’ll be giving a talk on the 1969 Masterson Crisis next Tuesday afternoon. If you’d like to come, you would be most welcome. It’s quite a story. Here’s the announcement:

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

4:00 PM, McMurtry Auditorium
Duncan Hall, Rice University
(reception after colloquium)

Lecture is free and open to the public.

Rice’s ‘Masterson Crisis’: “The problem is, what is the university going to be?”

Melissa Kean
Centennial Historian
Rice University

In the late summer of 1968, Rice’s President Kenneth S. Pitzer stepped down to assume the presidency of Stanford University. On Friday, February 1969 the Rice Board announced that they had elected William H. Masterson as his successor. Just a few frantic days later Masterson resigned, convinced that he could not lead Rice in the face of an open, widespread and sustained faculty rebellion. The ideas, loyalties and misunderstandings that were at the heart of this dramatic conflict shed light on a fundamental issue in this institution’s history: what is the purpose of Rice University and how are its goals best pursued? And who gets to decide?

You might also want to check out the website of Scientia, the sponsoring organization. They will host a series of talks throughout the year on various aspects of Rice history that I’m sure will be of interest to a lot of people.