by Jessalyn Pinneo
Special Projects Reporter

One of the first names that comes to mind when thinking of GW history is Cloyd Heck Marvin, namesake of the Marvin Center ­ home to J Street, the Hippodrome and the Golden Pillar. During his 32 years in office, Marvin created a legacy for himself at the University, one that to this day remains more than just a name on a building.

In September 1927, GW students returned to classes to find that University President William Mather Lewis had retired in early June. His replacement, Dr. Cloyd Heck Marvin, a 38-year-old educator and former aviation service captain, had been appointed president on June 13.

Despite his relative youth, Marvinıs resume was impressive, covering nearly two decades of service in higher education. After graduating from Stanford in 1911, he moved back and forth across the country for a number of years. On the West Coast, Marvin was an assistant professor and later a dean at University of California, Los Angeles, as well as president of the University of Arizona. On the East Coast, Marvin was a Thayer fellow at Harvard University, where he taught as an associate professor while earning his Ph.D. in Business Administration and Education. He also taught briefly at Columbia University. His final cross-country move came in 1927, when he was asked to be president of GW just a few months after resigning from the same position at the University of Arizona.

Marvinıs arrival at GW was met with great enthusiasm. In The Hatchetıs first issue of the 1927-28 academic year, a front-page article detailed his past achievements. On September 28, The Hatchet published an article that quoted Marvin saying, "George Washington is essentially a democratic institution and must make instruction effective in society. Every student must share in this responsibility." The student body met this statement with excitement, delighted at the prospect of being more directly involved with its education.

For the rest of his first year at GW, not an issue of The Hatchet was printed without at least some brief mention of the new president. More often than not, an article or two was devoted to his actions and goals for the University.

Marvin was the epitome of determination when it came to realizing his vision for GW. Little more than a month into the academic year, he announced a reorganization plan for the structure of the University. He rejected the Harris Plan of 1910 to enclose GW in a compressed city block and instead "embarked on a program of physical expansion and centralized control," as described by GW historian Elmer Louis Kayser in the book "Bricks without Straw."

At the Board of Trustees meeting on October 29, 1927, Marvinıs new plan was enacted. He dropped the Arts and Science department, as well as the Law and Medicine department ­ which had been the heart of the University ­ and instead instituted the Columbian College, the Graduate School, the schools of Education, Engineering, Law, Medicine, Pharmacy, and the Division of Library Science. He also offered summer classes for Columbian College and Law students. Only a scant four months into his term, Marvinıs dramatic changes were backed by the Board of Trustees.

In Marvinıs first decade at GW, his youth and vivacity helped endear him to the students as much as his programs for the Universityıs success did. On October 26, 1927, The Hatchet ran an article detailing President Marvinıs cheerleading at a boxing match. He apparently climbed into the ring and declared that "George Washington students did not know how to cheer" and called for "a real cheer."

It became a real cheer when after Marvinıs request, "fully half a thousand men students and two dozen members of the faculty who attended the smoker were roused to the highest pitch of enthusiasm."

"I am going to ask you to do a vocal exercise for me," he told the crowd. "You donıt know how to cheer, and youıre going to learn right now. Now give these men a real cheer." The Hatchet remarked that the phrase, "the house was brought down" was hardly fit to describe the noise that followed.

Marvin was not formally inaugurated as president until February 22, 1928, an event that was rather anticlimactic after what he had accomplished in the preceding eight months. The inauguration was announced in a small bulletin on the front page of The Hatchet.

During Marvinıs first decade at GW, the University advanced rapidly both physically and academically, and Marvinıs popularity soared as a result. But in the late 1930s, public opinion of Marvin changed. The turning point seems to have been the peace protests of 1937 and 1938, which Marvin initially supported but then had to disallow on campus because of their controversial nature. Studentsı affection for the president seemed to disappear virtually overnight.

One event in 1940 forged together studentsı negative opinion of Marvin and led to the resignation of English professor Martha Gibbon. A professor at GW for 11 years, Gibbon was popular among students and colleagues alike. However, her often liberal political views clashed with Marvinıs principles so much that her promotions and accompanying salary increases took an unusual long time to process.

Aware of the Universityıs unfair practices, letters were run in The Hatchet, including one from Gibbon in which she announced her resignation.

"My interest in the George Washington University is a genuine one and a deep one," she wrote. "It is my conviction that Dr. Marvinıs presidency is increasingly bad for the institution and that it is my social duty to offer to you whatever assistance I can in bringing those in authority to an awareness of this truth."

While Marvin and the Board of Trustees treated Gibbonıs resignation as voluntary, many of her supporters believed she was forced to leave. According to a report by the Board of Trustees, they concluded that Gibbonıs resignation did not deviate from normal University procedures.

Not accepting the Universityıs reasoning, The Hatchet launched an editorial campaign demanding further investigation into why Gibbon was treated unfairly and hr subsequent resignation, writing, "The Hatchet awaits an administrative statement. Hasty judgment and hasty action are unwise, especially when they are based on erroneous information. Information is the first requisite for understanding, and understanding for intelligent judgment."

By 1940, the man who had once been lauded for his achievements and adored by the University population was beginning to seem like a villain. A struggle between the student body and the administration had begun.

­Kate Szilagyi and Liz Bartolomeo contributed to this report.