The situation which faced his successor was a delicate one. The removal
of Dr. Tappan had created a storm which grew rather than decreased, and
President Haven found an unfriendly community and a hostile student body
awaiting him. Every effort, in fact, was being made to secure the
re-election of Dr. Tappan as soon as the new Board of Regents was in
authority. President Haven, however, who had known nothing of the
circumstances which led to the removal of Dr. Tappan when he accepted
the Presidency, showed great wisdom and tact in this emergency. He won
the respect of every one by an announcement that he did not intend to
stay unless re-elected by the new Board, and appealed for harmony and
good feeling in the face of what was to all a difficult situation. At
their first session the new Board of Regents considered the recalling of
Dr. Tappan. Floods of letters had been received from alumni, students,
and friends of the University, advocating such action, but the Regents
felt that this course would be unwise as it would have involved
practically a reorganization of the whole Faculty. The personal
character of the trouble which resulted in the removal of Dr. Tappan,
emphasized later by an injudicious statement issued at the suggestion of
some of his friends, would have rendered such a course almost
inevitable.
Dr. Haven was not a man of the powerful caliber of his predecessor but
he proved a most satisfactory administrator during a trying period. Of a
more conservative temper, he devoted himself to caring for the immediate
affairs of the University rather than the problems of future
development. He was born in Boston, November 1, 1820, and was graduated
from Wesleyan University in 1842. After a few years spent in teaching,
he entered the ministry of the Methodist Church, but resigned in 1852 to
accept the professorship of Latin in the University. Like his
predecessor, he had an extraordinary ability as a speaker, though he was
more given to epigrams and felicities of expression, with which his
speeches fairly sparkled. His characteristic humor, quoted by Professor
Winchell in his Memorial Address, is illustrated by the following
passage:
Might not a parasite on the back of an ox ... having found out by
actual measurement the circumference of the ox, and by
mathematical calculation, the diameter of the ox, and having
ascertained that as he inserted his proboscis into the hide of the
animal, say the sixteenth of an inch, it gradually and regularly
grew warmer, infer, in like manner (as the geologist) that the
center of the animal was red hot lava!
[Illustration: HENRY PHILIP TAPPAN, LL.D. (1805-1881)
The first President of the University, 1852-1863
(From a bas-relief by Karl Bitter in Alumni Memorial Hall)]
[Illustration: ERASTUS OTIS HAVEN, LL.D. (1820-1881)
President of the University, 1863-1869]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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