Cornell Decides

The man picked to run one of the world's great universities last week was a vice president of the Hawaiian Pineapple Co. 20 years ago, at the age of 33. Pineapples, plus the other jobs Deane Waldo Malott has swung in the last 20 years, persuaded the trustees to make him president of Cornell.

Among the things that impressed Cornell was the fact that Malott could combine pineapples with education. He has been assistant dean of the Harvard Business School, then, for the last twelve years, chancellor of his alma mater, the University of Kansas. At Kansas, he added and overhauled dozens of courses, applied the streamlined, general-staff type of administration the Harvard Business School teaches and preaches. All this has brought results for the University of Kansas: a budget (and a balanced one) of $10 million a year as compared with $2,000,000 when Malott took over.

Cornell, with its 10,115 students, its $30 million annual budget, its colleges of arts, engineering, agriculture, architecture and medicine, its schools of law, business and public administration--while not for a moment forgetting its illustrious ivy traditions--was looking for just such a streamliner. In the choice that faces every great university--a scholar or a managerial expert--Cornell plumped solidly for balanced budgets.

Next summer, high above Cayuga's waters, Deane Waldo Malott will take on his new job.

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