"Bigger Than Himself"

When the University of Houston started out as a four-year institution in 1934, it had 909 students and one big shack on the San Jacinto High School campus. It also had one unusual asset: Vice President Walter W. Kemmerer. A Ph.D. from Columbia, Kemmerer was a blunt go-getter who thought he knew exactly what sort of university Houston should have.

As the driving force behind its philosophy ("We will teach anybody anything he wants"), he offered everything from a six-hour course in cafeteria sanitation to an eight-year course leading to a Ph.D. He made friends with Oilman Hugh Roy Cullen, channeled some of Cullen's millions into a vast new campus. He put up buildings for the colleges of law, pharmacy, nursing and optometry, saw the university's enrollment rise to 13,000.

In 1950, when President E. E. Oberholtzer retired, everyone at Houston seemed agreed on his successor. Kemmerer was made acting president and later president. His formal inauguration was all set for this month. Then, one morning last fortnight, the board of regents summoned him. He was too blunt, too fast, said the regents. They wanted his resignation.

Kemmerer had no alternative ("When they don't want me," he had often said, "I'll resign"). But when the announcement came out last week, his old campus seemed to adjust quickly to the news. For many months, a large segment at Houston had been advocating a new philosophy : the university is a big place now, and it needs a big name to head it. The case, said one Houstonian, is really quite simple: "Kemmerer has built the school into something bigger than himself."

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