Word: sproules
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Lobbyist Supreme. At 29, Sproul became comptroller, making him business manager of the university's campuses and its vast real-estate investments, and watchdog of Cal's interests at the state capital. As a business manager, Bob Sproul was efficient; as a legislative lobbyist, he was superb. Sometimes his methods annoyed Cal's crotchety old astronomer-president, William Wallace ("Eyebrows") Campbell. Once, hearing Sproul's booming voice ripping through the wall, President Campbell demanded to know what the comptroller was doing. Told that he was talking to Sacramento, the old man snapped: "Well, tell...
...When Sproul was not in Sacramento, backslapping and bulldozing the legislators, he was hitting the road to visit his most influential "constituents"-the farmers. Sproul convinced them that the university was doing a good job, sold himself in the bargain. In 1930, when he was only 39, Sproul, who had never taught a class in his life, and had only a bachelor's degree, became president of the University of California...
...Thanks. The average U.S. college president lasts only five years in office. Bob Sproul is still going strong after 17, and it is not for lack of other offers ("They're getting to be a nuisance"). Sproul has declined the presidency of the Anglo California National Bank (at $50,000), the presidency of the Prune and Apricot Growers, the directorship of Selective Service, candidacy for the Republican nomination for senator and governor. His biggest temptation came last January...
...rumor had gone around that Columbia University wanted Sproul as president, at a whacking figure. Nearly 8,000 students jammed the gym, chafed impatiently until Governor Earl Warren, '12, finished a long speech. Then up jumped husky varsity halfback and Student President Ed Welch. Grabbing the mike, he cried: "We've been trying to steal a coach from another university. Now another university is trying to steal our most important man. We can't go on without Bob Sproul!" The band played For He's a Jolly Good Fellow. A blue-&-gold banner implored: STICK WITH...
...predominance of the sciences at Cal is no accident; as shrewd Bob Sproul well knows, it is much easier to persuade legislators of the tangible benefits of research in plastics or potatoes than of the value of knowing about Yeats and Keats. That attitude is not peculiar to legislators; it is shared by many of the faculty, by the overwhelming majority of California undergraduates-and by most Americans. Remarked one history major last week: "You're made to feel that if you aren't taking both physics and chemistry, you're wasting valuable space...