Hubbard resigns
Official statement ends anticipation
By Alice Ragenovich
Staff Writer
President John R. Hubbard announced his resignation effective Aug. 3, 1980 at a press conference Wednesday.
Hubbard first submitted his resignation at a meeting of the Board of Trustees and then held a press conference.
University protocol maintains that the president inform the trustees of his resignation before the announcement is made public.
On several occasions prior to this official announcement Hubbard said he might step down in 1980 but would never fully commit himself to a statement of resignation.
Vance Peterson, director of academic relations, said the date for Hubbard's announcement and resignation had been "cast in concrete last summer."
Hubbard insisted that the present controversies at the university, such as the Middle East Center proposal have had no effect on his decision to resign as president.
Admitting that he had been unhappy about the bad publicity, Hubbard added, "We certainly don't have any control over it."
He also repeatedly said he had received no pressure from anyone to resign.
The Board of Trustees announced a 23-member presidential search committee had been formed to begin looking for a successor. University protocol requires that the president officially announce his resignation before the committee can begin its search.
"We are indebted to Dr. Hubbard for tendering his resignation sufficiently in advance to permit the university to engage in an intensive search for a suitable successor," said J. Robert Fluor, chairman of the Board of Trustees.
Hubbard said he was giving 18 months notice to the university to allow- them "to conduct a thoughtful and comprehensive search" for a successor.
At the news conference Hubbard responded to questions from the press concerning the university's relationship with Iran. "The relationship is nothing extraordinary, nothing abnormal. We've enjoyed a 25-year constant flow of faculty between the university and Iran."
It is to the university's collective advantage to be knowledgeable of the Middle East area, Hubbard said.
Hubbard was confronted with the question of the
President’s history
The selection process of a new university president in 1970 took only five months to complete, and when it was over, the selection committee had unanimously selected Dr. John R. Hubbard as the eighth university president.
He was selected to the post Aug. 3, 1970, after Dr. Norman Topping stepped down from office. Topping cited health reasons for his early retirement.
At the time Hubbard had been at the university only one year serving as provost. Previously, he had spent four years as chief education adviser in India for the United States Agency for International Development.
Hubbard took the post during a stage of nationwide campus unrest, and labeled himself a "con-(ccmhnued cm page 6)
university 's acceptance of a SI million chair from the Shah of iran that pays for the salan and research activities of a professor of petroleum engineering.
Reporters asked if the university had compromised itself by accepting the chair. Hubbard denied there had been any such compromise.
"The chair in the petroleum engineering department is a perfectly normal, natural intercultural rela-
(ccmtinued cm page 8)
Officials deny shah’s honorary degree ‘sidestepped’ procedure
By Carole Long
Assistant City Editor
University officials have denied that the conferral of honorary degrees to the Shah of Iran and the chairman of the National Iranian Oil Co. in 1975 was contrary to university protocol.
A Lets Angeles Times article (Feb. 7) said the conferral of the degrees “sidestepped a longstanding university tradition."
In a news conference Wednesday President John R. Hubbard told reporters there was "nothing extraordinary or unusual in the wav they were conferred."
Prior to 1975, no established university protocol or criteria existed dealing with the selection of an honorary degree recipient or the time and place of the conferral of the degree, said Francis Feldman, chairman of the university's honorary degree com-
mittee and a member of the 1975 committee.
"We had a half-hazard selection process, with the only established rule being the Board of Trustees' approval of the recipients. Up until 1975, anything could have happened."
Faculty members or trustees could submit names of people for the degrees directly to the Board of Trustees without consulting or gaining approval from the honorary degree committee.
"Our committee also submitted names to the trustees, but they could modify the list and designate people whom they chose without consulting us," Feldman said.
Feldman did not recall any committee discussion about the shah but added that she did not attend all the meetings.
In anv case, the nomination of
the shah could have come from a variety of sources.
University bylaws give Hubbard the authority to select the commencement speaker (who traditionally receives an honorary' degree) and award a degree.
The Times article described the conferral of the degrees as occurring during "essentially private, unpublicized ceremonies."
The event was not unpublished and referred toan article in the Troian Family, a publication that has a circulation of 80,0(H).
The article, which appeared in the August-September 1975 issue, said the shah was cited for "his leadership in building a modern nation, for social reforms in Iran and for his international statesmanship."
Manoutchehr Eghbal, chairman of the National Iranian Oil (continued on page 22)
Officials respond to announcement
JOHN R. HUBBARD
University of Southern California
Volume LXXVI. Number 3
Thursday, February 8, 1979
Senate says bad press unrelated
"We know there is no connection between President Hubbard's retirement announcement effective 18 months from now and recent press reports involving USC."
The executive board of the Faculty Senate issued this statement Wednesday in support of Hubbard following unfavorable press reports resulting from the honorary degree Hubbard conferred on the Shah of Iran.
The board voted unanimously to issue the four-point statement after reporters "really grilled" Hubbard at the press conference Wednesday, said John LeBlanc, president of the Faculty Senate.
"We don't feel there are doubts about Hubbard among the faculty, but we re concerned that the press seems to think the faculty is out to get him," LeBlanc said.
"President Hubbard discussed his retirement plans with members of the Faculty Senate executive board as early as January 1978 and with the full faculty in September 1978," the statement said.
Hubbard had said at the faculty breakfast Sept. 30, 1478 that resignation was a possibility.
"Somewhere down the line I hope the situation is such that I can step aside. I do not know whether this is possible. I will not and the Board of Trustees will not know for some time,' Hubbard said at the time. The senate's statement	m
Presidential search
continued to say "President Hubbard enjoys wide support among the faculty."
"The Faculty Senate executive board is convinced that President Hubbard received poor advice on the proposed Middle East Center," said the fourth point of the statement.
LeBlanc said he could not specifically name those people who gave Hubbard the "poor advice."
Now that President Hubbard has made official his resignation a 23-member committee has been formed to find his successor.
The Presidential Search Committee consists of representatives from the seven constituencies at the university including students and the Board of Trustees.
Members .vere selected to the committee by their own representative group.
However, the student constituency was the only group to take applications from ;n teres ted constituents. The Student Senate, like the other groups, then selected representatives from the available pool.
(continued on page 6)
University officials and trustees were not surprised when President John R. Hubbard formally announced his 1980 retirement.
The recent controversy and publicity attracted by the university probably played no part in Hubbard's decision to announce his resignation highly-placed administrators agreed
Administrators said they thought it was coincidental that the university has recently received unfavorable publicity in a Los Angeles Times article Feb. 7.
Zohrab kaprielian, executive vice-president of the university, said Hubbard first gave indications in 1975 that he would resign after 10 years i'n the presidential office.
"Dr. Hubbard has made no secret of the fact for years," said Paul Hadley, vice-president for academic affairs. Hubbard had said he would time his resignation with the university's centennial and the end of the Toward Century II program, Hadley said
Hubbard will resign after his tenth vear in office.
A ten-year term is "unusual in higher education," Hadley said He said he thought the average university president did not stay in office that ifing.
Officials also agreed that the period before Hubbard s retirement would allow a smooth transition between administrations. It was also believed that Hubbard would not change his behavior as president now that his retirement is officially announced.
"I don't think he will be a lame duck. He will continue to be our President Hubbard and there will be no diminution in the energy he contributes to the university, said Jeanne Rathbun, chairman of the Staff Caucus.
Hubbard's replacement is expected to bring some changes to the university, administrators said, but most said the major programs and policies would not be interrupted.
Hubbard's successor will probably fit the same general qualifications of all university presidents, Marburger said. These include academic and administrative experience and the ability to coordinate diverse programs for a variety of interests.
Montgomery R. Fisher, a member of the Board of I rustees, said it would help if the new president could walk on water.
"I think he's out there," Fisher said, expressing faith in the Presidential Search Committee's ability to find a qualified successor.
OBSTACLE COURSE — In addition to the beginning of the semester crowds, this trench being dug in front of the bookstore located in the Student Union only causes more confusion as students tush to buy books.