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Volume LXXV, Number 10_University of Southern California Los Angeles, California_Monday, October 2, 1978
President a unanimous choice in August 1970
On Aug. 3, 1970, the Board of Trustees unanimously voted 51-year-old John R. Hubbard to be the eighth president of the university.
He reorganized the university's top administration that year, appointing two new vice-presidents, Elton D. Phillips, vice-president of business affairs, and Zohrab A. Kaprielian, vice-president of academic planning and research.
In 1976 Hubbard inaugurated the Toward Century II Campaign to prepare the university for its second century as a model of academic excellence.
Establishing an educational exchange program has also been one of Hubbard's responsibilities. Trips to Iran, Saudi Arabia, China and Israel have all been parts of his travel itinerary.
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Four stand out as a possible chief executive
Should President John R. Hubbard step aside at the beginning of the university’s second century, the selection of a successor will involve intense political maneuvering among various factions.
At stake will be future directions and objectives, the role of faculty, students and staff in shaping that future and the fate of funding priorities among the academic departments.
Speculation centers on many university administrators. Prominent are John Marburger, dean of the College of Letters, Arts and Sciences; Houston Flournoy, recently named vice-president of governmental affairs; and
ZOHRAB KAPRIELIAN
Charles Oxnard, the new dean of the Graduate School.
But the Board of Trustees may go elsewhere, as in 1958 when it chose Norman Topping from the University of Pennsylvania.
Many feel the key figure in selecting the next president is Zohrab A. Kaprielian, dean of the School of Engineering and executive vice-president. Kaprielian is widely considered the most powerful man in the day-to-day operation of the university.
But whether the university community and the trustees would accept Kaprielian as the institution's chief public representative is unclear. Kaprielian
'Given our centennial year in 1980 and our entrance into a new century, that might be an appropriate time for vigorous, young, new leaders/
Speculation around the campus during the past several weeks has also alluded to the possibility of Hubbard resigning in 1980.
Hubbard did not deny these rumors. "It occurred to me that given our centennial year in 1980 and our entrance into a new century, that might be an appropriate time for vigorous, young, new leaders to take this university into its new century."
But until 1980, Hubbard said there are "an enormous number of very complicated balls up in the air."
Hubbard identified the Toward Century II program and lagging endowment funds as some of the "complicated balls."
Until he was assured that the Toward Century II program would meet his goal, he felt it would be impossible to make a definite decision.
"Until we get some of them (the complicated balls) down, I mean in reasonably good shape, there cannot occur that orderly transition that is so essential to the whole process."
Hubbard said privately that 10 years at the university is long enough and it has taken its toll on him.
It is getting extremely difficult to find someone to fill the role as a university president, he said. "Why, it's getting extremely difficult to find a president of anything."
At the breakfast, Hubbard expressed regret that he had spoken of his possible resignation to faculty friends and administrative colleagues.
Members of the Board of Trustees were also informed.
"At the last board meeting he said he was considering resigning in 1980, but he did not give any formal resignation," said Forrest M.
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JOHN MARBURGER
himself told the Los Angeles Times (April 20, 1975) that his personal image might preclude his chances for the presidency. (Kaprielian was bom in Syria of Armenian descent, and speaks with a thick accent).
Kaprielian's role as chief budget officer has earned him both friends and foes among faculty and administration. Many see his retaining the post of dean of engineering as a direct conflict of interest, pointing to that school's recent financial prosperity; few, however, question Kaprielian's academic guidance of engineering.
But the question of funding for (continued on page 2)
Hubbard
Viewing the gains, losses at breakfast
By Valerie Nelson
tditor
President John R. Hubbard extolled the university's virtues and presented a gloomy picture for the future at the annual facultv-administration breakfast Saturday.
Additional federally sponsored research, faculty members who now get more pay, an increase in applicants and campus construction were given bv Hubbard as reasons for the university's sound state of affairs.
Loss of federal money, a shaky financial situation and lagging endowments for the Toward Centurv II campaign were given as evidence of gloom.
Asking for awareness, Hubbard said he could conceive of having to cut this year's budget. "Last year was the most difficult single year in the history of the university to make ends meet. There is no margin for error."
The $39,000 in reserve from last year were used up in the first 22 minutes of this academic year, he said.
The loss of SI million in state funds for the medical school to provide more doctors to the community was "almost a mortal blow. We stand in danger of having to pay back money from the, past two years," Hubbard said.
The loss occurred because the state felt the aid was not a contract with a private university but direct aid to a private institution. This type of aid is against the California Constitution.
Toward Centurv II, the fundraising campaign for the university's endowment, is almost 70% of the way to its goal of $265 million but is lagging far behind in endowments, which are now at $56 million. Hubbard said that when the final goal is reached, $154 million of the final figure will have already been spent, but the university w'ill still need to look toward the endowment for income.
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plans 1980
PRESIDENT JOHN R. HUBBARD
retirement, but...
Turn of events could postpone retirement
By Carole Long
Staff Writer
Plans for a possible 1980 resignation were announced by President John R. Hubbard Saturday.
Hubbard emphasized that no final decision had been made, but did not deny the possibility of resignation.
"Somewhere down the line 1 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 to come. When it does arrive, you'll know."
Hubbard made the announcement to 450 faculty, staff and administrators at the annual faculty-administration breakfast Saturday morning.
Allegations made in a report on the 6 p.m. KNXT news Friday said Hubbard would announce his resignation at the faculty breakfast. The report also named Houston I. Flournoy, vice-president of governmental affairs at the university, as "the most likely candidate to replace Hubbard."
Hubbard denied the statements made in the report — "There is just not a grain of truth in it."
Flournoy, also present at the faculty breakfast, called the report
"nonsense."
"There has been a lot of speculation about me in the future, but it's just speculation," he said.