Woodin to Head LSU

              SHREVEPORT JOURNAL, MONDAY, MAY 22, 1972
Elevated to Presidency—
Wood in to Head LSU
BATON ROUGE (AP)—
— Dr. Martin D. Woodin, a
member of the L o u i s i a n a
State University faculty since
1941, today was elected presi-dent
of the LSU system.
Woodin, executive vice pres-ident
of the system, received
10 of the 14 votes cast by the
LSU board of supervisors
meeting here.
The other two candidates
for the post, Homer Hitt,
chancellor of LSU-New Or-leans
and Paul Murrill, vice
chancellor for academic af-fairs
at the Baton Rouge
campus, received two votes
each.
GOV.. EDWIN.Edwards, the
first governor to attend an
LSU board meeting in recent
memory, cast the first ballot,
voting for Woodin.
Woodin will replace Dr.
John Hunter, who will retire
July 1.
As president of the LSU
system, Woodin will have
jurisdiction over seven cam-puses,
including the Louisiana
State University Medical
School in New Orleans.
Voting for Woodin were
board members Jake Staples,
Jimmie Davis, Murphy Fos-ter,
Dr. Elgin McKeithen,
William Peck, Sargent Pitch
er, John Sherrouse, A. L.
Swanson, Henry Walden, and
Edwards.
BOARD M E M B E R S, Mi-nos
Armentor and William
Brown voted for Hitt, while
Carlos Spaht and Oliver Stock-well
voted for Murrill.
Woodin, 56, joined the LSU
f a c u 11 y i n 1941 and rose
through the ranks from assist-ant
professor to full professor
in the department of agricul
ture in five years. He served
as dean of LSU-Alexandria
from 1960 to 1962 when he was
named executive vice presi-dent
of the system.
He received a bachelor of
science degree from Louisiana
State College of B u s i n e s s
Administration i n 1936, a
master of science from Cor-nell
University in 1939, and a
Ph.D. in marketing f r o m
Cornell in 1941.
THE. LSU board met in
Shreveport earlier this month
to interview the three candi-dates,
but postponed a final
decision on until today.
All three took similar posi-tion
on the problems facing
the university.
E a c h said he supported
moves to separate the LSU
system's central administra-tive
office from the Baton
Rouge campus and each said
he supported the basic princi-ples
of the coordinating coun-cil
for higher education.
BUT EACH also said he
feared such a "superboard" to
operate all of the state's
colleges and universities
might harm the "integrity" of
the LSU campus.
Most of the supervisors
oppose such a superboard. It
would leave them without
anything to supervise.
Unconfirmed reports circu-lated
after the board meeting
in Shreveport that Hitt had
been eliminated from consi
deration, apparently narrow-ing
the choice to Woodin or
Murrill.
IN THEIR interviews, Hitt
held to the view that the LSU
See LSU, Page 8-A
• LSU
From Page One
president should maintain a
low profile. Woodin and Mur-rill
said they favored a more
active presidency.
"I think the p r e s i d e n t
shouldn't be as visible as in
the past," said Hitt. He said
the chancellors of the various
campuses in the university
system should be given more
prestige.
But Murrill said, "The pres-ident
of LSU has a responsi-bility
to speak out not only for
the university, but for all of
higher education in the state,"
WOODIN SAID he would
work to sell the university,
placing special emphasis on
influencing legislation "t o -
ward our interests."
It was revealed last. w»«L-that
Woodin was included as a
list of people used by LSU
Board President Jake Staples
in an effort to demonstrate
the financial responsibility of
a business venture.
Woodin acknowledged that
he has taken an option to
purchase a $1,000 bond in the
Staples business, but said he
held up on actually buying the
bond because it might not look
right since he was under
consideration f o r the LSU
presidency.
"DOES . THIS, mean he
doesn't have to go into the
restaurant business?" E d-wards
quipped after the vote.
The vote on the presidency
was the first thing on the
agenda, aad the balloting was
conducted q u i c k l y after a
orief moment of confusion
over the voting procedure.
It was finally decided that
the secretary would call the
roll and each board member
would vote for one of the
three men by name.
Dr. Martin Woodin