Chapter 12: The Modern University
William Wallace Campbell, a professor of astronomy and for many years director of Lick Observatory, served as President of the University in the important years 1923-30. His administration was characterized by steady growth and rising enrollments, the latter trend continuing even when the onset of the Depression foreshadowed a curtailment of physical development.
Until the 1930s, the University remained a lively but predominantly regional institution. If one year can be said to have marked a turning point, it was 1934. That year the American Council on Education asked 2,000 leading scholars of the United States to analyze the graduate schools of the nation's universities.
The survey covered thirty-six fields of learning. Universities were rated on the basis of their "distinguished" or "adequate" departments. For the first time, the Ivy League was compelled to acknowledge serious competition in the West. The University of California rated as many distinguished and adequate departments as any university in the country. This was only the beginning of a great surge forward.
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