William H. Masterson Controversy records

This collection consists of photographs, documents, oral histories, and radio broadcasts related to the Masterson crisis.

A five-day controversy rose on the campus of Rice University in February 1969 following the appointment of Dr. William H. Masterson by the Board of Trustees as the university’s new President to succeed Kenneth Pitzer, who had resigned in August 1968. Members of the faculty and student body protested in particular the method by which Masterson had been appointed, which was perceived as a unilateral decision by the Board without sufficient consultation with the committee of faculty and students appointed earlier by the Board to assist in suggesting and screening candidates’ names. As a result of the pressure created by the protests and by a campus-wide poll conducted among students and faculty (results of which were made known to Masterson), the controversy ended with Masterson’s resignation as President on February 25th, five days after his appointment had been announced.

The original materials are held by the Woodson Research Center in Fondren Library. Search the finding aid/inventory of the Dr. William H. Masterson Controversy records, UA 0068.