97-08-29: THE SHANNON LEGACY: STEEERING A GROWING UNIVERSITY THROUGH TURBULENT TIMES AND INTO NATIONAL PRIMINENCE By Larry J. Sabato Robert Kent Gooch Professor of Government and Foreign Affairs Edgar Finley Shannon Jr., the fourth president of the University of Virginia, succumbed to cancer on Aug. 24 at his home in Charlottesville. He was 79 years old. Shannon was born June 4, 1918, in Lexington, Va., where his father was a professor of English at Washington and Lee University. A former Rhodes Scholar, Edgar Shannon served as president of the University from 1959 through 1974, succeeding Colgate W. Darden Jr. During his long and successful tenure, the Vietnam War raged abroad, campus unrest surged at home, the University opened its doors to women and minorities, and the student body tripled in size. In office An internationally respected scholar and author in the field of Victorian literature, Shannon joined the U.Va. faculty in 1956 as an associate professor of English. He was elected president of the University in 1959 at the age of 40 and continued to teach part-time. He returned to full-time teaching in 1974 as Commonwealth Professor of English and was elected president emeritus in 1988 by the Board of Visitors. During his presidential tenure at U. Va. in the '60s and '70s, enrollment swelled from 5,000 to 15,000, and the school moved into national prominence. Shannon concentrated his efforts on attracting a renowned faculty and building first-rate facilities on Grounds to meet the needs of the faculty and students. By all accounts, he achieved both goals spectacularly. Under his leadership, too, full coeducation and racial integration of the student body were skillfully implemented. After the fatal shooting of four student protesters at OhioÕs Kent State University by National Guardsmen in 1970, Shannon held a meeting with 4,000 students on the Lawn. He urged them to write Virginia U.S. Senators Harry F. Byrd Jr. and William B. Spong Jr. to denounce the country's "agonizingly slow" disengagement from Southeast Asia. Some conservative critics demanded his resignation, but the Board of Visitors approvingly noted afterward that Shannon had kept the university open, avoided violence and preserved free speech. That year at graduation, Shannon received a spontaneous and enthusiastic standing ovation. Academics Shannon attended Washington and Lee University, from which he graduated summa cum laude. Duke University awarded Shannon a master's degree in 1941, as did Harvard University six years later. He then studied at Merton College, Oxford University, from 1947 to 1950 as a Rhodes Scholar and received a doctorate in philosophy from Oxford in 1949. Last year, four days after Mr. Shannon's 78th birthday, Oxford also awarded him its highest honorary degree, a Doctor of Letters, for a lifetime of impressive scholarship and leadership. At Harvard, he taught naval science and tactics in 1946 and English from 1950 to 1956. On leave in 1953-54, he traveled to England on Fulbright and Guggenheim research fellowships to study the literary career and letters of Alfred Lord Tennyson. Over the course of his career, most of ShannonÕs scholarship consisted of critical writing on the novel, bibliographical studies and works on Lord Tennyson and his times. He published numerous articles and reviews on 19th-century English literature and was the author of the book, Tennyson and the Reviewers, 1827-1851. In 1990 he published his most significant work of scholarship with Professor Cecil Y. Lang, a three-volume collection entitled The Letters of Alfred Lord Tennyson -- a definitive work that received wide acclaim. Honors Among the dozens of honors Shannon received during his long and productive career were the Thomas Jefferson Award in 1965, considered the University's highest honor, and two awards in 1975: the Jackson Davis Award for distinguished service to higher education from the Virginia Conference of the American Association of University Professors and the Algernon Sydney Sullivan Award in recognition of his contributions to U.Va. as president. An influential leader of higher education in Virginia and nationally, Mr. Shannon held a number of offices, including chairman (1966-67) of the executive committee of the National Associaton of State Universities and Land Grant Colleges and national president of the United Chapters of Phi Beta Kappa from 1979 to 1982. He also chaired the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities and Public Policy (1973-79). In 1975, President Gerald Ford appointed Shannon to a commission chaired by Vice President Nelson Rockefeller charged with investigating the domestic activities of the Central Intelligence Agency. He also served on the boards of trustees at Washington and Lee University, the White Burkett Miller Center for Public Affairs, the Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation and the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. In addition to his national and state activities, Shannon and his wife, Eleanor took a great interest in local affairs. In 1990 the Shannons established the Foundation for Excellence in Public Education: Charlottesville/Albemarle to provide resources for public school teachers to design innovative teaching tools. The foundation, recently renamed to honor the Shannons, has already given grants totalling nearly $100,000. In Memoriam Edgar Shannon is survived by his wife, Eleanor Bosworth Shannon, of 42 years; five daughters; four sons-in-law; and five grandchildren. A memorial service open to the public will be held in Old Cabell Hall Auditorium on Nov. 15 at 11 a.m. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests that contributions be made in Mr. Shannon's name to any of the following: the Edgar F. Shannon Center for Advanced Studies at U.Va., Washington and Lee University, Westminster Presbyterian Church, and the Edgar F. Shannon, Jr. Endowment at the Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation (Monticello). "Few, if any, have shaped our University and our community as wisely and well as Edgar Shannon did. A scholar and leader of uncommon vision, he was also a wonderfully human man -- a father whose family once filled the University with a sense of value and of optimism for the future, a principled citizen whose stands on issues as diverse as the role of women and minority persons in the University and as students' right to dissent in a time of national crisis [are models of leadership for all of us.] "Edgar Shannon became to those of us who followed in his office the kindest and most thoughtful of friends. He saw scholarship as essential to the life of a democracy, and citizenship as a thing to cherish. He contributed in ways great and small to the values that endure in this community." Ñ U.Va. President John T. Casteen III was a student here during the Shannon years. "I consider Edgar Shannon's greatest contribution to U.Va. raising the academic standards. When I took office after him, the University was already being recognized as one of the foremost universities in the country. During his presidency I served as dean of Arts and Sciences and then as vice president and provost under him. He was always forthright in his position on any issue and simply a great delight to work with. He will be very sorely missed at this University." Ñ Frank L. Hereford Jr. Became the fifth president of the University, taking office after Shannon stepped down. "He was my oldest friend. I had known him since 1940 -- longer than anyone else in Charlottesville, including his wife. We were at Duke together before the war, at Harvard afterwards. "After I came here from the University of Chicago in 1967, Edgar asked me to collaborate on the Tennyson letters with him. I told him I couldnÕt possibly do that, because I was working on Swinburne's letters." Lang finally agreed to the project. ÒWe were old friends working together.Ó The three-volume set, published in 1990, was highly praised. Lang recalled an incident when Shannon confided that Patricia Kluge, former Board of Visitors member, told him he was the best thing to happen to the University since Thomas Jefferson Ñ "Edgar was incredulous, but I assured him everyone thinks so," said Lang. "I agree totally, but I didnÕt tell him that," he added. Ñ Cecil Y. Lang, Professor Emeritus of English "Edgar Shannon was simply one of the finest human beings I have ever known," commented Sabato. "When I worked with him during my undergraduate student years, I always left his Pavilion VIII office uplifted, since Edgar made me a partner, not an adversary. ... Every single one of us -- faculty, staff, student, and alumnus alike -- who has had an association with the University of Virginia is deeply in Edgar Shannon's debt." Ñ Larry J. Sabato, Robert Kent Gooch Professor of Government and Foreign Affairs, was president of the Student Council at U.Va. during Shannon's presidency and became a close friend. 'Academical Village' was not an empty metaphor to Shannon, said Bill Elwood. He emphasized that Shannon led by consensus and took a keen interest in all members of the University community, from routinely interviewing all prospective faculty to greeting the students who lived on the Lawn by name as he walked to his Pavilion VIII office. "Today's nationally ranked University was shaped during the 15 years of Edgar's presidency. In 1959, most all the women students attended Mary Washington College Ñ then a part of the University, and less than a handful of courageous black students were here in the face of the SouthÕs Massive Resistance to racial desegregation. In the mid-60s he appointed a committee on the admission of women, and a few years later one on the inclusion of African Americans in all aspects of the University community. He acted with the conviction that not only were these inclusions just, but also necessary for the University to achieve academic excellence." -- William A. Elwood, Associate Professor of English, served as Shannon's assistant for special programs from 1969 to 1974, in charge of the University's desegregation efforts. "The characteristics of leadership, honor and integrity instilled in Edgar Shannon at that small school [his father was an English professor at Washington and Lee University, and Shannon got his bachelor's degree there] coupled with the Valley ethic of just plain hard work would carry throughout his life. "[His] leadership won for the University enormous support from the people of Virginia. He was seen frequently in the halls of the State Capitol seeking support for faculty salaries, new buildings and money for student assistance... "Yet it was in the crucible of public discourse over the war in Southeast Asia that Edgar Shannon was propelled into public notice. ... To many outside the University and some state leaders it appeared that the University itself was taking a position against the nation's war effort. Outrage was expressed in some quarters and there were calls for President Shannon's removal. "Through shot and shell of those 10 days in May, Shannon stayed the course. He kept the discussion alive, and his University open when many institutions were forced by protests to interrupt their academic programs." -- William H. Fishback Jr., senior lecturer in English, was U.Va.Õs chief public affairs officer for 25 years, from 1966 to 1991. "He was an extraordinary man. For me, Edgar Shannon personified what leadership is all about." Remembering the historic moment when Shannon addressed protesting students from the Rotunda steps, she said, "I'll never forget watching him talk to us students. It was one of the most difficult times at U.Va. -- the Kent-State era. He told us to follow our conscience, to do what we needed to do, but please not to harm Thomas JeffersonÕs University for ourselves and for those who came after us. He said he would do what was needed to protect our right to freedom of conscience." His message de-escalated the tension, Rimel said, and she learned from it "to stand firm in your convictions but to have compassion and understanding for others, even if you disagree with them." For the past three years until last year, Rimel served with Shannon on the board of the Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation (for Monticello), where Òhe always exhibited thoughtful, balanced stewardship," she said. --Rebecca Rimel (nursing, 1973) is now president of the Pew Charitable Trusts. The attack on Pearl Harbor spurred Mr. Shannon to volunteer for combat duty as a junior gunnery officer on the U.S.S. Quincy. He narrowly escaped death on the night of Aug. 8, 1942, when the Quincy was shot to pieces and sunk by enemy gunfire and torpedoes in the Battle of Savo Island. His captain and 370 of his shipmates were killed, while 167 were wounded. "With flames going up on all sides, you felt as though you were in a tulip of fire," Mr. Shannon once recalled. After his ship sank, he was left clinging to a raft in his half-burned life jacket with 20 others for four hours until finally rescued by a destroyer. He remained at sea on combat duty until V-J day, participating in most of the major Pacific campaigns. By the end of the war, he had earned a Bronze Star and 10 other battle stars, witnessing the final surrender of the Japanese Navy in Tokyo Bay.