The Terms of Endowment : Offer of Whitsett Chair of History Provokes a Bitter Dispute at CSUN

It started out as a well-intentioned gift--$500,000 to establish the first endowed chair at California State University, Northridge.

The offer came from W. P. Whitsett Foundation, named for the late William Paul Whitsett, the founder of Van Nuys and a man who valued such qualities as individualism, personal discipline, faith in God and devotion to community and family, relatives said.

“Those were the traits we wanted to perpetuate,” said Eleanore Robinson, one of Whitsett’s granddaughters and a member of the foundation.

But the idea of an endowed chair in Whitsett’s memory has caused great disarray at CSUN, in contrast with the orderliness reputed to have guided Whitsett’s life.

Department Divided

The history department, the designated recipient of the chair, has been bitterly divided over whether the university should accept it. Top administrators who happily announced the endowment four months ago now will not talk about it. Adding fuel to the fire, the controversy apparently has called into question whether the chairman of the history department should remain in his post.

Meanwhile, the foundation, which was using almost the last of its money from Whitsett’s estate to fund the chair, is having second thoughts about its offer.

“This is a sensitive time for us,” said Myrtle Harris, a foundation member and another of Whitsett’s granddaughters. “I think everything will fall into place eventually, but the whole thing has been blown way out of proportion,” she said.

A university spokeswoman, Judy Elias, said school officials are trying to reach a compromise that will satisfy the foundation and the history department. She said negotiations could be completed as early as next month.

Whatever the outcome, the dispute has been one that addresses such issues as academic freedom, campus politics, the technical side of endowment procedures and the memory of a man who played an influential role in the growth of the San Fernando Valley.

As is true of endowed positions at other colleges or universities, the salary of the professor hired to fill the Whitsett chair would be paid by the interest generated from the principal.

Such chairs, which are more common at private schools than at public colleges and universities, are highly coveted since they essentially add a staff member without cost to the school. They especially are treasured at the state universities, where budget cuts have limited academic hirings in the past several years.

Within the CSU system, there are only 12 endowed chairs at six schools.

At the root of the controversy surrounding the Whitsett chair is a stipulation in the terms of the endowment offer stating that the professor who would fill the position must “have an understanding of Mr. W. P. Whitsett’s philosophy--progress, determination and self-reliance as well as a strong belief in God and country.”

Harris said the foundation did not draw up the original endowment terms, which included the controversial stipulations. The foundation, she said, merely gave its approval to the university’s version, which was written after the foundation agreed to fund the chair.

‘Religion Valuable’

“We think religion and sense of community is valuable, and we made some suggestions,” Harris said. She added that CSUN officials, because of their inexperience in negotiating with private foundations for endowments, were not “sophisticated” enough to clarify the conditions of the endowment.

Within the history department, reaction to the terms of endowment was immediate, as professors maintained that the stipulation regarding Whitsett’s beliefs would lead to a violation of academic freedom. They also said they had been kept in the dark about the endowment offer for more than a year.

‘A Lot of Antagonism’

“There was a lot of antagonism and bitterness,” Prof. Ronald Davis said. “Not only were we not notified until it was announced, but the whole thing smacked of a kind of attempt by a donor to shape the history that would be taught by the chair. In general, an endowed chair is great, but what are you buying into with those terms?”

School officials, including Michael Meyer, history department chairman, tried to assure the faculty that the controversial clause did not mean that the position would be filled by a Whitsett clone. They said the professor in question would merely have to be familiar with the beliefs of the Valley pioneer and not necessarily espouse his philosophy.

But that did not satisfy faculty members, who formed a four-member committee March 4 to review the endowment.

On April 11, the full-time history faculty voted, 21 to 10, in favor of the committee’s findings, which included rejection of the controversial clause.

History Prof. Leonard Pitt, a member of the committee, said of the clause: “Nowhere in the U.S. would you find the holder of a chair endorsing the ideology of the giver of the chair. The chair is something that should memorialize and honor the name. That’s different from the holder endorsing a set of beliefs.”

Other Specifications

The vote also rejected a clause that would allow the Whitsett Foundation to name to the committee someone who would select the person to fill the chair. It also added a clause requiring CSUN to make occasional reports on the success of the endowment.

In addition, the committee expanded the focus of a lecture series attached to the endowment to include not only California history but also “any field of history,” in the words of its report.

The committee’s report was later approved by the university’s personnel planning and review committee.

The recommendations were sent in April for final approval to the office of Bob Suzuki, vice president of academic affairs, where they have sat ever since.

Glenn Dumke, who represents the foundation, and school officials are trying to work out a compromise. Dumke retired in 1983 as chancellor of the 19-campus state university system.

In an interview, Dumke would not address specific issues but said negotiations focus primarily on financial terms of the endowment, which originally stated that the money would be donated over five years at $100,000 a year.

Campus Politics

Many history professors interviewed said the endowment was poorly handled from the start. Several said the real reason for the controversy was not the endowment at all, but an attempt by a small group of professors to discredit history Chairman Meyer.

Meyer, who became department chairman in 1983, won a vote of confidence, 25 to 7, last year from the 32 tenured faculty members in his department to stay in his position.

Securing the endowment for the chair would help Meyer fend off criticism, particularly since his tenure as chairman is facing review later this year, faculty members say.

“Academia is just like diplomacy. There are always reasons and ostensible reasons,” said Thomas Resovich, a history professor who has been at CSUN since 1962. “A small group is trying to get rid of the chairman, and the irony is, the man leading the charge is a close friend of Meyer.”

Resovich said he was referring to Prof. Davis.

Charge Denied

But Davis denied that he is trying to disgrace Meyer, although he acknowledged that he is among “about a dozen” tenured faculty members who have indicated “an unwillingness” to keep Meyer in his post.

“There were politics from both sides,” Davis said of the endowment. “Meyer saw it as a plum, a feather in his cap. And it would have been. But it would have set a bad precedent.”

Meyer would not comment on his status as chairman, saying he does not “want to contribute to the unease.”

School President James W. Cleary made his only statements on the situation through Elias. The vice president of administration, Elliot Mininberg, refused to comment.

The matter has been discussed at length in internal memos among administrators, including one from Jerome Richfield, dean of humanities, who was acting vice president of academic affairs last year when he wrote another top administrator: “If you have it in mind to start some kind of revolution on campus (in which case you would find me at the barricade), then you would proceed with this proposed endowment.”

Few faculty members argue with the idea of memorializing Whitsett, a man whose name is commonly listed with such pioneering Valley families as the Shermans and the Lankershims.

Arrived in 1907

Whitsett came to Los Angeles in 1907 from Cleveland at the age of 32, suffering from tuberculosis, which he probably developed through coal mining.

Four years later, he bought a square mile of Valley land, the property now roughly bounded by Kester Avenue on the west, Hazeltine Avenue on the east, Oxnard Street on the south and Vanowen Street on the north.

Whitsett envisioned a township of hard-working, God-fearing people, who would put Van Nuys on the map, granddaughter Robinson said.

Whitsett, a promoter at heart, attracted more than 15,000 people to a public auction to sell the property in 1911 through such gimmicks as plastering stickers that said “Try Van Nuys” on the suitcases of passengers at Union Station.

The property quickly sold for about $500 a parcel. Whitsett continued to develop Van Nuys by donating land to churches, schools and hospitals and establishing such things as banks, poultry farms, dairies and even an organ factory, which kept the residents employed.

Guts, Money, Business Sense

“He had the guts and the money and an incredible business sense,” said Sam Greenberg, 77, who grew up with one of Whitsett’s sons and who now owns several equipment rental outlets in the Valley. “W. P. was kind of aloof, stayed to himself, but he was bent on setting up a town. . . . He had high morals and always considered how his actions would affect the average person.”

Whitsett died in 1965 at the age of 89, after spending 17 years as chairman of the board of the Metropolitan Water District. Whitsett Avenue, which divides Van Nuys and North Hollywood, was named in his memory.

One-quarter of his estate, consisting primarily of land in the Valley, went to establish the foundation, which has since given away most of the money, said foundation member Harris, who lives in the Bay Area city of Menlo Park.

Valued Schooling

Whitsett, who had no formal education, highly valued universities.

Foundation members had been quietly discussing with CSUN the idea of an endowment since late 1984. Four months ago, CSUN President Cleary formally announced the offer of a California history chair at a party celebrating the 75th birthday of Van Nuys.

Much of the bitterness regarding the Whitsett chair could be traced to the absence of any guidelines on campus for establishing an endowment, those involved said.

In the wake of the dispute, CSUN has developed its own campuswide guidelines for endowments, based largely on practices used by UCLA, university spokeswoman Elias said. The guidelines were approved by Cleary May 19.

Averting Dissension

One of the new guidelines will make it easier to avoid receiving an endowment in a field in which the school has enough professors. Such was the case with the Whitsett endowment, history professor Shiva Bajpai said.

“They were offering a California history professorship when, the fact is, we already have four or five scholars in that field,” Bajpai said. “It’s the least of our crying needs. We have glaring weaknesses in other areas of study.”

Bajpai said the history department has no full-time professor in several “vital” fields, such as African and Japanese history and medieval and ancient history.

Other professors said that endowment offers should not be kept under wraps and that faculty members should be notified immediately when the administration is contacted by a prospective donor.

“There is a need to get things out in the open early on,” history professor Rena Vassar said.

Otherwise, said one professor who requested anonymity: “The politics of academia can turn an innocuous situation into something much worse.”

He added: “It’s like what Woodrow Wilson said after he left academia. ‘After Princeton, the White House was a snap.’ ”