Free spirit : a biography of Mason Welch Gross / Thomas W. Gross.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Gross, Thomas W., author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Presidents--Biography.

Presidents.

Rutgers University--Presidents--Biography.

Rutgers University.

Rutgers University--History--20th century.

Gross, Mason Welch, 1911-1977.

Gross, Mason Welch.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (343 pages)

Place of Publication:

New Brunswick, NJ : Rutgers University Press, [2021]

Summary:

The Mason Gross School of the Arts in New Brunswick, New Jersey, stands as a memorial to one of Rutgers University’s most influential leaders. Gross started teaching at Rutgers as an assistant professor of philosophy in 1946, but quickly rose through the ranks to become the university’s provost in 1949 and finally its president from 1959 to 1971. He led the university through an era when it experienced both some of its greatest growth and most intense controversies. Free Spirit explores how Gross helped reshape Rutgers from a sleepy college into a world-renowned public research university. It also reveals how he steered the university through the tumult of the Red Scare, civil rights era, and the Vietnam War by taking principled stands in favor of both racial equality and academic freedom. This biography tells the story of how, from an early age, Gross came to believe in the importance of doing what was right, even when the backlash took a toll on his own health. Written by his youngest son Thomas, this book offers a uniquely well-rounded portrait of Gross as both a public figure and a private person. Covering everything from his service in World War II to his stints as a game-show personality, Free Spirit introduces the reader to a remarkable academic leader.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Author’s Note

1 Prologue: The Inauguration, 1959

2 Postmark: Willcox, Arizona, 1928

3 Postmark: Cambridge, England, 1930

4 The Blind Date, 1939

5 Postmark: Somewhere in Italy, 1944

6 The Homecoming, 1945

7 Goodbye to New York, 1946

8 In the Second Chair, 1949

9 Rutgers v. the Red Scare, 1954

10 Philosophy of Education v. the “Big Lie”

11 The Inauguration, 1959

12 Into the Fishbowl, 1959

13 The Cultural Wasteland, 1959

14 Nothing at Rutgers Was Ever Easy

15 Crisis, 1961

16 Faith and Reason

17 Score Once More, 1965

18 The Inflection Point, 1965

19 The Silent Steinway, 1965

20 The Jewel in the Crown

21 The Year Everything Went Wrong, 1968

22 Law and Order, 1968

23 Faith and Reason v. Law and Order

24 June 1970

25 Complicated, 1971

26 Guggenheim, 1972

27 The Door Opens, Then Closes Tight, 1975–1977

28 The Last Post, 1977

29 The Hope That Lies within You, 2020

Appendix: Personal Histories, Correspondence, Reminiscences, and Interviews

Acknowledgments

Notes

Bibliography

Index

Notes:

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9781978808348

1978808348

9781978808362

1978808364

OCLC:

1272996291