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DALLAS, May 29— A. Kenneth Pye, a law school professor and former chancellor at Duke University, today was named president of the troubled Southern Methodist University here.

The 55-year-old educator replaces L. Donald Shields, who cited health reasons when he resigned as president in November in the midst of a football recruiting scandal that has shaken the 9,000-student campus here.

Dr. Pye, who has served as a professor, law school dean, chancellor and acting president at Duke, brings with him a reputation as a tough, talented academic and administrator with a penchant for making difficult, sometimes unpopular decisions.

He described S.M.U. as a strong university with enormous potential that will overcome its current troubles. No Need for 'Miracle Man'

''This is not a university that needs a miracle man,'' he said at a news conference annoucing his selection. ''This is not a university that needs a general on a white horse. This is a strong university already. It is on the threshold of a major stride forward. If I did not believe that, I would not be here.''

Those who know him, including two top administrators who also came to the university from Duke, say his talents lend themselves well to S.M.U., which in the past has lacked strong presidential leadership. The university has overhauled its university governance in the light of recruiting scandals that led to a two-year suspension of football on campus.

As chancellor at Duke, Dr. Pye presided over the end of several programs, most notably the university's nursing school, at a time that Duke made dramatic strides as an institution. He was also deeply involved in the athletic programs at Duke, which has been highly successful in blending academic excellence with big-time athletics. A Year of Turmoil

Dr. Pye takes over after a year of unprecedented turmoil at S.M.U. The recruiting violations, which have made S.M.U.'s football program the most penalized in the nation, were complicated by continued payments to athletes approved by members of the school's board of governors.

The scandal came at a time when S.M.U. had made concerted efforts to upgrade its academic programs, and officials admit there will be some severe short-term repercussions in terms of contributions and admissions.

Dr. Pye did not minimize those problems but said he was confident they would be short-lived.

He said he was committed to big-time athletics, but said he expected the same kind of scrupulously clean program that existed at Duke. He said much of the credit for Duke's program belonged to Andrew Bryant, Duke's former assistant director of admissions, who is now director of admissions at S.M.U. Andrew Parker, S.M.U.'s development director, also arrived from Duke.

''At this stage, we must be like Caesars's wife,'' Dr. Pye said. ''I want an athletic director who will insist on it.''

But some faculty members were uneasy with the continuation of big-time athletics, saying the competitive pressures in Texas that led to cheating in the past would exist in the future.

''I still worry about the idea of staying in the Southwest Conference,'' said Leroy Howe, the former head of the S.M.U. faculty Senate. ''Consistently producing a losing team will not set well with alumni. We'll have the enormous pressure to do something about it and that's what kept S.M.U. in hot water for the past 15 years.''

http://www.nytimes.com/1987/05/30/us/ex ... d-smu.html

May 29, 1987, a day that will live in infamy, in the minds and lives of any intelligent SMU athletic alum. It's always interesting when a well intentioned individual screws up. And then, gets others to also buy into many detrimental policy changes that affect an academic institution athletically, academically, and very much so financially; as Pye and the school's Faculty Senate did, with the Board of Regents blessing. Probably the worst and biggest knee jerk reaction a major private university ever saw in our time.

smustatesman wrote:May 29, 1987, a day that will live in infamy, in the minds and lives of any intelligent SMU athletic alum. It's always interesting when a well intentioned individual screws up. And then, gets others to also buy into many detrimental policy changes that affect an academic institution athletically, academically, and very much so financially; as Pye and the school's Faculty Senate did, with the Board of Regents blessing. Probably the worst and biggest knee jerk reaction a major private university ever saw in our time.

True that. His decision to play games at Ownby was one of the reasons that the sWc blew up. Apparently, UT was so disgusted by the stadium (which was substantially below the standards of most Texas 5A HS's at the time) that it got the ball rolling.

I'll never understand why people want to always dredge up this archeology. Look through the windshield! Stop wallowing in the past.

I do have a Pye question that has nothing to do with Athletics. When the DP happened, it was a massive hit to the school and its overall reputation. Was it Pye who started SMU back on the upward trend in academic reputation or did that not really start until RGT got on campus? Does anybody remember?

stc9 wrote:I do have a Pye question that has nothing to do with Athletics. When the DP happened, it was a massive hit to the school and its overall reputation. Was it Pye who started SMU back on the upward trend in academic reputation or did that not really start until RGT got on campus? Does anybody remember?

From what I gather, Pye & the decisions he made laid the foundation for the academic success under RGT. For example, the campaign, A Time to Lead's quiet phase had already began under Pye, RGT came in 1995, and it was publically launched in 1997.

Of course his other decisions like trying to eliminate the engineering school were short sighted.

I look at the major donors to the new natatorium, who graduated around my time, and they are much younger than the atypical major SMU donor. I feel it's because much like in football (we lose Meyer and get a country bumkin type in Collins, and his hooser staff, (don't confuse this with Indiana Hoosiers) in pickemups with astro turf linein the bed. SMU loses Willis Tate and soon, then James Zumberge to USC, and then a series of interim presidents, and finally a limp you know what in Shields; and then (due to Lamar Hunt and his power play) we get Pye and then a Gomer Pylesque in the form of RGT. This has pushed many of us away from the university.

I salute swimmers and friends, Bruce Robson, and his fraternity brother Steve Lindley; Joe Robson, like brother Bruce, originally out of Oklahoma; Exeter Academy grad and swimmer Terry Warner; swimmer John Unger, who came here out of Ohio; swimmer and fraternity brother Joe Hurwitz, out of Illinois. The only post Pye donor of note, is champion swimmer, Ryan Berube, out of Florida who came here because of Coach Mac, and other past swimming greats recruitment.

It used to be in the early 70's that SMU was not a regional University, (of my roommates two came out of Illinois, one each out of Green Bay Wisconsin, California, Virginia...via Lawrenceville prep in Princeton NJ). It can again become a national/international draw as an institution of higher learning.

I hope as RGT retires, SMU recruits a person more like the school's presidents of the 1970's which will bring many of us of the donor age back.... to the Hilltop over there.

AfricanMustang wrote:

stc9 wrote:I do have a Pye question that has nothing to do with Athletics. When the DP happened, it was a massive hit to the school and its overall reputation. Was it Pye who started SMU back on the upward trend in academic reputation or did that not really start until RGT got on campus? Does anybody remember?

From what I gather, Pye & the decisions he made laid the foundation for the academic success under RGT. For example, the campaign, A Time to Lead's quiet phase had already began under Pye, RGT came in 1995, and it was publically launched in 1997.

Of course his other decisions like trying to eliminate the engineering school were short sighted.

Didn't remember him trying to kill the engineering school.

Rumor at one point during the late 80's was the Dallas Hall logo would replace the mustang logo per Pye.

stc9 wrote:

AfricanMustang wrote:From what I gather, Pye & the decisions he made laid the foundation for the academic success under RGT. For example, the campaign, A Time to Lead's quiet phase had already began under Pye, RGT came in 1995, and it was publically launched in 1997.

Of course his other decisions like trying to eliminate the engineering school were short sighted.

Didn't remember him trying to kill the engineering school.

Well, he did get the Civil Engineering department shut down. It wasn't a glamorous enough area of study for him. Anyway, the CE department is up and running again now.

The uptick in academic standing mirrors most every college in the last decade. UT is now the hardest school to get into in the state. Wasn't that way in the 90's or 00's. Everyone feels like they have a right to go to college now and that makes them all more competitive. Turner has kept us on the leading edge of the upswing and we should be thankful. Pye would have us stay a small regional Dedman College.

And SMU has been regional until the last decade, as well. Look at the numbers. We are only in the last 10 years 50/50 in/out state. My uncle from Wisconsin came here in the 70s but that doesn't mean we were a nationally prominent college.

smusic 00 wrote:The uptick in academic standing mirrors most every college in the last decade. UT is now the hardest school to get into in the state. Wasn't that way in the 90's or 00's. Everyone feels like they have a right to go to college now and that makes them all more competitive. Turner has kept us on the leading edge of the upswing and we should be thankful. Pye would have us stay a small regional Dedman College.

And SMU has been regional until the last decade, as well. Look at the numbers. We are only in the last 10 years 50/50 in/out state. My uncle from Wisconsin came here in the 70s but that doesn't mean we were a nationally prominent college.

I have to disagree with you on the National/Regional issue. During that time, we had a significant percentage of students from out of state. I had 10 roommates/suitemates in 4 years. 2 were from Texas.

From what I remember:
(1) many of our out of state students came from states where the "Flagship" state school was 2nd Tier (in particular Oklahoma),
(2) we had a large contingent of kids from California, and
(3) many of our students chose SMU over similar private schools like Baylor, TCU, USC, Vandy, Emory, and Tulane.


Ignoring the athletics problems that he caused, I feel that Pye held the school back. First, he didn't seem to have a vision of the school for this century. Second, if he did have a vision, he was incapable of getting buy-in from anyone outside the faculty club.

For all of his issues, RGT had a vision, sold it to donors, and built it.

stc9 wrote:Didn't remember him trying to kill the engineering school.

1.) Engineering school

2.) Greek life

3.) Big time athletics.

His vision for the school was a small, academically elite liberal-arts school transplanted from rural New England to Dallas.

While it is true we have drawn nationally for several decades, it is only in the last ten years that Texans have been less than 50% of our students. We probably need to be less than 35% Texan to get the student quality we are after.

Also - yes UT is tough to get in, particularly for a out of state, but we have better student quality judged by standardized tests. Our average SAT is above UT's for incoming freshman. They really have a problem since the top 7 or 8% that are guaranteed entry are not necessarily all that strong, particularly from the rural areas in Texas.

Pye saw us as a liberal arts school. He did some good things and repaired our academic reputation which was a victim of the DP - but he never really understood where he was or what makes SMU tick. RGT always has had a good feel for that in my view.

For all of our successes, this is the largest MSMA in the country without a top 25 university. That has to be us, and we are not meeting our potential or our obligation to provide that. No excuse for it. Wont be us until we get our endowment over 2 billion.

Rice is still the toughest school to get into in Texas.