Improbable President

The State University of New Yorkat Albany was badly shaken by the turmoilof the Vietnam War era. But It was doubly taxing for acampus caught up in converting a small teacher's college into a majoruniversity center. Worse, budget cuts had lead to the closing of academicdepartments and the firing of faculty. By 1977, there was seriousconcern about how this not yet fully formed campus, unsure of where it wasgoing, would cope with these reversals. That would be the challenge facing anew president---the fifth in eight years.His qualifications wereunorthodox. Before becoming a faculty member, he was a national authority oncommunity corrections, among other things organizing and directing the parole supervison agencies of the states of Texasand Washington. All the while, hecontended with the life long, crippling effects of polio and the label--disabled.