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President Emeritus Phillip Shriver shares top Miami milestones

An excerpt from "Dr. Shriver's Miami History Highlights", Fall 2008 Miamian

As Miami University commemorates its Bicentennial, Miami President Emeritus Phillip Shriver, historian extraordinaire, shares what he considers the university's top five events so far.

1. Snowball rebellion

In January 1848, Miami was the fourth largest college in the country with more than 200 students. A month later enrollment was down to 68—the result of a prank fueled by a long-standing disagreement within the administration about accepting fraternities.

During a heavy snow, students rolled snowballs to the door of Old Main, Miami's original classroom and administration building. At morning chapel the next day, a seething President Erasmus MacMaster announced every participant would be drummed out.

"The next night, those who had been involved, knowing they were going to get expelled anyway, got their fraternity brothers involved," Shriver says. "They broke into Old Main and packed the main floor with snow reinforced by the entire winter's wood fuel supply plus benches and chairs and tables. It froze like a block of ice."

All but two fraternity members were dismissed.

2. Nation's schoolmaster

While teaching at Miami in the 1830s, William Holmes McGuffey prepared the first edition of the most widely used schoolbooks in history. He created the McGuffey Readers in a brick house still in the heart of Miami's Oxford campus.

"He would come to be called the 'schoolmaster to the nation.' Only the Holy Bible has had more copies printed than the McGuffey Readers," Shriver says.

3. Civil War

Miamians' impact on the Civil War was enormous: 10 Union generals, three Confederate generals, two of the three ranking Union admirals, two members of Abraham Lincoln's cabinet, and a member of Confederate President Jefferson Davis's cabinet all shared a Miami background.

4. Women admitted

In 1887, Miami admitted women with the enrollment of the university president's daughter and four others. In 1902, a Normal School (School of Education) opened and female enrollment exploded. Among the women attending that year was Nellie Craig, Miami's first African-American graduate.

5. Vietnam War protests

President when anti-Vietnam War protests reached their zenith, Dr. Shriver vividly recalls the spring of 1970.

"We had seven fires one night on campus. I received a number of death threats, and I even had a Molotov cocktail left on the front porch of Lewis Place (home to Miami presidents).

On April 15, students held a sit-in at Rowan Hall, which then housed the ROTC.

"Their objective was to close down the military presence on campus. My argument was that it was far better to have the military on a civilian campus where they are interacting with students with varying opinions day after day."

More historical highlights from Dr. Shriver