Colleges: Unknown, Unsung & Unusual

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In 1954, Joe Mullin, a burly, bespectacled physiologist with a West Texas drawl, came from a professorship at the University of Chicago medical school to become president of Shimer. By virtue of having taught doctors, he had one driving conviction—that professional men by and large are too narrowly educated, and need a broad liberal schooling before going into graduate schools.

Since Shimer has no endowment, Mullin began to pass the hat, now raises as much as $150,000 a year as compared with the $5,000 typical of the early '50s. He has doubled faculty salaries (the average Shimer salary is now $6,100), and doubled the faculty too—always with an eye for the man who would fit his concept of a community of scholars.

"Corny as it sounds," says Chairman of the Humanities John Hirschfield, "people here are treated as human beings. The most amazing things can happen to you." Two years ago, a group of Hirschfield's students were weighing the pros and cons of a year of study abroad. They wanted to go, but hated to give up Hirschfield's courses in humanities and history. "They got to talking with me about it," says Mullin, "and I said, why not just send Hirschfield along?" He did, and a tenth of Shimer's student body got both Europe and its favorite teacher, who taught them mornings in Paris bistros. "And you know," Mullin adds, "they all did better on their comps than the rest of their classmates."

Mullin's thoughtfulness pays off in student seriousness. Said one Shimer boy last week: "You've got a responsibility to the instructor, the rest of the class and yourself. They expect something of you."