Martin Meyerson’s Dream of “One University”

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As president of the University of Pennsylvania, Martin Meyerson (1922–2007) championed the idea of “One University,” a concept that projected an intellectually integrated and respectfully diverse research university. In September 1970, when Meyerson assumed the presidency, he found Penn at a critical juncture. “Franklin's University” roiled with serious financial and relational problems, some inherited from his predecessor, Gaylord Harnwell, many of them emanating from accelerating trends in the larger society, such as a downward spiraling economy, an escalating urban crisis and heightened racial tensions, and a youth culture that was increasingly self-referential in its lack of political concerns. The era of Penn's great expansion was over; yet while physical growth had been successfully accomplished, there was little integration of the departmental, disciplinary, and student activities housed in the new or renovated buildings, and the historic core of the campus remained without a landscape design. Meyerson's embrace of “One University” promised to remedy such academic fragmentation and factionalism, which in his judgment impeded Penn's advance into the pantheon of the world's leading research universities. This essay looks look closely at Meyerson's handling of these crises, his juggling of the various tensions involved, his administration's design for the beautification of Penn's campus, and in the final analysis, the enduring strengths and significant limitations of his program to achieve “One University”.