Benjamin H. Alexander arrived on the uncompleted campus of Chicago State University (CSU) in July 1974, he was greeted with skepticism, hostility, pity, and wonder: skepticism, because CSU was knee-deep in problems as pervasive as the mud seeping into its buildings; hostility, because that was the overriding mood on the largely black campus and had been for years; pity, because Alexander, who was about to become the first black president of a four-year public university in Illinois, had so much obvious good will and so little experience in academic administration; and wonder, because practically everyone questioned how long he would last. Four years later, Alexander is still president and appears likely to remain so as long as he wants. The mud is gone now, and so are a lot of the more serious problems, as well as many of the people identified with them. I suggest the public take a look at what has happened out there, says Leon Davis, chairman of the Illinois Board of Governors, which oversees CSU and four other state schools (and also hires and fires their presidents). It's a remarkable accomplishment. Chicago State is still not regarded as the Harvard of the Midwest, and Alexander has acquired some critics and sworn enemies in the process of trying to upgrade the school. But everyone has at least learned that under his upbeat,