George Lynn Cross - University of Oklahoma - Norman, Oklahoma
Posted by: 
gparkes
N 35° 12.533 W 097° 26.743
14S E 641475 N 3897314
This statue of George Lynn Cross is located in front of the Administration building of the University of Oklahoma.
Waymark Code: WM8AVZ
Location: Oklahoma, United States
Date Posted: 03/02/2010
Views: 13
The text on the statue reads:
George Lynn Cross
George Lynn Cross served as president of the University of Oklahoma from 1944 to 1968. He and his wife and partner Cleo Cross had a profound and lasting impact on this institution.
In 1934, he joined the faculty as an assistant professor of botany. When he became president, the University had 3,834 students and when he retired in 1968, there were more than 18,000. When he became president, the university had awarded only 74 Doctoral Degrees in its entire history and when he retired it was awarding 150 each year. In many ways he was the architect of its transition from a college to a great comprehensive university.
He led the university to the peaceful acceptance of racial desegregation. He withstood political pressures in order to defend academic freedom and intellectual integrity. He spent as much time having coffee with the greenest new student as with the most brilliant professor. He treated every person with respect. He invested his life in the University of Oklahoma and its students. His example led many of those students to invest their own lives in causes greater than themselves.
The words of President George Lynne Cross
The University of Oklahoma exists for the students but the university cannot give you an education – it can only help you acquire one for yourselves. The main effort must be made by the students.
Greetings to new students – 1952
The success of university graduates should and ultimately will be measured not by the effectiveness with which they compete with others but by the quality of service that they render… and the integrity of their relations wit their associates.
Speech to students – 1963