10. The Four Years of Wilbur Dayton (1972-76)

1. Richard Wing ended his history of Houghton College with Stephen Paine's presidency in 1972. Hopefully, someone will pick up the historian's mantle in the next few years and write the story of the last fifty years. As for me, I'll end my notes with the presidency of Wilbur Dayton, which lasted four years.

Previous posts in this series:

• Williard J. Houghton and the Founding 
• Seminary adds four-year college
• Luckey achieves accreditation
• A growing campus and faculty
• Stephen Paine becomes president
• Houghton and World War II
• Houghton and Post-WW2 Expansion
• Houghton and the Tumultuous 1960s
• Houghton Campus at the End of Paine's Presidency

Wilbur Dayton
1972-76

2. I was privileged to meet Wilbur Dayton in the early 90s at Asbury, and I knew his son Don Dayton. Both were Houghton grads, but they seemed like night and day to me. The father was very conservative and taught at Wesley Biblical Seminary for a number of years after his presidency at Houghton. To my young Wesleyan mind, Don seemed quite liberal within broader Wesleyan circles and quite the rabble-rouser. Don's work on the evangelical tradition in the 1800s was seminal, a classic for both Wesleyan and evangelical history.

Wilbur Dayton strikes me as somewhat of a tragic figure. Here is this nice man who didn't even apply to be president of Houghton. There were other names in the mix who were actually interested in the position. Bob Luckey, the son of the first president, could have been chosen, and he did go on to become president at Marion College. Mel Dieter probably would have made a great president, and he was in the mix.

Yet the board called Dayton, and he answered the call. He did his best. Yet as best I can tell from anecdotes from that time, the four years of his presidency were not particularly enjoyed.

Reinhold Campus Center

3. He was president during the Vietnam War. This was a time when many in the older generation felt like the younger hippie and protest generation needed to be brought under control. My impression is that the students at Houghton in those years may have felt the campus atmosphere quite restrictive. I think the Dean of Students may even have been a former military man.

Perhaps he was also seen as the Wesleyan Church sending in a man in to get a "liberal" college under control. The faculty had expanded significantly in the 60s. I imagine that a great number of these faculty were not Wesleyan, perhaps not very well acquainted with the Wesleyan Church. These are hypotheses about which I welcome redirection.

Lambein Hall

As Dayton exited, he was asked what he thought of being a college president. He remarked, "I have difficulty understanding the mentality of someone who would seek a presidency." He would finish out his career as a New Testament professor at Wesley Biblical Seminary in Jackson, Mississippi.

In the four years he was president, the Allegany campus maintained its enrollment around 1200, while the Buffalo campus was close to 200 students.

3. Here is a brief list of other events from Dayton's time as president.

• The Reinhold Campus Center was completed just after he started as president in 1972.
• A second girl's dorm, Lambein Hall, was built in 1973.
• Houghton joins The Consortium, a group of 13 Christian colleges that partner together on study-abroad, off-campus programs, and more.
• A learning center was added to the Buffalo West Seneca campus, called the Lambein Learning Center (1974).
• Woman's tennis begins (1974).
• The first woman joined the Board of Trustees (1975). This was Elizabeth Feller who had been so instrumental in the design of Gillette.
  
• Field hockey is added (1975).

Here endeth the series.