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Show letters, calls, and visits from interested Weber County groups representing the community, the college, and the students. When it became apparent that the bill would not pass the legislature, Governor Lee suggested that Weber and Carbon Colleges should become branches of the University of Utah. President Dixon opposed Lees suggestions in numerous speeches to community groups. A two year legislative moratorium concerning the status of the junior colleges was finally declared to allow time to study the nature and roles of Utahs junior colleges. By the end of the legislative session, President Dixon announced that although he had been considered as a candidate for Congress to serve as a member of the House of Representatives, he would not run because one of his former students and a graduate of Weber College, Douglas Stringfellow had announced his candidacy. Dixon would later become a congressman taking the seat that Stringfellow had held, when Stringfellow resigned under fire and in disgrace because of exaggerating his war record. In the midst of financial uncertainty related to the states economy and a somewhat hostile governor, Weber College continued to advertise itself as growing, expanding, and meeting the needs of students. Dixon continued to suggest that the question was not whether Utah could afford a four-year institution in Ogden but rather could the state afford to be without a four-year institution in Ogden. Founders Day in 1952 was celebrated in March so that ground-breaking ceremonies at the new campus could be included as part of the program. A half page advertisement in the Ogden Standard Examiner proclaimed Weber to be The Progressive College with a Future. The advertisement which included an architects drawing of the new campus and proposed buildings had a block W with a growling Wildcat drawn by Farrell Collett, and the advertisement suggested that students would find Weber with outstanding faculty, fully accredited, growing, progressive, friendly, and among the nations best junior colleges. The parade and events surrounding the day were part of Weber College Day. During his speech Dixon suggested that the Ogden college should receive an R.O.T.C. unit so that Weber students could attend school on a deferred basis during war-time as other students were doing, and that in effect Ogden was being bled white by the draft. In an effort to provide broad based support for the college and to have official community input on the role of Weber College and its expansion plans, President Dixon asked the State Board of Education on January 4, 1952 to establish a Weber College Advisory Committee. Dixon suggested that the idea had originated with the faculty, and that the committee would act in an advisory role and would not in any way harm the relationship the school had with the board of education. The board voted unanimously to allow Weber to have such a committee, and the first meeting of the Advisory Board was held on February 13, 1952 on the lower campus. Wesley W. Anderson, president and general manager of Anderson Lumber Company, was elected to chair the committee and Ira A. Huggins was elected vice-chair. Clarisse H. Hall was appointed as secretary. The Committee began to have its impact felt during the winter and spring of 1952 as it pledged to work toward a limited four-year college for Ogden, and that it would keep faith with the families of Ogden by retaining the identity of the college and its autonomy. During the fall of 1952, J. Bracken Lee Republican governor of Utah faced an election challenge from Democrat Earl J. Glade. In a letter to the Ogden Standard Examiner on October 29, 1952, Glade suggested that Ogden should receive a four-year college soon. A full-page advertisement appeared in the Sunday, November 2, 1952 Logan Herald Journal suggesting CITIZENS OF CACHE VALLEY SAVE OUR COLLEGE. The advertisement paid for by the Cache County Republican Party went on to say Another four year college in Utah would be disastrous to our own college as well as to the economy of Cache County. The political advertisement stated that Glade must be defeated for the good of our College, and A vote for Glade is a vote to curtail our own College and Economy. Although the Weber College issue was only one of many issues in the governors race in 1952, which Lee eventually won, it was an issue that found Weber County on one side of the fence and Cache County on the other. During the fall of 1952 with President Dixon leading the way, it was decided that the case of a four-year charter for Weber College should be placed before the next state legislature. A Weber College Faculty Legislative Committee was appointed with Lorenzo E. Peterson as chair to work closely with members of the legislature and the College Advisory Board. A committee of the Weber College Advisory Board met with Governor Lee on December 22, 1952 to explore his views on Webers expansion and give him their views. Lee told the committee he was currently opposed to their proposal of a four-year charter for Weber, but was waiting for the results of the legislative survey on higher education in the state to finally influence his opinions. By the summer of 1953 although there were high hopes for the completion of the four new buildings on the new campus, work had slowed because of labor strikes, and there were no permanent roads or sidewalks on the campus. As Autumn approached, it appeared doubtful that the new campus could be used before the 1954-1955 school year. On August 8, 1953, Henry Aldous Dixon was appointed President of Utah State Agricultural College with the appointment to take effect immediately. Robert A. Clarke, Dean of Faculty at Weber College, was appointed Acting President of the College. Dixons move to Logan was a professional advancement for him, but was a shock to the Ogden community which had come to rely on his unselfish and dedicated leadership at Weber College. Dixon had served the College and the community well through the last years of the depression and World War II, and had engineered the move to the new campus as well as general support for a four-year program for the College. On September 4, 1953, the State Board of Education appointed Dr. William P. Miller as President of Weber College. Born and reared in Syracuse, Utah, Miller graduated with an Associate of Arts degree in 1926 from Weber. Miller received a B.S. degree in 1936 from Utah State Agricultural College, an M.S. degree from the University of Utah in 1942, and an Ed.D. degree from Stanford University in School Administration in 1949. As well as working as a public school teacher, Miller had served as Assistant State |