and service Williams continued as president until he was forced into retirement after a quarter century as the school’s first leader. His successor, Roy Offenhauer, passed away after only 16 months in office and Williams returned for a short stint as acting president until Frank Prout was installed as BGSU’s third president. The Great Depression and early financial pressures
The Great Depression devastated the economy of Ohio, leading to drastic reductions in state revenues and cutbacks in funding to state institutions. Hess discusses one rather unfortunate result: the State Senate Finance Committee proposed in 1933 that Bowling Green State College be converted, at least temporarily, into a mental hospital. Regional opposition to the proposal was immediate and strong, and a grass-roots campaign to save Bowling Green State College quickly took shape with support from President Homer Williams, who remained in the background, believing it would be best for concerned citizens to take the lead on the issue. Fortunately, Williams’ calculation proved correct and the lobbying effort was successful, underscoring the high regard in which the school was held. Even during the worst pressures of the Depression, new student and community needs were becoming evident, notably for training in business at the undergraduate level and offering of a master’s degree for secondary school teachers. This provided additional impetus for not only the college’s survival, but for its ascension to fledgling university status in 1935.
WWII transforms campus life
World War II radically affected higher education in Bowling Green as it did across the globe. Within just a few years after Prout took office, the school experienced a rapid and severe drop in enrollment, as millions of young men poured into the military. After enrollment peaked in 1940-41 at 1,600 students, it began a steady decline, plunging in 1943-44 to 842. In that year, only 69 men were enrolled. While this turn of events threatened the University’s finances, a couple of military programs helped to compensate for some of the losses, beginning with a full-time program for Navy V-5 enlistees who were brought to campus for an eight-week instruction program. Then, in July 1943, the Navy College Training Program known as V-12 began bringing in students who enrolled in regular University courses. The program included men between 17 and 23 who were candidates for the U.S. Naval Reserve, the U.S. Marine Reserve or the U.S. Coast Guard Reserve. The two military programs not only helped to soften the loss of male civilian students, but actually triggered a housing shortage. Hess provides some interesting details on how a variety of buildings across campus were pressed into service to accommodate the influx of naval students. BGSU Magazine 3