PULLMAN, Wash. Former Washington State University President W. Glenn Terrell accepted the warm good wishes of about 150 long-time friends, faculty members, staff and students at Thursday’s naming ceremonies for the W. Glenn Terrell Library on the Pullman campus.
As Terrell, who served as president of WSU from 1967 to 1985, entered the library atrium to a long, standing ovation, he remarked that he never received that kind of reception as president.
But he heard plenty of words of praise Thursday from WSU President V. Lane Rawlins, Board of Regents Chair Elizabeth Cowles, WSU graduate and former president of the Board of Regents William Marler, Interim Director of the Libraries Cindy Kaag, ASWSU President Isaac Wells and Rom Markin, former dean of the
Rawlins talked of coming to WSU as a new faculty member quite sure of his ability to teach the university president a few things. Instead, he said, he learned much from Terrell’s patient and open approach to addressing university issues.
“His legacy is legend,” Markin said of Terrell’s service during a particularly tumultuous period in the history of WSU and of higher education in general. “He was absolutely the right man for the challenge. Through unending dialogue, he navigated through the hatred and bitterness to achieve meaningful change.”
Terrell, who will turn 86 later this month, served at a time when campus protests over the Vietnam War and racial issues were widespread. “He was the most effective example of positive, passive-aggressive leadership I have ever seen,” Markin said.
Terrell addressed the audience briefly, beginning by joking that this was “my chance to get even with some people.” Instead, he spoke about how meaningful this tribute was to him.
“The library is surely the center of the institution, and that makes this a great honor for me,” Terrell said.
The New Library opened in 1994. In November 2005, the Board of Regents voted to rename it in Terrell’s honor. It is adjacent to the Terrell Friendship Mall, which was named in his honor in 1995.
