Dr E Benjamin Andrews (1844-1917) served as Chancellor of the University of Nebraska from 1900-1908. During his administration enrollment rose by fifty per cent, ten new buildings were built, and the legislative appropriation to the University nearly doubled. A favorite with students and faculty alike, Andrews won many friends for the University and is considered one of the finest Chancellors in University history.
Andrews came to Nebraska following a two year stint with the Chicago Public Schools. Prior to that, he had served very successfully as the President of Brown University, his alma mater, and is credited with turning the school into a premiere graduate institution. Andrews championed academic freedom, no doubt in part because of his personal experiences at Brown over the bimetallism debate. At Nebraska, his continued support of academic freedoms won the respect of faculty. As an administrator, he reorganized the academic structure of the institution, dismantling the old Industrial College to create the Colleges of Engineering and Agriculture. He was successful at educating the Legislature on the needs of the University and was able to secure funding for the development and expansion of the Agricultural campus, as well as securing funding for Brace Laboratory, the old Administration building, the first Museum, a new Engineering facility, and the project he took most to heart, the Temple.
Andrews survived the Temple controversy, but just barely. Always somewhat sickly, he retired at the end of 1908 due to failing health. He died in Florida in 1917. Andrews Hall, constructed in 1928, was named in his honor. A bronze plaque commissioned by the Class of 1915 as a tribute to Andrews, hangs in the Temple today.
Source Information:
For Posterity: namesakes of four University of Nebraska Buildings, by Anne Oppegard, in Nebraska History, fall 1997.
Prairie University, by Robert Knoll. University of Nebraska Press, 1995.
