"Lucky" Charm

In 1902, a legend was born -- Herman B Wells. Wells would grow up to rock the foundations and principles held by Indiana University, the Bloomington community and the world. He would capture the hearts of everyone he came across and leave an impression on their souls that would never fade. He would set nearly impossible standards for what it meant to be a president, chancellor and human being. He would create a lasting legacy for over half a century and still remain humble throughout.\n"I think there's a tendency to make Wells a remote icon that did everything right," said Professor Henry Remak, a close friend. "He was a kind of a magician, and all this kind of removes him from us because when somebody is that perfect you can't really be empathetic with him."\nWells started from very real beginnings at IU as the president of his fraternity, Sigma Nu, and received a bachelor of science degree in business administration. After touring the country and revamping the banking system during the Great Depression, he returned to IU for good.\nHe became a professor of economics and dean of the school of business for two years until he was officially appointed IU's president in 1938 upon the resignation of William Lowe Bryan.\nOn his watch, the number of students enrolled at IU went from 5,000 to 16,000, and he read and signed every diploma that passed his desk. Some even included personal messages. The signing stopped in 1962 when Wells retired his presidency and became IU's chancellor.\nSpending nearly two-thirds of his life at IU gave him plenty of time to make his mark. \nHe promoted the arts by expanding the libraries, assisting in the development of the School of Music, and initiating construction of the Auditorium. In 2001, the art museum honored him with an exhibit called 'Living with Art: The Legacy of Herman B Wells,' which included art Wells had given to the University or pieces that had a personal connection with him.\n"We wanted to celebrate his memory, but we also wanted to highlight the wonderful things that he did for the campus and community," said Dr. Kathleen Foster, organizer of the exhibit. "He was very generous and very supportive of all the arts."\nWould the arts program be the same if Wells hadn't played a hand in it?\n"No," Foster said. "No way. He had a vision of the University and Bloomington as a center for the arts. He built all the buildings, brought the art and hired the people to put the program in place. None of it would have happened without him."\nHe was also a key advocate on behalf of desegregation, said Mike Wilkerson, Coordinator of Communications for Office of Student Development and Diversity. \n"The University and the community were both way ahead of other communities on the idea of equality, pretty much because of Herman B Wells, exclusively," Wilkerson said. \nLong before the Civil Rights Movement, Wells saw to it that local restaurants, barbershops, graduate school, faculty and sports teams became integrated. IU was the first in the Big Ten to integrated athletics.\n"He didn't agonize over these things -- he knew what he wanted to do," Wilkerson said. "He did what he felt was the right thing and stuck with it. A lot of core values were in place that a lot of people didn't have."\nWells pushed for academic freedom and defended the Kinsey Institute when they began doing controversial research on sex, saying that freedom couldn't be compromised. Universities either had it or they didn't, and they couldn't be selective with what kinds of research would be allowed. \n"(Academic freedom) was such an important principle for him that he based so many policies on it," said Jennifer Bass, head of information services at the Kinsey Institute for Sex, Gender and Reproduction. "He made the University grow as an international center while respecting the academic interests of professors. Certain programs and the Kinsey Institute couldn't have survived without Well's leadership."\nIn 1988, a scholarship was created to honor Wells and students who exemplified the values that he stood for, said Professor Scott Russell Sanders, current director of the Wells Scholars program. The values global vision, a lively social conscience, service to the community, leadership and academic excellence.\nWell's versatility and well-roundedness reinforced that the IU community was special to him. \n"Every department thinks he had a special fondness for them," Foster said. "Everyone thinks they were his favorite, and I think that's part of his genius." \nAnother part of Wells' personality that made him unique was his modesty. Although his modesty was genuine, it was impossible to take seriously. There was no way to downplay everything Wells had achieved and contributed to the students, faculty and campus at IU. He even went so far as to attribute his accomplishments not just to hard work, but also to "Being Lucky," the title of his 1980 autobiography. \n"I always thought (the title) was funny, because I considered myself lucky just to have known him, and I think a lot of other people feel the same way," Foster said. \nPeople who know Wells usually don't buy into the theory that he was just 'lucky.' \n"Not at all," Professor James Capshew said. "Nobody does. He basically prepared himself quite well and was very ambitious in working for the University and educating people at IU and around the world. He was a very selfless person."\nSo selfless, in fact, that when Capshew took on the project of doing a biography on Wells in 1999, he would jokingly tease Capshew by saying "isn't there something better to be doing with your time?"\nIn 1998, Governor Frank O'Bannon named Wells a Hoosier Millennium Treasure. In 1999, the Indiana Historical Society named him an Indiana Living Legend, a label which Professor Henry Remak said takes away from the down-to-earth, realness of Wells.\n"This was a real person," Remak said. "He wasn't perfect, but the University community was absolutely enchanted with him. He didn't look like a professor -- he was very rotund. He never lost his touch with Indiana even though he became a national and international person. He didn't put on a show. That's the Wells that tends to get lost because not that many people have experienced him."\nRemak said current presidents and administrative officials struggle to emulate Wells because they get caught up in the business aspect of the job, whereas Wells focused on establishing personal relationships that weren't always for financial or public relation reasons.\n"He was a really personable person -- he didn't try to be popular to get the public behind him," Remak said. "He was just a natural lover of people. None of it was manufactured. It just came from the inside. He was a warm person who loved living, who loved eating, had a very good sense of humor and was very disarming." \nEven those who have never met Wells have heard of his personal and public achievements.\n"Even though I never met Dr. Wells, I very much admire him as an individual of integrity and compassion, and as a great leader in American higher education," Chancellor Sharon Brehm said. \nPresident Myles Brand said it was a daunting task to take the presidential role that Wells once had, but he was happy to have gotten the chance to work with and learn from him.\n"Having Chancellor Wells on campus was a real opportunity for me," Brand said. "I was able to talk to him regularly before he died, and hear his insights about the traditions and directions of IU. He truly was one of the visionary leaders in higher education of the 20th Century." \nBeing a visionary and pioneer of education led to Wells' title of Indiana University's Man of the Century. After dedicating more than a half of the century and his life to IU, Herman B Wells died of pneumonia and heart failure on March 18, 2000.\nDr. Kathleen Foster and several others honored Wells' memory and character in the form of a statue that currently sits on a bench in the middle of the Wells Quad.\n"Wells was always very visible on campus, so it's nice to have him still visible as a sculpture," Foster said. "The artist couldn't possibly have captured all of him. There's no replacement. There are so many people who miss him that the sculpture has become a touchstone for them. Now he sits in the middle of campus and watch over things like he did before -- like a guardian angel"