The Two Towers: Main

Of all social activities on the Hill, the greatest is fraternity life. I never suspected that fraternities could be so dedicated to the college, let alone scholarship.
      --Gary Goshgarian, '64, 1962

Its true function is a professional school
      --Ira N. Hollis, 1916

My chief thought is to make the policy of the Institute seem more liberal and helpful and for that reason to make a thorough-going investigation into everything.
      --Ira N. Hollis, 1923

An athletic program had been established with a full-time director of physical education and the support of an Athletic Council. Tech had also become a member of the Eastern Intercollegiate Athletic Association. The Interfraternity Council and the Tech Council had coordinated student activity, and a publication, Tech News, had been initiated. There were several new fraternities, and social organizations such as the Tech Cosmopolitan Club had never been more active.

Furthermore, Tech had been given a thorough housecleaning, fresh paint, and new roofs. There was a new entrance on West Street, a turbo generator humming in the power house. These achievements may have compared rather mildly to the electrical engineering laboratory, the gymnasium, and athletic field of the preceding decade, but to say that the school was "on the verge of decadence" was being far, far too nearsighted.

It was a myopia developed from studying the subject at too close a range. Almost all the deprecation came from the professors themselves in their new role as supervisors of the Institute. The operation of the school was now largely determined in the big room of Boynton Hall where the faculty held their many interminable meetings. The president of Tech had also for the first time been named chairman of the board, pinpointing the responsibility in an even more intensive way.

Maybe that's one of our troubles, said several of the professors, we have too many administrative duties. At the onset of his presidency, Dr. Hollis had indicated his wish to extend the administrative staff. Previously there had been only two offices in Boynton to handle the work--the president's and the registrar's. The rest of the responsibility had been divided among the teachers.

The overloaded Zelotes Coombs, head of the English Department, was in charge of school visitations, which were so necessary an adjunct to Tech's accreditation system. He was also secretary of the faculty and adviser of student organizations. The students spoke of the versatile Professor Coombs as "qualified for any position from office boy to half-back, to mathematician and geologist." This range covered only a few of his interests.

"If I do say so, as shouldn't," he'd say, never at loss for words whether he should or shouldn't say them. He was perhaps the students' best companion, involved in their sports and fun as well as in their instruction and discipline. As good a boxer as he was an orator, he was respected for nothing more than for his tremendous physical ruggedness. Anyone who had ever seen him stride into a fracas to grab one boy with one hand and one with the other was not soon to forget it.

Professor Coombs was forever talking about Tech, and for Tech, at a great variety of occasions. After a speech, reversing the usual procedure, he invariably would write a note of appreciation for the privilege.

"Coombsie," as he was known on Boynton Hill, was "Lote" (two syllables) to his two sisters, Ellen and Georgia, with whom he