USD Magazine, Summer 1995

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here is perhaps no creature on the face of the Earth more jubilant than a college student on a Friday after– noon. Shrugging off the week of classes, tests and other pressures of academic life, students literally shout with glee as they turn up their stereos, yell plans to friends and celebrate the fact that the weekend has finally arrived. USD's Maher Hall is, for nine months of the year, a central location for such Friday afternoon festivities. But even as the freshman men who call Maher Hall home race through the lobby, armed with surfboards and unbridled enthusiasm, the door to the office of USD President Author E. Hughes remains open. There is little doubt that the periodic shouts and pound– ing footsteps can be heard in what is supposed to be a sanctuary for USD's chief administrator. Yet through countless Fridays spanning a quarter century, his door, tucked unobtrusively into a corner of the foyer, has not been closed. "There's something about a man who chooses to have his office in a freshman men's residence hall," says John Trifiletti '78, USD's director of alumni and parent relations, a personal friend of Hughes and a one-time resident of Maher (then DeSales) Hall. "It speaks volumes about the faith he has in the quality of the students." It speaks volumes about the man himself as well. Hughes invites the freshman residents of Maher Hall to an open forum each year, discussing whatever concerns or questions they may have. But the meeting also communicates, in the low-key man– ner that is Art Hughes' trademark, that there is work going on in Maher Hall. Not surprisingly, there have been few problems over the years. The relative peace is due in large part to the quiet authority that emanates from Hughes, a man who doesn't ask for respect, but earns it. "On one occasion, the dorms got pretty raucous," says La Verne Hanscom, who worked as Hughes' secretary for more

than 15 years. "Dr. Hughes didn't say a word; he just got up and stood in the window. Things quieted down fairly quickly." Such patience might not be shown by another administrator in a different place. But it reflects Art Hughes' faith that given the chance, people will do what is right. That simple principle has marked his career and his life. It is one of the cornerstones on which he has helped build the spirit and sense of values that permeates Alcala Park. And while students are understandably prone to get carried away on Friday afternoons, the open door to Hughes' office demonstrates his unwavering faith that they will respect him as he respects them. c5!lfiatding W<§JW; @ne J!Jf/mro:n ttf a ~ ·me open entrance to Hughes' Maher Hall office is more than ·ust a message to students. It is the physical manifestation of the attitude that USD's president has brought to his job for 24 years. Faculty, staff, students and friends of the university, when asked to comment on their experiences with Hughes, inevitably praise his openness to ideas, comments, criticisms and suggestions. In a society where people at the top are nearly impossible to reach, Hughes has remained accessible. "There's never a question about getting in to see him," says Phil Hwang, a longtime professor at USD's School of Education. "The university has always been run on a very personal level." That personal touch has become Hughes' hallmark. He treats each person he meets with an unforced, genuine warmth that most of us reserve for family and close friends. He likes people, and people like him. "As a student, I remember the way he strode up and down Marian Way, always greeting students as if he knew each and every one of them personally," says Harley Sefton '76, now a

1972

1971

• Merger of College for Women and College for Men finalized. • School of Business Administration and School of Education founded. 1973 • First foreign summer law institute - Paris. • School of Business Administration initiates M.B.A. program.

• Author E. Hughes selected as president of USD from field of 237 applicants.

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