Colleagues mourn beloved former dean

Carl Hovde, CC ’50 and dean of Columbia College from 1968 to 1972, passed away last Saturday in New Canaan, Connecticut. He was 84.

The cause was cancer, according to Hovde’s close friend and colleague in the English department Michael Rosenthal, PhD ’67.

“He earned the admiration of students and faculty alike. He had the capacity to exude the rationality of things and negotiate between different views,” Rosenthal said. “He had a sort of inner dignity about him which was able to make things happen.”

Hovde became dean during one of the most turbulent times of Columbia’s history. University plans to build a gymnasium in Morningside Park with a separate entrance for neighborhood residents sparked an uproar among student activists and local protesters. This construction project, a symbol of racial tension as the civil rights movement reached a climax, was countered with sit-ins and rallies met by police violence. The unrest of the ’68 riots poured into the following years and Dean Hovde is said to have played a large role in restoring peace on campus.

Hovde was also a longstanding professor emeritus of English, who specialized in the American wing of the English department and taught Literature Humanities for many years. English professor James Mirollo, MA ’51, PhD ’61 and one of Hovde’s close friends, said that he was a “stalwart of the Core Curriculum and a scrupulous scholar,” who presided as dean when the Core underwent fundamental changes.

The Society of Columbia Graduates awarded Hovde with the Great Teacher Award in 1975. He retired in 1995 and became director of the Friends of the Heyman Center for Humanities. In 1997, Hovde received the Award for Distinguished Service to the Core Curriculum.

Beyond his many career accomplishments, Hovde’s colleagues admire him most for his character. Rosenthal remembers him as “a very altogether special person, a man of immense strength and grace who everyone loves.”

Mirollo added that Hovde was “a delightful colleague and dear friend, much beloved.”

A memorial service will be held in St. Paul’s Chapel on October 22 at 3:30, according to Mirollo, and will feature reminiscences from Hovde’s colleagues, friends, and family. A reception will follow in the Italian Academy.

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