Shannon Jacobs

Been a while since I read it, but I recall it as quite entertaining and honest, for which sins it was basically censored and blacklisted. If I recall correctly, they had asked Frantz to write it for the centennial celebration, but they disliked the results so much that he had to publish it elsewhere. They wanted a hagiography, but the plain truth was all he could write. Some of it was downright hilarious. Short summary: The whole thing was a mistake. The politicians wanted to say they had created a state university because... Well, just because. They didn't want to spend any actual money on it, so they gave the university a bunch of worthless land. Surprise, surprise, surprise. Turned out the land was full of oil, with all sorts of amusing repercussions. Pretty sure that was also the book where I first learned about Robert Lee Moore, the extremely eminent mathematician and racist with a building named for him. (Actually, my own office was in that selfsame building.) He basically refused to retire and kept cranking out leading mathematicians. There was something of a major political power play that finally forced him into full retirement and he died a few months later. (I've always wondered if the great Professor Greenwood was one of his students.)