He was director of logistics plans for the U.S. Navy when he retired to accept the presidency of the College of William & Mary (1951).[3]
Educator (1951–1974)
The Board of Visitors appointed Admiral Chandler president of the College of William & Mary in haste, and outraged the faculty by failing to consult them. His predecessor had been forced out of office following a scandal over changing grades for football players on the college team. After taking office, he instituted uniform admission standards for all students. During his tenure, he oversaw the expansion of the faculty, curriculum changes, and the construction of five new buildings. He left office to become chancellor of the Colleges of William & Mary (1960–1962), until the General Assembly of Virginia made those five public colleges independent. Then he was chancellor of the college (1962–1974).[1][3]
The faculty were unhappy with President Chandler when state law required that they subscribe to loyalty oaths. A star professor decamped for McGill University, and faculty recruiting suffered.[1][12][13]
Students chafed at censorship of their publications, restrictions on drinking, and requirements for chaperones.[12][14]
Death
On 26 May 1987, Alvin died in the Virginia Beach General Hospital, age 84.
^ abc"Education: Change of Command". Time. October 22, 1951. Archived from the original on November 23, 2010. Retrieved 2011-09-06. Rear Admiral Alvin Duke Chandler, 49, director of the Navy's logistics plans division, seemed able, energetic and affable enough, and his father, Julian A. C. Chandler, had been a William and Mary president before him (1919-34). The only thing wrong with Admiral Chandler, the faculty insisted, was the highhanded way he had been chosen.
^ ab"Education: Report Card". Time. August 15, 1955. Archived from the original on December 15, 2008. Retrieved 2011-09-06. Retired Vice Admiral Alvin D. Chandler ran into another squall in his stormy four-year cruise as president of the College of William and Mary. Having alienated most of the students by rigid rules against beer, unchaperoned parties and uncensored student publications, he and the governing Board of Visitors alienated a powerful segment of the faculty by demands for absolute loyalty and a tendency to command the campus as if it were a battleship. Last week one of William and Mary's top men and onetime acting president, Philosopher James W. Miller, resigned because "under its present auspices, there is little hope for the College of William and Mary." Miller will join the faculty of Canada's McGill University.
^"James W. Miller, 91; Professor and Ex-Dean". The New York Times. May 21, 1993. Retrieved 2011-09-07. Dr. James Wilkinson Miller, a professor of philosophy and former dean of the College of William and Mary, died Wednesday... Dr. Miller joined the faculty of William and Mary, in Williamsburg, in 1935 as a professor of philosophy and was chairman of the department of philosophy and humanities until he resigned in 1955. He served briefly as acting president of the college in 1951... As faculty dean from 1938 to 1946, he recruited prominent teachers and introduced topical majors, like journalism, contemporary culture and the nature and development of scientific thought. He also oversaw the college's World War II effort, including the training of navy chaplains and the reception of European refugees... After leaving William and Mary, Dr. Miller was appointed MacDonald Professor of Philosophy at McGill University in Montreal, where he taught until he retired in 1970. He was chairman of the philosophy department there from 1960 to 1964... A native of Marquette, Mich., he was a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of Michigan and earned a Ph.D. from Harvard in 1927...
^Lipscomb, Thomas (February 2, 2007). "Loyalty Oaths Are Back at William and Mary". American Spectator. Retrieved 2011-09-06. In the early 1950s, in the wake of the McCarthy era, state legislatures including Virginia's were pressing oaths of loyalty to the United States on state employees all across America. Faculty members claimed justly that if they had done something treasonous, they should be accused and stand trial, but they should be assumed innocent until proven guilty. One of the most celebrated incidents happened at the College of William and Mary, a little over a half century ago. The much-beloved chairman of the philosophy department, James Miller who had been previously acting-president, resigned because "under its present auspices, there is little hope for the College of William and Mary."The College's President, former Admiral Alvin Duke Chandler with the Board of Visitors behind him, pressured an outraged faculty to sign the oaths. It was a bitter, dishonorable period and badly hurt the College's faculty recruiting and its reputation and fund-raising appeal for many years.
