devastated by military campaigns, in which American and European armies demanded food. For a few years after the war, these prices remained high. But as European agriculture began to improve, an agricultural depression swamped the United States beginning in about 1923. State tax revenues plunged, and fewer buildings were constructed on campus after 1923.
=== The Renne years ===
In 1943, the state board of higher education appointed MSC economist Roland "Rollie" Renne to be the new acting president of the college; he was named the permanent president of the college on 1 July 1944 and served until 1964.
=== University status and campus conservatism ===
In February 1964, Leon H. Johnson was appointed president of MSC. A research chemist who joined the college in 1943, he had most recently been the executive director of the school's Endowed and Research Foundation (at the time, MSC's largest research unit) and Dean of the Graduate Division. Deeply committed to the college's research function, he pushed for …
