Interview with C. Oran Little, December 13, 2001

Interview Summary

C. Oran Little, former Dean of the College of Agriculture, discusses the differences between the College of Agriculture and the rest of the university. He emphasizes that the students of the College of Agriculture are not just the ones in the classrooms on campus, but that their students include farm families throughout the state. Little describes how this point is often missed by politicians who believe that the university is over-funded. Little talks about the climate of the university during Otis Singletary's presidency. He also remembers that he was very satisfied with the fact that Singletary and Bud Cochran were looking towards what the university would be in the future. Little describes the history of the substation at Princeton in Western Kentucky. He talks about UK's purchase of the Main Chance Farm and the controversy which surrounded this purchase due to UK's interest in developing the land. Little states that UK's College of Agriculture began needing more land for their research facilities during the 1960s, since so much land around campus was being developed. He describes how the purchase of the Coldstream Farm replaced the land lost when the medical center was built. Little recalls the successes of the research facilities at the Main Chance Farm with the development of equine vaccines. Little also talks about the purchase of "South Farm" a small piece of land off of Nicholasville Road in Lexington, and remembers that land was sold to build the Plant Sciences Building on campus. Little discusses other public policy debates with which the College of Agriculture was involved. He recalls the controversy in 1974 over the damming of the River Red, which became a political debate between Governor Ford and Senator Cook. UK's College of Agriculture became involved when two faculty members privately published a report against the building of a dam. Little talks about his views on academic freedom and conflicts of interests especially for professors who serve as consultants. Little also describes the facilities in the Garrigus Building (Agricultural Sciences Building South).

Interview LC Subject

Little, C. Oran (Charles Oran), 1935- Little, C. Oran (Charles Oran), 1935- --Interviews University of Kentucky University of Kentucky--History University of Kentucky. College of Agriculture

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