Education: The Emperor of U.T.

Frank C. Erwin Jr. is the biggest booster the University of Texas has. His Cadillac is orange and white—the school colors—and he dotes on the national-champion Longhorn football team. He is a tireless money raiser and wants nothing less than to make the U.T. system the best in the country. He has no patience with anyone or anything he considers damaging to his beloved alma mater—and since Erwin is chairman of the university's board of regents, his antagonists are automatically on red alert.

Erwin cannot, for instance, abide student dissent, even the relatively...