Education and early career Marvin graduated from
Riverside High School and studied at
Stanford University for two years from 1909 to 1911. He gained degrees from the
University of Southern California (A.B.,1915),
Harvard University (A.M, 1917, PhD 1920), and the
University of New Mexico (honorary L.L.D., 1923). He was a World War I veteran. He then taught at the
University of California at Los Angeles, in two years rising from assistant professor to dean and public business adviser. He resigned along with four members of the Board of Regents on January 19, 1927 in a scandal that drew national attention and is still studied in the 21st century. In 1924, three faculty members that had been fired by Marvin appealed to the
American Association of University Professors. The AAUP launched an independent investigation and their report released in November 1924 was critical of Marvin's administration. The report prompted editor Woodson Upshaw's Tucson Daily Independent, then a new weekly newspaper, to begin an editorial campaign against Marvin. This campaign led the Tucson Merchants' Association, strong supporters of Marvin, to begin an advertising boycott of the paper. This should have reduced by the advertising pool by 70%, but had the opposite effect of galvanizing interest in the affair, rallying independent advertisers and the Railroad Brotherhood, and quadrupling the paper's circulation, which quickly became a daily. He established a
School of Government at the George Washington University in 1928 using $1 million donated by the
Supreme Council of the Scottish Rite Masons, Southern Jurisdiction, a Masonic lodge. Under Marvin the number of students doubled and faculty tripled, though over 100 protests were lodged against perceived unfair dismissals. The Research Editor of the
GW Hatchet, Andrew Novak, wrote of Marvin's "persecution of liberals among the faculty, his well-documented support of segregation and his constant disregard for the civil liberties of students". Marvin oversaw the admission of the first black students to George Washington University in 1954; he also oversaw the dismissal of an atheist in 1956, stating that "as a matter of policy, we do not have anyone teaching who does not have faith in God." The
Cloyd Heck Marvin Center at
George Washington University was named after him in February 1970. After decades of protests over Marvin’s racist and antisemitic legacy, the building was renamed on June 29, 2021 as "University Student Center" following the recommendation of a committee of students, faculty, staff and alumni.
Other work Marvin was President of the
National Parks Association 1933–1935, Marvin was deputy director for research and development in the
War Department from September 18, 1946 to August 31, 1947, serving under Major General
Henry Aurand, and he was then a Special Advisor to the Secretary of War, September 1947-9. He received the Department of the Army's Award for Exceptional Achievement for this service. ==Personal life==