NEW YORK--Michael Sovern, who was inaugurated the 17th president of Columbia University Sunday, takes office with strong faculty and alumni backing, the Columbia Daily Spectator reported.

"Severn is THE Columbia man," the newspaper said of the new president, who graduated summa cum laude from the college in 1952. He was first in his class at the law school three years later and became the youngest full professor in Columbia's history in 1960.

In his inaugural address, Sovern spoke of the kinship between Columbia and New York City and the need to "provide the deepest, broadest, most challenging education we can."

Nothing that "Columbia's schools and colleges pride themselves on educating America's leaders," Sovern added, "The quality of America's public leadership today seems cause more for self-flagellation than for self-congratulation."

Tackling Problems

Universities can help solve the problems facing the world, Sovern said, by teaching students how to grapple with problems and develop solutions.

The Daily Spectator predicted in an editorial that "Under President Sovern's hand, Columbia will prosper." The newspaper added that, "It feels good to be proud of the university in this the start of a new era."