Clark Kerr
Encyclopedia
Clark Kerr was an American professor of economics and academic administrator. He was the first chancellor
of the University of California, Berkeley
and twelfth president of the University of California
.
from Swarthmore College
in 1932, an M.A.
from Stanford University
in 1933, and a Ph.D.
in economics from UC Berkeley in 1939. In 1945, he became an associate professor of industrial relations and was the founding director of the Institute of Industrial Relations.
adopted an anti-communist loyalty oath to be signed by all University of California employees. Kerr signed the oath, but fought against the firing of those who refused to sign. Kerr gained respect from his stance and was named UC Berkeley's first chancellor when that position was created in 1952. As chancellor, Kerr oversaw the construction of 12 high-rise dormitories. In September, 1953, President Dwight D. Eisenhower
appointed him to the Commission on Intergovernmental Relations
.
, Irvine
, and Santa Cruz
to accommodate the influx of baby boom
ers. Faced with a dramatic increase of students entering college, Kerr helped establish the now much-copied California system
of having the handful of University of California
campuses act as 'top tier' research institutions, the more numerous California State University
campuses handle the bulk of undergraduate students and the very numerous California Community College campuses provide vocational and transfer-oriented college programs to the remainder.
In 1959, Kerr along with Chancellor Glenn T. Seaborg
helped found the Berkeley Space Sciences Laboratory
.
Controversy exploded in 1964 when Berkeley students led the Free Speech Movement
in protest of regulations limiting political activities on campus, including Civil Rights advocacy and protests against the Vietnam war
. It culminated in hundreds of arrested students at a sit-in. Kerr’s initial decision was to not expel University of California students that participated in sit-ins off campus. That decision evolved into reluctance to expel students who later would protest on campus in a series of escalating events on the Berkeley campus in late 1964. Kerr was criticized both by students for not agreeing to their demands and by conservative UC Regent Edwin Pauley and others for responding too leniently to the student unrest.
released documents that had Kerr blacklisted as part of a campaign to suppress people at UC deemed subversive. This information had been classified by the FBI and was only released after a fifteen-year legal battle that went all the way to the US Supreme Court. President Lyndon Johnson had picked Kerr to become secretary of Health, Education and Welfare but withdrew the nomination after the FBI background check on Kerr included damaging information the agency knew to be false.
Edwin Pauley approached the CIA Director John McCone
(a Berkeley alum and associate) for assistance. McCone in turn met with FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover
. Hoover agreed to supply Pauley with confidential FBI information on "ultra-liberal" regents, faculty members, and students, and to assist in removing Kerr. Pauley received dozens of briefings from the FBI to this end. The FBI assisted Pauley and Ronald Reagan
in painting Kerr as a dangerous "liberal."
Kerr's perceived leniency was key in Reagan's election as Governor of California
in 1966 and in Kerr's dismissal as president by the university’s Board of Regents in 1967. In response, Kerr stated that he left the university just as he entered it: "fired with enthusiasm."
Kerr’s second memoir, The Gold and the Blue: A Personal Memoir of the University of California
, 1949-1967 Volume Two: Political Turmoil details what he refers to as his greatest blunders in dealing with the Free Speech Movement
that ultimately led to his firing.
Following his dismissal, Kerr served on the Carnegie Commission on Higher Education until 1973 and was chairman of the Carnegie Council on Policy Studies in Higher Education from 1974 to 1979.
Kerr also served as Chairman, 1984 USPS National Agreement arbitration chairman—and then joined the USPS panel of national contract arbitrators.
, following complications from a fall.
, U.C. Santa Barbara
, U.C. Santa Cruz
, and U.C. Berkeley.
The Berkeley facility is located a few blocks from the main campus, and includes residences and sports practice facilities. The Spanish-style residential complex houses 700 students and features landscaped gardens and a conference center. It was previously the site of the California School for the Deaf and Blind
, and was acquired by The University after a court battle. (The University was not a party to the case. It was offered the site after the Schools for the Deaf and Blind relinquished it to the State as surplus property.)
The Clark Kerr Medal
is named in his honor.
Another legacy was his wit—after writing a serious book "The Uses of the University", Kerr surprised an audience with this riposte--"The three purposes of the University?--To provide sex for the students, sports for the alumni, and parking for the faculty."
And after being fired by California's Governor (future President) Ronald Reagan, Kerr responded that he left office as he had begun--"Fired with enthusiasm".
Chancellor (education)
A chancellor or vice-chancellor is the chief executive of a university. Other titles are sometimes used, such as president or rector....
of the University of California, Berkeley
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...
and twelfth president of the University of California
University of California
The University of California is a public university system in the U.S. state of California. Under the California Master Plan for Higher Education, the University of California is a part of the state's three-tier public higher education system, which also includes the California State University...
.
Early years
Kerr was born in Stony Creek, Pennsylvania, and earned his A.B.Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
from Swarthmore College
Swarthmore College
Swarthmore College is a private, independent, liberal arts college in the United States with an enrollment of about 1,500 students. The college is located in the borough of Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, 11 miles southwest of Philadelphia....
in 1932, an M.A.
Master's degree
A master's is an academic degree granted to individuals who have undergone study demonstrating a mastery or high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice...
from Stanford University
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
in 1933, and a Ph.D.
Doctor of Philosophy
Doctor of Philosophy, abbreviated as Ph.D., PhD, D.Phil., or DPhil , in English-speaking countries, is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities...
in economics from UC Berkeley in 1939. In 1945, he became an associate professor of industrial relations and was the founding director of the Institute of Industrial Relations.
U.C. Berkeley
During the McCarthy era in 1949, the Regents of the University of CaliforniaRegents of the University of California
The Regents of the University of California make up the governing board of the University of California. The Board has 26 full members:* The majority are appointed by the Governor of California for 12-year terms....
adopted an anti-communist loyalty oath to be signed by all University of California employees. Kerr signed the oath, but fought against the firing of those who refused to sign. Kerr gained respect from his stance and was named UC Berkeley's first chancellor when that position was created in 1952. As chancellor, Kerr oversaw the construction of 12 high-rise dormitories. In September, 1953, President Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower was the 34th President of the United States, from 1953 until 1961. He was a five-star general in the United States Army...
appointed him to the Commission on Intergovernmental Relations
Commission on Intergovernmental Relations
The Commission on Intergovernmental Relations was created by an act of the United States Congress on July 10, 1953, to make recommendations for the solution of problems involving federal and state governments...
.
University of California regents
In 1958, Kerr was the Regents' choice to lead the entire university system. His term as UC president saw the opening of campuses in San DiegoUniversity of California, San Diego
The University of California, San Diego, commonly known as UCSD or UC San Diego, is a public research university located in the La Jolla neighborhood of San Diego, California, United States...
, Irvine
University of California, Irvine
The University of California, Irvine , founded in 1965, is one of the ten campuses of the University of California, located in Irvine, California, USA...
, and Santa Cruz
University of California, Santa Cruz
The University of California, Santa Cruz, also known as UC Santa Cruz or UCSC, is a public, collegiate university; one of ten campuses in the University of California...
to accommodate the influx of baby boom
Baby boom
A baby boom is any period marked by a greatly increased birth rate. This demographic phenomenon is usually ascribed within certain geographical bounds and when the number of annual births exceeds 2 per 100 women...
ers. Faced with a dramatic increase of students entering college, Kerr helped establish the now much-copied California system
California Master Plan for Higher Education
The California Master Plan for Higher Education of 1960 was developed by a survey team appointed by the UC Regents and the State Board of Education during the administration of Governor Pat Brown. Clark Kerr, then the President of UC, was a key figure in its development...
of having the handful of University of California
University of California
The University of California is a public university system in the U.S. state of California. Under the California Master Plan for Higher Education, the University of California is a part of the state's three-tier public higher education system, which also includes the California State University...
campuses act as 'top tier' research institutions, the more numerous California State University
California State University
The California State University is a public university system in the state of California. It is one of three public higher education systems in the state, the other two being the University of California system and the California Community College system. It is incorporated as The Trustees of the...
campuses handle the bulk of undergraduate students and the very numerous California Community College campuses provide vocational and transfer-oriented college programs to the remainder.
In 1959, Kerr along with Chancellor Glenn T. Seaborg
Glenn T. Seaborg
Glenn Theodore Seaborg was an American scientist who won the 1951 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for "discoveries in the chemistry of the transuranium elements", contributed to the discovery and isolation of ten elements, and developed the actinide concept, which led to the current arrangement of the...
helped found the Berkeley Space Sciences Laboratory
Space Sciences Laboratory
The Space Sciences Laboratory is an Organized Research Unit of the University of California, Berkeley. It is located in the Berkeley Hills above the university campus...
.
Student protests
Free Speech Movement
The Free Speech Movement was a student protest which took place during the 1964–1965 academic year on the campus of the University of California, Berkeley under the informal leadership of students Mario Savio, Brian Turner, Bettina Aptheker, Steve Weissman, Art Goldberg, Jackie Goldberg, and...
in protest of regulations limiting political activities on campus, including Civil Rights advocacy and protests against the Vietnam war
Opposition to the Vietnam War
The movement against US involvment in the in Vietnam War began in the United States with demonstrations in 1964 and grew in strength in later years. The US became polarized between those who advocated continued involvement in Vietnam, and those who wanted peace. Peace movements consisted largely of...
. It culminated in hundreds of arrested students at a sit-in. Kerr’s initial decision was to not expel University of California students that participated in sit-ins off campus. That decision evolved into reluctance to expel students who later would protest on campus in a series of escalating events on the Berkeley campus in late 1964. Kerr was criticized both by students for not agreeing to their demands and by conservative UC Regent Edwin Pauley and others for responding too leniently to the student unrest.
Blacklisting
In 2002, the FBIFederal Bureau of Investigation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is an agency of the United States Department of Justice that serves as both a federal criminal investigative body and an internal intelligence agency . The FBI has investigative jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crime...
released documents that had Kerr blacklisted as part of a campaign to suppress people at UC deemed subversive. This information had been classified by the FBI and was only released after a fifteen-year legal battle that went all the way to the US Supreme Court. President Lyndon Johnson had picked Kerr to become secretary of Health, Education and Welfare but withdrew the nomination after the FBI background check on Kerr included damaging information the agency knew to be false.
Edwin Pauley approached the CIA Director John McCone
John McCone
John Alexander McCone was an American businessman and politician who served as Director of Central Intelligence during the height of the Cold War.- Background :...
(a Berkeley alum and associate) for assistance. McCone in turn met with FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover
J. Edgar Hoover
John Edgar Hoover was the first Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation of the United States. Appointed director of the Bureau of Investigation—predecessor to the FBI—in 1924, he was instrumental in founding the FBI in 1935, where he remained director until his death in 1972...
. Hoover agreed to supply Pauley with confidential FBI information on "ultra-liberal" regents, faculty members, and students, and to assist in removing Kerr. Pauley received dozens of briefings from the FBI to this end. The FBI assisted Pauley and Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....
in painting Kerr as a dangerous "liberal."
Kerr's perceived leniency was key in Reagan's election as Governor of California
Governor of California
The Governor of California is the chief executive of the California state government, whose responsibilities include making annual State of the State addresses to the California State Legislature, submitting the budget, and ensuring that state laws are enforced...
in 1966 and in Kerr's dismissal as president by the university’s Board of Regents in 1967. In response, Kerr stated that he left the university just as he entered it: "fired with enthusiasm."
Kerr’s second memoir, The Gold and the Blue: A Personal Memoir of the University of California
University of California
The University of California is a public university system in the U.S. state of California. Under the California Master Plan for Higher Education, the University of California is a part of the state's three-tier public higher education system, which also includes the California State University...
, 1949-1967 Volume Two: Political Turmoil details what he refers to as his greatest blunders in dealing with the Free Speech Movement
Free Speech Movement
The Free Speech Movement was a student protest which took place during the 1964–1965 academic year on the campus of the University of California, Berkeley under the informal leadership of students Mario Savio, Brian Turner, Bettina Aptheker, Steve Weissman, Art Goldberg, Jackie Goldberg, and...
that ultimately led to his firing.
Following his dismissal, Kerr served on the Carnegie Commission on Higher Education until 1973 and was chairman of the Carnegie Council on Policy Studies in Higher Education from 1974 to 1979.
Kerr also served as Chairman, 1984 USPS National Agreement arbitration chairman—and then joined the USPS panel of national contract arbitrators.
Personal life
Kerr was married to Catherine Spaulding on Christmas Day, 1934. They had three children; Clark E., Jr., Alexander, and Caroline Gage. He died in his sleep in El Cerrito, CaliforniaEl Cerrito, California
-Transportation:The city's primary transportation infrastructure consists of the El Cerrito Plaza and El Cerrito del Norte BART stations along with several local bus lines, operated by AC Transit, providing access to the surrounding area and the nearby cities of Albany, Berkeley and Richmond...
, following complications from a fall.
Legacy and honors
There are Kerr Halls on the campuses of U.C. DavisUniversity of California, Davis
The University of California, Davis is a public teaching and research university established in 1905 and located in Davis, California, USA. Spanning over , the campus is the largest within the University of California system and third largest by enrollment...
, U.C. Santa Barbara
University of California, Santa Barbara
The University of California, Santa Barbara, commonly known as UCSB or UC Santa Barbara, is a public research university and one of the 10 general campuses of the University of California system. The main campus is located on a site in Goleta, California, from Santa Barbara and northwest of Los...
, U.C. Santa Cruz
University of California, Santa Cruz
The University of California, Santa Cruz, also known as UC Santa Cruz or UCSC, is a public, collegiate university; one of ten campuses in the University of California...
, and U.C. Berkeley.
The Berkeley facility is located a few blocks from the main campus, and includes residences and sports practice facilities. The Spanish-style residential complex houses 700 students and features landscaped gardens and a conference center. It was previously the site of the California School for the Deaf and Blind
California School for the Blind
The California School for the Blind is a public educational institution for blind children, K-12, located in Fremont, California. Its campus is located next to the California School for the Deaf.- History :...
, and was acquired by The University after a court battle. (The University was not a party to the case. It was offered the site after the Schools for the Deaf and Blind relinquished it to the State as surplus property.)
The Clark Kerr Medal
Clark Kerr Medal
Clark Kerr Medal or the Clark Kerr Award for Distinguished Leadership in Higher Education is an award given to a person who has made an exlempary contribution to the advancement of higher education. The award is given by the Academic Senate of the University of California, Berkeley.Past recipients...
is named in his honor.
Another legacy was his wit—after writing a serious book "The Uses of the University", Kerr surprised an audience with this riposte--"The three purposes of the University?--To provide sex for the students, sports for the alumni, and parking for the faculty."
And after being fired by California's Governor (future President) Ronald Reagan, Kerr responded that he left office as he had begun--"Fired with enthusiasm".
External links
- U.C. Berkeley news release
- San Francisco Chronicle, "Reagan, Hoover, and the UC Red Scare," 9 June 2002.
- AP obituary
- NPR All Things Considered - Educator Clark Kerr Dies at 92
- account of secret files of the FBI on Kerr, and Kerr's ouster.
- In Memoriam at the University of California.