The Gold and the Blue: A Personal Memoir of the University of California, 1949 - 1967: Volume 1, Academic Triumphs

One of the last century's most influential figures in higher education, Clark Kerr was a leading visionary, architect, leader, and fighter for the University of California. Chancellor of the Berkeley campus from 1952 to 1958 and president of the university from 1958 to 1967, Kerr saw the university through its golden years--a time of both great advancement and great conflict. This absorbing memoir is an intriguing insider's account of how the University of California rose to the peak of scientific and scholarly stature and how, under Kerr's unique leadership, the university evolved into the institution it is today. In this first of two volumes, Kerr describes the private life of the university from his first visit to Berkeley as a graduate student at Stanford in 1932 to his dismissal under Governor Ronald Reagan in 1967. Early in his tenure as a professor, the Loyalty Oath issue erupted, and the university, particularly the Berkeley campus, underwent its most difficult upheaval until the onset of the Free Speech Movement in 1964. Kerr discusses many pivotal developments, including the impact of the GI Bill and the evolution of the much-emulated 1960 California Master Plan for Higher Education. He also discusses the movement for universal access to education and describes the establishment and growth of each of the nine campuses and the forces and visions that shaped their distinctive identities. Kerr's perspective of more than fifty years puts him in a unique position to assess which of the academic, structural, and student life innovations of the 1950s and 1960s have proven successful and to consider what lessons about higher education we might learn from that period. The second volume of the memoir will treat the public life of the university and the political context that conditioned its environment. Contents......Page 10 FIgures and Tables......Page 16 Foreword......Page 20 Preface......Page 30 Part I: Introduction......Page 36 Getting to Know Berkeley......Page 38 A Giant Astride the University: An Appreciation of Robert Gordon Sproul......Page 51 Part II: The First Chancellor at Berkeley, 1952-58......Page 56 Answering the Big Question: Who Will Take Berkeley's Place in the Academic Big Six?......Page 58 Defining a Chancellor's Sphere of Actions......Page 74 "The Best Balanced Distinguished University"......Page 91 Getting Ready for the Tidal Wave......Page 106 Improving Facilities for Student Life at Berkeley......Page 125 A New Physical Development Plan for Berkeley......Page 146 Responding to Some Post-Loyalty Oath Legacies......Page 164 Reprise and Prelude: Three Struggles over the University's Orientation--1870, 1900, and 1950......Page 178 Part III: The Presidency of the University: Overarching Issues, 1958-67......Page 186 A New Agenda for the Reorientation of the University......Page 188 A Master Plan for Higher Education in California......Page 207 Moving from Unitary to Pluralistic Decision-Making (1957-59)......Page 226 A Second Look at Decentralization (1965) and a Failed Proposal......Page 241 Reconsiderations......Page 254 Part IV: Nine Campuses......Page 268 Creation of Three Campuses......Page 270 Original Directions and Problems at the New Campuses......Page 289 Mass Transformations and Administered Alterations......Page 302 Innovations and Reactions at Santa Cruz......Page 312 Reconsiderations on Attempts at Academic Change......Page 324 Transformations at Davis and Santa Barbara......Page 337 A Place in the Sun for UCLA......Page 362 Clouds Obscure Berkeley's Sun......Page 382 Part V: Universitywide Innovations......Page 394 Academic Affairs......Page 396 Student Life......Page 410 Structural Adjustments......Page 420 Part VI: Outcomes at the End of the Century......Page 436 Pure Gold and Some Dross......Page 438 Appendix 1: Honor Roll of University Leaders......Page 478 Appendix 2: University of California Administration and Governance......Page 493 Appendix 3: Indicators of Growth in the University of California......Page 505 Appendix 4: List of Documentary Supplements......Page 509 Notes......Page 512 Acknowledgments......Page 534 Credits......Page 542 Index......Page 544

One of the last century's most influential figures in higher education, Clark Kerr was a leading visionary, architect, leader, and fighter for the University of California. Chancellor of the Berkeley campus from 1952 to 1958 and president of the university from 1958 to 1967, Kerr saw the university through its golden years—a time of both great advancement and great conflict. This absorbing memoir is an intriguing insider's account of how the University of California rose to the peak of scientific and scholarly stature and how, under Kerr's unique leadership, the university evolved into the institution it is today.

In this first of two volumes, Kerr describes the private life of the university from his first visit to Berkeley as a graduate student at Stanford in 1932 to his dismissal under Governor Ronald Reagan in 1967. Early in his tenure as a professor, the Loyalty Oath issue erupted, and the university, particularly the Berkeley campus, underwent its most difficult upheaval until the onset of the Free Speech Movement in 1964. Kerr discusses many pivotal developments, including the impact of the GI Bill and the evolution of the much-emulated 1960 California Master Plan for Higher Education. He also discusses the movement for universal access to education and describes the establishment and growth of each of the nine campuses and the forces and visions that shaped their distinctive identities.
Kerr's perspective of more than fifty years puts him in a unique position to assess which of the academic, structural, and student life innovations of the 1950s and 1960s have proven successful and to consider what lessons about higher education we might learn from that period. The second volume of the memoir will treat the public life of the university and the political context that conditioned its environment.

One of the past century's most influential figures in higher education, Clark Kerr was a leading visionary, architect, leader, and fighter for the University of California. Chancellor of the Berkeley campus from 1952 to 1958 and president of the university from 1958 to 1967, Kerr saw the university through its golden years -- a time of both great advancement and great conflict. This absorbing memoir is an intriguing insider's account of how the University of California rose to the peak of scientific and scholarly stature and how, under Kerr's unique leadership, the university evolved into the institution it is today.In this first of two volumes, Kerr describes the private life of the university from his first visit to Berkeley as a graduate student at Stanford in 1932 to his dismissal under Governor Ronald Reagan in 1967. Early in his tenure as a professor, the Loyalty Oath issue erupted, and the university, particularly the Berkeley campus, underwent its most difficult upheaval until the onset of the Free Speech Movement in 1964. Kerr discusses many pivotal developments, including the impact of the GI Bill and the evolution of the much-emulated 1960 California Master Plan for Higher Education. He also discusses the movement for universal access to education and describes the establishment and growth of each of the nine campuses and the forces and visions that shaped their distinctive identities.Kerr's perspective of more than fifty years puts him in a unique position to assess which of the academic, structural, and student-life innovations of the 1950s and 1960s have proved successful and to consider what lessons American higher education might learn from that period. The second volume of the memoir will treat the public life of the university and the political context that conditioned its environment. v. 1. Academic triumphs : a personal memoir of the University of California, 1952-1967 v. 2. Political turmoil. My first visual contact with Berkely was the sight of the Campanile looming up at the end of Telegraph Avenue.