Clark Kerr, the renowned University of California president who
in the 1960s oversaw the system’s first tidal wave of enrollment
and the Free Speech Movement that ultimately led to his firing, has
died. He was 92.
Kerr died Monday afternoon due to complications from a fall,
according to a statement by UC Berkeley.
Kerr was president of the UC from 1958 to 1967, a time of
enrollment growth as a result of college-bound baby boomers,
orchestrating the opening of the San Diego, Irvine and Santa Cruz
campuses.
Reagan used the Berkeley Free Speech Movement in his campaign
for governor in 1966, promising to do what Kerr couldn’t – sweep
demonstrators out of Berkeley. After winning the election, Reagan
used his new position as president of the UC Board of Regents to
orchestrate Kerr’s firing in January 1967.
In 2002, the San Francisco Chronicle reported that the FBI had
targeted Kerr as part of an extensive campaign to suppress people
at the UC deemed subversive. President Johnson had picked Kerr to
become his secretary of Health, Education and Welfare. But the FBI
background check on Kerr included damaging information the bureau
knew to be false, and Johnson withdrew the nomination, according to
FBI documents obtained by the newspaper.
Before serving as president, Kerr was chancellor at UC Berkeley.
Two years later, he led the effort to devise the Master Plan for
Higher Education, which mapped out access and institutional roles
of public California colleges.
Trouble erupted in 1964, when Berkeley students led the Free
Speech Movement, protesting a ban on political activities on
campus. On Dec. 2, nearly 800 students were arrested at a
sit-in.
Kerr’s successor as Berkeley chancellor had wanted to take a
hard line with the protesters. Kerr disagreed, and his stance
eventually led to his firing.
Kerr obtained a bachelor’s degree from Swarthmore College, a
master’s from Stanford University and his doctorate in economics
from the University of California, Berkeley.
He taught at a number of universities before settling
permanently in Berkeley in 1945 as associate professor of
industrial relations and founding director of the Institute of
Industrial Relations.
Four years later, as the Cold War took hold, professors were
ordered to sign a loyalty oath repudiating communism or they lose
their jobs. Kerr signed, but took a strong stand with regents
against firing faculty who didn’t.
From Daily Bruin staff and wire services.