Entrepreneurial President The publisher gratefully acknowledges the generous support of the General Endowment Fund of the University of California Press Foundation. Entrepreneurial President Richard Atkinson and the University of California, 1995–2003 Patricia A. Pelfrey UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS Berkeley Los Angeles London University of California Press, one of the most distinguished university presses in the United States, enriches lives around the world by advancing scholarship in the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences. Its activities are supported by the UC Press Foundation and by philanthropic contributions from individuals and institutions. For more information, visit www.ucpress.edu. University of California Press Berkeley and Los Angeles, California University of California Press, Ltd. London, England © 2012 by The Regents of the University of California Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Pelfrey, Patricia A. Entrepreneurial President : Richard Atkinson and the University of California, 1995–2003 / Patricia A. Pelfrey. p. cm. isbn 978-0-520-27080-0 (hardback) 1. Atkinson, Richard C. 2. University of California (System)— President—Biography. 3. University of California (System)—History. 4. University of California (System)—Management. 5. Nuclear energy— Research—Laboratories—Management. I. Title. ld755.a87p45 2012 378.0092—dc23 [B] 2011042080 Manufactured in the United States of America 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 In keeping with a commitment to support environmentally responsible and sustainable printing practices, UC Press has printed this book on Rolland Enviro100, a 100% post-consumer fiber paper that is FSC certified, deinked, processed chlorine-free, and manufactured with renewable biogas energy. It is acid-free and EcoLogo certified. Contents Foreword by Karl S. Pister vii About This Book xiii 1. The Evolution of a Crisis 1 2. The Education of a Chancellor 15 3. Who Runs the University? 38 4. Seventeenth President 54 5. A Problem in Search of a Solution 69 6. “A More Inclusive Definition of Merit” 86 7. Reinventing the Economy 100 8. An Idea and Its Consequences 115 9. History’s Coils: The Nuclear Weapons Laboratories 139 10. Presidents and Chancellors 156 11. Epilogue: One University 161 Appendix 1. Regents’ Resolutions SP-1, SP-2, and RE-28 173 Appendix 2. Atkinson Presidency Timeline 177 Appendix 3. University of California Indicators, 1995–2003 186 Notes 189 Select Bibliography 209 Index 215 Foreword I was delighted to be asked by the author to prepare a foreword for her book— a story focused on milestone events in the history of the University of Califor- nia coinciding with the tenure of its seventeenth president, Richard C. Atkinson. While this period represents only 6 percent of the University’s history, its temporal place in the history of our nation and the state of California gives it particular significance.Entrepreneurial President is a story about a university in which I have spent virtually my entire adult life—as student, faculty member, and academic ad- ministrator—and about a man, colleague, and friend for whom I have unmatched respect and admiration. I entered Berkeley as a seventeen-year-old freshman in 1942. Nearly seven decades later, now a triple emeritus at Berkeley, the opportunity to read Patricia Pelfrey’s book brought a special pleasure. I have had the opportu- nity to know and in a variety of different capacities to work or be associated with the last nine presidents of the University. It is from this perspective that I write this foreword. While there is a major focus on the Atkinson presidency—the man himself, the people inside and outside the University with whom he was engaged, and the trials and tribulations he experienced and largely effectively dispatched—there is much more to be found in this book. Pelfrey discusses three major issues—the Univer- sity’s transition to the post–affirmative action age; the expansion of its research enterprise; the controversy over its management of the Los Alamos and Liver- more National Laboratories—always placing them in the larger historical context in which the University evolved. And, for the University of California, there is no shortage of complexity in this context. vii viii Foreword Within the University one must number Regents, faculty, staff, students, and academic administrators as well as alumni. Outside the University are elected of- ficials at all levels, business leaders, and members of the general public. Each of these groups has a tendency to view the president and his actions from a less than broad perspective. Pelfrey’s thirty-two years in the Office of the President—during which time she was challenged to work closely with five presidents of widely dif- fering personalities and styles—afford both a level and a breadth of understanding of everyday life in the Office of the President (UCOP) that few if any possess. The story begins with what might be called the initial conditions that defined a significant part of the evolution of policy and practice in the University through Atkinson’s tenure: the Regents’ adoption of Resolutions SP-1 and SP-2, ending the use of gender, racial, and ethnic preferences in admissions and employment. The oft-quoted remarks of President Daniel Coit Gilman at his inauguration define the issue that consumed the Regents for many months and remain equally chal- lenging today: “It is the University of this State. It must be adapted to this people, to their public and private schools, to their peculiar geographic position, to the requirements of their new society and their undeveloped resources. It is ‘of the people and for the people.’ ” Striving to answer the question Who are the people? is a theme found throughout this book. In January 1995 President Jack Peltason announced his intention to retire the following October. This set off a search process by the Regents marked by the with- drawal of the first choice amid a flurry of bad publicity and a contentious sequel of events surrounding adoption of the two anti–affirmative action resolutions. A divided Board of Regents and an unhappy faculty and student body greeted Rich- ard Atkinson when he assumed the presidency on October 1, 1995. As a very young man Dick Atkinson was shaped by the liberal education he acquired at the Uni- versity of Chicago in the styles of Robert Maynard Hutchins and Mortimer Adler. His graduate work in experimental psychology, strengthened by his passion for and knowledge of mathematics and statistics, led him to Stanford, where he met and was impressed by the dean of engineering, Fred Terman. Two subsequent ap- pointments—as director of the National Science Foundation and as chancellor at UC San Diego—played an important role in defining the character of Atkinson’s presidential style and his approach to dealing with the three issues that are the focus of this book. Atkinson was a man of action who expected the same from his staff. Having known and worked closely with him over a period of three decades, I would add that the intellect of this “man of action” was off-scale among colleagues in the aca- demic world. In conversations I frequently found him completing my sentences and urging me to go on with my business. The knowledge he acquired in fifteen Foreword ix years as chancellor at San Diego, coupled with his record of scholarship and his knowledge of the byzantine concept of shared governance in the University, as- sured his position with the faculty and his fellow chancellors. The passage of resolutions SP-1 and SP-2 during the final months in office of At- kinson’s predecessor placed the new president in command of a ship whose crew showed signs of mutiny and whose owners were divided, riding in storm-tossed waters of politics. Pelfrey carefully leads the reader through this perilous journey with remarkable understanding and attention to detail. As a ship’s officer during this voyage, I can attest to the events and their significance. Although the change in admissions policy dictated by the passage of SP-1 was a matter of record, its ef- fective date was unrealistic in terms of the University’s admissions calendar. The president’s decision, through a series of events, some accidental and some inten- tional, came close to ending his tenure at an early date. The author carefully docu- ments the resulting tension over the issue of presidential authority with respect to the Board of Regents. This is done in the context of the additional dispute that placed many faculty members at odds with the board over the matter of shared governance, namely, the Academic Senate’s delegated authority to recommend the conditions for admission. That the University survived this extremely destructive period in its history is a testament to the quality and commitment to its mission of the people who serve it. One can view a student’s educational preparation for entrance to a university as consisting of traversing a pathway to an admissions gate and then successfully passing through the gate. The Regents’ action changed the passage criteria but left the pathway untouched. Pelfrey explores the efforts to mitigate the serious impact of their action on educationally disadvantaged students in California, including en- gagement of UC campuses with neighboring K–12 schools serving these students. With regard to the gate to admission, for decades the SAT I and SAT II had been considered the gold standard for measuring the probability of success of en- tering students. Atkinson’s scholarly work as a social scientist led him to question the validity of this claim. Here the author traces the many disparate constituencies that weighed in on his proposal to drop the SAT I as a requirement for admission to UC.