UC Berkeley Books Title Earning My Degree: Memoirs of an American University President Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/1r0625vt ISBN 9780520931114 Author Gardner, David P. Publication Date 2005-03-01 License https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ 4.0 eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California EARNING MY DEGREE This page intentionally left blank EARNING MY DEGREE MEMOIRS OF AN AMERICAN UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT DAVID PIERPONT GARDNER WITH A FOREWORD BY VARTAN GREGORIAN UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS BERKELEY LOS ANGELES LONDON University of California Press Berkeley and Los Angeles, California University of California Press, Ltd. London, England © 2005 by The Regents of the University of California Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Gardner, David Pierpont, 1933–. Earning my degree : memoirs of an American university president / David Pierpont Gardner ; with a foreword by Vartan Gregorian. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. isbn 0-520-24183-5 (alk. paper). 1. Gardner, David Pierpont, 1933–. 2. College presidents— United States—Biography. 3. University of California, Berkeley—Presidents—Biography. I. Title. la2317.g25a3 2005 378.1'11—dc22 2004008787 Manufactured in the United States of America 13 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 1110987654 321 The paper used in this publication meets the minimum require- ments of ansi/niso z39.48–1992 (r 1997) (Permanence of Paper). TO MY WIFE, SHEILA, whose encouragement and constant support during the writing of these memoirs made them possible and whose love underpins my life and so enhances its meaning and purpose. TO MY LATE WIFE, LIBBY, whose steady and selfless love made the difference in my life and that of our family’s, and who shared so much of what these mem- oirs recall. TO MY CHILDREN AND GRANDCHILDREN, AND TO MY PARENTS: my mother, whom I hardly knew but whose life and example endures; my stepmother, who helped raise me from age eight with wisdom and love; and my father, whose quiet, steady, and gentle nature guided me over the years. This page intentionally left blank CONTENTS Foreword / ix Preface / xv Acknowledgments / xvii INTRODUCTION. Fiat Lux / 1 1. Youth and Lessons Learned / 7 2. The Apprenticeship Years / 30 3. Serving the University of Utah / 72 4. A Nation at Risk / 104 5. Back to the Blue and Gold / 142 6. The Workings of the University and the Crucial First Year / 174 7. The University on the Move / 210 8. Bumps and Barriers Along the Way / 247 9. The Public and Diplomatic Life / 292 10. Tragedy and Tribulation / 321 EPILOGUE. Years of Renewal and Personal Reflections / 362 APPENDIX 1. UC’s Long-Range Planning Estimates for 1988–2006 by Campus / 377 APPENDIX 2. Text of the Regents’ Action on the Separation of David P. Gardner as President of the University of California, in Special Session, April 20, 1992 / 381 APPENDIX 3. David S. Webster and Tad Skinner’s “Rating PhD Programs: What the NRC Report Says . and Doesn’t Say” on the UC System / 385 APPENDIX 4. University History Series, Regional Oral History Office / 387 APPENDIX 5. Education, Professional Activities, Honors, and Awards, with Bibliography of David P. Gardner / 389 APPENDIX 6. Samples of Articles about or Conversations with David P. Gardner, 1983–1992 / 396 Notes / 397 Credits / 413 Index / 415 Plates follow pages 140 and 300 FOREWORD As I read Gardner’s memoirs—which are also a deep, heartfelt, and loving appreciation of the University of California, which he presided over as pres- ident for almost a decade—I was reminded of what a complex, exhausting, exasperating, and yet exhilarating life one leads when one chooses to spend a good part of one’s career in the field of higher education. While at Brown University, I came to appreciate the former Brown pres- ident (1937–55) Henry Wriston’s description of the president’s job: the pres- ident, he said, is “expected to be an educator, to have been at some time a scholar, to have judgment about finance, to know something about con- struction, maintenance, and labor policy, to speak virtually continuously in words that charm and never offend, to take bold positions with which no one will disagree, to consult everyone, and to follow all proffered advice, and do everything through committees, but with great speed and without error” (Wriston, The Structure of Brown University, 1946). Recently I once again came across Clark Kerr’s somewhat expanded but equally evocative description of the job in his Godkin lectures, which he de- livered in 1963 at Harvard University. He said, “The American university president is expected to be a friend of the students, a colleague of the fac- ulty, a good fellow with the alumni, a sound administrator with the trustees, a good speaker with the public, an astute bargainer with the foundations and the federal agencies, a politician with the state legislature, a friend of industry, labor and agriculture, a persuasive diplomat with donors, a champion of edu- IX FOREWORD cation generally[,] ...a spokesman to the press, a scholar in his own right, a public servant at the state and national levels, a devotee of opera and foot- ball equally, a decent human being, a good husband and father, an active member of a church. He should be firm, yet gentle; sensitive to others, insensitive to himself; look to the past and the future, yet be firmly planted in the present; he should be both visionary and sound; affable, yet reflec- tive; know the value of a dollar and realize that ideas cannot be bought[;] . a good American but ready to criticize the status quo fearlessly; a seeker of truth where the truth may not hurt too much; a source of public-policy pro- nouncements when they do not reflect on his own institution.” David Gard- ner is the embodiment of that multifaceted, multitalented, and apparently tireless human being. It has been a great honor for me to have known David Gardner for some thirty years in his capacity as president of the University of Utah, chairman of the National Commission on Excellence in Education, president of the University of California, president of the William and Flora Hewlett Foun- dation, chairman of the Salt Lake City–based Eccles Foundation, and as a member and later chairman of the board of trustees of the J. Paul Getty Trust. And knowing him for as long as I have, I believe that I am more than qualified to say that the title of his book, Earning My Degree, is too modest, for Gard- ner has earned many degrees, not only in education but also in civic life, in philanthropy, and as a distinguished citizen who has served our nation with dedication, energy, and utter commitment. Many people would have con- sidered themselves lucky—and have been proud, I’m sure—to have headed just one university, or just chaired a famous national commission that liter- ally changed the course of public education in the United States, or presided over just one philanthropic foundation. But Gardner, a native of Berkeley, California—that restless, energetic, intellectual, challenging, and sometimes quixotic place—has played not one or even two but many leadership roles and has had a major influence on the history of higher education in gen- eral and that of California in particular. This book, which is judicious in its analysis, meticulous in its research, well written, and, unlike some others, shares due credit with many colleagues past and present, constitutes a com- prehensive history of the university and of higher education in California. It is also a veritable ode to the University of California, one of the great pub- lic universities, and to its impact on the national, intellectual, social, eco- nomic, and political life of the state and of the country. As David Gardner writes, the aim of these memoirs is to help “illuminate California’s recent past, inform the present, and anticipate the future by re- calling the verve, boldness, confidence, and risk taking that characterized those who went before us and on whose shoulders we now stand.” It is also written in the hope that it will help “those now responsible for its present X FOREWORD and foreseeable future to remember what made the University of California the world’s greatest public university and one of the most remarkable and renowned centers of learning ever known.” These are critical lessons to bear in mind because, as we note in reading the memoirs, to forget the past and to neglect its lesson risks UC’s future; for while it is remarkably resilient and adaptive, it is, like most large, complex, and multilayered institutions, vul- nerable as well. In his memoirs Gardner has done justice to the history of this magnificent, democratic, pluralistic, and public institution, writing from a deep knowl- edge that comes from having served the institution as vice-chancellor, vice president, and then president. The book is also a fitting tribute to his par- ents, his family, and his Mormon upbringing and to the beliefs he was raised with, which hinge on the idea that hard work is the one true way to find life’s rewards. Not only have his upbringing and faith served Gardner well and in- formed every step of his personal life and career, but his book also acquaints us with the values that shaped his early life and that he has drawn on every day since then: the moral and ethical traditions of rural America, family- centeredness, honoring one’s parents, thrift, honesty, education, responsi- ble conduct, self-reliance, self-discipline, and respect for the sensibilities and needs of other members of one’s family and one’s community.