[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 25 (Tuesday, March 2, 2004)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E272]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          HONORING CLARK KERR

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. BARBARA LEE

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, March 2, 2004

   Ms. LEE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the man who created the 
blueprint for public higher education in the United States, Clark Kerr. 
On December 1, 2003, Mr. Kerr passed away at the age of 92 in El 
Cerrito, California. The 9th Congressional District salutes and thanks 
him for his tireless and spirited service.
   As the most distinguished American academic administrator of his 
day, and the man who introduced free university tuition in California, 
Clark Kerr was known as the Henry Ford of higher education. His nine-
year tenure as president of the University of California in the 1960s, 
and his earlier chancellorship of the Berkeley campus (1952-58), set 
the standard for American universities.
  After being elected governor in 1967, Ronald Reagan slashed the UC 
budget by 10 percent and threatened to bring in tuition fees. Kerr 
demurred, and was denounced as a sympathizer. Following an illegal 
harassment campaign conducted by the CIA and the FBI, the Board of 
Regents was persuaded to vote 14-8 for Kerr's dismissal. Yet he was 
never bitter, and the student uproar at Berkeley raged on after his 
departure.
  Although offered posts at Harvard and Stanford universities, Kerr 
chose instead to head the Carnegie commission on higher education, 
where he produced a series of publications covering every aspect of 
higher education. These continue to be essential reading for educators, 
but when he left in 1980, the institution closed. Without Kerr, 
apparently, it was inoperable.
  Kerr's earlier master plan for Californian higher education had a big 
impact across the U.S. and brought him renown abroad.
  It established three tuition-free tiers: community colleges offering 
two-year courses; state colleges open to the top third of high school 
graduates and granting bachelor's and master's degrees; and the UC 
system, taking the top eighth of students and able to award doctorates.
  The plan became law in April 1960, immediately making California a 
leader in American higher education, and earning Kerr praise for 
``mass-producing low-cost quality education and research potential for 
a nation that hungered deeply for both''. Later, while at the Carnegie 
commission, he moderated his views on free tuition, reflecting that ``a 
very high proportion of students at UC came from upper-income families. 
This was a free ride for the well-to-do. I now think it is better to 
charge a moderate level of tuition and have a strong program of 
financial aid for those who can't afford it.'' In 1972, Congress 
translated this financial aid program into the Basic Educational 
Opportunity Grant, later known as Pell Grants.
  Kerr's years as UC president coincided with some of the most 
tumultuous periods of student protests. In 1961, he responded to 
complaints that a communist was speaking to Berkeley students by 
declaring that ``the university is not engaged in making ideas safe for 
students. It is engaged in making students safe for ideas.'' As the 
protests became increasingly bitter, however, he found himself caught 
between liberal students and conservative politicians.
  Kerr was born May 17, 1911 in Pennsylvania, the son of an apple 
farmer and a milliner, who imbued their son with a deep respect for 
education. His father was the first member of his family to go to 
university and spoke four languages; his mother had left school at 12 
but postponed getting married until she had saved enough money to fund 
a college education for her future children. Kerr graduated from 
Swarthmore College, where he was president of the student union. He 
also became a Quaker. He took an MA in economics at Stanford, and 
transferred to Berkeley for his PhD before entering the new field of 
labor economics. He taught for a bit at the London School of Economics 
and at Stanford, and then went into labor negotiating, completing 500 
settlements up and down the West Coast. He would later emphasize 
negotiating skills as essential for leading faction-wracked 
universities.
  Kerr returned to Berkeley as an academic in 1945, as many ex-service 
personnel were entering higher education thanks to the GI bill. As the 
cold war gathered momentum, the UC Regents demanded that all professors 
sign a loyalty oath, and this controversy changed Kerr's life. He 
became a powerful advocate of faculty views and, in 1952, his peers 
successfully recommended him for chancellor. During his Berkeley 
leadership, he added eight new residence halls and expanded the 
faculty.
  As head of the entire UC system, he doubled the number of students, 
broadened three specialized campuses and added three new ones--at San 
Diego, Irvine and Santa Cruz--bringing the total to nine. He also wrote 
The Uses of the University (1963), which developed the idea of the 
modern research institution as what Kerr called the ``multiversity''. 
Two volumes of memoirs appeared in 2001 and earlier this year.
  Catherine, his wife of 69 years, survives him, as do two sons and a 
daughter. Finally, as we honor Mr. Kerr today, I want to thank him for 
being a noble visionary and humanitarian. I take great pride in joining 
Clark's family, friends and colleagues to recognize and celebrate the 
accomplishments and contributions of Clark Kerr.

                          ____________________