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Chapter 11: Final Years at the University of Washington
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180 FinalYears at the University of Washington My training and background in the U.S. Army helped me enormously in dealing with the issues I faced as vice president for minority affairs. Having gone into combat in Korea as a young rifle platoon leader and led men into battle, I had a keen sense of how to treat and care for soldiers under my command. This leadership sense had made me bold and aggressive, and at the University of Washington I was not intimidated in confrontations with students, staff, or administrators. I know the students—who, after all, were almost the same age as those soldiers— sensed that I would stand my ground and say my piece. One student said, “Sam Kelly—he ain’t ’fraid of nobody. I think he still cuts!” That was true; nothing anyone could say or do frightened me. Let me hasten to add that the success of the Office of Minority Affairs came not just from my leadership but from a remarkably dedicated staff who supported me and worked without reservation on behalf of the students. Together, Bill Hilliard and I went through more battles at the University of Washington than I had faced in Korea. I must also give credit to people in the oma office such as Bill Baker, Cathy Bryant, Sandra Fujita, Larry Gossett, Sharon Maeda, Larry Matsuda, and Gertrude Peoples, all of whom helped me accomplish so much during my six-year tenure as vice president for minority affairs. I was particularly successful with the central administration and the board of regents. Some people resented that success, thinking, “That Sam Kelly can get anything he wants.” I did nothing to dissuade them from believing that. I had direct access to some of the regents, among them, Jim Ellis, Dr. Robert L. Flennaugh, Mary Gates, and George V. Powell, during most of my years with the Office of Minority Affairs. If I had a particular concern, I was not averse to calling one or two of the regents I was close to and letting them know, “I really want your support, and here’s what we’re trying to do.” I briefed the entire board ChAPtEr 11 181 FinalYears at the University of Washington of regents at least once a year and hosted an annual dinner for them at my home. UW vice presidents came for dinner, and I sat in the president ’s box for football games together with the president’s cabinet and the regents. I attended official dinners and teas, as President Odegaard sought to expose me to an assortment of influential people. He also arranged for me to meet leading elected officials, many of whom I eventually came to know on a first-name basis. He went out of his way to indicate my importance to his administration and to him personally. I was moving in powerful company. I didn’t have any serious difficulty with the president’s cabinet or with individual vice presidents that could not be hashed out before our cabinet meetings. Although some were surprised that Dr. Odegaard had brought me in as a vice president, they quickly figured out that I was in contact with him on a variety of issues and that, every Wednesday morning at the cabinet meeting, I would be voicing my opinion on what needed to be done to help integrate students of color into the University of Washington. StUDENt OrGANIZAtIONS I dealt with all the ethnic student groups and attended meetings of the Native American Students Organization, the Asian American Student Coalition, and mecha. I had the trust of the Native American, Asian American, and black students, but I could never quite reach the Chicano students. The student organization most supportive of my work at the University of Washington was the Black Student Union. Early on, I won the trust of the bsu student members and every bsu president, beginning with the first one, Wade Hill. From the day they first saw me mediate an agreement between them and President Odegaard over closing the university to memorialize the students killed at Jackson State on May 14, 1970, they knew they could trust me. They saw that my position on many major issues was the same as theirs. The Black Student Union and I did not always agree, but we always tried to find common ground. The students said, “This is a man we can trust. You’d better not say anything negative about Sam Kelly.” I have...