The Pursuit of Knowledge: Speeches and Papers of Richard C. Atkinson

Tradition at the University of California

63 Tradition at the University of California Regents’ Dinner September 1998 Let me add my welcome to the one you’ve already received from the chairman of the Board of Regents. A special welcome to the leaders of the business community who are joining us this evening. You are all individuals who have made important contributions to the University of California and to your communities , and this is an opportunity to thank you and to get to know you a little better. ThesearegoodtimesfortheUniversityofCalifornia.Although we face some major challenges—among them ensuring diversity in a post–Proposition 209 world—it is clear that U.C. is a remarkably strong institution. We have a superb faculty. The quality of our students is better than at any point in our history. Our research programs are outstanding and highly competitive; U.C.’s share of federal contract and grant funds is greater than it has ever been. Despite a decade that has brought California more deficits than surpluses, we have maintained the quality of the University. Our most recent budget from the State of California provides for a 15.6 percent increase, the largest in many years. This re- flects not only California’s returning economic vigor but also the fact that the governor, the legislature, and the public believe that U.C. contributes to the quality of life in this state. And apparently our alumni and friends agree: for the fourth year in a row, private giving reached record levels. Tonight, I want to talk briefly about one of the important contributors to U.C.’s success: the traditions that have made this a distinguished institution and that have sustained us in good times and in bad. I spoke recently about this topic to the members of the Order of the Golden Bear on the Berkeley campus, on the occasion of my initiation into that body. The Order of the Golden Bear is first and foremost a student organization, although over the years it has come to include some faculty, alumni, and staff among its members. It is itself one of U.C.’s wonderful traditions, having been founded by President Benjamin Ide Wheeler in 1900. U.C. was still a young institution in 1900, and Wheeler had high ambitions and a strong commitment to quality. He was one of the presidents who put U.C. on the road to international recognition. Yet I doubt that Wheeler, or anyone else in 1900, could have imagined the size, scope, and significance U.C. would attain a century later. It would be interesting, from today ’s perspective, to speculate on the significance U.C. will have one hundred years hence. I told the members of the Order that though there are many University traditions—Charter Day, the U.C. hymn, and so forth—I would focus on three. 64 / The University of California Tradition at U.C. / 65 The first tradition is free speech—the proposition that a university must be an open marketplace for ideas. We stuttered occasionally along the way, especially during the loyalty-oath controversy in the 1950s, but with few exceptions U.C. has lived by the highest standards in this domain. The second tradition is shared governance—the idea that responsibility for the University is a partnership among faculty, administration, and Regents. It is no accident that the University of California’s first real steps toward greatness coincided with the introduction of shared governance over seventy-five years ago. It has played a pivotal role in the University’s history and in the history of American higher education. In embracing shared governance, U.C. pioneered a path that other universities were to follow. Most American universities now agree on the importance of shared governance, even though the specific processes and mechanisms may vary from those at the University of California. The third tradition is academic excellence. Among universities generally, U.C.’s level of quality is unusual. Among public universities, it is unique. And that quality exists across an entire system of nine (soon to be ten) campuses, not just one or two. I am convinced that during the terrible budget years of the early 1990s, the University’s tradition of excellence was a powerful factor in the loyalty displayed by so many distinguished faculty members who could easily have gone elsewhere but chose to stay. Further, U.C.’s excellence is...