SAN FRANCISCO ““ University of California President Richard
Atkinson, who in the past seven years led the UC through a term
marked by high rates of university growth and intense debates over
admissions policies, announced Wednesday that he plans to
retire.
At a meeting of the UC Board of Regents, Atkinson, who is 73,
said he will remain at his position until next October.
After spending 27 years in top positions at the National Science
Foundation, UC San Diego, and all throughout the UC system, it was
time to bring his career to a close, he said, adding he wants to
spend more time with his family.
"It also is time … for my grandchildren to see more of their
grandfather," Atkinson said.
After addressing the board, Atkinson received an enthusiastic
standing ovation from regents and university officials, many of
whom said they greeted the news with some sadness.
“He’s been an outstanding president and I’m
very sorry to see him (go),” said Regent John Davies.
Davies’ praise for Atkinson’s achievements were
echoed by several others.
“I believe he’s done a brilliant job,” said
UCLA Chancellor Albert Carnesale.
Atkinson took office in October 1995, less than three full
months after the regents adopted SP-1 and SP-2, which prohibited
the university from considering race, gender or ethnicity in
university admissions, hiring, and contracting.
Though Atkinson disagreed with the regents’ decision, his
leadership at this time was praised Wednesday by Regent Ward
Connerly, original proponent of the controversial policies that
were rescinded in May 2001.
“(Atkinson) has steered the university through some very
difficult times,” said Connerly, who added that “We
could have come unravelled totally eight years ago.”
When asked what he considered the most difficult part of his
presidency, Atkinson described the affirmative action debate as a
“complicated aspect.”
The UC adopted several initiatives to reframe the admissions
process after SP-1 and Proposition 209, which prevented entities
which receive state funds from using racial preferences to seek
diversity in admissions or hiring.
During Atkinson’s tenure, the UC approved plans to extend
eligibility to students in the top 4 percent of their graduating
high school classes, use a comprehensive review admissions policy,
and implement dual admissions, a plan that facilitates transfers
into the UC system.
In February of 2001, Atkinson made headlines by arguing that the
SAT ““ taken by nearly 2 million college-hopefuls annually
““ did not suit the UC’s needs.
Saying the tests forced students to study word riddles and
enigmatic math problems instead of reading poetry and practicing
chemistry, Atkinson led the opposition side of a nationwide debate
against the standardized test.
In response to the possibility of losing support from the UC,
its largest customer, the College Board announced in May it would
change the test by dropping analogies and adding a writing section
worth as many points as existing math and verbal sections.
Regent Velma Montoya described Atkinson’s work on
admissions initiatives as an effort to “buckle-down”
and help underrepresented students and applicants from low
socio-economic backgrounds get into a UC.
Atkinson spent much of his career in academia, which he entered
in the late 1950s after serving in the Army.
He was on the faculty at Stanford from 1956 until 1980, a period
interrupted only by a 3-year stint at UCLA, where he studied
cognitive psychology.
In 1975, President Gerald Ford appointed Atkinson deputy
director of the National Science Foundation, a federal agency
created to promote scientific research. He was promoted to the top
position in 1976 by President Jimmy Carter.
At the NSF, he negotiated the first ever memorandum of
understanding between the United States and People’s Republic
of China, when the two countries made an agreement to exchange
scientists and academics.
Atkinson left Washington and returned to the West Coast in 1980,
when he became Chancellor at UCSD and where he remained for the
next 15 years.
Atkinson has also received several honors from his colleagues
and has been elected to multiple prestigious bodies, including the
National Academy of Sciences. A mountain in Antarctica bears his
name.
As UC President, Atkinson has faced more than just the
controversy surrounding affirmative action and admissions
policies.
As the UC faces an expected influx of 50,000 students by 2010
““ dubbed Tidal Wave II ““ Atkinson has led the
university to approve a new undergraduate campus in Merced, the
first new UC campus to be built since the 1960s.
Plans to expand existing schools included the Mission Bay campus
at UC San Francisco. The UC also extended its out-of-state presence
by establishing the UC Washington Center, which gives UC students
the chance to study politics on Capitol Hill.
Before Wednesday, Atkinson had not revealed to the regents or
any of the chancellors his decision to retire, said UC press aide
Michael Reese.
However, Jordan Rasmussen, a press aide for Gov. Gray Davis,
said Atkinson did tell the governor what his plans were before he
made them public.
A special committee to select the UC’s next president will
be formed by Regents Chairman John Moores.
Whoever is chosen as the next president will have to lead the UC
through not only Tidal Wave II, but also severe budget
difficulties, issues Atkinson himself will contend with during his
remaining months in office.
“˜He’s got a great deal to do in the next 10
months,” Carnesale said.