A campus of The California State University

Office of the Academic Senate • One Washington Square • San Jose, California 95192-0024 •408-924-2440 Fax: 408-924-2451

SS-F05-1

At its meeting of August 12, 2005, the Executive Committee of the Academic Senate passed the following Sense of the

Senate Resolution presented by Chair Veregge.

SENSE OF THE SENATE RESOLUTION

HONORING ROBERT D. CLARK, EIGHTEENTH PRESIDENT OF SAN JOSé STATE UNIVERSITY

Whereas, Robert D. Clark, eighteenth President of San José State University, looms large in our history as scholar, administrator and friend, and

Whereas, in his all-too-brief tenure as President from 1964 to1969, he confronted major institutional problems, internal and external, and guided us towards their resolution, and

Whereas, the San José State College over which he presided was still in many respects a teachers' college and Dr. Clark's leadership gave us the structure and substance of a university, and

Whereas, President Clark came to a campus whose Academic Senate had been established only one year earlier and by his willing acceptance of Senate participation in university policy-making set an invaluable precedent for future collegiality, and

Whereas, while the later '60's saw disorder and disruption on most American campuses, Dr. Clark's character, courage and faith in open communication evoked the trust and cooperation of most of our faculty and students and effectively dampened and diminished disorder at San José State, and

Whereas, in 1968, at the Olympic games in Mexico City, when two medal winners from San José State raised their fists as a civil rights protest and provoked a storm of hostility, President Clark stood up to defend the two students and the U. S. Constitution, and

Whereas, Robert D. Clark, after his distinguished service on this campus and then as President of the University of Oregon, departed this life in 2005 in the fullness of his 95 years, and

Whereas, the campus is now adorned by a new library and the Clark Library named for him in 1982 at the unanimous request of the Academic Senate is no longer needed for that purpose, and

Whereas, the rededication of the Clark Library as Clark Hall offers a welcome opportunity to remember and record what Dr. Clark accomplished at San José State University, now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED, by the Academic Senate of San José State University that

1. Robert D. Clark as President of this University was an outstanding leader, not only a scholar but a statesman, who demonstrated in his time here wisdom, integrity, courage and a commitment to principle equaled by few others in the academic world;

2. The Academic Senate calls upon all members of the academic community at San José State to honor Robert Clark’s achievements, adhere to his principles and aspire to his virtues;

3. The Senate requests that President Kassing transmit a copy of this resolution to Dr. Clark’s family and to the University of Oregon for its records.