December 02, 2003

KERR DEAD: Former UC Berkeley

KERR DEAD: Former UC Berkeley chancellor Clark Kerr died Monday at the age of 92. Ex-'60s radicals and Jerry Cohen fans may remember Kerr as having presided over the start of the 1964 Free Speech Movement, one of the seminal events of the 1960s.
When students were banned from protesting, they took to the streets carrying signs that read "Freedom Under Clark Kerr," although the LA Times obituary says Kerr did not approve of the speech ban and actually opposed the decision that had been made by his predecessor- in fact, Kerr was later fired as UC Chancellor by Gov. Ronald Reagan.
Too bad so many college presidents today, unlike Kerr, unequivocally support speech bans, and therefore pick and choose which aspects of "the '60s" they want to idealize.

Posted by Stephen Silver at December 2, 2003 08:38 AM
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