Clark: President supported students right to protest war
Continued from page 1
the rest of the Whitter College team
In 1943, armed with doctorates in
speech and history, Clark came to
Oregon to serve as a speech professor
at the University.
In the 21 years that followed, he
served as the speech department
head, the dean of the College of Lib
eral Arts and the dean of faculties. As
dean of the College of Liberal Arts, he
founded the first honors college in the
state of Oregon.
To this day, the Robert D. Clark
Honors College (which was named
for Clark after he left the University in
1975) continues to strongly
emphasize speech and debate in
its curriculum.
In 1964, Clark returned to Califor
nia to serve as president of San Jose
State College.
With near-constant threats of
racially motivated violence and ri
ots, Clark’s tenure at San Jose State
was characterized by efforts to ease
racial tensions.
“He always approached a person
without judgment,” said Catherine
Clark. “He had an openness to get at
the heart of a problem in a
caring way.”
Catherine Clark said her grandfa
ther’s soft-spoken, calm demeanor
made him an effective diplomat in
the face of potential crisis. His
strong marriage also proved to be
an asset, she said.
“My grandfather and my grand
mother were a team, and they were
always prepared to entertain,
whether they had an appointment or
whether it was unannounced,”
Catherine Clark said. “Their door
was always open.”
Catherine Clark tells of a
time when Clark and his wife
came home to find a Black Panthers
protest in progress on their front lawn.
While their neighbors bolted their
doors, the Clarks opened theirs.
“My grandmother, with her blue
hair and big smile, said, ‘Come in for
tea and cookies,’” said Catherine
Clark. “It’s kind of hard to show ag
gression in the face of compassion
and tea and cookies. ”
Under Clark’s tenure, San Jose
State was one of the first colleges in
the nation to offer a Black studies
program. Clark also laid the
foundation for San Jose State to
become the first college in the na
tion to offer a four-year degree in
Black studies.
President Clark
In 1969, the University sum
moned Clark back to Oregon to
serve as president.
As president, he took several steps
to make the University administra
tion more accessible to students. He
tried to make himself available to
students on Friday afternoons. Also,
in 1971 he set up the system of dele
gating responsibilities to a series of
vice presidents. This included hiring
the University’s first vice president
of student affairs, a position that
exists to this day.
“He believed in the students, and
the students knew that,” Catherine
Clark said.
At San Jose State, Clark had been
one of the few college presidents in
the country to make public state
ments in support of student
protests against the Vietnam war.
At the University, this issue would
become even more pressing.
“He refused to be against students
and suppress their desire to speak out.
In fact, he encouraged them,” Cather
ine Clark said.
This sometimes meant standing up
to powerful people and putting his job
on the line.
“But he didn’t lose his job. In
stead, he developed this reputation
as a fair and just person,” Cather
ine Clark said.
When then-Governor Tom
McCall planned to send the
national guard onto campus to
quell protests nearing riot levels,
Clark threatened to resign as
University president.
“My grandfather refused to allow
the national guard on campus,”
Catherine Clark said.
When McCall decided not to send
the national guard, Clark climbed up
a lamppost and addressed protesting
students from a bullhorn.
He told them they were right
to be upset and they had a right
to protest.
“Just don’t hurt one another in
the process and don’t destroy our
university,” he said, according to
Catherine Clark.
“It become humorous years later.
But at the time — the situation — it
was a potential Kent State,” Catherine
Clark said. “He considered it vital to
keep the national guard off this cam
pus — absolutely vital.”
At the time, Clark told the Emerald
that his primary motivation was not
to protest the war himself but to allow
students the freedom to protest.
“I felt that it was not my role to take
the stump as one of the major critics
of the war, but to do it in an indirect
way,” Clark said (ODE, June 9,1975).
Clark also supported the Oregon
Summer Festival of Music in its early
years. The festival would later be
renamed the Oregon Bach Festival.
“He loved music. He loved
to support the arts,” Catherine
Clark said.
To honor Clark’s support, the Ore
gon Bach Festival will dedicate its July
10 concert to Clark’s memory.
Fah-fah
Aside from his professional
distinctions, Clark was a devoted
family man.
“We all called him ‘Fah-fah’ in the
family,” Catherine Clark said. “He
had this persona as Fah-fah, which
was just as amazing. ”
Catherine Clark got to know her
grandfather well when, as a teenager,
she lived with him for several years.
“He was very close with his grand
children and his great-grandchildren.”
He was also a nature lover.
“He knew the name for just about
every tree and shrub and flower,”
Catherine Clark said. “He taught all of
us. He used to take us out for walks in
the woods.”
“I think my love of the campus
is intensified because many of the
trees seem to be my personal
friends,” Clark told the Emerald in
a 1975 interview.
A memorial service will be held
in late July. Memorial contribu
tions can be made to the University
of Oregon Foundation’s Robert D.
Clark Endowment.
gabebradley@ daily emerald, com
IN BRIEF
Police investigate case of
two campers found dead
OAKRIDGE — A man and a
woman who were found slain in the
woods have been identified as a pair
of Oakridge educators.
The bodies of Stevan Haugen, 54,
and Jeanette Bauman, 56, were
found by campers near a U.S. Forest
service road, about 25 miles south of
Oakridge. Both had been shot to
death, as was a dog belonging to
Haugen, authorities said.
Officials with the Lane County
Sheriff's Office did not reveal how
many times the couple was shot or
what type of weapon was used.
Their deaths are being investigat
ed as a double homicide, the sheriff’s
office said.
Police said they have no suspects.
But the Crater Lake license plates on
Haugen’s vehicle — number
CL47763 — have been listed as
stolen, officials said.
Haugen taught reading and
coached track at Westridge Middle
School in Oakridge, said Principal
Gary Stevenson.
Bauman had recently moved
to Oakridge to work as a teacher,
having previously worked in
Longview, Wash.
The two met several years ago,
said Haugen’s brother-in-law Michael
Loney, a deputy with the Williamson
County Sheriff’s Office in Texas. Hau
gen “truly found his soul mate in
Jeanette,” he said.
Caesar, a golden retriever mix, was
Haugen’s best friend and constant
companion on camping and fishing
expeditions, Loney said.
—The Associated Press
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