President, University of California

Identifying and Meeting the Needs of the University of California

The University of California is one of the world’s most complex and sophisticated institutions, the largest and best of its kind.  It is a formidable enterprise to govern and manage, not only because of its public character but even more because of the work it does and the highly educated and independent people who carry out the work and on whom its reputation rests.  (Earning My Degree, p. 164)

In the midst of all that is transitory in our age, we may yet discern something permanent, something that will outshine and outast all the violence in our contemporary struggles for power.  I believe that the University of California bears the standard of significance in a world awash with trivia.  It is one of civilization’s authentic triumphs.  While conserving the past, it helps mold the future—a wellspring of ideas, beneficial to our society and the world of which it is so pivotal a part.  With your help, and that of our alumni and friends throughout the world, we shall keep it that way.  It is my pleasure and my great privilege to be in its service.  (University of California Inaugural Address, Los Angeles, California, April 12, 1984)

Publications and Speeches

Publications

“The Future of University/Industry Research,” Perspectives in Computing, 7, #1 (spring 1987). 4-9.

“Higher Education and the Workforce: Challenges and Opportunities,” Recruitment Times (an Employment Newsletter from the Los Angeles Times), Second Quarter 1989, 1, 7.

Speeches

11-15-1983—Address to the Faculty of the Davis Campus, University of California, Davis, California: one of a series delivered on all nine University of California campuses, including UC Berkeley, UC Irvine, UC Los Angeles, UC Riverside, UC San Diego, UC San Francisco, UC Santa Barbara, and UC Santa Cruz

4-12-1984—Inaugural Address, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California

12-14-1984—Address to the Assembly of the Librarians Association of the University of California, Alumni House, Berkeley, California

6-21-1985—Statement on the University Investment Policy, Regents’ meeting, San Francisco, California

7-11-1985—Address to the University of California Management Institute, UC Irvine, Irvine, California

11-6-1985—“The University Presidency: a Personal View,” American Physical Society, San Diego, California

9-15-1986—“The University of California: A Look Ahead,” Comstock Club, Sacramento, California

4-30-1987—“Educating the Changing Student Population for a Changing World,” Workshop sponsored by the Joint Committee for the Review of the Master Plan, San Mateo, California.

10-19-1987--“Remarks to the Joint Legislative Committee to Review the Master Plan,” Los Angeles, California

10-30-1987—“The American University in Transition,” Commonwealth Club, San Francisco, California

2-23-1988---“Education and Industry: Helping to Create California’s Future,” Industrial League of Orange County, Irvine, California

9-18-1992—Farewell Remarks to the Regents, San Francisco, California

Restoring Fiscal Health and Earning the Confidence of the Governor, Legislature, and Public in the University of California

[Gardner’s] first (1984-85) budget as president of the University of California…was the most risky, the most venturesome budget in the history of the university—and the most needed both then and later.  Then the university had suffered a series of inadequate budgets…for sixteen years in a row…To make up for past deficiencies it would take a budget increase of 32 percent—but over what period of years?  Gardner decided to get it all back in one year if he could…he went ahead, convincing the Board of Regents, the governor, and the legislature…

Gardner won his chancey proposal and in its entirety.  This erased the deficits of the last sixteen years.  (Clark Kerr, Introduction to A Life in Higher Education, p. iii)

I could not have been more encouraged or gratified by the outcome…I was on a first-name basis with the legislative leaders of both parties and in both houses; my relations with the governor…were unimprovable.  (Earning My Degree, p. 208; full discussion, pp. 199-208)  

Governor George Deukmejian and David Gardner, Gardner Inaugural, University of California, Los Angeles, 1984—UCLA Photography

Speeches

9-28-1984—Presentation on the 1985-1986 Regents’ Budget, Board of Regents, San Francisco, California

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Increasing Diversity in the University’s Student Body, Faculty, and Staff

We were making solid but not spectacular progress [in admitting more underrepresented minority students]…In 1986 we suddenly came under sharp attack by California’s Asian American community…when UC was accused of discriminating against Asian Americans in its admissions policies and practices…In reporting to the regents on November 20, 1987, on the complaints…I sought to make clear the dimensions and complexity of the problem being raised, not just for Asian Americans but for everyone…’the University can admit only a certain number of students, so if one group gains then another group will appear to lose’…from a numbers point of view it was zero sum.  But from the social-psychological standpoint…it was a situation of every group feeling it was losing, no matter what…In summary, I am very proud of our progress in making UC a more diverse place…Yet the time was fraught with strong feelings and a sense of relative deprivation from virtually every racial and ethnic group on and off campus, not just the minorities.  There is no solution to this problem, at least at the moment.  (Earning My Degree, pp. 259-262)

Speeches

1-18-1986—Statement on Improving the Academic Preparation of Black Students for University-Level Study, University of California Board of Regents, San Francisco, California

2-21-1989--Keynote Address, UC Chicano-Latino Consortium Second Annual Convocation       

2-8-1990—Opening Address, All-University Faculty Conference on Graduate Student and Faculty Affirmative Action, San Diego, California

5-17-1990—Comments to Regents on the problems faced by the University of California in meeting the racial and ethnic balance in its student body as required by the state legislature, San Francisco, California 

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Fostering Stronger Relationships with California’s Schools

We should be an active partner with the schools, the community colleges, and other institutions of higher education in helping better to prepare young people for further education.  California is a very large state with an ethnically and socially diverse population.  Thus, the twin goals of equitable treatment in our admissions and academically exacting standards for our students assume a special meaning in the years ahead.  (University of California Inaugural Address, Los Angeles, California, April 12, 1984)

I was concerned that we were not evidencing, I thought, sufficient care and interest in condition and quality of K-12 education in the state.  So I put money into faculty research on issues of interest to California’s public schools.  There were a lot of things I did like that.  (A Life in Higher Education, p. 320)

Speeches

11-30-1984—“The Schools and Higher Education: A Partnership for the Future,” California School Boards Association, Anaheim, California

9-3-1985--“The University and the Schools: a Partnership for the Future,” Piedmont Unified School District, Piedmont, California 

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Expanding University of California Capacity to Meet Future Enrollment Needs: Planning a Tenth University of California Campus

These unanticipated [enrollment] increases together with those projected into the first two decades of the coming century prompted a fresh look at the university’s long-range planning, first campus by campus and then for UC as a whole…Our presentation to the regents of this long-range enrollment planning was placed on the agenda for the October 20, 1988, meeting of the board…I introduced the item bv emphasizing the assumptions behind the analysis: “that the University’s assigned mission under the California Master Plan will remain undisturbed, that our standards for freshman admission will continue to qualify the top 12-1/2% of California’s high school graduates, and that our commitment to enroll UC eligible California residents seeking undergraduate admission will be honored.”…At the November 1988 board meeting, the regents authorized the administration to plan for one new campus in California’s Central Valley,..(Earning My Degree, pp. 239, 242-43) 

University of California, Merced

University of California, Merced, tenth campus of the University of California--© Copyright UC Merced, 2014

Speeches

3-3-1989—“The University of California Looking Toward the Year 2005,” California Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors Meeting, Palm Springs, California

10-27-2012—Remarks by David P. Gardner—UC Merced Founders Day Celebration—University of California, Merced, Merced, California

See also Earning My Degree, Appendix I—UC’s Long-Range Planning Estimates for 1988-2006 by Campus, pp. 377-380.