December 12, 2003

Clark Kerr, 'One of the Giants,' Dies

He was the key architect of the modern 'multiversity' and of U.S. aid to students

By JEFFREY SELINGO

Clark Kerr, who helped create the model of the modern American higher-education system as president of the University of California in the 1960s, and continued to play an influential role in national policy for decades after he was fired by then-Gov. Ronald Reagan for refusing to quiet student protesters, died last week following complications from a fall. He was 92.

As the first chancellor of the University of California at Berkeley in the 1950s, he defined the position of a top