Special Collections - Anteater Antics

Clark Kerr

September 26, 1965 — First Students move in and the first Convocation

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Fifty years ago, on Sunday, September 26, 1965, Mesa Court opened and 500 students moved into the residence halls on that day. Mesa Court was the first residence hall community at UCI. It is now the largest student community on campus, housing 1,834 undergraduates in 29 residence halls.  Each hall accommodates between 54 and 71 residents in suite-style layout.  Mesa Court now houses mainly first year students.

The first Convocation also took place on that same day in Campus Hall (now Crawford Hall). Student representative Diane Holt gave the keynote address, saying “What a truly beautiful campus this is! We are indeed fortunate to be able to pursue our education in such inspiring surroundings…. We are small in number, but we have much to do…. As our late President John Fitzgerald Kennedy said, ‘Let us begin.'” Other speakers included Chancellor Daniel G. Aldrich, Jr., President Clark Kerr, Regent Philip L. Boyd, Professor James B. Hall, and Executive Secretary of the Interfaith Council Cecil E. Hoffman gave the invocation.
[University Communications Photographs. AS-061]

Mesa Court construction in January 1965

Mesa Court construction in January 1965.

Move in day in September 1965, as the campus opens.

Move in day on September 26, 1965, as the campus opens.

Check-in on move-in day, September 1965.

Check-in on move in day, September 26, 1965.

A Convocation reception was held in the Commons (now Gateway Study Center) From left: Chancellor Aldrich, Regent John E. Canaday, Mrs. Harry R. Wellman, Regent Philip L. Boyd, President Kerr, William L. Pereira, and Vice Chancellor Peltason.

The Convocation reception was held in the Commons (now Gateway Study Center) From left: Chancellor Aldrich, Regent John E. Canaday, Mrs. Harry R. Wellman, Regent Philip L. Boyd, President Kerr, William L. Pereira, and Vice Chancellor Jack Peltason.

President Clark Kerr is at the rostrum at the Convocation. Faculty and distinguished guests are also on stage. Parents and friends filled the hall to capacity of over 2,000.

President Clark Kerr is at the rostrum at the Convocation. Faculty and distinguished guests are also on stage. Parents and friends filled the hall to capacity of over 2,000.

Remembering Sam McCulloch

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AS-061_PR0303_10

Sam McCulloch

It is with great sadness that we report the passing of Sam McCulloch, the founding Dean of Humanities and Professor Emeritus of History at UC Irvine. McCulloch first arrived at UCI in 1964 as one of the founding faculty members and remained an important leader on campus throughout his entire life. He was UCI’s unofficial historian, compiling records, stories, letters, and other historical material for his 1996 book Instant University, which covers the history of the UCI campus from 1957 to 1993. McCulloch also conducted oral history interviews with 97 members of UCI’s prominent faculty and staff from 1967 to 1993, including Chancellors Daniel Aldrich and Jack Peltason, as well as Nobel Laureates F. Sherwood Rowland and Frederick Reines. In 2009, McCulloch donated his faculty papers to UCI Special Collections and Archives, which include correspondence, research notes, clippings, and bibliographies. We at Special Collections and Archives are forever indebted to Sam McCulloch for his commitment to documenting, preserving, and sharing the rich history of this campus.

Numerous interviews from the collection of Samuel McCulloch Oral Histories (AS-033) are available here at the Online Archive of UCI History. Both audio recordings and transcripts of selected interviews are available for use online, and the remaining interviews from the collection will be digitized and added to the Online Archive soon.

The finding aid for the faculty papers of Sam McCulloch (MS-F031) is available here through the Online Archive of California.

Instant University is available for use in the Special Collections and Archives reading room and is also available for check-out.

AS-061_S00103_018

Sam McCulloch speaking at student rally supporting UC President Clark Kerr in Gateway Plaza, 1967

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Sam McCulloch and James G. March speaking with a prospective UCI student, 1965

Photos from AS-061, UCI Communications Photographs Collection; and AS-056, Early Campus Photograph Albums.  Special Collections and Archives, The UC Irvine Libraries, Irvine, California.

Reagan Protest on January 23, 1967

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On January 23, 1967, three days after UC President Clark Kerr was fired by the University of California Regents, 1500 UCI students, faculty and staff participated in the first organized UCI campus protest. The protests were directed at then Governor Ronald Reagan and the UC Regents. Reagan made an effort to raise student fees and had organized against Kerr. Here are some additional photographs of that protest.

The large gathering at Gateway Plaza

Sam McCulloch, first Dean of Humanities, addresses gathering


As-054. Anton Ercegovich Slides. Special Collections and Archives, The UC Irvine Libraries, Irvine, California.

Early planning for physical layout of campus

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In the winter of 1962, UC President Clark Kerr invited UCI Architect William Pereira and UCI Chancellor Daniel Aldrich to meet him in Berkeley to discuss how best to use the newly selected Irvine campus site. At the meeting, Kerr recalled an influential book he had read as a graduate student, Johann Heinric von Thunen’s Der Isolierte Staat (1863), in which he envisioned the ideal city “as a series of concentric circles starting out with central city buildings and going out to industrial, housing and agricultural areas.” Kerr then drew a rough sketch of a proposed layout of the Irvine campus, a circle with the names of disciplines around it. The basic design was then elaborated during the physical planning, which incorporated a concentric and radial scheme. The Central Campus was designed to consist of six quadrangles, each representing an academic unit, which radiated out of the ring. The ring unified the school both functionally and artistically. Distances between each quad were minimized and provided movement for pedestrians and bicycles. At the center of the ring is the 29-acre Daniel Aldrich Park, originally named Campus Park, which is the metaphorical heart of the campus. Designed as an informal gathering place, it was based on the central parks of cities and universities throughout the world.

UCI Campus Layout

Protesting budget cuts & fee increases in 1967

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When Ronald Reagan was elected Governor  in 1966, he promised to “clean up the mess in Berkeley,” voicing strong opposition to events like the 1964 Free Speech Movement.  Reagan quickly proposed 10%  cuts to the UC and CSU budgets, while UC proposed a 15% increase to address significant growth. Reagan also proposed tuition and fee increases. He and the Regents  then dismissed popular UC President Clark Kerr on January 20, 1967.  Three days later, 1500 UCI students and faculty participated in a rally in Gateway Plaza to protest the firing, the proposed budget cuts and fee increases.  This was the first documented case of collective political action on the UCI campus.