Ready to take on UI opportunities

Former and future President Willard L. (Sandy) Boyd

Willard L. (Sandy) Boyd came to the University as a law professor in 1954, later serving in the position now called provost. He became president in 1969. The University was facing budget difficulties and, during his first years as president, a 66 percent increase in tuition was announced. Outside his office, demonstrations erupted almost every day. By the 1970s, a downturn started in Iowa’s economy, culminating in a major farm crisis in 1981 as he left to assume the presidency of the Field Museum in Chicago. No wonder the Board of Regents, State of Iowa, saw in him a person who could lead the University in bad times as well as prosperity. Boyd, 75, who returned to the University in 1996 as a law professor, takes over as interim president Aug. 1 when Mary Sue Coleman becomes the president of the University of Michigan. We asked him about both presidencies.

Q. You’ll be taking over at a time when faculty and staff face a good deal of uncertainty because of difficult budget cuts. What can you tell them?

A. I think there’s a strong feeling that the University is constantly going through change and change is invigorating. Every vacancy is an opportunity. In the case of the presidency, we have been extremely blessed by an outstanding president with enormous vigor and commitment. She leaves us with many opportunities and she expects us to seize them.

When you look at the University over a period of nearly 50 years, as I do, we have been through many changes, many opportunities. Even though we are in severe economic difficulties right now, the point is that the University is infinitely stronger than it was in 1954 when I came here. It has not been a straight line—there have been ups and downs—but the long term has been up.

We have special problems that I don’t want to minimize. On the other hand, we always must be cognizant of the greater society in which we live. I think the faculty and staff are very concerned not only about their own well-being but also about the well-being of society and the world. So it’s important for us to think about where we are in these times. We are in a time of major change and we need to think about it as invigorating, not debilitating.

Q. Tell us what it was like in your first presidency.

A. It was a very interesting and important time when I was academic officer/dean of faculty and president. In that time, the enrollment more than doubled, the faculty more than trebled. We didn’t have enough buildings. All day long we would run the University, and in the afternoon the demonstrations would start.

Q. Against the Vietnam War?

A. I would say three issues were crucial. The most important was the opening of the University to all people. I am very happy to come back to a law school that is 50 percent women and much more diverse in terms of ethnicity. At the beginning of the civil rights movement, most of the discrimination was against African Americans. We formed a committee to take complaints from people who felt they were discriminated against. We deliberated for about a month or so and concluded that the burden should not be on the person discriminated against; it should be on the University to act affirmatively to stop the discrimination. This was before the concept of affirmative action was developed.

The second issue was the parental role of the University. Men lived on the west side of campus, women on the east side. Women had to be in the residence halls by certain hours. I remember being in a group that went to see President Nixon at the apex of the antiwar period and urged him to sign the 18-year-old vote bill into law. We believed that students should be treated as adults. If you’re treated as an adult, then you have the responsibility to act as an adult.

Then there was a very strong antiwar protest, which was of concern to many students because they might be involved.

Q. Tell us about your work with nonprofits.

A. I had been here about six months when Mr. Hancher (Virgil Hancher, then president of the University) asked me to organize the University’s foundation, a nonprofit organization. Later I was asked to organize other academic nonprofits. Then when I was academic officer and president, I traveled around Iowa a great deal. The state’s economic vitality has a very direct impact on us. I went to Chicago to a nonprofit organization, very fragilely financed, and realized that all nonprofits are fragilely financed.

I began teaching about non-profits at the Northwestern Law School and Kellogg School of Business at Northwestern and also worked with a community trust on board development.

As I was thinking about returning to Iowa to focus on nonprofit organization, my theory was that all giving and volunteering of time and money is local. People who are crucial to the University—the legislature, local and state governments, private donors—are active in their communities. If we can help strengthen the organizational capacity of the state’s nonprofits, we help them in their communities.

I hadn’t realized it, but one of our junior faculty members recently said, "We probably have one of the strongest law school (nonprofit) components in the country."

Q. Overall, what do you see at the University now?

A. The University is very strong now and our responsibility is to see that it continues to be strong and becomes stronger. It’s a place we can be very proud of. But we never can rest on our oars.

Q. What can faculty and staff do to help it stay strong?

A. I think faculty and staff do that by doing what they do best—advancing the educational mission of the University through teaching and research. That is the principal service we perform for the state of Iowa. Having said that, I think there are some of us who feel very strongly about being out in the state (on service projects). We should recognize the faculty and staff who are in direct contact with Iowans in this way.

We need to understand the challenges before the state and assist the state in all the ways we can.

Article by Anne Tanner