Clark Kerr

“I found that the three major administrative problems on a campus are sex for the students, athletics for the alumni, and parking for the faculty.”

“About the only thing the students, the faculty, and the administrators have in common is a desire for more parking.”

“A university anywhere can aim no higher than to be as British as possible for the sake of the undergraduates, as German as possible for the sake of the graduates and the research personnel, and as American as possible for the sake of the public at large—and as confused as possible for the sake of the preservation of the whole uneasy balance.”

“The production, distribution, and consumption of 'knowledge' in all its forms is said to account for 29 percent of gross national product... and 'knowledge production' is growing at about twice the rate of the rest of the economy.”

“The university is not engaged in making ideas safe for students. It is engaged in making students safe for ideas.”

“The Chancellor, I am given to understand, is expected to be a friend of the students, a colleague of the faculty, a good fellow with the alumni, a sound administrator with the trustees, a good speaker in the community... a man who is always smiling, who has never made a mistake and never will.”

“The multiversity is an inconsistent institution.”

“The task is to make the university a more creative place—a more lively center of learning.”

“The ends are vague and the means are controversial.”

“The multiversity is a confusing place for the student. He has problems of establishing his identity and sense of security.”

“A university is a city of infinite variety.”

“The university has become a prime instrument of national purpose. This is new. This is the essence of the transformation now engulfing our universities.”