Oral Histories

Interview of William E. Forbes

Member of the University of California Board of Regents from 1961 to 1977. Owner of the Southern California Music Co. Chair of the Regents' Special Forbes Committee that prepared the Byrne Report in 1965.
Subtitle:
William E. Forbes
Series:
California State Archives State Government Oral History Program
Topic:
Politics and Government
UCLA and University of California History
UC Regents
UC Regents
Biographical Note:
Member of the University of California Board of Regents from 1961 to 1977. Owner of the Southern California Music Co. Chair of the Regents' Special Forbes Committee that prepared the Byrne Report in 1965.
Interviewer:
Treleven, Dale E.
Interviewee:
Forbes, William E.
Persons Present:
Forbes and Treleven.
Place Conducted:
Forbes's home in Pasadena, California.
Supporting Documents:
Records relating to the interview are located in the office of the UCLA Library's Center for Oral History Research.
Interviewer Background and Preparation:
The interview was conducted by Dale E. Treleven, Director, UCLA Oral History Program.There exist no private papers which the interviewer was able to consult for this interview.
Processing of Interview:
David P. Gist, editor, checked the verbatim manuscript of the interview against the original tape recordings, edited for punctuation, paragraphing, and spellings, and with the interviewer verified proper names. Insertions by the editor are bracketed. Gist drafted the table of contents and the interviewer prepared the introductory materials.Forbes reviewed the edited transcript and returned the transcript with only minor corrections.
Language:
English
Copyright:
CSA
Series Statement:
Interviews in this series were undertaken by the UCLA Oral History Program under the auspices of the California State Archives and in conjunction with the California State University, Fullerton, Oral History Program; California State University, Sacramento, Center for California Studies Oral History Program; Claremont Graduate School Oral History Program; and the University of California, Berkeley, Regional Oral History Office. Funds were allocated to the state archives after Governor George Deukmejian signed into law Assembly Bill 2104 (Chapter 965 of the Statutes of 1985), establishing a state government oral history program "to provide through the use of oral history a continuing documentation of state policy development as reflected in California's legislative and executive history." All interviews in the series are available at the California State Archives in Sacramento.
Abstract:
Southern California Music Company; UCLA Alumni Association; fund-raising for Pauley Pavilion; appointment to the University of California (UC) Board of Regents; recruiting Franklin D. Murphy as UCLA chancellor; presidents Robert Gordon Sproul and Clark Kerr; Charles E. Young; Charter Day speakers; comparing California governors' roles on the board; impressions of individual regents; friendship with Norton W. Simon; Simon's bid for the United States Senate; Norton Simon Museum of Art; Grounds and Buildings Committee work; expansion of the UC system's physical facilities; student housing; California's Master Plan for Higher Education in the State of California, 1960-1975; bonding initiatives; enrollment fees; university investment policies; closed sessions; controversies at the University of California, San Diego; controversy over land acquisition for Irvine campus; campus radicalism; student unrest in the 1960s and regents' responses; regents' intervention in administration; Special Forbes Committee; Byrne Report; relations among students, faculty, alumni, administration, and regents; affirmative action and equal opportunity; health sciences; university's role in military research and development; Forbes's retirement activities.