The collection is organized by the following series: Biographical Information, Correspondence, Meeting Minutes, Photographs, Reports, Speeches, and Subject Files. The collection includes: Biographical Information, 1968-1974 (5 folders); Correspondence, 1968-1978 (about 1 cubic ft.); Meeting Minutes from CMU entities and Education-related institutions and organizations, 1968-1978 (about 1 cubic ft.); a few Photographs, 1969-1971, undated (more are in the Commencement folders and other Subject Files); Reports from CMU entities and educational related institutions and organizations, 1968-1978 (about 1 cubic ft.); Speeches, 1968-1975 (9 folders); and Subject Files on a wide variety of topics relations to education, CMU, and numerous CMU departments and social issues and organizations, 1968-1978, undated (7.75 cubic ft.), including Congratulatory letters to Boyd on his inauguration as CMU’s seventh president (2 folders).
The heart of the collection is in the Subject Files, which documents the change of focus for CMU during Pres. Boyd’s tenure. The topics of Affirmative Action, African American- Curriculum, History Week, and Professorship, and Afro-American Cultural Center; Black Symposium, Black White Convocation, United Black Student Association, Diversity Gay Rights, and Handicapped students all debut during his administration. Other topics of interest include the Lettuce Boycott, May 1972 problems (an incident with the Governor’s car on campus), Native American Affairs, Nigerian Project, Students for a Democratic Society, the Thailand Project (part of the Inter-Institutional Affiliation Project), Korean Orphanage, and the Vietnam Moratorium (which includes a photograph of the protest on campus). There are many topics that with ‘Student” covering the Code of Conduct, various committees, teaching, senate resolutions, unrest, etc. Case files of some students who were “problems” also are included, such as the Anthony Syroccki Case.
Other topics of interest include the Dedication folders for new buildings including the High Rise (later called “the Towers”), McNeel Nature Center, Perry Shorts Stadium, Ryan Hall, and the Tribal Community Center.
There are also many folders related to the faculty and their evaluation or assessment, funding, appropriations, and CMU Development endeavors and the budget.
In the Box and Folder Listing the following abbreviations are used: MI for Michigan, Dept. for Department, and Co. for Company. On folders where abbreviations for names were used, the full name, if known, is given in parenthesis at the end of the folder title.
Biography:
William B. Boyd was born in South Carolina in 1923. He graduated from Charleston High School in 1940.
From 1943 to 1946 Boyd served as a deck officer and navigator in the U.S. Navy.
Boyd earned his B.A. from Presbyterian College in 1946. In 1947, he earned his master’s degree from Emory University and served as a member of the history faculty at Emory, 1947-1949.
In 1954 Boyd earned his Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania with a major in modern European history and a concentration in French diplomatic history. Dr. Boyd became a member of the faculty at Michigan State University in 1953. From 1958 until 1965 he served as Dean of the Faculty and as a Professor of History at Alma College.
Dr. Boyd was named as Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs at the University of California-Berkeley (UCB) in July 1966. Most of his time was spent dealing with problems resulting from UCB’s vigorous and sometimes violent student movement. He had frequent personal contact with student leaders Mario Savio, Bettina Aptheker, Peter Camejo, and Jerry Rubin and the Vietnam Day Committee, Students for a Democratic Society, Black Panthers, and the Campus Draft Opposition.
On April 17, 1968, Dr. Boyd was selected as the seventh President of Central Michigan University (CMU). He was inaugurated on May 12, 1969. When offered $5,000 for the inauguration, President Boyd requested that the money be added to scholarships for disadvantaged students. President Boyd encouraged the acceptance of new ideas, freedom, and innovative teaching, and is perhaps best known for his skilled handling of angry student demonstrators in the early 1970s. He allowed a “teach in” on campus when Professor Joe DeBolt asked him for one at a large assembly. (See DeBolt’s collection for further information.) Unlike his predecessor, President Foust, President Boyd did not believe CMU served as a substitute parent for students. He also chose to involve students with CMU by allowing them to appraise courses and instructors.
Enrollment continued to grow during President Boyd’s tenure, and CMU increased its degree programs, initiated what is now Extended Degree Programs, and constructed new academic and athletic facilities. Diversity, Affirmative Action, and African American projects, committees, courses, initiatives, and a Cultural Center were all begun at CMU during President Boyd’s administration.
President Boyd co-authored a book with Buford Rowland, The Bureau of Ordnance in World War II, a copy of which is in the University of Oregon Libraries. Boyd also had a number of articles that he wrote published in professional journals.
William B. Boyd married Louise Philson, with whom he had two daughters, Marcie and Susan.
In 1975, President Boyd resigned to become President of the University of Oregon. He served as President there until 1980. (This information is from the collection.)
