line and continue the education of the students who desired it. He believed the faculty had forgotten their primary mission--teaching, conducting research, and pursuing academic excellence. On November 28, 1968, Hayakawa was named acting president of San Francisco State College by California Governor Ronald Reagan and the trustees of the California state college system. With no previous administrative or political experience, his selection was an unpopular choice among faculty members and students. Prior to his appointment, Hayakawa had served on a five-person presidential- selection committee whose members had reportedly agreed not to seek the office. Hayakawa denied any agreement had been made and accepted the job under extreme opprobrium from committee members. Hayakawa was viewed as eccentric in appearance and style. Wearing Hawaiian carnation leis and an Irish tam-o'-shanter, his personal appearance was indicative of his personality. His first priority as acting president was to reopen the campus following Thanksgiving break ending the strike. To achieve this objective, he yielded on some student demands and rejected others. This, however, was unsatisfactory to student leaders, who employed 1,000 protesters to close the campus on the first day following from Thanksgiving break. Taking a firm stance, Hayakawa countered by deploying police officers across the campus. Over 700 arrests were made, and campus casualties ran into the hundreds. Before a U.S. Senate Subcommittee in 1969, Hayakawa reiterated his stance, "Student protesters said they would destroy this campus, and I said they would not." On the first day back, student protesters assembled around a truck with a loudspeaker on top. Hayakawa, at the age of 62, climbed atop the truck and ripped out the audio system. Captured on national television, Hayakawa was hailed by the public as a person who stood up to the extremists. A majority of students wanted to resume classes, but we...
