Richard C. Atkinson

Richard C. Atkinson (born March 1929) served as the president of the University of California from 1995 to 2003. Currently, he serves on the Board of Trustees of the La Jolla Country Day School.

Career overview
Atkinson started out as a professor of psychology at Stanford University, where he worked with Patrick Suppes on experiments in which they tried to use computers to teach math and reading to young children in Palo Alto elementary schools. The Education Program for Gifted Youth at Stanford is a descendant of those early experiments.

Eventually, Atkinson transitioned from research to a career in administration, and went on to serve as Director of the National Science Foundation, Chancellor of the University of California, San Diego, and President of the University of California system.

Personal life
Atkinson is married to a fellow psychologist, Rita, with whom he coauthored a popular textbook. Their daughter Lynn is a neurosurgeon.

The Perry scandal
Atkinson's early years at UCSD were rocked by a bizarre scandal which had followed him there from Washington. A former Harvard instructor, Lee H. Perry, represented by notable attorney Marvin Mitchelson, sued him in San Diego Superior Court for intentional infliction of emotional distress, fraud, and deceit.

The Court of Appeal for the Fourth Appellate District would later summarize Perry's version of the facts as follows (it could only use her version because she was appealing from a demurrer):


 * "Perry and Atkinson met in July 1976. Although Atkinson was married, he and Perry began having an intimate relationship which continued for more than a year. During that year, Perry and Atkinson developed a relationship of trust and confidence. In August 1977 Perry learned she was pregnant with Atkinson's child. When Perry told Atkinson, he became upset and urged her to have an abortion. Perry did not want to have an abortion, but Atkinson persisted. He told Perry that although he would like her to have his child, he wanted to postpone doing so for a year. He promised Perry that even if they were not together in a year, he would conceive a child with her by artificial insemination.


 * Based on Atkinson's promise, Perry terminated her pregnancy by an abortion, causing her physical and mental pain. After the abortion, Perry discovered Atkinson had never intended to keep his promise of another baby. As a result, Perry became depressed, requiring psychiatric treatment, incurring extensive medical bills and losing six months of earnings." - Perry v. Atkinson, 195 Cal. App. 3d 14, 16 (1987).

Atkinson denied everything. Before trial, the Superior Court granted Atkinson's motion for summary judgment on the fraud and deceit claim as initially filed, and his demurrer to the claim as amended.

In 1986, the case proceeded to trial on the emotional distress claim. After three days, Atkinson settled for $250,000 without admitting liability, but Perry reserved the right to appeal on the fraud and deceit claim.

On September 25, 1987, the Court of Appeal affirmed the dismissal of that claim. The appellate court agreed with the trial court that allowing the liability sought by Perry would violate California's strong public policy of protecting reproductive privacy, as expressed in numerous cases and statutes:


 * "In essence, Perry seeks judicial enforcement, by way of damages, of a promise to impregnate. The courts should not undertake the adjudication of promises and representations made by consenting adults regarding their sexual relationships." - Perry v. Atkinson, 195 Cal. App. 3d 14, 21 (1987).

The Supreme Court of California denied Perry's petition for review on January 7, 1988, which effectively ended the case. Some academic commentators believe that the scandal was one of the reasons Atkinson had to wait so long to become UC President.

Influence and Legacy as President of UC
He was instrumental in the College Board's decision to reform the SAT. He threatened to drop the SAT requirement for high school students applying to the University of California system because he claimed that the SAT did not test skills relevant to college success. Because students applying to the University of California represent a large percentage of students taking the SAT, the College Board, anxious to keep its largest client satisfied, agreed to overhaul the test.

In 2005, the unnamed Sixth College at UCSD moved to name the college in his honor. Around April 27, 2005, UCSD students were notified that Dr. Atkinson had withdrawn his name from further consideration as the future namesake of Sixth College. The decision was an abrupt surprise as Atkinson only a week earlier had told The San Diego Union-Tribune he would be "honored if the name were approved". Although student reception to the naming proposal was lukewarm, demonstrated opposition was generally meager with only conspicuous organized criticism by opponents desiring a more racially diverse name. The Perry scandal was not the subject of public criticism.