Meet Joe
Students honored Crowley with name of new union
Joe Crowley refuses the title of icon.
He spent almost 42 years at the University of Nevada, Reno, more than half of those as president. He oversaw the creation of numerous buildings, countless new policies, the creation of the University Studies Abroad Consortium, the reversal of a negative reputation. The list goes on.
Like all university presidents, he also made his share of controversial decisions. But unlike all university presidents, he will see, and his grandchildren will see, and UNR students for decades to come will see “Joe Crowley” adorning the center of campus – the Joe Crowley Student Union.
And to think, this man never wanted the title of “president.”
“I don’t know why I was chosen (as the namesake of the union) or if ‘iconic’ is an accurate description,” Crowley, the longest-serving president in UNR history, said. “I can say I was flabbergasted that I was chosen.”
In the beginning
Crowley started at UNR in January 1966 as a political science professor. He never saw the campus before he took the job. He said the proximity to Stanford University, where he was doing research, drove his decision.
“I wanted to do teaching,” he said. “I wanted to do the writing and the research, but teaching was a passion.”
His work on the faculty led to him heading the faculty senate in 1972 and chairing the political science department in 1976.
About two years later, Crowley became interim president. The previous president, Max Milam, was fired after months of controversy and numerous votes by the Board of Regents to fire him.
“I had never had a thought of being a president, nor even a desire,” Crowley said. “It was just a flukey thing of firing a president.”
The presidential search committee added Crowley to the list of permanent replacements.
“My initial reaction was to get out,” he said.
Crowley said a friend convinced him that he wouldn’t be chosen – that Crowley was more of a middle-of-the-road guide by which to judge more prominent candidates.
The Board of Regents named Crowley permanently to the position in 1979.
The turnaround
Crowley walked into the presidency when the state budget was in shambles. Nevada professors hadn’t been given a raise in years and some classroom equipment was more than two decades old.
To worsen matters, Crowley saw Nevada’s then-chancellor of higher education Donald Baepler thrown from a legislative budget meeting in 1979 for an inadequate budget presentation.
“This university was not looked upon as being successful,” Richard Davies, vice president for academic affairs in 1980, said. “As a rule, there was this perception that this was a second-rate university … when I got here I was stunned at the lack of credibility of the university.”
Bob Cashell, then chair of the Board of Regents, prompted Crowley to start campaigning for the reputation of the university system.
Crowley started his work immediately, gathering community support and talking one-on-one with government officials. He said he aimed to tear down the walls surrounding the university system.
By 1985, Crowley said the higher education budget had turned around.
Daniel Klaich, executive vice chancellor for the Nevada System of Higher Education and former regent, said the change tops the hallmarks of Crowley’s tenure.
The politician
Scott Casper, a history professor hired in 1992, called Crowley a “legendary politician.”
Crowley reached out to people inside and outside the university, turning around the reputation of the higher education system and getting a new enrollment-based funding system for all Nevada colleges approved.
“If Joe wanted to be governor of Nevada, he would have been governor of Nevada,” said Shannon Ellis, vice president of student services. “He was that popular of a person and that good of a politician.”
Klaich said Crowley’s communication skills marked him as a president. Crowley talked and built trust with people, Klaich said.
“I think that’s what led to so much of the credibility,” he said. “When people talked to Joe, they knew they could take it to the bank.”
Crowley met one-on-one with all leaders, from student to state government. He started a “Blue and Silver” dinner for legislators and prominent public figures every other year. He invited input from the community.
Jason Geddes, Associated Students of the University of Nevada president in 1990-91, said Crowley nurtured a sense of shared government at UNR.
Geddes said Crowley would call him into his office to talk about issues and never tried to direct the student government.
“He was a very calming influence,” Geddes said. “When I would get all fired up, he would call me over to his office and just chat and talk me through things.”
Casper, also a former faculty senate chair in 1995-96, said Crowley would attend faculty senate meetings whenever he faced a decision affecting the faculty.
“He really understood the faculty senate was sort of the voice of the faculty and at a university it’s really hard to make a policy work if the faculty disagrees with it,” Casper said. “It didn’t mean he would agree with the senate. It didn’t mean he would do what the senate wanted. It meant he would seek their input.”
The controversies
Geddes said Crowley thought things out and explained his ideas and decisions carefully – his plans were never hasty.
But that doesn’t mean people always agreed with Crowley.
“(Disagreement) is pretty much a regular occurrence,” Crowley said. “The size and scope may change depending on the week, but you always have to make the hard decisions.”
While president, some of the controversies Crowley faced includes:
- the creation of free speech zones, which were removed in 2006
- fraternity parties, including a condemning letter when one brought a stripper to its off-campus house
- the creation of a UNR Foundation, a fundraising organization separate from the NSHE Foundation
- George Gordon Liddy, who helped plan the Watergate break-in, to speak on-campus
- student fee hikes in the middle of summer, leading some to believe it was planned to avoid student outrage
Some university programs also fell into financial trouble during Crowley’s term. The University of Nevada School of Medicine fell into debt by hundreds of thousands of dollars. The Fire Science Academy did the same.
Crowley said the medical school’s problem stemmed from rapid growth in the 1990s and a new patient billing system that malfunctioned. He stood by the dean of the school when some called for the dean’s resignation. Officials eventually corrected the problem.
But Crowley’s replacement, John Lilley, needed to find a fix for Fire Science Academy.
The academy ran into financial problems when it moved from Stead, Nev. to Carlin, Nev. in the 1990s, with a deficit that eventually topped $10 million.
Crowley said the administration made plans for a smooth transition but the plans were never followed.
“It happened under my watch and it’s still happening,” Crowley said. “We had dug ourselves into a hole and the university is still digging itself out of it.”
The Naming
A lot more happened during Crowley’s 1978 to 2000 presidency, which is about three-times that of most university presidents. He started UNR’s move to the new century, including the “one-stop” concept that drives the new student union.
“He’s done so many things for this university and you wouldn’t know it,” former student president Jeff Champagne said. “The things we’re still impacted by that he’s done is just amazing. He’s like this giant in the background.”
Klaich, who first worked with Crowley in 1984, said the Joe Crowley Student Union fits perfectly – its namesake is a man who gave 23 years to UNR, bolstered the students and brought outside support to Nevada higher education.
“(The Joe is) the core of the campus,” Klaich said. “It’s the heart and soul of the campus and how perfect is that.”
Ellis, whom Crowley hired in the late 1990s, said Crowley helped make the campus a welcoming place with his quiet demeanor and openness to discussion. She said the union should do the same.
She remembered his contributions of Redfield, UNR’s satellite campus, and the Fitzgerald Student Services building. But also how he thought of the people behind budget cuts. She remembered stories of Crowley taking the trash out for the custodian in Clark Administration because of the ice outside.
Davies said Crowley would be embarrassed by the attention of the new union being named after him.
Klaich said Crowley would reject the title of “icon” no matter how much it fit.
Ellis put it bluntly: “He is iconic.”
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