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HISTORY OF THE ORDER
Early History
UCLA’s Order of the Golden Bruin was founded by University of California president Robert Gordon Sproul in 1936.
It is modeled after Berkeley’s Order of the Golden Bear.
The order was a “secret society” – no minutes or other organizational records were kept, comments were accepted from faculty, students, administrators and alumni without regard to rank and without attribution. Membership of the organization was not to be listed on a resume or curriculum vitae.
For many years, it was one of the most important organizations on campus. Provosts and chancellors, UC presidents and regents came to the Order to discuss matters of great importance and sought its advice. UC presidents consulted with OGB to discuss possible candidates for chancellor. OGB counsel was sought by the chancellor during the athletic scandal in the mid-50s. Chancellors Murphy and Young conferred with the organization during periods of turbulence in the 1960s and early 1970s.
These were not the scripted presentations common today but, instead, conversations among family with a common passion: UCLA.
The chancellors thought the organization was of such importance that they hosted its annual spring induction at the chancellor’s residence.
During the late 80s, the Order began to emphasize staff-related issues and its non-administration constituencies lost interest in the organization. As if someone had slipped a drug into a cocktail, OGB held a meeting in 1990 and didn’t meet again …. for fourteen years.
Recent History
In 2004, members of OGB who believed the organization had once served an important function on campus desired to revitalize it. However, before announcing “we’re back,” it was important to attain certain levels of credibility --- would our members care that it was back? Would the Order sustain itself beyond a “one-time reunion?”
We determined that we should answer these questions in the affirmative before we reintroduced ourselves to UCLA’s current leaders.
Since October 2004, the organization has convened on ten occasions. Attendance has been steady. We’ve held some provocative discussions, including panels “UCLA: Five Decades of Activism” and “Political Bias in the Classroom by University Professors.” And who else but Chuck Young would note the similarities among Clark Kerr, Jeb Bush and the Royal Highness of Qatar?
We’ve also held two induction ceremonies and can now proudly include James and Carol Collins, Darnell Hunt, Claudia Mitchell-Kernan, Judy Smith, and Norm Abrams as members of the Order.
Our mission has been updated for the 21st Century – discarding the organization’s “secrecy” aspect as an anachronism and somewhat elitist. We also recognize that the university is a more complex enterprise than it was in 1936 or even 1990 and that there are many groups – particularly donor groups – that feel an “entitlement of consultation” with the administration.
Indeed, the chancellor values inclusiveness and many people and organizations are vested in the success of the campus. We believe, however, that with the uniqueness of our membership composition, we can provide a distinct service role for today’s UCLA.
Utilizing some fuzzy math, we have concluded that in UCLA’s 90-year history, approximately 750,000 people have been associated with the campus as students/alumni, administrators, or faculty members.
Only 1 out of 500 has been called to the Order – a hall of fame of sorts for the most passionate among the UCLA family
Among our members:
- 11 people for whom campus buildings are named
- 3 University of California Presidents
- 2 United States Congressmen
- 6 chancellors
- 14 vice chancellors
- 53 student body presidents
- 3 football coaches
- 3 deans of students
- 4 athletic directors
- 4 basketball coaches
- 1 campus minister
- 8 executive directors of the Alumni Association
- 2 university librarians
- 18 recipients of the Alumnus of the Year award
- 4 chancellors of other institutions
- 1 recipient of a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
- 80 of UCLA’s best faculty
- 4 authors
- 7 regents
- 4 ASUCLA executive directors
- 1 Pulitzer prize winner
- 7 yearbook editors
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