 William R. Keast was the fifth president of Wayne State University. Vice president of academic affairs at Cornell University before coming to Wayne State University, he was the first outsider appointed as its president.
Keast led the University through the turbulent political years of the late-1960s. During his presidency, student enrollment increased by 22%, African American student enrollment increased to 15%, and a number of University "firsts" occurred such as the first course on African American History in 1966 and the first Community Extension Center in 1969. Perhaps most significant, Keast held the university together during an era of student protests, strikes, and sit-ins over the Vietnam War, the 1967 Detroit Riot, and civil rights. Indeed, rather than confronting students, Keast engaged them, listening to the positions of militant student groups, maintaining free speech on the campus, fighting racism, and even joining the students in certain protest events. In 1969, he personally led an anti-Vietnam War march down Woodward Avenue in Detroit.
Keast retired in 1971 and joined the faculty of the University of Texas at Austin. He faced unique challenges, but in the end, Keast held students, faculty and administrators together at Wayne State University. |
