Grayson L. Kirk
| Grayson L. Kirk | |
|---|---|
| 14th President of Columbia University | |
|
In office 1953–1968 |
|
| Preceded by | Dwight D. Eisenhower |
| Succeeded by | Andrew W. Cordier |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
October 12, 1903 Jeffersonville, Ohio |
| Died | November 21, 1997 (aged 94) Bronxville, New York |
Grayson Louis Kirk (October 12, 1903 – November 21, 1997) was president of Columbia University during the Columbia University protests of 1968. He was also a Professor of Government, advisor to the State Department, and instrumental in the formation of the United Nations.
Kirk was born to a farmer and schoolteacher in Jeffersonville, Ohio. He originally intended to become a foreign correspondent, but fell into educational administration when he served briefly as a high-school principal in New Paris, Ohio during his senior year at college. He graduated from Miami University in 1924, earned a master's degree from Clark University, and studied at the École Libre des Sciences Politiques before completing a Ph.D. at the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 1930. While a student at Miami, Kirk became a brother of the founding chapter of the Phi Kappa Tau Fraternity. During his graduate studies, he edited his fraternity's national magazine, The Laurel, to earn money for tuition. He married the former Marion Sands, a schoolteacher and daughter of an official of the B&O Railroad, in 1925. They raised one son, John Grayson.
Kirk spent the next decade teaching at the University of Wisconsin–Madison before taking a position as an Associate Professor of Government at Columbia in 1940. During World War II, Kirk began a long association with the U.S. Federal Government when he served in the Security Section of the Department of State's Political Studies Division. Kirk became involved in the formation of the United Nations Security Council, attending the Dumbarton Oaks Conference and the United Nations Conference on International Organization where the United Nations Charter was signed.
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