Robin Kennedy : An Oral History
Abstract/Contents
- Abstract
- Robin Kennedy speaks about her nearly lifelong connection to Stanford: as an undergraduate and law school alumna, a staff member in the Office of Real Estate Programs, Transportation Programs & Lands Management and the General Counsel’s Office, the wife of former Stanford President Donald Kennedy, and an active board member and supporter of Hillel at Stanford. Kennedy provides insight into the student experience at Stanford in the 1960s, Stanford’s land use and faculty/staff housing programs, and the unique role and responsibilities of Stanford’s First Lady, as well as reflecting on the important role Stanford has played in her own life and the lives of her children. Additional topics covered include the Loma Prieta earthquake; Stanford’s Hoover House; the indirect costs controversy; and the Jewish community at Stanford.
- Summary
- Parents’ move from Akron, Ohio, to Los Angeles • Growing up near Hollywood • Decision to apply to and attend Stanford • Transition to college and freshman roommates • Changing attitudes towards women at Stanford in the 1960s, including the Off- Movement that enabled women students to live off campus • Residential experience at Stanford • Struggling with freshman English and lack of preparation for Stanford’s academic rigor • Western Civ. curriculum • Majoring in political science and advisor Michel Oksenberg • Stanford in Italy • Experiencing anti-Semitism at Stanford • Student life in the mid-1960s • Comparing Berkeley to Stanford in the late 1960s • Graduate study in urban planning and political science at Berkeley • Marrying Will Hamill and first job in Los Angeles Planning Department • Mother’s cancer diagnosis and death shortly after Robin’s marriage • Decision to apply to law school • Will’s announcement ending their marriage right before starting at Stanford Law School • Support from Leah Kaplan and Bill Keogh • Working for the General Counsel’s Office during the summer on a rape case • Stanford Law School in the 1970s, including Professor Paul Goldstein • Entertainment law in Los Angeles • Working as a single mother in the late 1970s • Working for director Hal Ashby • Invention of the fictional Wendy Geraldine Wonka for the National College Queen contest while an undergraduate • Leaving LA and returning to Stanford as director of faculty-staff housing programs • Working with Niel Davidson, Frank Morrow, and Bill Massy • Division of responsibilities • Housing and land use at Stanford in the 1980s, including initial plans for the Stanford West project • Impact of the creation of the Stanford Management Company • Stanford Campus Residential Leaseholders and the “Faculty Ghetto” • Housing purchase proposals that were not approved • Oak Creek Apartments • Description of her job responsibilities and staff organization, including transportation and the Marguerite Shuttle, faculty subdivisions, and housing programs that supported faculty recruitment and retention efforts • Dealing with people no longer eligible to live on campus • Looking for a location for the Stanford in Washington campus and working with future husband Don Kennedy • Wedding to Don Kennedy • Hoover House • Stanford’s Centennial Campaign • Responsibilities as Stanford’s First Lady • Role of Stanford’s President and First Lady in fundraising • Don Kennedy as Stanford’s President • Lack of privacy in Hoover House • Hoover House staff • Relocation during seismic retrofit of Hoover House • Loma Prieta earthquake, including earthquake damage to Hoover House • Request from provost to step down as director of Real Estate Programs, Transportation Programs & Lands Management • Move to the General Counsel’s Office • Indirect costs controversy at Stanford and Don’s resignation • Don’s career after the Stanford presidency • Reorganization of the General Counsel’s Office during Gerhard Casper’s administration and layoffs • Disappointment over the circumstances of her departure and Don’s resignation • Jewish life at Stanford while a student • Religion on campus and role of Memorial Church • Stanford Hillel over the years • Service on the Hillel board • Finding a better space for Hillel on the Stanford campus at the Dunn-Bacon House and fundraising to purchase the leasehold and undertake renovations • Office for Religious Life at Stanford • Memories of a Jewish quota in admissions and signs of unfriendliness towards Stanford’s Jewish community • Career as a real estate lawyer • Caring for Don as his health declined • Importance of Stanford to her life and career
Description
| Type of resource | sound recording-nonmusical, text, still image |
|---|---|
| Extent | 2 audio files; 1 text file; 1 photograph |
| Place | Stanford (Calif.) |
| Publisher | Stanford Historical Society |
| Date created | December 18, 2019 - 2020-01-23 |
| Language | English |
| Digital origin | born digital |
Creators/Contributors
| Interviewee | Kennedy, Robin | |
|---|---|---|
| Creator | Kennedy, Robin | |
| Interviewer | Horton, Larry N. | |
| Publisher | Stanford Historical Society |
Subjects
| Subject | Kennedy, Donald, 1931-2020 |
|---|---|
| Subject | Hillel, the Foundation for Jewish Campus Life |
| Subject | Lou Henry Hoover House (Stanford, Calif.) |
| Subject | Stanford University. Students > 1960s |
| Genre | Interview |
Bibliographic information
| Biographical Profile | Robin Kennedy was raised in the San Fernando Valley and came to Northern California as a college freshman. She graduated from Stanford University with a BA in Political Science and went on to earn a Master’s Degree in Political Science from the University of California, Berkeley, and a JD from Stanford Law School. Kennedy has had a long and distinguished career in the law. As a real estate and land use attorney, Robin was the director of Real Estate Programs, Transportation Programs & Lands Management, and associate university counsel at Stanford. She has practiced real estate transaction and land use law in corporate and private practice settings, and she is currently the sole proprietor of Robin Kennedy Attorney-at-Law, representing individual and corporate clients in real estate and land use transactions. A long-time resident of Palo Alto, Robin is the widow of Stanford’s eighth president, Donald Kennedy. |
|---|---|
| Transcript |
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| Finding Aid | |
| Location | https://purl.stanford.edu/nj143rv1518 |
| Location | SC0932 |
| Repository | Stanford University. Libraries. Department of Special Collections and University Archives |
Access conditions
- Use and reproduction
- The materials are open for research use and may be used freely for non-commercial purposes with an attribution. For commercial permission requests, please contact the Stanford University Archives (universityarchives@stanford.edu).
- Copyright
- Copyright © The Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University. All rights reserved.
Collection
Stanford Historical Society Oral History Program interviews, 1999-2022
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