Interview with Lee F. Browne - Caltech Oral Histories

Browne–24
COHEN: I see. So you were just offered something to come and to attract good students.
BROWNE: Yes.
COHEN: Not particularly minority students?
BROWNE: Yes. But they expected that.
COHEN: Ah, that was sort of unsaid?
BROWNE: Yes, yes. They said, “We’d like to have a representative crowd, so you can help us
get some non-represented crowds. But you know more about getting kids generally.” See?
Because the kids I taught at Muir used to win the ACS chemistry test. And also at Blair. So
these were all white kids.
COHEN: And they wanted them, too.
BROWNE: They wanted them, too.
COHEN: So they just wanted good students.
BROWNE: Right, right. They wanted them, too. So when Harold Brown finally got there, he
said, “I’m not trying to get you to get anybody in particular. Just get all the best students you
can get. They have to be able to do chemistry and physics, and they need to know math. And
we want somebody to help us search them out. We’re still getting some white kids that can’t
stay here more than a month before they flunk out. We need kids who really are motivated to do
this work.”
COHEN: So you decided to take this job?
BROWNE: Yes. Well, the second time they offered it to me I decided to take it.
http://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechOH:OH_Browne_L