The man who served as CSULB’s second president, Carl W. McIntosh, died Monday at the age of 94. McIntosh led the campus from 1959-69, when it was still known as Long Beach State College.
By the time he resigned in 1969, McIntosh had presided over a decade of dynamic growth that included a three-fold increase in the campus’ full-time equivalent enrollment and the major expansion of at least 30 permanent buildings.
Serving as president in the 60’s looked much differently than today. Tuition was completely free, and full time resident students were only required to pay $29.50 in supplemental fees. In his ten years in Brotman Hall, McIntosh saw enrollment climb from 10,000 to 20,000, and saw the implementation of tuition in a system he felt was designed to offer free education to the underserved.
In a 1989 interview with the student-run newspaper, The Daily 49er, McIntosh stated that tuition-free education “was the last great benefit to the middle-income American. My concern is that this benefit has eroded away. Sending kids to college is a damn expensive procedure.”
McIntosh led the campus through the tumultuous activism associated with the military draft and the war in Vietnam. While colleges across the United States became centers of organizing against the war, CSULB was a local epicenter of peaceful protests. A former staff member from that time said the president handled the campus disruption by “not panicking.” Good communication was established with protesters, and classes were not disrupted and university property was not destroyed.
McIntosh’s accomplishments can also be seen in the aesthetics of the campus. In 1965, a project was launched where Long Beach community leaders would donate money so that flowering peach trees could be planted on the campus. It was a popular idea with local residents who encouraged friends to do the same. Today, there are over 5,000 peach trees on the park-like campus.
“President McIntosh spent the majority of his professional life in public universities helping those students with the greatest needs. He also played an important role building Long Beach State at a time of significant growth,” said CSULB President F. King Alexander. “While as president of Long Beach State, despite the civil and economic unrest impacting our nation during the 1960s, he guided our campus through a turbulent decade which ultimately produced some of our country’s most important and momentous federal policies, including the National Defense Education Act (NDEA), a second major Montgomery GI Bill, the first Higher Education Act (1965), ESEA or Title I for public schools (1965) and the Civil Rights Act (1965). We all are still benefiting from the foresight of our public educational leaders of that period.”
Prior to serving as president, McIntosh led Idaho State University for 12 years. After resigning from Long Beach State, he went on to the presidency of Montana State University in spring 1970, retiring in 1977. He remained in the Bozeman, Montana area until his death.
McIntosh was born in 1914 in Redlands, California. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Redlands and his Master of Arts and doctor of philosophy degrees from the State University of Iowa.