By Jordan Latimore | OBSERVER Staff Writer

Dr. Luke Wood has taken the wheel as Sacramento State president, following in James Bond’s footsteps.

Though Wood’s appointment is notable, given he’s a prominent Black voice in American education, he is not the first African American to lead the university with the sixth highest enrollment in the 23-campus CSU.

Dr. James Bond, Sac State’s first Black president, served from 1972-1978, clearing hurdles and breaking new ground when it came to diversity.

Born and raised in Lorain, Ohio, Bond met and married his high school sweetheart, Lois. The couple had three children. Before the family moved to Sacramento in 1972, Bond previously served as chief psychologist at the Toledo State and Receiving Hospital in Toledo, Ohio, for 13 years. He went on to teach at Bowling Green State University and was promoted to vice president of student affairs “during a time when it was the toughest, roughest job on campus,” Bowling Green President Dr. Hollis A. Moore Jr. told the Toledo Blade at the time. “I predict he will do an excellent job in Sacramento.”

Bond’s appointment came at a time when the outgoing president was embroiled in a financial scandal involving alleged mismanagement of $1.2 million in federal funds in the English and Spanish Language program. The news of the first Black university president at a major California college was reported by the San Francisco Chronicle and several papers in the Midwest, but an archive search could not produce a single story about Bond in either the Sacramento Bee or Sacramento Union. A Sac State spokesperson told The OBSERVER information on Bond was hard to come by, and that none of Bond’s speeches were available. The university could produce only an obit.

A Sept. 9, 1972, Baltimore Afro-American story quoted CSU Chancellor Glenn S. Dumke: “Dr. Bond possesses an outstanding background as a practicing psychologist, as an administrator and consultant both in his native Ohio and nationally on the higher education scene.”

Bond had consulted for the Washington-based American Association of State Colleges and Universities, 292 institutions serving 2 million college and university students. His responsibilities included serving as liaison with federal agencies on affirmative action, collective bargaining and “problems of urban higher education,” the Afro-American reported.

‘Made To Feel Not Welcome’

As the first Black president of a large university serving a predominantly white population west of the Rockies, there were very apparent social challenges that not only faced Bond, but everyone he represented as well. Including the then-17,000 students.

“Because there was so few of us Black students there, you were made to feel not welcome on campus,” said Faye Kennedy, a 1978 Sac State graduate. “You would raise your hand and you would get overlooked.”

Kennedy, a child development major who spent her time as a student under Bond’s tenure, recalls noticeable racial obstacles in her campus experience. 

“It was very few of us,” Kennedy said of one of her anthropology courses. “I just remember myself and one other brother; it was just different. Black students still face some of the same things. Not always feeling welcome, not always feeling validated. We just have to always remember that.”

Elizabeth Hanson-Smith, a retired Sac State professor who served under Bond, said that after Bond’s family moved into a home on American River Drive, a cross was burned on his lawn.

Despite the cultural biases and stereotypes of that era, his colleagues recognized him as a figure who rose above the surrounding social challenges, whether those issues arrived externally or internally.

“Dr. Bond was a very capable young man with lots of ideas and a very strong personality,” recalled Donnie Dee, a former supervisor for teacher education and bilingual education. “They had some underground bigots over there, and they didn’t take too well to Bond’s thing.”

Amid the challenges of his serving as a president in the face of racial prejudice, Dee said she wanted to support Bond through the struggles.

“There was a little bit of conflict and we became very good friends,” Dee said. After asking around among Black faculty and professors at Sac State if there was any kind of support group, Dee found out that resource wasn’t around, and went to work.

“I’m an outgoing person,” Dee said. “So, I said, well, don’t you have an organization of one kind or another? They said no, so I said, well, let’s put it together.”

A Hostile Work Environment

Navigating the circumstances only drew Dee and the former president closer, prompting Dee and other notable Black figures at Sac State to form an on-campus support group for Bond. This group included Dr. Addison Somerville, Danny Canson and Stan Wright, who was the first African American head coach of the United States track and field team.

“They came here just to talk to us and see if we could gather together and have some support for this Black administrator. But, um, it was tough,” Dee said. “It was very tough for him.”

Dr. Otis Scott, a longtime Sac State professor and former ethnic studies department chair, was among those who attended regular meetings at Dee’s Sacramento home.

“I was my department representative to the faculty senate and one senator referred to President Bond as a bastard, which I thought was totally out of character for an academic body to use that kind of language,” Scott said. “When I was a new young faculty member, I would hear comments that Bond is [then-Gov. Ronald] Reagan’s n-word, and that he was sent to do Reagan’s bidding.”

Scott said he also believes Bond may have had a more successful tenure had he made more of an effort to connect and find common ground with staff and students, citing their support as a critical element to the task of any president – especially one of color.

“Working with the staff and students, I think he could have worked better in that regard. I think he could have done more consultation to make sure he had channels of support from faculty,” Scott said. “I also believe that … if he had community-based support that would speak on his behalf when it was appropriate, I think that would’ve helped him out quite a bit.”

A Sac State graduate, Wood was a student of Scott’s in Pan-African studies.

“My ‘advice’ in quotation marks would be, keep the head on the swivel, looking front, back and sideways,” Scott said. “Be prepared to respond to any negative overtures that are made to him.”

With Wood’s arrival at Sac State, he recognizes the cultural shift in today’s social climate.

“I think it’s important to know that no matter what, you are a person who is in a high-ranking position, who has a responsibility to steward the institution on behalf of the public,” Wood said. “At the same time, you’re going to face different challenges than many of your predecessors.”

‘I Am Not A Housekeeper’

In 1978, the San Francisco Chronicle reported “College Chief Quits Under Fire.” The article by United Press said Bond “was appointed to ease feuds between faculty and administration.” Dumke, the CSU chancellor, said the strife had continued to endanger the educational quality of the university. Still, “the university has seen major accomplishments. Bond has succeeded amid trying circumstances that would have caused lesser men to waver.”

Bond went on to become president of Southeastern University, according to the Oct. 12, 1982, Baltimore Afro-American. In one of his rare published quotes, Bond remarked that he came to Southeastern because he “liked to be where I can make a difference. I am not a housekeeper. That’s what most university presidents are today because they are so restricted in what they can do for a university. There’s room for this university to grow but it must stop being all things to all people.” Bond planned to hire 25 permanent faculty members and increase the number of master’s degree courses.

While the challenges facing Wood are different than those in Bond’s time, they are no less important or vital to the community of Black and brown students Wood represents, Scott said.

“There are still some real challenges, such as success, inclusion and graduation rates, especially for Black and other students of color. Those will be challenges that he will have to meet head-on,” Scott said.

Scott believes Wood has a strong upside, especially given his background. Wood comes to Sac State after serving at San Diego State as vice president for student affairs and campus diversity.

“Bond didn’t come to us straight from academia,” Scott said. “Luke comes with strong credentials, he’s highly respected, his work is very respected, and I think he’ll do well. He also knows the real world of a Black academic.”

Wood believes Bond’s experiences are vitally important and serves as a reminder of how the perception of high-ranking Black administrators can impact the job at hand.

“I do not know much about James Bond, but I do know that his reception by the campus community was nothing like the reception that I’ve received,” Wood said. “That makes me feel a sense of even greater responsibility to do more, to push harder to collaborate, to ensure that every single one of our students, including those who are from our Black community, have every opportunity to succeed.”

Learning more about the community’s history is something Wood said he will continue to do not only for himself, but others as well.

Wood will be crafting and handing out Black historical booklets to new students when they arrive on campus, a gesture that goes back to his time at San Diego State. They will contain mini-profiles of important Black members of Sac Sate’s alumni, faculty, administration and beyond.

“It’s important that they learn James Bond was the first Black president, how pioneering Black educators such as Otis Scott transformed the institution, and they go to the place where the late David Covin addressed the importance of Black political thought, Black political progress, and they have a chance to hear the words of the first Black graduate,” Wood said. “Those things are critical to making sure that people don’t feel like they’re guests in someone else’s house.”

EDITOR’S NOTE: OBSERVER Editor-In-Chief Steve Magagnini contributed to this story.

Support for this Sacramento OBSERVER article was provided to Word In Black (WIB) by the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative. WIB is a collaborative of 10 Black-owned media that includes print and digital partners.