Professor Richard Keyes passed away on Sept. 27, at the age of 85. In 1968, he was recruited to Fresno State (named Fresno State College at that time) to help launch the Black studies and the ethnic studies programs, where he also developed the first summer education program for high school students.

As the key proponent of the Black studies program, Keyes advocated for Black students to be taught in specialized courses, in such subjects as English, anthropology and physics.

In a paper titled “Lessons from the Past: A Brief History of Academic Freedom and Due Process at California State University, Fresno” (published in 2010), Dr. Paul D. Bush, professor emeritus of economics, describes the ensuing overreach of power by the University administration in the late 1960s:

“In the fall semester of 1969, Keyes, Head of the Ethnic Studies Program in the School of Arts and Sciences, hired Marvin X, a Black Muslim, to teach in the program. Although he had the full backing of Dean Dale C. Burtner in this hiring, an uproar occurred as some members of the faculty and like-minded individuals in the community vigorously opposed the presence of a Black Muslim on the faculty.

“In the wake of this highly publicized objection to the hiring of Marvin X, Chancellor Glenn S. Dumke called President Ness to the CSU headquarters in Long Beach for a consultation on the matter. It was later revealed that in that meeting Chancellor Dumke ordered Dr. Ness to nullify the hiring of Marvin X and expel him from the campus. Upon his return to the campus, Dr. Ness abruptly resigned his presidency at a hastily called meeting of the Academic Senate. He said that the pressures put on him “from both above and below” made his situation untenable. He immediately left Fresno to assume the presidency of the Association of American Colleges and Universities (this may not be the precise name of the organization), a post he had actively pursued and planned to assume at the end of the 1969-70 academic year. He left the campus without taking any action in the Marvin X matter.”

During interim President Karl L. Falk’s term (1969-70), eight faculty of color, including Keyes, were non-retained in the Ethnic studies department. These eight faculty members constituted 60% of all faculty of color on campus at that time. The administration’s overreach continued during President Norman A. Baxter’s tenure (1970-80), resulting in Keyes’ never holding an academic position at Fresno State again.

Today, we honor the memory and legacy of Professor Richard Keyes, one of the professors affected by that troubling non-retention, said Dr. Saúl Jiménez-Sandoval, provost and vice president for Academic Affairs at Fresno State.

Professor Keyes helped bring several innovative scholars to campus and was also heavily invested in the community even after his departure from Fresno State. He was a social worker and went on to teach at University of California, Santa Cruz, while also organizing in the Fresno community.

While working for UC Santa Cruz, Keyes started his own consulting firm, Keyes & Associates, specializing in community economic development with clients such as the National Training Institute for Community Economic Development and the Poverty Law Center at Berkeley. He then worked for RHA Inc., a program management firm, where, as executive vice president, he managed statewide energy conservation projects serving low-income consumers, such as the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program and the Energy Crisis Intervention Program.

Keyes retired in 2002, but he continued to serve the Fresno community. He had a primary role in the merger of the two Fresno-area Black chambers and served as treasurer of the Fresno Metro Black Chamber Foundation. He also served on the board of the Fresno Area Economic Opportunity Commission, the board of the African American Museum and the board of the Fresno Chapter of the United Negro College Fund for several years.

In 2012, Keyes received the Fresno Urban Leadership Award for his contributions to Fresno's urban communities as a leader in business and in the community.

His contributions to our campus and the community are deep and lasting. Recently, Keyes attended several events of Black agitprop exhibitions on campus, as well as the symposium on the 50th Anniversary of Ethnic Studies at Fresno State in October of last year.

President Joseph I. Castro has ordered the lowering of campus flags on Oct. 30 in honor of Dr. Keyes’s rich legacy in the Fresno community and his visionary leadership in the development of Black studies and ethnic studies at Fresno State, at a time when such programs were nascent throughout the country.

Memorial services were held on Oct. 17. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that a donation be made to:
Live Again Fresno
c/o Richard Keyes Memorial
161 N. Van Ness
Fresno, CA 93701
(aplos.com/aws/give/LiveAgainFresno/general)