News Scrapbook 1982-1984

MARGE HUGHES: "You t tired of it (entertaining) m tim , night after night." But he paused a moment nd then changed her tune. "But once you get there you have a reat tim . There are many lovely, beautiful venings you n ver would have experie ced, except part ofth· j "

Photos by BARBARA MARTIN / Los Angeles Times

ouch of Class in Supporting Role By LANIE JONES, Times Staff Writer

Their husbands' get the headlines, but the wives of San Diego's college preSJdents play an important, sometimes humanizing, supporting role. There are parties to give, boards to mt on and possibly even speeches to make. Three president's and chancellor's wives talked this week about their roles. Anne Day, wife of Thomas B. Day, the president of San Diego State University, cited family privacy in declining to be interviewed. or me pre dent's wives, however, publicity comes with the • Rita Atkinson was planning a party for the university's six vice chancellors and their spouses. She was also trying to prepare a scholarly talk to a local women's club. And then there was the little matter of the flood In !he basement. Once again, something had gone wrong with University House, the elegant barn of a home where UC San Diego Chancellor Richard Atkinson and h18 wife live. On the chffs above Black's Beach, the sprawling adobe home with tts spectacular views, high ceilings and exposed oak beams goes to every chancellor along with the job. Or perhaps it goes to the chancellor's wife, because it becomes her job to decorate and maintain It. In her four years there, University House has frequently tested RH.a Atkinson's mettle. Last year, for example, there was a leaking roof and drains that clogged and then poured torrents of water onto the patio. She recently discovered water on the basement floor. It was draining from somewhere The question was, Where? Maybe the heater? The heat wasn't turned on yet in most of the house. And there was company corrung Thursday night . . . Such are the trials of the chancellor's wife. Atkinson. 54, ls a clinical psychologist with a best-selling psychology textbook to her name. But, recently, she described her current role this way, "The main thing 1s decorating the house and planning parties." There are two or three parties at the house every week. She has help for them-a social secretary and a trusted housekeeper who has worked for nearly all the UCSD chancellors. "But I still feel I'm the hostess," Atkinson said. As the chancellor's wife, she believes It's her job to get to know university faculty and students and community leaders. Two years ago, when she was workmg hard on revising her turf.

ANNE PEED: The idea ofa secretary amused her. "Are you kidding? That would be the first thing the board would cut out" in its many rounds of budget cuts. But she e ected a moment on the paper work her new school generates, then grinned. "I'll settle for a clerk-typist," she said. psychology textbook, "I didn't have that much time to get involved with umversity and non-university groups," she said. She had felt a little guilty about that. Shlftinr Gean Now she has shifted gears, immersing herself in clubs. She is honorary chairman of Oceanids, a faculty-staff women's group, and sits on the board of the La Jolla Chamber Music Society. She belongs to the UCSDMedical Center's women's auxiliary and to The Wednesday Club, an intellectual club that requires its members to give a paper each year. (She worked this week on her annual report, a talk on the latest research about memory.) After spending so much time on the book, it has felt good to have a year off, Atkinson said. She has been "relaxing and doing all the things I didn't do (last year )-orgamzmg the house, gomg to committee meetings." And, on purpose, she had not pick.ed a single project this year, because "I just wanted to have a year off to feel my way around and see what I'm going to do." , So far, she hasn't decided. She might want to work with the student counseling center, but she wondered if such a role would be proper for the chancellor's wife. She had also talked with other UC chancellors' wives about getting together more often to share common problems-how to say "no" , to an engagement, how to find friends among the faculty, how to handle the job or chancellor's wife. Atkinson said she doesn't like to think about the role. One UC chancellor's wife plays it to the hilt, she said, trying to set herself Pleue see COLLEGE, Pare 8

R TA ATKINSO : Two years a o, when h was orking hard on revising h r p ychol gy textbook 4'1 didn't have that much tim to get involved wi h univer ity and non-university group ," she said. She I ad fi It a little guilty about that. Now he has hifted gears, imme ing herself in clubs.

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• After the parties are over and Marge Hughes has wntten her. thank-you notes, she still has one more chore, studying for final exams. Hughes, the wife of University of San Diego President .Au~hor Hug~es, is working on her master's degree in business admmtstration at USD. As the president's wife, she doesn't get any favored treatment, Hughes said. No matter what her social schedule, she studies until midnight several nights a week. "Thanksgiving night I stayed up to 4 o'clock working on my paper, and the night before that I made my pies and then worked," the 52-year-old Hughes said. "You just have to squeeze these things in." Hughes has squeezed a lot of things in during her 12 years as a university president's wife. She has raised four children (the youngest, 15, is still at home). She has hosted receptions and fund-raising parties and. $everal times a month, more intimate dinners at home-"small" parties for 12 or 14. In between, Hughes has found time for Jazzercise, tennis, puttering about the garden and, lately, business school. She gets some help maintaining the Spanish-style president's house at the west end of campus. There's a housekeeper, a gardener twice a week and, when parties are scheduled at home, catering by the campus food service. But although life revolves around the school and rep~senting her husband, Hughes said she still gets some time off. "You don't have to hve that role 24.houra a day," she said. 'Tm a very casual person, and I like to wear slacks and gardening clothes. I don't have to feel dressed up all the time." Nevertheless, it has been hard to be treated as just another business student. The presence of the president's wife in class has sometimes intimidated her professors, Hughes said. But if the professors think they're under pressure to perform, they should think again, she said. "If anybody's under pressure, it's me." As the president's wife, "I'm the one who has to be doing well, making the A's." In two years of school, taking at least one course a semester, Hughes has done that, scoring one B-plus amid the A's.

Supportinr Her Husband Although business school is challenging, Hughes said she has no plans to work once she gets her degree. Her real work now, as it has been since 1971, is supporting her husband. From the beginning, "It was up to us as a couple to meet people and reach out into the community " she ~d. • That has meant attending a social engagement three or four nights a week and, during the Christmas season, nearly every day. Hughes said she likes the socializing but. admitted there are a few disadvantages: "It's hard to find time to do any personal entertaining. Ha.rd to find time for friends." And with all the parties, there sometimes comes burnouL "You get tired of it (entertaining) sometimes, night after night," Hughes said. But she paused a moment and then changed her tune. "But once you get there you have a great time. There are many lovely, beautiful evenings you never would have experienced, except as part of this job." For instance, in just a few weekends, the Hugheses take a private Jet to San Francisco to look at an exhibit of Vatican art with the chairman of USD's President's Club. "It's a nice fringe benefit," she said. All in all, she said she likes being the president's wife.

Co ti ued from Pare I bove veryone el . But Atkinson

Few Perquisites Garland Peed's job entitles him to few perquisites. The chancellor's contract does provide him with a car, but ther~ is no free home, no social secretary, no m d l"V!Ce. The idea of a secretary amused Anne Peed. "Are you kidding?" she said. "That would be the first thing the board would cut out" m its many rounds of budget cuts. But she reflected a moment on the paper work her new school generates, then grinned. "I'll settle for a clerk-typist," she said. Although other chancellors have a heavy entertainment load, the Peeds are not expected to entertain business acquaintances at home and have not done so, she said. She !8 expected to join her husband anywhere from three times a week to once a month at receptions. But when asked if she served as the hostess, she responded qwckly and in a sharp tone, "I do not do that." As Peed discussed being a chancellor's wife, she sounded amazed that, for other wives, it is a public role. At other colleges, "maybe the game is just played differently," she said. "Personally, I think it's a game as far as l'm concerned. But perhaps I don't understand it." She smiled, but she sounded as if she didn't care to ~derstand it. She guessed she was lucky, Peed said. But no one ever suggested it (a more prominent role)-not Garla~d, not any _or the board. I've never been expected to act in any official capacity." Instead, if she has any role to play, it 1s a role shared by many women. "My day revolves around my children and my own business."

d she sees no need to be haughty re Uy likes getting to know the faculty and stud nta. "A d I think they respond to me 118 person " he Id. 'l act a person. I really don't play any role..: • In a cozy mtting room near the kitchen, Anne Peed 1pped coffee and laughed at the idea that she-the chan ellor's wife-could ever be considered a celebrity. "I don't think of myself as the chancellor's wife. I didn't marry th chancellor. I married Garland Peed," ehe 1d firmly. Peed's usband 1s the chief executive officer of the San Diego Community College Di&trlct, one of the large t vocallonal and Junior college districts in the state and considered one of the beat run. That kind of JOb has put many chancellors and their wiv and famlli son permanent public view. But Peed, 35, has a differ nt Idea of her role, Hang the public, he sugg sted Most of the time, she does what he wants. For Instance, her husband's career in educallon didn't stop her from an educat1onal venture of her own. Nine months ago, he started a small school, the Academy of Ima e and Colour. to train fashion consultanta. It should graduate 30 color consultants this year. Peed Is raising two children-one son Is 3, the other 13 But no sh Juggles motherhood with writing lesson plans, lecturing to her small fashion classes and m naglng a taff of 81X. The only thmg he doesn't do 11 handle the academy's Her hu band does that several evenings a month -''That h ldcaofagood time." P ed acknowledged she probably could have taught the same fashion courses at her husband's college district. But sh didn't want to. "Then I'd be just an mployee rather than the president." Besld she 1d, the role of chancellor's wife has at 1 st one llmltat1on, Working for the district would be Improper. P h had to think about that is.sue. Before she married th chanc llor even years ago, she was a <'.OIi ge dlstnct s cretary And for a time aftl'r their mama e, he taught some business communications coura for the dl8trict. But then h r considered. Because of her husband's Job, Peed sa d, he no longer feels comfortable being mployed by the district. Rec ntly, she turned down an offer to teach a community coll gP fashion class. "It would have been a conflict," h id. "Why open yourself up to any unn e ry criticism? That'• why I quit (teaching) before." 0th e, P d said, there seem to be f w expectations or limitations to being the chancellor'• wtfe Sh and h r children lead a fairly private life. She n't have to make public spe ch . She h sn't n pr ured to join clubs 01 do volunteer work H r chlldr n o to school unrecognized. although once a t h r asked about the family name

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