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King Alexander

King Alexander

Former president at Oregon State, LSU, Long Beach State, Murray State | UI professor, 1997-2001

It's been a few years since he worked in the College of Education but King Alexander can still picture what he remembers as "the blue room" in the Union.

That's where he'd sneak off to when it was time to grade papers or prepare for class. "It was a nice hideaway because the College of Education is pretty rough," says Alexander, former president at at Oregon State, LSU, Long Beach State and Murray State.

“Something I learned from the Student Union that I’ve taken with me everywhere I’ve been: Students will treat a university the way you treat them.

"At Illinois, it was done with the highest degree of respect, from the furniture to the amenities, and they responded accordingly.”