People: Lloyd Hackley

EDUCATION MAKES YOU FREE

He was born in Roanoke, VA, the son of a janitor and a domestic. Since then, he has achieved numerous military honors, taught and coached in the U.S. Air Force Academy, and now heads an higher education system that serves 750,000 students via 59 institutions. Lloyd V. Hackley, '65, president of the North Carolina Community College System, headquartered in Raleigh, NC, says his success is due to two things--luck, and philosophy. 

In 1962, the Air Force transferred him from Spain to 'a small radar base on Lake Michigan, near Traverse City.' There he enrolled at Northwestern Michigan College, which led to him complete his bachelor's at MSU. 'I was lucky,' he says. 'Of course, the harder you work, the luckier you get.' Lloyd made Honors College and recalls, 'I focused on my studies to get my commission, which would triple my pay. I really enjoyed the academics at Michigan State--had great teachers, wonderful seminars.'

In 1978 he left the Air Force, having won many medals, including the Bronze Star for Valor and the Vietnam Cross, and went into university administration, serving, among other posts, as vice president at the University of North Carolina and as president of University of Arkansas-Pine Bluff. 'I got to know (then-governor) Bill Clinton real well,' says Lloyd, who currently chairs President Clinton's advisory board on historically black colleges.

His philosophy of education is that of Epictetus, a freed Phrygian slave in ancient Greece. 'He said that man decided only free men would be educated, but God decreed that only educated people should be free,' Lloyd explains. 'That's my philosphy. And I believe community colleges hold the key, because they are more affordable and located closer to the people.'

When told of MSU's current focus on 'Access' and the Tuition Guarantee under President McPherson, he says, 'I really admire the President for that and I hope that sends a signal to the rest of the academic community.'