Willis M. Tate

Willis McDonald Tate (May 18, 1911 – October 1, 1989) was an academic administrator who served as the 5th President of Southern Methodist University from 1954 to 1971 and again in an interim capacity from July 1974 to October 1975. Tate's era at SMU is remembered for its openess and commitment to academic freedom. During his presidency, SMU fully integrated its student body, declined to ban books on communism, and hosted then-controversial speakers, including John Gates and Martin Luther King Jr.

In the 1950s and 1960s, Tate was reviled by some conservative elements in Dallas as a "Communist dupe" and a "pinko." His devotion to free inquiry also won him plaudits, however, and in 1965, he was honored by the American Association of University Professors with the Alexander Meiklejohn Award. Tate was inducted into the SMU Athletics Hall of Fame in 1982.

Early life and education Willis M. Tate was born in Denver, Colorado. In 1965, he received the Alexander Meiklejohn Award of the American Association of University Professors for support of academic freedom.

Legacy At SMU, Tate presided over an era of relative openness. In the conservative Dallas of the 1950s and early 1960s, his commitment to academic freedom was striking and not without risk.