{{Short description|American political scientist (born 1944)}} {{use mdy dates|date=November 2022}} {{Infobox officeholder | name = William Allen | image = William B. Allen.jpg | office = Chair of the United States Commission on Civil Rights | president = Ronald Reagan<br>George H. W. Bush | term_start = August 8, 1988 | term_end = October 23, 1989 | preceded = Clarence Pendleton | succeeded = Arthur Fletcher | birth_date = {{birth year and age|1944}} | birth_place = Fernandina Beach, Florida, U.S. | death_date = | death_place = | children = Danielle | education = Pepperdine College (BA)<br>Claremont Graduate University (MA, PhD) }} '''William Barclay Allen''' (born 1944) is an American author, professor, and political scientist from Fernandina Beach, Florida.<ref name="JC">{{cite news | last1 = Neely | first1 = Samantha | last2 = Bridges | first2 = C. A. | date = July 25, 2023 | title = Who is Dr. William B. Allen? He's taking on Kamala Harris over Florida Black history curriculum | url = https://www.jacksonville.com/story/news/education/2023/07/25/william-b-allen-florida-black-history-curriculum-denounces-critics-kamala-harris/70461016007/ | work = jacksonville.com}}</ref> He was a member of the National Council on the Humanities from 1984 to 1987 and chairman of the United States Commission on Civil Rights from 1988 to 1989. Allen ran as a Republican for a U.S. Senate seat in California in 1986 and 1992, losing in the primary election each time. Allen has been described as a "conservative black leader in education."<ref name="virginias_higher_education">{{cite web |title=Virginia's higher education chief bows out after thirteen tumultuous months |url=https://www.goacta.org/news-item/virginias_higher_education_chief_bows_out_after_thirteen_tumultuous_months/ |website=ACTA}}</ref>
==Biography== Allen received a Ph.D. in 1972 from Claremont Graduate University.<ref>ALLEN, WILLIAM BARCLAY, "MONTESQUIEU: THE FEDERALIST-ANTIFEDERALIST DISPUTE" (PhD dissertation, The Claremont Graduate University; ProQuest Dissertations Publishing, 1972. 7230568.</ref>
In February, 1989: <blockquote>"Allen and a former commission psychologist, {{sic|acccom|panied}} by a TV crew, visited an Arizona Indian reservation to interview a 14-year-old Apache girl, the subject of a custody battle between her natural mother and the white couple who had adopted her. Allen contends that the girl wants to leave the reservation, though the mother has formal custody. The commissioner and the psychologist picked the girl up for the interview on her way home from school. Although they then took her to her mother, the mother filed a kidnaping charge against Allen. He was arrested by local police and detained for five hours."<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,957353,00.html |title=Rights: A Chairman's Odd Antics |magazine=Time |date=3 April 1989}}</ref> </blockquote>Allen and the commission pyshologist, Barry Goodfield, were released after explaining the circumstances.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1989/03/18/us/chairman-s-arrest-jars-rights-panel.html | title=CHAIRMan's ARREST JARS RIGHTS PANEL (Published 1989) | work=The New York Times | date=March 18, 1989 | last1=Johnson | first1=Julie }}</ref> Reactions to the incident would later throw the United States Civil Rights Commission "into disarray", with commission member Robert Destro saying that the charges were "most serious, and have the potential for severe damage to the commission, to the credibility of its members and to the credibility of its work."<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1989/03/18/us/chairman-s-arrest-jars-rights-panel.html | title=CHAIRMan's ARREST JARS RIGHTS PANEL (Published 1989) | work=The New York Times | date=March 18, 1989 | last1=Johnson | first1=Julie }}</ref> Allen denied committing any crime, but said that matter had "taken an unfortunate turn" and asked for all the commission's members to resign due its "badly fractured" and "impotent" condition.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1989/03/18/us/chairman-s-arrest-jars-rights-panel.html | title=CHAIRMan's ARREST JARS RIGHTS PANEL (Published 1989) | work=The New York Times | date=March 18, 1989 | last1=Johnson | first1=Julie }}</ref>
In June 1998, Allen became the state of Virginia's chief executive for public higher education, a position he left after a "tumultuous" 13 months. He submitted his resignation, in large part, so he could continue a romantic relationship with a co-worker.<ref name="virginias_higher_education"/>
Allen lobbied in support of the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative, also known as Proposal 2, that would essentially ban affirmative action in the state. He and Carol M. Allen did this through a foundation called "Toward A Fair Michigan."<ref>{{cite book |title=Ending Racial Preferences: The Michigan Story |last1=Allen |first1=Carol M. |last2=Allen |first2=Willilam B. |date=2009 |publisher=Lexington Books}}</ref>
From 2018 to 2019, he was a visiting scholar in "conservative thought and policy" at the University of Colorado Boulder.<ref>{{cite web |title=Bruce D. Benson Center for the Study of Western Civilization |url=https://www.colorado.edu/center/benson/william-b-allen-0 |website=University of Colorado Boulder|date=August 29, 2019 }}</ref>
Allen is a resident scholar and the former chief operating officer of the Center for Urban Renewal and Education, founded by conservative activist Star Parker.<ref name="Encounter">{{cite web |title=Encounter Books |url=https://www.encounterbooks.com/authors/w-b-allen/ |website=authors}}</ref>
In 2023, Allen appeared on ''The Ben Shapiro Show'', where he discussed ''The State of Black America'', a book that "explores the history and future of black America without the lens of victimization and government dependency",<ref name="CURE">{{cite web |title=Center for Urban Renewal and Education |url=https://curepolicy.org/press/william-b-allen-joins-the-ben-shapiro-show-to-discuss-the-state-of-black-america/ |website=CURE |date=July 18, 2022 |access-date=27 July 2023}}</ref> and how "government destroyed the black family".<ref>{{cite web |title=Center for Urban Renewal and Education |url=https://m.facebook.com/CUREpolicy/videos/william-b-allen-joined-the-ben-shapiro-show-to-discuss-how-government-destroyed-/1421926834975475/ |website=Facebook |access-date=28 July 2023}}</ref>
==Personal life== Allen is the father of classicist and political scientist Danielle Allen.<ref name="Guardian">{{cite news |last1=Ramesh |first1=Randeep |title=Danielle Allen: Equity not equality |url=https://www.theguardian.com/society/2013/apr/30/danielle-allen-obama-equity-equality |website=The Guardian |date= 2013-04-13 |access-date= 2022-02-04}}</ref>
==Fellowships and awards== * LL.D. (honoris causa), Averett College, 1998.<ref>{{cite web |title=Of Parables and Talents |work= Commencement Address |author-link=William B. Allen |last=Allen |first=William B., Director, State Council of Higher Education for Virginia |location=Averett College, Danville, Virginia |date=December 12, 1998 |access-date=July 5, 2014 |url=http://williambarclayallen.com/presentations/Of_Parables_and_Talents.htm}}</ref> * Ll.D. (honoris causa), 1988, Pepperdine University.{{citation needed|date=July 2014}}
== Publications == === Select bibliography === * ''George Washington: America's First Progressive'' (Peter Lang, Inc.), 2008. * ''The Personal and the Political: Three Fables by Montesquieu'' (UPA), 2008. * ''Re-Thinking Uncle Tom: The Political Philosophy of H. B. Stowe'' (Lexington Books), 2008. * ''Habits of Mind: Fostering Excellence and Access in Higher Education'', with Carol M. Allen (Transaction Publishers, Inc.), 2003. * ''[https://oll.libertyfund.org/title/washington-george-washington-a-collection George Washington: A Collection]'', editor and Introduction (Liberty Press, 1988), 3rd printing, 2003. * ''The Essential Antifederalist: Second Edition'', with Gordon Lloyd (Rowman & Littlefield), 2002. * ''The Federalist Papers: A Commentary: The "Baton Rouge Lectures".'' A full-length commentary, plus an analytical legal index (Peter Lang, Inc.), 2000. * ''Let the Advice Be Good: A Defense of Madison's Democratic Nationalism'' (University Press of America), 1994.
=== Journals ===
* The Imaginative Conservative<ref>{{cite web |title=The Imaginative Conservative |url=https://theimaginativeconservative.org/author/william-b-allen |website=About William B. Allen}}</ref> * Imprimis<ref>{{cite web |title=Imprimis |url=https://imprimis.hillsdale.edu/author/williamallen/ |website=A publication of Hillsdale College}}</ref>
==See also== * United States Commission on Civil Rights
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== * [http://williambarclayallen.com/ Dr. William B. Allen personal homepage] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220613011717/http://williambarclayallen.com/ |date=13 June 2022}} * {{C-SPAN|5796}}
{{s-start}} {{s-off}} {{succession box | before =Clarence M. Pendleton, Jr. | title =Chairman of the United States Commission on Civil Rights |years = 1988–1989 | after =Arthur Fletcher}} {{s-end}} {{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Allen, William B.}} Category:1944 births Category:Living people Category:Pepperdine University alumni Category:Claremont Graduate University alumni Category:People from Fernandina Beach, Florida Category:Writers from Lansing, Michigan Category:American University faculty Category:Harvey Mudd College faculty Category:United States Commission on Civil Rights members Category:African-American political scientists Category:20th-century American political scientists Category:20th-century American social scientists Category:Templeton Prize laureates Category:American political philosophers Category:African-American philosophers Category:20th-century American philosophers Category:21st-century American philosophers Category:Fellows of the Earhart Foundation Category:20th-century African-American academics Category:20th-century American academics Category:21st-century African-American academics Category:21st-century American academics