Myles Neal Brand (May 17, 1942 – September 16, 2009) was a philosopher and university administrator who served as the 14th president of the
University of Oregon
The University of Oregon (UO, U of O or Oregon) is a Public university, public research university in Eugene, Oregon, United States. Founded in 1876, the university is organized into nine colleges and schools and offers 420 undergraduate and gra ...
, the 16th president of
Indiana University
Indiana University (IU) is a state university system, system of Public university, public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. The system has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration o ...
, and the fourth president of the
National Collegiate Athletic Association
The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...
(NCAA) of the
United States
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
.
Philosophical Work
Brand mainly focused on a metaphysical area known as the
Philosophy of Action. Seminal works include ''The Nature of Human Action (''1970) and a book called ''Intending and Acting: Toward a Naturalized Action Theory'' (1984).
In one of his major papers, ''Intentional Actions and Plans'' (1986), Brand defended the notion of intentional action as "action performed in following a plan", approximating an initial formal definition for the concept as follows:
(D1) ''S A''s intentionally during ''t'' iff
In logic and related fields such as mathematics and philosophy, "if and only if" (often shortened as "iff") is paraphrased by the biconditional, a logical connective between statements. The biconditional is true in two cases, where either both ...
(i) ''S''’s ''A''ing during ''t'' is an action and
(ii) during ''t'', ''S'' follows a plan that includes his ''A''ing
(where ''S'' ranges over subjects, ''A'' over action types, and ''t'' over temporal durations)
However, Brand is dissatisfied as he believes the definition "serves to delineate the reach of intentional action, but not its extent". In other words, the definition falls into the 'causal deviance problem' where one's action may not follow a plan, yet it may be intentional; so he alternatively proposes:
(D2) ''S A''s intentionally during t ''iff''
(i) ''S''’s Aing during ''t'' is an action and
(ii) during t, S follows a plan that has subroutines and his Aing is contained in at least one of
Personal life
Brand was born in
Brooklyn, New York
Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...
. His family moved to
Jericho, New York (on
Long Island
Long Island is a densely populated continental island in southeastern New York (state), New York state, extending into the Atlantic Ocean. It constitutes a significant share of the New York metropolitan area in both population and land are ...
) but he was bused to
Carle Place High School as Jericho did not have a high school of its own. He graduated in 1960. He played
lacrosse
Lacrosse is a contact team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. It is the oldest organized sport in North America, with its origins with the indigenous people of North America as early as the 12th century. The game w ...
and
basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...
as a college freshman.
[ Brand earned his ]Bachelor of Science
A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, B.S., B.Sc., SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree that is awarded for programs that generally last three to five years.
The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Scienc ...
degree in philosophy
Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...
from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (; RPI) is a private university, private research university in Troy, New York, United States. It is the oldest technological university in the English-speaking world and the Western Hemisphere. It was establishe ...
in 1964, and his Ph.D. in philosophy
Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...
from the University of Rochester
The University of Rochester is a private university, private research university in Rochester, New York, United States. It was founded in 1850 and moved into its current campus, next to the Genesee River in 1930. With approximately 30,000 full ...
in 1967.
Prior to serving at Indiana University
Indiana University (IU) is a state university system, system of Public university, public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. The system has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration o ...
, Brand was president at the University of Oregon
The University of Oregon (UO, U of O or Oregon) is a Public university, public research university in Eugene, Oregon, United States. Founded in 1876, the university is organized into nine colleges and schools and offers 420 undergraduate and gra ...
from 1989 to 1994. Brand's other administrative posts include provost and vice president for academic affairs, Ohio State University
The Ohio State University (Ohio State or OSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio, United States. A member of the University System of Ohio, it was founded in 1870. It is one ...
, 1986–89; coordinating dean, College of Arts and Sciences, University of Arizona
The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it ...
, 1985–86; dean, faculty of social and behavioral sciences, University of Arizona, 1983–86; director, Cognitive Science Program, University of Arizona, 1982–85; head, department of philosophy
Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...
, University of Arizona, 1981–83; chairman, department of philosophy, University of Illinois at Chicago
The University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) is a public research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its campus is in the Near West Side community area, adjacent to the Chicago Loop. The second campus established under the Universi ...
, 1972–80. He began his career in the department of philosophy, University of Pittsburgh
The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The university is composed of seventeen undergraduate and graduate schools and colle ...
, 1967–72. In 2003, he received an honorary degree in Doctor of Humane Letters from Oglethorpe University
Oglethorpe University is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Brookhaven, Georgia, United States. It was chartered in 1835 and named in honor of General James Edward Oglethorpe, founder ...
.
On January 17, 2009, it was announced that he had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer
Pancreatic cancer arises when cell (biology), cells in the pancreas, a glandular organ behind the stomach, begin to multiply out of control and form a Neoplasm, mass. These cancerous cells have the malignant, ability to invade other parts of ...
and that his long-term prognosis was not good. He died eight months later, at age 67, on September 16, 2009.
Tenure at Indiana University
Brand was president of Indiana University
Indiana University (IU) is a state university system, system of Public university, public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. The system has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration o ...
from 1994 through 2002; the school is a nine-campus institution of higher education with nearly 100,000 students, 17,000 employees and a budget of $3.4 billion. Brand oversaw the consolidation of the IU Medical Center Hospitals and Methodist Hospital to form Clarian Health Partners in 1997. Also, under his leadership, the university's endowment quadrupled and it became a leader annually in terms of overall private-sector support.
Brand may be best known for terminating men's head basketball coach Bob Knight
Robert Montgomery Knight (October 25, 1940 – November 1, 2023) was an American men's college basketball coach (basketball), coach. Nicknamed "the General", he won 902 NCAA Division I men's basketball games, a record at the time of his retire ...
in 2000. Reactions to the firing were varied, with public opinion split with strong feelings one way or the other, common across the state. The night of the firing, a crowd estimated at 2,000, consisting mostly of students, vandalized the Showalter Fountain, the university football field and marched on the president's on-campus home, the Bryan House. During this unrest, Brand was hanged in effigy
An effigy is a sculptural representation, often life-size, of a specific person or a prototypical figure. The term is mostly used for the makeshift dummies used for symbolic punishment in political protests and for the figures burned in certain ...
but fundraising with alumni and donors reached record highs. Knight was replaced by IU's first hire of an African American coach, Coach Mike Davis, who led the team to the Final Four in 2002.
One of his most notable and nationally acclaimed speeches was to the National Press Club in 2001, entitled, 'Academics First: Reforming Intercollegiate Athletics'. He underscored the need for the academic community to acknowledge and address the disparities that exist between intercollegiate athletics and the true mission of higher education.
On September 24, 2019, it was announced that the Informatics building on the IU-Bloomington campus would be re-named "Myles Brand Hall" in recognition of the "pathbreaking contributions that President Brand made to the academic core of this university".
NCAA leadership
In 2003, roughly two years after he fired Bob Knight
Robert Montgomery Knight (October 25, 1940 – November 1, 2023) was an American men's college basketball coach (basketball), coach. Nicknamed "the General", he won 902 NCAA Division I men's basketball games, a record at the time of his retire ...
, Brand left Indiana University to become president of the National Collegiate Athletic Association
The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...
, located in Indianapolis
Indianapolis ( ), colloquially known as Indy, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Indiana, most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana, Marion ...
. Brand was the first college president to head the NCAA.
Brand took the helm of the NCAA during a time when it was criticized for not valuing academics and education. Brand, a former college president and academic, was expected to bring new priorities to an institution previously governed by Cedric Dempsey, whose background was that of an athlete, coach and athletic administrator. Brand vowed to improve the overall experience for student-athletes, helping them attain both an education and increasing postgraduate opportunities. In a speech to the National Press Club, Brand said that "intercollegiate athletics can be a vital force in America's culture, exemplifying the positive spirit and values of our way of life," but he also expressed his strong belief "that academics must come first."
Brand had warned that the "arms race" among upper-echelon schools is the biggest dilemma confronting the NCAA's future success. "This escalation—this spiraling—of success demanding even more success has good people of noble intentions chasing both the carrot and their tails," he said.
Under his tenure, the NCAA
The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...
Executive Committee decided not to conduct championships on the campuses of member institutions where the use of nicknames and mascots representing American Indians is considered hostile and abusive.
Brand established a system for tracking each team's graduation rates, and brought attention to the fact that men's basketball teams had lower-than-average graduation rates.[
Following Brand's death, Senior Vice-President Jim Isch was named interim president on September 22, 2009. Former ]University of Washington
The University of Washington (UW and informally U-Dub or U Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington, United States. Founded in 1861, the University of Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast of the Uni ...
president Mark Emmert
Mark Allen Emmert (born December 16, 1952) is the former president of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). He was the fifth CEO of the NCAA; he was named as the incoming president on April 27, 2010, and assumed his duties on Nov ...
was named as the new permanent president of the NCAA in late 2010.
Legacy
In 2019, Indiana University renamed the Informatics buildings at the corner of 10th Street and Woodlawn Avenue on its Bloomington campus Myles Brand Hall in honor of its 16th president.
A website of his Collected Works includes over 300 speeches, op eds, podcasts, and videos. A Special Issue of ''The Journal of Intercollegiate Sport'' co-edited by Peg Brand Weiser and R. Scott Kretchmar entitled, "The Myles Brand Era at the NCAA: A Tribute and Scholarly Review" offers recollections and analysis by various peers and scholars of his goal to integrate athletics into academics, his pursuit of gender equity, racial parity, and other issues of social justice, and an understanding of his legacy of leadership style.
References
External links
The Myles Brand Era at the NCAA: A Tribute and Scholarly Review, Journal of Intercollegiate Sport, Vol. 14 No. 3 (2021)
Entrance interview: Q&A with Myles Brand
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brand, Myles
1942 births
2009 deaths
Indiana University faculty
Ohio State University faculty
National Collegiate Athletic Association people
Presidents of the University of Oregon
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute alumni
University of Arizona faculty
University of Pittsburgh faculty
University of Rochester alumni
University of Illinois Chicago faculty
Academics from New York (state)
People from Jericho, New York
Deaths from pancreatic cancer in Indiana
Presidents of Indiana University
Carle Place High School alumni
20th-century American academics