New Director Is Named for Hoover Institution

John Raisian, acting director of the politically influential Hoover Institution think tank at Stanford University since last September, has been given the job permanently, officials announced Monday. The move ends the search for a successor to W. Glenn Campbell, the outspoken conservative who headed Hoover for 29 years.

Raisian, 40, has a Ph.D. in economics from UCLA and taught at the University of Washington and the University of Houston. He held several posts in the Ronald Reagan Administration, including director of research and technical support in the U.S. Department of Labor. He later headed a consulting firm in Los Angeles and went to Hoover in 1986 as a senior research fellow, eventually rising to second in command under Campbell.

Symbolic of Hoover’s unusual ties with Stanford, Raisian’s appointment was announced jointly by Stanford President Donald Kennedy and Robert H. Malott, chairman of the Hoover Board of Overseers. Though Hoover is within the purview of the university, it operates independently, a setup that critics contend allows the think tank to be controlled by conservative donors.

Kennedy said Monday that he hoped Raisian’s appointment, effective immediately, will improve “the relationship between Hoover and the rest of Stanford University.” Campbell fought with Kennedy over the terms and timing of his retirement and argued with liberal critics. Campbell remains at Hoover as an adviser.

Several sources at Stanford said the first choice to succeed Campbell was Michael Boskin, the Stanford economics professor who is chairman of President Bush’s Council of Economic Advisers. But Boskin is said to want to stay in his Washington job.

Although Campbell praised Raisian’s appointment, John F. Manley, a Stanford political science professor and critic of Hoover, said: “A new director doesn’t change the old problem. . . . Hoover continues to be an independent think thank pushing right-wing causes.”