Notable Nu – Byron Atkinson

For nearly four decades, Byron “Barney” Atkinson shaped UCLA — as a student, a veteran, a dean, and a quiet guardian of the Snake House. He was, by every account, a no-BS guy who also happened to have a $50 loan waiting whenever a brother needed it.

From Montreal to Westwood

A native of Montreal, Canada, Byron Atkinson made his way to Los Angeles and enrolled at UCLA, where he pledged the Epsilon Pi Chapter of Sigma Nu in the fall of 1937. He went on to earn his bachelor’s, master’s, and doctorate degrees at UCLA — spending 37 years in total working for the university he called home.

After graduating in 1942, Atkinson served as an ROTC-trained lieutenant in the Army during World War II before returning to UCLA to teach English and begin his career in student administration. He became Dean of Men in the early 1950s.

Byron Atkinson as an undergraduate — Atkinson as an undergraduate at UCLA.

Dean of Students: 1961–1980

Atkinson served as UCLA’s Dean of Students for 19 years, earning international recognition for his innovative programs to aid veterans, freshmen, and disabled students. He helped restore poorly supported traditions such as Homecoming and Spring Sing, and navigated the turbulent campus politics of the 1960s and ’70s with a directness that earned respect from students and faculty alike.

He served on the California State Board of Education for 17 years, was a trustee of the California State Colleges, and helped develop California’s state college master plan of 1960.

Dedicated to Dean Byron Atkinson, Dean of Students — A UCLA yearbook spread dedicated to Dean Byron Atkinson.

A Friend to the Snake House

Throughout his tenure, Barney maintained his quiet loyalty to Epsilon Pi. He ran a personal $50 loan program out of his office — no paperwork, just a brother’s word to pay it back within a month. As Steve Wolf (EP 622) recalled: “Swift, direct and firm with his discipline. A no BS guy who was also supportive of all students.”

Peter Post (EP 506), who worked closely under Atkinson as IFC Executive Secretary, put it simply: “He even got me out of trouble cheating on a test. He said I could tell the professor to piss up a rope.”

Perhaps most notably, when the chapter fell into moral decline during a summer session in the early 1950s, Atkinson sought to preserve rather than punish. Instead of shutting the house down, he persuaded former EC Don Riehl (EP 332) to move into Room 1 as a live-in advisor, armed with national authority to pull any pin necessary. Riehl steered the chapter back to safe harbor over the next year. As Barney himself might have said: problem solved.

1944: Fraternity Advisor Barney Atkinson with wife and Les Frame (EP 136) in the chapter living room — 1944: Fraternity Advisor Barney Atkinson with his wife and Les Frame (EP 136) in the chapter living room at 601 Gayley.

“Will he be Sigma Nu? Then he is in.”
— Dean Byron Atkinson, on a prospective student’s application

Since joining Epsilon Pi in the fall of 1937 through his retirement as Dean of Students in 1980, Brother Atkinson represented the chapter with passion and protected it with the quiet authority only a man of his position could wield.

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Notable Nu’s is a series celebrating distinguished members of the Epsilon Pi Chapter of Sigma Nu at UCLA.
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