University of Rhode Island. Office of the President.

Professor of English and modern languages; third president of the University of Rhode Island. Assuming the presidency of the then Rhode Island College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts in 1906, Edwards oversaw its growth from a small agricultural program into a full fledged college. At the time of his death in 1930 the renamed Rhode Island State College had expanded its curriculum to include such programs as home economics and ROTC, awarded its's first Master's degree, doubled its enrollment and constructed many new buildings.

From the description of Records : Howard Edwards, 1880-1937 bulk 1927-1928. (University of Rhode Island Library, Kingston). WorldCat record id: 47108621

Howard Edwards was the son of Frances Marion Edwards and Frances Lawson (Bland) Edwards, born in Virginia on November 7, 1854. Edwards attended schools in Virginia, and studied at the University of Leipzig from 1877-1878 and at the Sorbonne in Paris from 1891-1892. He received degrees at the University of Arkansas (1891), Brown University (1914), Michigan State College (1927), and studied at Rhode Island Normal School in 1927.

He was a teacher and professor at the Bethal Military Academy from 1878-1880, the Bingham School in North Carolina from 1880-1884. He subsequently taught at an Academy in Tuscumbia, Alabama (1884-1885), the University of Arkansas (1885-1890), and at Michigan Agricultural College (1890-1906). He became President of Rhode Island College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts in 1906.

Upon beginning his first year as president it was evident to Dr. Edwards that the College lacked adequate academic facilities and the students would soon run out of housing. With the consent of the Board of Managers, Edwards requested an appropriation of $75, 000 from the General Assembly for the building of a new dormitory. A political battle ensued, with those in the General Assembly opposed to investing in the fledgling College. A compromise was reached in the appropriation of only $55,000 and resulted in the construction of East Hall. It was completed on October 15, 1909. As a result of the political turmoil, a commission was appointed by the General Assembly of 1908 to investigate the economic and social value of the College to the State. In its "Report of the College Commission," delivered on April 16, 1909, the Commission announced that more funding to the College was necessary "for the support and management of the institution in its compact with the national government." The Commission recommend that a construction program be established, more land be allocated for experimental farming and that it maintain the standards set by the Carnegie Foundation. It further recommended that the Rhode Island College of Agricultural and Mechanical Arts be renamed Rhode Island College. It was renamed on April 21, 1909, five days after the Commission's report.

During his presidency, Dr. Edwards saw the school grow from a tiny agricultural program to a full-fledged college. Although there were educational opportunities for women at the College, there were no specific fields of study directly created for them. Under Edwards, a program in Home Economics was developed. President Edwards also oversaw the establishment of ROTC on the campus in 1916. He continually promoted the concept of land grant education as "the largest co-operative system of collegiate instruction in the world." He promoted advancements in curriculum and programs. Under his tenure enrollment doubled.

Howard Edwards wanted the construction program to be the highlight of his presidency and he hoped to retire after its completion. Over his 24 year tenure Ranger, Washburn, Bliss, Edwards, Rodman, and Lippitt Halls were built. A controversy arose concerning the Agricultural Experiment Station's Director Burt L Hartwell's unwillingness to cooperate with conditions set by the Board of Managers. In 1928 Edwards was informed that federal funding was being suspended for the station. This was due to Director Hartwell defying a request to report the activities of the Experiment Station to the Office of Experiment Stations at the Department of Agriculture. Hartwell was suspended. His suspension lead to a split in allegiance: faculty and alumni in Edwards's favor and the agricultural community in Hartwell's favor. Although the situation culminated in the departure of Hartwell in August 1928, Edwards was left ill and tired. He submitted his resignation in September 1928, but the Board persuaded him to withdraw it. Instead, it was suggested that an assistant to the President be appointed and on April 8th, 1930 John Barlow was named as the College's first Vice President.

Howard Edwards died on April 10, 1930, in Kingston, R.I. For a more detailed account of Howard Edwards's term as President of Rhode Island State College, see Chapters 10 and 11 in The University of Rhode Island: A History of Land Grant Education in Rhode Island by Herman Eschenbacher, New York: Appletpon-Century Crofts, 1967 (call number: LD4707 E78).

From the guide to the Guide to the Records of the President, Howard Edwards, Office of the President, Howard Edwards, 1880-1937, (bulk 1927-1928), (University of Rhode Island Library, Special Collections and University Archives)

Raymond G. Bressler was born in 1887 on a farm in Halifax, Pa. At the age of thirteen, he left school to work for the railroad. He saved enough money to attend Shippensburg Normal School, where he graduated in 1904. He taught school for two years in rural Pennsylvania. Subsequently, he returned to school, earning a B.A. from Valparaiso University, a M.A. from Wofford College, a B.S. from Texas A. and M., and a M.S. from the University of Wisconsin. In 1931, when he was hired for the presidency of Rhode Island State College, he had completed the residency and examination requirements for a Ph.D. at Teachers College, Columbia. He was never able to find the time to finish his dissertation.

When approached about the presidency at Rhode Island State College (RISC) in 1930, Bressler was Deputy Secretary of Agriculture for the state of Pennsylvania, a position he had held since 1927. Previously, he had been an English professor at Texas A. and M., chairman of the Department of Rural Education Extension at the University of Texas, and Vice Dean of Agriculture at Pennsylvania State College. Bressler accepted the appointment to the presidency of RISC in December of 1930. He was president of the college from April 1931 to August 1940, when he was forced to resign by a newly-formed Board of Trustees. In 1941, Bressler was appointed R. I. Director of Agriculture and Conservation.

Raymond Bressler was president of Rhode Island State College during the Depression Years. He was a very energetic and likeable man who viewed the College in the more concrete terms of buildings and enrollments. Although he had no real philosophical agenda to promote the College, he believed that as a Land Grant College, Rhode Island State College had an obligation to make higher education accessible to everyone. He reorganized the College to provide better structure and a clearer chain of command.

The College under Bressler responded to the Depression by economizing and enrolling students to the maximum capacity. Bressler felt that it would be better for young people who could not find jobs to be in college rather than be idle. Although Bressler kept costs as low as possible, summer jobs became nonexistent and the College had to raise its fees to compensate for reduced funding by the State Assembly. Many students were unable to stay in school due to inadequate financial resources.

The Public Works Administration provided funding for construction of several new buildings on campus during the 1930s. These included Eleanor Roosevelt Hall, a women's dormitory, Quinn Hall, home of the School of Home Economics, a new dairy barn, and Green Hall, which housed the Library and the administration offices. In addition, Lippitt Hall and Edwards Hall were remodeled. This federally-funded building project provided much needed classroom space and employment opportunity for local people.

The Board of Regents, appointed in 1935, and the Board of Trustees, appointed after the dissolution of the Board of Trustees in 1939, were constant sources of trouble for Bressler. The Board of Regents, which governed both RISC and Rhode Island College of Education, chose to meet only four times per year and declined to include the Presidents of either institution in their meetings. This created a lack of communication between the President's Office and the Board and a backlog of unresolved business. To help eliminate this backlog, a subcommittee was formed to help govern RISC. Through inaction on the part of the Board, this committee came to run the College, with little input from Bressler.

In 1939, the Board of Regents was abolished in answer to criticism that it was controlled by state politics. An executive committee was formed to study the question of governance of RISC and R. I. College of Education. It was chaired by Henry M. Wriston, President of Brown University, and came to be called the Wriston Committee. Bressler had begun to lobby in favor of changing the College to a university, largely to increase the institution's prestige. He saw the reorganization of the Board as a chance to initiate this change in the College's status. He was disappointed to learn that the Committee refused to recommend university status, citing the College's lack of non-vocational programs as the reason. Bressler felt the Wriston committee wanted Brown University to remain the only university in Rhode Island, and therefore thwarted his efforts to obtain university status for RISC.

The rest of the Wriston Committee report recommended: 1. a seven member board of non-political appointees to govern both RISC and R. I. College of Education, 2. both Presidents should attend all meetings, and 3. a set income for both institutions separate from Assembly control. Before it was passed by the Assembly, some changes were made. The Director of Education, a political appointee, was named as an ex-officio member, replacing one of the other seven members. The Assembly did not approve the provision for a fixed income, which would have eliminated reliance on the Assembly for funds.

The new Board and Bressler got off to a rough start. The lack of communication that had plagued Bressler's administration from the beginning became acute under the new Board. They did not trust Bressler's financial abilities, so a comptroller was appointed to care for finances. He would report not to Bressler but to the Board itself. Bressler, feeling that he had been stripped of his power to run the College, asked for a leave of absence from April 1 to August 31, 1940 to search for another position. His contract was due to terminate on August 31 and the Board let him know it would not be renewed. The Board granted the leave of absence and appointed John Barlow as Acting President.

A public outcry followed the announcement of Bressler's "leave of absence." He was popular with students and the general public, who demanded clarification of his status. At this time, the Board asked Bressler for his formal resignation, implying financial mismanagement as the reason.

This raised an even larger protest so the Governor was forced to appoint a special committee of educators from outside Rhode Island to investigate. They concluded that neither the Board nor Bressler was at fault and that both sides should attempt reconciliation. The Trustees ignored the Governor's committee report. They had already begun to look for Bressler's replacement.

Bressler sued in court to have the Trustees prohibited from searching for a new president, claiming his rights had been violated. His case was dismissed on procedural grounds so he appealed to the State Supreme Court. Meanwhile, 1940 was an election year. The Democratic candidate, J. Howard McGrath, vowed that, if elected, he would restore Bressler to the presidency. But upon his election in 1940, McGrath discovered that legally he could not force the Board to rehire Bressler. The Trustees remained firm, in their resolve to find a replacement for Bressler. In fact, they already had a man in mind for the job. To compensate Bressler for his unfulfilled campaign promise, McGrath appointed Bressler Director of Agriculture and Conservation in Rhode Island. In July of 1941, the Supreme Court rejected Bressler's suit, destroying any remaining hopes of returning to the Presidency of RISC. In July of the same year, Carl R. Woodward was appointed as Bressler's replacement.

Source: Herman F. Eschenbacher, The University of Rhode Island, New York, Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1967.

CHRONOLOGY OF EVENTS, 1931-1940

1931 Raymond G. Bressler appointed President. President's house built.

1932 Reorganization of College: Schools of Engineering, of Science and Business, and of Agriculture and Home Economics established.

1934 Asa Sweet and Edward Sweet lands purchased.

1936 Chapter of Alpha Zeta, national agricultural society, established. Narragansett Marine Laboratory founded. Eleanor Roosevelt Hall built. Animal Husbandry Building built. Quinn Hall built. Central heating plant installed.

1937 Green Hall built.

1938 Meade field built.

1939 Board of Trustees of State Colleges created.

1940 Bressler resigns.

From the guide to the Guide to the Records of the President, Raymond G. Bressler, Office of the President, Raymond G. Bressler, 1931-1940, (University of Rhode Island Library, Special Collections and University Archives, )

Kenyon Butterfield was born on June 11, 1868, in Lapeer, Michigan. He received a B.S. as the head of his class from Michigan Agricultural College . From 1892 to 1896, he served as editor to the Michigan Grange Visitor. From 1895 to 1899, he served as superintendent to the Michigan Farmers’ Institute and as field agent for the Michigan Agricultural College. In 1902 he received an A.M. degree from the University of Michigan, where he was appointed Instructor in Rural Sociology.

In 1903, Butterfield accepted the position of president of Rhode Island College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts, following the abrupt departure of John Washburn, its first president. He served as President from 1903 to 1906. A president who understood the value of public relations, Butterfield ambitiously began a campaign of introducing the College to rural Rhode Island. However, his efforts to convince Andrew Carnegie to fund a library for the College met with disappointment, as did his hopes for the agricultural character of the College. In January of 1906, Butterfield announced to the Board of Managers that he would accept the Presidency of the Massachusetts Agricultural College. Butterfield's interests lay more in developing the agricultural side of the College and in 1906 it was becoming clear that the Rhode Island College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts’ strength lay not in its agricultural program. Of the seventeen students entering the College in 1905 only two decided upon agricultural careers.

Butterfield served as President of Massachusetts Agricultural College from 1906 to 1924. During his presidency he also served on the Commission for the Study of Agricultural Credits and Cooperation in Europe (appointed by President Woodrow Wilson in 1913), as chairman for the Massachusetts Food Supply Commission (1917), as a member of the U.S. Army Education Commission, and as Education Director of the American Expeditionary Forces from 1918-1919. In 1919, he organized the World Agricultural Council and American Country Life Association. He was given an honorary LL.D. from Rhode Island State College in 1921.

In 1924, Butterfield left the Massachusetts Agricultural College to become President of Michigan Agricultural College. He served for four years until 1928, when he retired to New Jersey. He published nine books on rural problems in the United States, India, China, and Asia. He died in New Jersey on November 26, 1935.

From the guide to the Guide to the Records of the President, Kenyon L. Butterfield, Office of the President, Kenyon L. Butterfield, 1903-1906, (University of Rhode Island Library, Special Collections and University Archives)