On October 28, 1978, Dr. Thomas B. Brewer (1932-2018), previously dean and vice chancellor of Texas Christian University, was installed as ECU’s second chancellor. He thus became the sixth chief executive of East Carolina (seventh if interim Howard J. McGinnis is included), since the school opened, first as a teacher training school, in 1909.
The installation ceremony, attended by several hundred people, was held on the campus’ north lawn, just four months after Brewer assumed duties as chancellor. He succeeded Dr. Leo W. Jenkins who had served as East Carolina’s chief executive for 18 years, from 1960 to 1972 as president, and then from 1972-1978 as chancellor. Earlier, Jenkins served as dean of instruction and then vice president for a total of 13 years, from 1947-1960. By comparison, Brewer was a newcomer. Although impressive and historic, Brewer’s inauguration was followed by controversies over his leadership strategies and his commitment to the school, resulting in his resignation, announced in the fall of 1981 and effective June 30, 1982, casting a pall on memories of his installation.
As with Jenkins’ inauguration 18 years prior, a series of events – dramatic productions, art exhibits, and concerts – were staged drawing on the impressive talents of students and faculty. Two art exhibits, “Friends of the Faculty” and “Nature’s Abstraction,” were held in the Leo Jenkins Fine Arts Center on October 27-28. A dinner theatre production, “God Says There Is No Peter Ott,” was staged in Mendenhall Student Center, Oct. 26-27. An ECU Playhouse production of the Broadway musical, “Pippin,” was held in McGinnis Auditorium, Oct. 26-27. Mendenhall Student Center hosted a luncheon for invited guests, followed by an open house at the Chancellor’s residence on Fifth St. from 2-4 p.m.
Joyner Library, recently expanded, held an open house on October 27, for public viewing of “electronic book detection and door security systems, a commercial bibliographic searching system, and an automatic cataloguing system.” Concluding the inaugural events, the ECU Symphony Orchestra performed a concert in Wright Auditorium. Following the precedent set with Jenkins’ installation in 1960, Brewer’s ceremony was filmed, this time by WITN television station, the local NBC affiliate, and broadcast from 11:30-12:30 p.m.
The Trustee’s Mace
The academic procession included “more than 600 dignitaries in colorful academic robes” and was led by a chief marshal in purple and gold carrying the university mace making its first public appearance. Commissioned and presented to the university by the ECU board of trustees, “the Trustees’ Mace” as it came to be known, consists of a sterling silver shaft, 43-inches long and weighing 12-pounds, topped by purple fluorite crystal secured by a banded gold cage. It was designed by John Satterfield, an ECU art faculty. Commenting on its significance, former university historian Henry Ferrell noted that the mace was “one of the first symbolic objects to become an ECU tradition.”
Opening Remarks
Pres. William C. Friday presided over the ceremonies. Gov. James B. Hunt greeted the audience stating, “The people of North Carolina are thrilled to have this great and good man, Thomas Brewer, who has been found by looking throughout America, to come here and to lead this university.” Hunt added that East Carolina had progressed from a small teachers college to a nationally recognized university in part because of the state’s commitment to higher education. “We have through the past several years consistently ranked within the top ten … ten in America in terms of per capita support of public higher education.”
Praising Brewer’s predecessor, Dr. Jenkins, as an influential force in eastern North Carolina, Hunt added, “This university and its leaders have been the driving, throbbing heart of the developmental thrust of eastern North Carolina, an area of vast richness and history.” Hunt stated that he was confident Brewer could carry the university on to greater academic excellence and continue Jenkins’ role in providing leadership to this region of the state. He remarked, “I have the best feelings in the world about what our future will be under his leadership” and added “Dr. Brewer, you have my strongest personal backing and the very best wishes of the people of North Carolina.”
The next speaker, Jack Suggs, dean of the Divinity School at Texas Christian University, facetiously likened Brewer’s departure from Texas Christian to the prodigal son who “went off into a foreign country and wasted his substance in riotous living.” More seriously, Suggs observed that Brewer had “the energy needed for this job and the commitment to use that energy in the cause of higher education.” He added that Brewer would “represent you well to all sorts of constituencies.” He closed with the observation, “You will always know that neither numbers nor dollars is his game. For him, education is students and faculty, people engaged in the excitement of learning.” Suggs added that Brewer’s main concern is “excellence” and that he was equipped with “the ability to recognize quality.” He closed stating, “Tom Brewer is a man of integrity … the word integrity describes him best.”
Next, Tommy Joe Payne, president of the Student Government Association, voiced appreciation for the sizable turnout before adding that “of all the groups represented here today, no group is more concerned about what this university represents than we, the students.” He added, “this hour is the time to officially place upon Dr. Brewer’s shoulders the responsibility of this university, and that responsibility is primarily to teach, develop, and help the students on this campus to learn and live.” After thanking Dr. Jenkins for his dedication to the school, Payne added “The future is bright for our school, and we believe that Dr. Brewer will preserve that essential quality, a sincerity that for so long has been the hallmark of East Carolina.”
Chair of the faculty, Professor Henry Ferrell spoke next, remarking “in many ways the installation of a chancellor is as much an opportunity to summarize the accomplishments [of the school] as it is a movement toward the future with hope and confidence for continued excellence.” Ferrell noted that ECU had progressed in many ways since its founding, and that its progress seemed to embody the search for knowledge itself.
Board of Trustees chair, Troy Pate called Brewer “an educator with rare insight and abilities.… He is a man of dreams who is also possessed with a magnificent determination and zest, essential to transform these dreams to … reality.” Pate added, “We are firmly assured that the leadership of East Carolina University will rest with one of our nation’s most dedicated and able educators.” Pate noted further that Brewer was “an innovator … driven by a vigorous commitment to creativity.”
Chair of the Board of Governors, William A. Johnson, related the board’s gratitude when Brewer accepted the challenge. He added that while inaugural day was a happy one, “the happiest day was the day when Dr. Brewer said yes to the invitation.” Predicting that ECU would become even greater under Brewer, Johnson declared “You will have my personal support in this endeavor as you lead this institution forward, and I can say to you that you will have the support of the entire board of governors.”
The Keynote Speech
President Friday next introduced Jack W. Peltason (1923-2015), president of the American Council on Education and former chancellor of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champagne, for the keynote address. Peltason opened by observing that the installation was “both a high moment in the career of our colleague, Tom Brewer, and … the opening of a new chapter in the book of East Carolina University.”
Peltason offered his vision of higher education, stating that “it should not restrict access to any economic group, race, religion or any segment of our society.” He also advocated that it remain independent, and congratulated the people of North Carolina for giving its university system “an environment in which faculty and students are free to explore, investigate, and learn without fear of adverse public sanctions.”
Peltason emphasized that higher education has “an almost immeasurably rich legacy” adding that contemporaries should be careful in administering it because decisions will affect future generations.” He observed that “colleges and universities provide both the
continuity which helps glue society together and the ordered framework within which change can be constructively molded.” Peltason concluded by encouraging all to “labor with him [Brewer] on behalf of those ideals which have made our system and this university great.” He added “in the measure of their light, Tom Brewer will succeed.”
President Friday then recognized members of Brewer’s family as well as dignitaries present, including chancellor emeritus, Dr. Jenkins, Sen. Robert Morgan, Sen. Jesse Helms, Senate candidate John Ingram, as well as Lieutenant Governor Jimmy Green, Representative L. H. Fountain, and members of the General Assembly. Next, Friday turned the podium over to N. C. Supreme Court Chief Justice Susie M. Sharp who administered the oath of office.
Brewer’s Installation Address
Following the oath, Friday declared, “I now have the privilege of investing Thomas Bowman Brewer with the authority and responsibility of the office of chancellor.” After thanking the keynote speaker, the board of trustees, President Friday, the faculty, staff, and students of ECU, Brewer praised his predecessors, former Chancellor Jenkins and former President Messick, for having “nobly advanced” the welfare of ECU.
Brewer also pledged to strive to remain faithful to the school’s original charter, making a priority of education as had North Carolina in creating a school fund in 1825 and then an elementary school system in 1839, and even earlier, a state-supported institution of higher education. In accepting the office, Brewer further pledged that his administration would ensure ECU’s continued commitment to serving the people. He remarked, “The seal of our university carries the inscription ‘to serve,’ and neither power nor principality will be permitted to tarnish this reputation.”
Brewer noted the closeness between East Carolina’s “people” and added, “its people have always been close to East Carolina.” Furthermore, he stated that ECU’s constituency included “people from the working class as well as people from the middle class,” adding that educators faced a “new urgency,” their responsibility to make available an education for all American youth, not just the exceptionally able.
In making this point, Brewer invoked former Pres. John F. Kennedy’s (1917-1963) and his observation, “The human mind is our fundamental resource,” adding that the state legislature had the right “to allocate means and list exceptions in terms of this great truism.” Predicting greatness, Brewer added, “Allow us to have education and we shall not only survive, we will prevail.”
Brewer also invoked the inspirational words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968), “We must work unceasingly to lift this nation that we love to a higher destiny, to a new plateau of compassion, to a more noble expression of humanness.” To that end, Brewer added, “Excellence today means that we must go beyond the narrow historical parameters of good traditional schooling,” noting that service to the community, teaching insightfully, and concern with the goals of human fulfillment” are integral to an academic setting.
Moreover, Brewer emphasized that ECU must go beyond the traditional dimensions of service and address problems other than those of academic knowledge. Along more philosophical lines, Brewer noted “in the ultimate realm we must concern ourselves with the problems and opportunities associated with authentic personhood.”
The installation ceremony concluded with a benediction delivered by Rabbi Levi A. Olan, Rabbi Emeritus of the Temple Emanu-El in Dallas, Texas. Olan was a well-known advocate of civil rights and liberal causes and visiting professor at Southern Methodist University.
Historic Dimensions
Although he did not address desegregation as an ongoing process, Brewer’s quote of a remark by Dr. King signified his concern with new levels of diversity and representation on campus. While East Carolina’s move away from segregation had begun nearly two decades prior, in 1978 ECU remained a predominantly white campus, lacking significant diversity and inclusion of non-traditional groups. By suggesting that ECU go beyond traditional parameters in making education available for all American youth, Brewer was, in muted terms, calling for new levels of inclusion and diversity. And the installation ceremony, in featuring a liberal Rabbi from Texas delivering the benediction, itself went well beyond the bounds of traditional spiritual affiliations of eastern North Carolina. With Brewer’s inauguration, change was in the offing.
As chancellor, Brewer increased funding for faculty research and improved teaching. He also sought to reorganize virtually all levels of university administration, including the departmental. His efforts to effect immediate internal changes and launch long-range planning as well led to controversy. Upheaval in ECU athletics following the resignations of football head coach Pat Dye, and then, athletic director Bill Cain, further complicated things. Finally, Brewer incurred the critical displeasure of the ECU board of trustees when it learned of his interest in the presidency at the University of Louisville in 1980, and then, in 1981, West Virginia University. Three years after his appointment, Brewer resigned on September 7, 1981.
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Additional Related Material
Citation Information
Title: Chancellor Thomas Brewer Installation
Author: John A. Tucker, PhD
Date of Publication: 2/26/2024