Dr. Leo W. Jenkins Inauguration – ECU Chronicles: Our History

Image source: https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/14727

In outdoor ceremonies held the morning of Friday, May 13, 1960, before “a crowd of ten thousand jammed in … College Stadium,” Dr. Leo Warren Jenkins, then 46, was installed as East Carolina’s fifth president. If the interim presidency of Howard J. McGinnis (1882-1971), from 1944-1946, is included, Jenkins was the sixth.ⁱ

The inaugural ceremonies were among the most eventful, innovative, and well-attended in the school’s history. Presidents and deans from thirty colleges and universities, and approximately 170 delegates from institutions of higher education as well as educational, professional, and learned societies throughout the nation attended. Unique in East Carolina’s history, three Marine generals were special guests: Major General J. P. Berkeley, Camp Lejeune; Brigadier General George Richard E. Shell, Commanding General, Parris Island, S. C.; and Brigadier General Ralph K. Rottet, Commanding General, Cherry Point, N. C. At the time, ECC enrolled, reportedly, more Marines and Marine veterans than any college in the United States. During WWII, Jenkins had served as a Marine in the Pacific, seeing action at Guam, Guadalcanal, and Iwo Jima.

An inauguration committee co-chaired by Dr. James L. White (1922-2004), business professor, and Loula White Fleming (1878-1967), wife of the late-state senator, James L. Fleming (1867-1909), and including 27 representatives of the faculty, staff, administration, student body, alumni, public schools, press, radio, and television, had planned the inaugural events spanning the week of May 6-13. In recognition of the momentous occasion, ECC cancelled classes on May 13, and encouraged faculty, staff, and the student body to attend the installation. Fraternities and sororities declared Jenkins’ installation a special event and advised members to attend.

Local support was strong. The City of Greenville declared May 13 a municipal holiday. The Merchants Association posted signs around town congratulating the college and its new president. Throughout Pitt County, stores displayed inauguration day stickers. Students from the Greenville public schools, especially those with student-teacher relationships with ECC, were invited. The Air Force ROTC drill team, campus police, city police, and state highway patrolmen worked together in managing entrances to the college, assisting with the overflow turnout. Newspapers local and statewide covered the ceremonies with praise, applauding East Carolina’s rapid growth and its incoming president as an able leader.

Inaugural Events

The inaugural week opened with the East Carolina Playhouse staging outdoor performances of Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” in the Flanagan Memorial Amphitheatre, May 6-7. The Art Department held various exhibits from May 6 throughout the week. The College Union hosted a tea honoring Dr. and Mrs. Jenkins on May 8, and female faculty residing in Erwin Hall held a reception for the first couple on May 11.

The Music Department staged four programs, including a concerto by the East Carolina Orchestra on May 8, followed by piano recitals on May 9, 10, and 11. The evening before Jenkins’ installation, the Concert Band, directed by Herbert L. Carter, presented their Spring Concert in Wright Auditorium featuring the premiere of a work by James H. Parnell, a music faculty, “In Quest of Truth,” honoring the mission of higher education.

Following Jenkins’ installation, Vice President F. D. Duncan presided over a luncheon for 800 including delegates from colleges and universities throughout the nation. The luncheon, held in the New South Cafeteria, featured brief addresses by James Speight, president of the SGA, Z. W. Frazelle, on behalf of the alumni, and Elmer Browning and Ovid W. Pierce for the faculty. Also on the program were Major General J. P. Berkeley, Camp Lejeune; Dallas Herring, State Board of Education; Charles Carroll, State Department of Public Instruction; A. C. Dawson, N. C. Education Association; L. P. McLendon, State Board of Higher Education; J. Herbert Waldrop, Board of Trustees; and UNC President William C. Friday.

Following the luncheon, all were invited to an open house at the President’s residence on Fifth Street. The Society of Buccaneers, an alumni organization, hosted a dinner in the New South Cafeteria. The day ended with an inaugural ball organized by the SGA in Wright Auditorium. Although not part of inaugural week, commencement exercises the following weekend, May 21-22, continued campus festivities beyond the installation.

Governor Luther Hodges’ Remarks

Dr. James L. White, co-chair of the Inaugural Committee and master of ceremonies on inaugural day, opened the installation ceremony by introducing Dean Robert L. Holt who offered the invocation.

Governor Luther Hodges next extended greetings on behalf of the state. Hodges recognized that East Carolina College had “made a good name for itself as a teachers college and … [had] the potential for achieving greatness.” He noted that in the past dozen years, ECC’s budget had increased from one million dollars to nearly four, with state contributions rising from 32 per cent to 50 per cent. Hodges added, “The taxpayer has, more than ever, a right to expect that the student he so generously helps will study hard and that the training received will be of high quality.” Concluding, Hodges affirmed, “I know I speak for the entire state when I express confidence in this new president, in this school and in the potential … it offers to North Carolina.”

ECU historian Mary Jo Bratton has suggested that Hodges’ comments “pointedly challenged the institution’s aspirations as a multipurpose institution.” After all, Hodges praised the school as a teachers college when in fact the state legislature had already, in 1951, recognized East Carolina as a four-year liberal arts college. Rather than encourage expansion in new areas such as nursing, business administration, and graduate education, Hodges’ vision seemed fixed in an earlier moment in East Carolina’s history when the school was simply a teachers college.

UNC President William C. Friday’s Address

Jenkins’ predecessor, former President John D. Messick (1897-1993), returned to ECC for his ceremonial role: introducing UNC President Friday, the keynote speaker. Friday opened with praise for Jenkins, stating “I have known Leo Jenkins for some years, and I value his friendship. His high sense of dedication to the improvement of education at every level in North Carolina is refreshing and encouraging.”

Like Hodges, Friday emphasized East Carolina’s role in teacher training and education, adding “We know that there are many things we need to do, some of which are immediate and primary, for it is shocking to discover that there are thousands of citizens in North Carolina who cannot read and cannot write their names….” Recognizing the key role that East Carolina should play in addressing this problem, he noted, “It is reassuring to know that there is strong public support for universal education and for the

qualitative changes that must be made.” Alluding to Cold War tensions (the U-2 Incident occurred in early May, 1960), Friday observed “… we live in a world in which the advancement of the state [of North Carolina] and the survival of the nation rest on our ability to develop the intellectual and spiritual powers of young people to the fullest.”

Friday then outlined three priorities for Jenkins: (1) ensuring a sound and progressive educational program, (2) realizing that a college’s strength is in its faculty, and (3) encouraging student government and student activities which have educational values. Friday advised Jenkins that “the administration has no greater responsibility than that of working constantly to maintain, to protect, and to strengthen the faculty,” adding that “the intellectual atmosphere must be free in order than teachers and scholars may draw fully on the resources of mind and spirit which they possess. There can be no greatness if this academic freedom, exercised in a responsible manner, is hobbled by pressures and interference from without or within the institution.”

Friday also listed “key questions” facing higher education in the state: “What amount and quality of education does the state want? Should every ambitious, qualified and earnest boy or girl have the opportunity for higher education? Should the colleges make greater provision for gifted students?” He added, “If so, how much do we expand our existing private and state-supported institutions, and do we build more community colleges and technical institutes to meet the demands of qualified students?”

Friday further asked, “What standards of admission must be met and what level of academic performance on college work must now be required? Do we make greater provisions for the gifted student and permit him to accelerate his academic program? What level of service is to be maintained for the adult population through institutes, short courses, summer schools and extension activities as we seek to inform farmers, businessmen, industrialists and professional men of the new and improved methods developed through research and study? How do we guard against making the costs for higher education [such] that we, in fact, close the door of educational opportunity for many worthy and qualified children?”

Friday stated that East Carolina and other institutions of higher education must address these questions “if North Carolina is to continue her sound and progressive system of publicly supported higher education.” He added, “In this search, we must courageously admit our shortcomings, where they exist, and seek the answer that is best for the whole people.” Friday remarked, the state could “get the kind of educational program they want and are willing to finance and not much more.”

With praise for the incoming president, Friday concluded by stating, “Leo Jenkins knows and understands these objectives. As he seeks their achievement, he must have, and has the right to expect, the reasonable support of the trustees, alumni, faculty, students, and friends of this college.”

Jenkins’ Inaugural Address

Chair of the ECC Board of Trustees, J. Herbert Waldrop, next administered the oath of office. The new president’s inaugural address followed. Jenkins opened by stating, “in accepting this honor today, I pledge … that I will do my best to sustain and to extend the responsibility which East Carolina College has to contribute to the enrichment and well-being of our state. I will strive to direct this college toward the fulfillment of an ancient and honorable task. With God’s help, I shall do what I can do to justify the expectations of the people of this state who have placed me here today.”

He added, “an inaugural ceremony is not an event to honor a man. It is a celebration in the life of a college,” and suggested “that we … in all humility, assess our preparedness for meeting the unceasing, the uncompromising demands ahead.”

With confidence in the power of higher education, Jenkins remarked, “For more than half a century, our schools and colleges have given us a standard of living not only unexcelled, not even closely approached by any other country in the world. They have made possible a citizenry as enlightened as any other on earth.”

More aggressively, Jenkins promised “If the citizens of North Carolina will define any new duties that they wish East Carolina College to fulfill, and if they will support the college with money, confidence, and most important – faith, this great college will assume them and justify this faith and support in the future as it has in the past.”

Jenkins then forecast that the fall 1960 enrollment would be 1,904, an increase of 597 over the previous year. He added, “We should remind ourselves of our heightened obligations. We must not only train teachers and other professional people, but we must remember that our paramount function is to restate the values of the democratic processes and to inspire love for freedom.” Jenkins expressed the hope that “we will be permitted to continue this task without being diverted to crash programs brought on by pressures of desperation to emulate the system of some other country.”

Aggressively, Jenkins emphasized that East Carolina College must continue to “grow in size with the growing demands of the youth of the state,” and warned that “any attempt to curtail the obligations of this college may be a disservice to the people of the state.”

Throughout, Jenkins emphasized the obligations of publicly endowed schools.

The great strength of America in higher education is found in its diverse objectives, slanted simultaneously toward the vocational and the liberal arts. It is indeed good for education, particularly higher education, that the champions of both of these objectives are feeling to a diminishing degree that their interests are being submerged by each other. There is evidence that the liberal arts people are understanding the need for vocational training and that the professionally oriented groups are embracing the liberal arts. That is as it should be for they are mutually dependent.

Jenkins added that “the few overzealous liberal arts people and the ardent vocationalists are a little bit foolish in berating each other because young people must prepare for life requiring both their areas.” He added that East Carolina recognized this and “shall continue to work at it by seeking extreme cooperation between both groups.”

During his inaugural remarks, meant to be ten pages in length, Jenkins encountered a missing page: page eight had evidently disappeared. Unperturbed, Jenkins continued his remarks, adlibbing the transition to page nine, with the audience apparently unaware of the lost page. Reportedly, Jenkins proved himself “a poised public speaker” in smoothly continuing his remarks. Later, he confessed, jokingly, “I think one of my six children must have gotten hold of the page and misplaced it.”

Echoing one of Friday’s points, Jenkins affirmed that “the future greatness of East Carolina College will rest with its faculty. East Carolina College has a great faculty with a well-known reputation for master teaching. The achievements of this dedicated group have gone far beyond the classroom.” Jenkins also recognized “the value of creative research” and its ability to make “knowledge more dynamic and less static.” He added, “I nevertheless hope that research will have a secondary role here and not be the first concern of this college…. Our chief concern should be that of master teaching, particularly for the undergraduates.”

Jenkins stated that a great college grows from “a concerned citizenry, a courageous board of trustees, an effective administrative staff, and a dedicated faculty. Fortunately for North Carolina such a combination exists on this campus.” He concluded by stating, “It is my wish that God will make it possible for this combination to continue to be present here in … [East Carolina’s] glorious future.”

Historic Dimensions

Jenkins’ inauguration was historic on several counts. Never before had so many attended an installation ceremony. If newspaper reports are credible, some ten-thousand people crowded into College Stadium for the event. Even if that number is hyperbole, by all accounts there were thousands present, not hundreds as in previous and subsequent installations. The bond between Greenville, Pitt County, and the eastern part of the state and East Carolina had never been more conspicuous. Ironically enough, Jenkins was not a native son come home to glory, but instead a New Jersey transplant who through his devotion to East Carolina and the region had won the hearts of the people.

Jenkins’ inauguration was also the first to be held outside. Earlier, Wright had been installed in the auditorium in Old Austin, then know as the Administration and Classroom Building; Meadows was also installed in the campus auditorium. The decision to hold Jenkins’ installation ceremony in College Stadium revealed a new level of grandeur in campus planning and execution. The ceremony reflected the expansion of the college and reiterated how it was larger in every respect than ever before, even as its growth potential seemed, at that time, boundless.

Although not known then, just four months later, ECC hosted another extraordinary event, Sen. John F. Kennedy’s campaign rally, in the same venue, College Stadium, making evident to the state and even the nation the college’s prominence, and power. Considered in relation to that later event, Jenkins’ inauguration made clear that ECC and College Stadium were capable of hosting events on an impressive scale.

Embracing technological developments in communications, Jenkins’ installation was the first to be captured by television cameras and then rebroadcast for those who had missed the occasion or who wanted to experience it once more. On Sunday, May 15, two days after the inauguration, WNCT, the CBS affiliate in Greenville and one of two television stations serving eastern North Carolina, rebroadcast the installation ceremony, affirming the ties between ECC and the region, ties that would be strengthened in unprecedented ways by Jenkins and modern communications technologies over the next two decades.

ⁱRobert H. Wright (1870-1934) served as founding president of East Carolina Teachers Training School, and retained the distinction as the first and only president of ECTTS. When East Carolina became a teachers college in 1921, Wright continued as its first president. Leon R. Meadows (1884-1953), interim president McGinnis, and Dennis Cooke (1904-1982) succeeded Wright in that capacity. John D. Messick (1897-1993), hired in 1947, became ECTC’s last president following the school’s upgrade to status as a four-year liberal arts college, ECC, in 1951. Messick continued as its first president and Jenkins, in 1960, became the second. In 1967, with achievement of university status, Jenkins transitioned from the last president of ECC to the first of ECU.