On June 1, 1935, Dr. Leon Renfroe Meadows (1884-1953) was installed as the second president of East Carolina Teachers College. Although hired as an English faculty in the summer of 1910, Meadows had taken leaves for military service during WWI and then later to finish his doctorate at Teachers College, Columbia University in New York City (1928). On campus, he served as head of the English faculty and as director of the summer school program. When Pres. Robert H. Wright (1870-1934) was traveling, Meadows served as acting president. And in April 1934, when Wright suddenly fell ill and then passed away, Meadows was promptly named acting president. Wright’s passing left the campus in mourning, preempting festive celebrations of the school’s first quarter century. Instead, on Oct. 5, 1934, the 25th anniversary of East Carolina’s opening day in 1909, the board of trustees simply announced Meadows’ selection as the next president and the beginning of a new quarter century.
Meadows’ inauguration ceremonies were impressive but not grand. With the trauma of Wright’s passing and the nation still in the midst of the Great Depression, frugality was the order of the day even though the school had much to celebrate: enrollment had surpassed 1,000, six times that of its first year, and the campus had doubled in size. Yet cognizant of the strained economic times, Meadows’ inauguration, rather than a separate program of pomp and circumstance, was planned more modestly, piggybacked with the spring 1935 commencement ceremonies.
James Yadkin Joyner (1862-1954), former state superintendent of public instruction and ex officio chair of the ECTTS board of trustees, presided. Following the processional — featuring representatives of 25 colleges and universities and seven college presidents — and a performance by the campus orchestra, Rev. J. A. McIver, pastor of the Immanuel Baptist Church in Greenville, delivered the invocation. The college glee club then sang a composition by Mozart.
Joyner next introduced Gov. J. C. B. Erhlinghaus (1882-1949), an early supporter of the movement for a teacher training school in the eastern part of the state. Erhlinghaus in turn introduced the chief speaker, Pat M. Neff (1871-1952), former governor of Texas and president of Baylor College where Meadows, in 1908, earned his bachelor’s degree. Neff observed that with Meadows’ selection as president of ECTC, Texas was repaying its debt to North Carolina for having earlier provided Baylor with its first president. Emphasizing the ultimate value of education, Neff affirmed that “the wealth of any nation or state lies in its schools.” He added that “no government in the world is safe whose people are ignorant.”
Neff declared that “the money a state spends on education is the finest expenditure of all. We can’t carry civilization on the backs of ignorance.”
Meadows then took the oath of office administered by North Carolina Supreme Court Associate Justice George W. Connor (1872-1938), swearing to uphold the constitutions, state and federal, and abide by the laws of the land. State Superintendent of Public Instruction and ex officio chair of the ECTC board Clyde A. Erwin (1897-1952) then reviewed the 26-year history of East Carolina, climaxing with his introduction of the newly inducted president. Meadows then delivered his inaugural address.
In his talk, Meadows paid tribute to the late-President Wright, a pioneer in the field of teacher training, stating that “his name will stand in the forefront in the history of education in America.” Meadows then called for a “New Deal” for educators, alluding to then President Roosevelt’s New Deal policies for alleviating the misery of the Great Depression. Meadows deplored the current state of affairs wherein teachers were paid less than garbage men. While some claimed that there were too many teachers, Meadows responded that there were too few. He bemoaned the fact that while economic indicators were looking up, teachers were still paid at the level they were reduced to during the worst of the depression. Meadows also remarked, along sensationalistic lines,
“The teacher who is a graduate of a standard Grade A college, the person who stands next to the parents of our children, the one to whom we entrust the training of that which is, or should be, our most priceless possession, gets less per year for her services than does the professional trainer of dogs, or the person who spends his entire time looking after hogs, or the man who carries the garbage by our campus from day to day.”
Meadows admitted that his comparisons might seem “odious” but he added that “what is more odious is the fact that they are true.”
More highmindedly, Meadows related that “intellectual, economic, and spiritual freedom are the proper objectives of a teachers college and so long as ignorance and low intelligence prevail, intellectual freedom must be the prime objective.” Alluding to the Great Depression, Meadows added that the “remedy for our economic ills should be evolutionary rather than revolutionary. Economic freedom must be accomplished by patience, initiative, sacrifice, and self-reliance. Well trained teachers will substitute intellectual freedom for the base slavery of ignorance. And then we must fall back on spiritual freedom to make life far more significant than just making a living.” Meadows concluded by declaring that he pledged “the faith and loyalty of this institution to these ideals as our objectives.”
Following Meadows’ installation, the Alumni Association held a luncheon in his honor. Speakers included A. B. Andrews (1877-1946) of Raleigh for the board of trustees, Dr. Frank Porter Graham (1886-1972) of Chapel Hill for the University of North Carolina, Mrs. Charles M. Johnson (1893–1972) of Raleigh for the Alumni Association, Julius B. Warren (1887-1960) of Raleigh for the North Carolina Education Association, and Dora E. Coates (1891-1974) for the ECTC faculty. Later that day, a public reception was hosted at the Meadows’ home. The following Monday, June 3, Meadows, officially installed as president of ECTC, presided over the commencement ceremonies.
Meadows’ inaugural ceremonies were far more modest than those 26 years prior for the first president, Robert H. Wright, and considerably more so than those staged thirteen years later, in 1948, for the fourth president, Dr. John D. Messick. No inaugural ceremonies had been conducted for the third president, Dr. Dennis H. Cooke, who served only one year. Sadly, the swearing in ceremony and his lofty inaugural speech notwithstanding, Meadows’ tenure as president was cut short by scandal, concluding in his conviction for embezzlement, making the modesty of his inaugurations all the more fitting.
Sources
“Dr. Meadows Inducted as ECTC Head.” Charlotte Observer. June 2, 1935. P. 1.
“Dr. Meadows Is Elected President.” Teco Echo. October 3, 1934. P. 1. https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/38020
“E.C.T.C. President Takes Official Oath: Dr. Leon F. Meadows Inducted at Impressive Ceremony at Institution, Pat M. Neff is Heard.” Greensboro News and Record. June 2, 1935. P. 6B.
“Finish Program for Inauguration: Ex-Governor Pat Neff, of Texas, Chief Speaker at Greenville Event.” News and Observer. May 26, 1935. P. 3.
Meadows Named Head of College: Acting President of Institution for Teachers Advanced to Presidency.” News and Observer. October 6, 1934. Pp. 1, 2.
“New President Is Well Fitted for the Position.” Teco Echo. October 17, 1934. P. 1. https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/38021
“President Robert H. Wright Dies This Morning.” Teco Echo. April 25, 1934. Pp. 1, 4. https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/38017
“Series 2: Administrative Records, Box 1, Inauguration program, 1935-06-01.” Records of the Chancellor: Records of Leon Renfroe Meadows, 1927-1944; 1932-1944.
University Archives # UA02-02. J. Y. Joyner Library. East Carolina University. Greenville, N.C. https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/special/ead/findingaids/UA02-02
“Temporary College Head Is Elected.” Teco Echo. May 16, 1934. P. 1. https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/38018
Upchurch, Jr., C. A. “New President Asks New Deal for Educators: Dr. Leon Renfroe Meadows Formally Installed as Second Head of E.C.T.C., Compares School Pay with Garbagemen’s.” News and Observer. June 2, 1935. Pp. 1, 2
Citation Information
Title: Leon R. Meadows Inauguration
Author: John A. Tucker, PhD
Date of Publication: 1/30/2024