Claude Phillip Morris

Claude Phillip Morris, Jr., of Hertford, served on East Carolina’s board from 1945–1951. Morris’ appointment was part of Governor Robert Gregg Cherry’s (1891–1957) purge of pro-Meadows trustees as the embezzlement scandal involving the former ECTC president, Leon R. Meadows (1884–1953), entered a new phase with the approaching end of Meadows’ trial in the late summer of 1945, his eventual conviction, and, finally, his imprisonment. Morris joined the board along with four other new members, Radford M. “Ralph” Garrett (1886–1955) of Greenville, Henry Clay Belk (1898–1972) of Goldsboro, Hugh Glenn Horton (1896–1959) of Williamston, and Thomas J. Hackney (1889–1971) of Wilson. The new board appointees replaced Dr. Paul Fitzgerald, Mrs. John G. Dawson, Mrs. Charles Forbes, Mrs. W. B. Murphy, and J. K. Warren, all of whom had voted earlier to exonerate Meadows of any wrongdoing even as he faced criminal charges for misuse of student funds and false pretense.

Morris’ professional expertise as bookkeeper no doubt recommended him for the position. Yet while not part of the pro-Meadows faction, Morris, shortly after taking his seat on the board, voted in opposition to ECTC trustee and state senator Arthur Benjamin Corey’s (1891–1950) motion that three faculty members dismissed by Meadows, with the support of the board at that time, be reinstated. The three faculty members were Martin L. Wright (1882–1945), Dr. Herbert Rebarker (1894–1979), and Dr. E. L. Henderson (1884–1990). Corey’s motion received no support from board members, and when he subsequently moved that a committee be established to investigate the matter, his motion received no second. While hardly a pro-Meadows board, the 1945 board including five new Cherry appointees was unwilling to reverse the previous sanction that the 1944 board had given to Meadows’ dismissals.

Morris joined the board during Howard J. McGinnis’ (1882–1971) tenure as acting president. McGinnis had been named acting president in the wake of Meadows’ resignation in 1944. While he, Morris, was a trustee, the board conducted a national search for a permanent president, hired Dr. Dennis Cooke (1904–1982), but then, following Cooke’s resignation in 1947, after only one year at ECTC, conducted another search, resulting in the hire of Dr. John D. Messick (1897–1993) as president. Messick presided over a decade of exceptional growth in student enrollment, especially that of men, physical size of the campus, and faculty numbers, especially male faculty with PhDs. The crowning achievement of Morris’ time on the board came during the closing months of his tenure as a trustee in April 1951 when the state legislature, in recognition of East Carolina’s emerging growth and solid academic development — earlier administrative woes notwithstanding — elevated the school from a teachers college to a four-year liberal arts college, East Carolina College (ECC). Morris’ term expired shortly after. In July of 1951, Governor W. Kerr Scott (1896–1958) appointed Miles L. Clark (1890–1965) of Elizabeth City to succeed Morris.

Although a native of Norfolk, Virginia, Morris resided in Hertford for 41 years. During WWI, he served on the home front in a reserve unit. After the war, he worked as plant manager and bookkeeper at the Southern Cotton Oil Company. He was treasurer of the Holy Trinity Episcopal Church and of the Perquimans County Historical Society, and chair of the Perquimans County Democratic Party in the 1940s. He chaired the Perquimans County Elementary School Committee and served as bookkeeper of the Perquimans County Board of Education. He was also a member of the board of directors of the Hertford Building and Loan Association. In addition to his service as a trustee at East Carolina, Morris was appointed to the Louisburg College board of trustees in 1949.

Sources

• “Deaths and Funerals: Claude P. Morris Jr.” News and Observer. July 8, 1959. P. 3.
• “Dr. J. D. Messick Honored in Big Campus Celebration.” News and Observer. March 7, 1948. Pp. 1, 13.
• “ECC Trustees Named by Governor Scott.” News and Observer. July 14, 1951. P. 16.
• “Final Rites Held Wednesday for C. Phillip Morris.” Perquimans Weekly. July 10, 1959. P. 1. https://newspapers.digitalnc.org/lccn/sn97064546/1959-07-10/ed-1/seq-1/#words=Morris+Phillip
• “Five New Members Added to ECTC Trustees.” News and Observer. August 18, 1945. P. 2.
• "Louisburg Adds 10 Trustees.” News and Observer. March 25, 1949. P. 18.
• “Perquimans Election Set.” News and Observer. November 18, 1948. P. 22.
• “Trustees Refuse to Act on ECTC Faculty Issue.” News and Observer. September 5, 1945. P. 8.
• “Under the Dome.” News and Observer. June 24, 1947. P. 1.

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