James Lawrence Whitfield

James Lawrence Whitfield
Image Source: News and Observer. June 9, 1988, p. 3C.

James Lawrence Whitfield was appointed to the board by Gov. Luther H. Hodges (1898–1974) in August 1959, along with Elizabeth Stewart Bennett (1895–1990) of Burlington, Baxter Roland Ridenhour (1909–1989) of Durham, and Henry C. Oglesby (1908–1985) of Greenville – each of them former East Carolina students. Whitfield and Oglesby were appointed to eight-year terms, expiring in 1967, while Ridenhour and Bennett were appointed to four-year terms, expiring in 1963. Hodges’ appointments brought to the board an unprecedented influx of alumni.

In August of 1967, Gov. Dan K. Moore (1906–1986) reappointed Whitfield to an eight-year term, to expire in 1975. As things turned out, Whitfield’s second term was abbreviated by the restructuring of higher education in the early 1970s and the concomitant restocking of all university boards in 1973. Even so, Whitfield’s fourteen years as a trustee coincided with momentous changes: the hiring of Dr. Leo W. Jenkins as the new president in 1960, the first steps toward the desegregation in 1961, East Carolina’s hard-fought drives for university status and the establishment of a medical school. While a loyal alumnus, Whitfield’s vision differed with most of the board regarding university status. Rather than an immediate fight for independent university status, Whitfield favored a more conciliatory path, deferring to Gov. Moore and the interests of the Consolidated University.

A native of Greenville and an outstanding student, Whitfield graduated from Greenville High School in 1938, president of the senior class and editor of Green Lights, the high school yearbook. At ECTC, he majored in history and English, and was active in the Poe Society, secretary of the Men’s Student Government Association, chairman of the Y. M. C. A., president and co-founder of the Young Democratic Club, and director of the Student Radio program.

Whitfield primary focus, however, was on the student newspaper, the Teco Echo. After serving as its sports editor and authoring a regular column, “Along the Sidelines,” he was elected editor in 1940, his junior year. Well before his work with the Teco Echo, Whitfield had been appointed, in 1935, Greenville correspondent for the Ledger-Dispatch (Norfolk, Va.), and covered sports and general news in Greenville for the News and Observer. He also worked with the Daily Reflector, the Greenville paper, and the United Press. In recognition of his devotion to journalism, Whitfield was elected president of the Southern Interscholastic Press Association, a regional press association for student journalists.

Whitfield was reelected editor of the Teco Echo his senior year, but in October 1941, was inducted into the U. S. Army. During WWII, he was stationed for 27 months at Fort Amador, on the Pacific side of the Panama Canal Zone, and did reporting there for the military. After being transferred back to the states, he was stationed at Fort Bragg for the duration of the war. In late 1944, he married Annie Laura Wilkerson of Burlington, an ECTC alumna.

After the war, Whitfield returned to Greenville and worked briefly as director of the College News Bureau and editorial advisor for the Teco Echo before taking, in the summer of 1946, a new position with the News and Observer. Two years later, he was named state editor and served in that capacity until 1970 when he was named business editor. From 1972 until his retirement in 1979, he was special projects editor. A devoted alumnus, Whitfield served as president of the ECC Alumni Association and headed the “Friends of the Library” organization. In 1953, he won the ECC Alumni of the Year award.

While supportive of East Carolina’s growth and development, on one major issue — attaining university status — Whitfield differed decidedly from Pres. Jenkins and most of the board, siding instead with Gov. Moore, a graduate of UNC and its law school, and the state Board of Higher Education in supporting UNC’s leadership within higher education. In the fight for university status that ensued, the News and Observer was often identified euphemistically as one of the major Piedmont newspapers opposed to East Carolina’s ambitions. Such assertions, coming from the advocates of immediate independent university status for East Carolina, were equally veiled criticisms of Whitfield, state editor of the N&O.

In 1965, Whitfield was elected to serve as a member of the Board of Higher Education. His membership on the BHE complicated his position, as an ECC trustee, on East Carolina’s push for status as an independent university rather than as a component within the Consolidated System dominated by UNC and supported by the BHE. The Consolidated University, in 1966, had come to include UNC, NC State, UNC-Greensboro, and UNC-Charlotte. Those supporting the Consolidated University were willing to consider East Carolina’s admission as a branch institution. However, Jenkins and most of the ECC trustees were not interested in being part of the Consolidated University because they feared it would mean subordination to the dominant force, UNC-Chapel Hill. Independent status would provide East Carolina the more agile option, allowing it to pursue its own course as an ambitious, deserving force in higher education.

In early 1966, Gov. Moore publicly declared his unequivocal opposition to the independent university option for ECC and requested a two-year hiatus before major changes in higher education were introduced to the state legislature. Whitfield deferred, stating that “Gov. Moore … says he is convinced that the state’s success or failure in higher education will be related to the degree to which we can pool our resources, with no threat to the identity or vigor of any of us. As a trustee, I agree with Gov. Moore that the best interests of North Carolina will be served by concentrating on planning instead of a major fight while the institutions are in the process of their planning.” He added that he did not want East Carolina’s push for university status to result in “a battle that could disrupt the statewide plan so sorely needed by all our institutions of learning.” Whitfield noted that a two-year wait “will not depreciate its [ECC’s] role in higher education that it has been building since 1907.”

Whitfield’s stance was diametrically opposed by another trustee, David J. Whichard II (1927–2015), publisher of the Daily Reflector, who publicly called for “East Carolina University at the earliest possible date.” Fully realizing that he was opposing Gov. Moore, Whichard quipped, “Trustees are not named to be mute rubber stamps of the Governor….” Echoing themes advanced by Jenkins, Whichard, a UNC alumnus, declared that East Carolina is “… already a university except in name. I believe it is in the interest of higher education in the state and in the interests of the eastern area and the institution to be accorded its proper title of university at the earliest possible date.”

At the spring 1966 meeting of the ECC board, Whichard forced a vote on the question by moving that the Board of Higher Education promptly “study the desirability of elevating ECC to independent university status” and make the results available before the 1967 General Assembly convened. Another trustee, Irving E. Carlyle (1897–1971) of Winston-Salem, sought to preempt Whichard’s motion by offering a substitute: that ECC apply for inclusion within the Consolidated University of North Carolina. Carlyle’s motion failed, 4-3, with only Carlyle, William A. Blount (1898–1982), and Whitfield voting in favor, while the other four trustees attending opposed. The board next turned to Whichard’s motion which passed, 5-2, with Whichard, Rebekah F. Kirby (1919–2013) of Wilson, Frederick Fries Bahnson, Jr. (1913–1987) of Winston-Salem, Troy B. Dodson (1917–2002) of Greenville, and Henry Oglesby (1908–1985) of Washington, D. C., voting in favor, while Blount and Carlyle opposed. Whitfield abstained due to his membership on the Board of Higher Education, but clearly his earlier remarks suggest that he did not support opposition to Gov. Moore.

In 1967, following East Carolina’s legislative victory in attaining regional university status, Gov. Moore appointed Whitfield to another eight-year term on the ECU board, expiring in 1975. The same year, Moore declined to reappoint two other trustees, Oglesby and Bahnson, who had been strong supporters of East Carolina’s immediate bid for university status. Whitfield’s second term as a trustee, though originally set to expire in 1975, concluded in May 1973 as a result of the overall reorganization/structuring of higher education completed during the final years of Gov. Robert “Bob” Scott’s (1929–2009) administration. According to the latter, the boards of trustees of the sixteen constituent institutions of the state university system were no longer to be named primarily by the governor. Instead, the newly formed Board of Governors would name, in East Carolina’s case, eight trustees, while the governor would name four. In addition, the student body president served ex officio as a trustee. This arrangement resulted in the elevation of nine new trustees to the thirteen-seat board. Whitfield, who had already served fourteen years, was not among the trustees appointed by either Gov. James E. Holshouser (1934–2013) or the Board of Governors.

Whitfield distinguished himself in campus naming, drawing on his personal knowledge of East Carolina’s history to remember those who might have been forgotten. In 1968, following the tragic death of Mary H. Greene (1902–1968), the first director of East Carolina’s news bureau and a full-time faculty in the English Department, Whitfield proposed that the board name the new 10-story women’s dormitory in her honor. The board approved. In 1972, Whitfield moved that the Whichard Building art gallery be named after Kate Watkins Lewis (1878–1971), former art professor at East Carolina and one of the school’s founding faculty. That motion, seconded by David Whichard, passed.

Whitfield played a prominent role in the early 1970s as East Carolina was rocked by student protests objecting to limited visitation privileges in campus dorms. In March 1971, he spoke out in favor of liberalizing visitation regulations, stating, “I have great faith in young people today, and I have every faith that students will abide by the responsibilities that go along with the privileges they are seeking. Moral values are shaped in the cradle, in the home and in the churches. By the time youngsters reach college age, no regulation is going to change moral values. They’ll be just as sincere in the dorm as elsewhere.” Ultimately, the board concurred with Whitfield’s views and proceeded with liberalization of visitation privileges.

Sources

  • “Board of Trustees.” Buccaneer. 1962. P. 7. https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/15313
  • “Board of Trustees.” October 1961. University Archives # UA55.01.1404. J. Y. Joyner Library. East Carolina University. Greenville, N. C. https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/23084
  • Brown, Rosalie. “From the Armed Services.” Teco Echo. February 19, 1944. P. 2. https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/37933
  • “EC Trustees Accept Speaker Ban Policy.” East Carolinian. November 17, 1965. P. 1. https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/38906
  • “ECU to Set New Policy for Dormitory Visitation.” News and Observer. March 10, 1971. P. 3.
  • Edwards, Pearl. “Student Spotlight.” Teco Echo. November 15, 1940. P. 2. https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/37881
  • “Ex-Trustees of ECU Get New Board Terms.” News and Observer. August 19, 1967. P. 24.
  • “Farewell.” Teco Echo. October 17, 1941. P. 2. https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/37894
  • “Five Girls, One Boy Emerge Victorious in Student Publications Elections.” Teco Echo. April 5, 1940. P. 1. https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/38101
  • “Four of 12 Trustees of ECC Oppose Making It an Independent University.” Winston-Salem Journal. April 4, 1967. P. 2.
  • “Four Trustees Announced for East Carolina.” News and Observer. September 8, 1973. P. 20.
  • Hardee, Roy. “ECU Board Names New Dorm.” News and Observer. May 21, 1968. P. 15.
  • Hatch, Richard W. “ECC Votes To Seek Separate University.” Charlotte Observer. May 19, 1966. Pp. 1, s, .
  • “Higher Education Unit Told to Push Progress, Programs.” Durham Morning Herald. July 15, 1965. P. 16A.
  • “Horne, Burks Elected Co-Editors Teco Echo to Succeed Whitfield.” Teco Echo. October 17, 1941. P. 1. https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/37894
  • “In Canal Zone.” Teco Echo. January 30, 1942. P. 1 https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/37899
  • “James L. Whitfield, 72, former N&O official, dies.” News and Observer. June 9, 1988. P. 3C.
  • “James Whitfield Oral History Interview.” University Archives # UA60.02.141. J. Y. Joyner Library. East Carolina University. Greenville, N. C. https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/63096
  • “James Whitfield Sports Editor of Teco Echo: His Headaches Already Begun.” Teco Echo. May 31, 1939. P. 3. https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/38087
  • Johnsey, Arthur. “ECC Trustees Split on Push for Early University Status: Face Moore’s Opposition.” Greensboro Daily News. May 14, 1966. P. 1B.
  • “Newspaper Heads Re-Elected; Watts Tecoan Editor; Spencer Edits Magazine.” Teco Echo. March 28, 1941. P. 1. https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/37888
  • “N&O Staffer Is Appointed ECC Trustee.” News and Observer. September 1, 1959. P. 8.
  • Records of the Chancellor: Records of Leo Warren Jenkins, 1960-1981. University Archives # UA02-06 “Box 38: Whitfield, James L., member of the Board of Trustees, 1960-1968.” J. Y. Joyner Library. East Carolina University. Greenville, N. C. https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/special/ead/findingaids/UA02-06
  • Ross, James. “ECC Leaders Seek Troops for Big Legislature Battle.” Greensboro Daily News. August 13, 1966. P. 2.
  • Smith, Harry. “Memorial Service Set for James Whitfield.” Daily Tar Heel. March 6, 1971. P. 2.
  • “UNC Governors Pick 129 Trustees for 16 Institutions.” News and Observer. June 28, 1973. P. 12.
  • “Where Are ECTC Coeds? Well Just Read and See.” Teco Echo. February 6, 1942. P. 2. https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/37900
  • “Whitfield Accepts Post in Raleigh.” Teco Echo. July 26, 1946. P. 1. https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/38122
  • “Whitfield Oral History Interview, Part III, January 25, 1984.” University Archives # UA60.02.114. J. Y. Joyner Library. East Carolina University. Greenville, N. C. https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/63074
  • “Whitfield to Preside a SIPA Meet.” Teco Echo. October 28, 1938. Pp. 1, 2. https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/38074

Related Materials

Image Source: James L. Whitfield, Teco Echo, March 28, 1941, p. 1. https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/37888

Image Source: James L. Whitfield, freshman photo, Tecoan, 1939, p. 107. https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/15344

Image Source: James L. Whitfield, sophomore photo, Tecoan, 1940, p. 102. https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/15345

Image Source: James L. Whitfield, junior photo, Tecoan, 1941, p. 84. https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/15346

Image Source: James L. Whitfield, Green Lights (Greenville High School Yearbook, senior year), 1938, p. 8.

Image Source: James L. Whitfield, Green Lights (Greenville High School Yearbook, junior year), 1937, p. 22.

Citation Information

Title: James Lawrence Whitfield
Author: John A. Tucker, PhD
Date of Publication: 05/24/2023
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