John Tannery Henley, Sr.

John Tannery Henley, Sr. Image Source: Charlotte Observer June 20, 1967. P. 2B. Staff photo.

In the early summer of 1967, state Sen. John T. Henley, D-Cumberland, a loyal deputy in the Democratic Party faction dominated by former Gov. Terry Sanford, joined forces with (1) the ECC Board of Trustees chair and state Sen. Robert Morgan and his conservative followers in the East, and (2) the politically ambitious Lt. Gov. Robert “Bob” Scott, scion of the powerful Piedmont-based Scott family, to introduce a compromise bill providing East Carolina College with status as the first in a system of state-supported regional universities. Henley’s bill followed a spring of bitter controversy that pitted Democratic Gov. Dan K. Moore and his supporters against Sen. Morgan and East Carolina’s many allies in a legislative showdown that ended in narrow defeat for ECC’s university status bid. The heated battle brought talk of a revolt by eastern Democrats to the Republican fold, and the consequences to follow in the 1968 elections. While Henley emphasized the bill’s educational merits and downplayed political motivation, commentators found it difficult not to see his bill as a major political concession, with Democratic powerbrokers walking back ECC’s defeat in an effort to salvage their party’s political base statewide. Whatever the motivation, Henley’s bill quickly won strong legislative support and indeed became law forthwith, earning the state Senator from Cumberland County an exceptional place of honor among East Carolina’s friends and supporters. And, in the summer of 1967, East Carolina College was recognized as East Carolina University.

Earlier Sen. Henley, a UNC trained pharmacist from Hope Mills just outside Fayetteville, had introduced a compromise bill – following the defeat of East Carolina’s original bill – providing the college an upgrade by including it in the Consolidated University fold dominated by the state’s “one-university,” UNC. And to the end, Henley suggested that this would have been the better route. East Carolina’s supporters, however, rejected Henley’s first proposal fearing that inclusion within the Consolidated University, i.e., Chapel Hill’s administrative reach, would emasculate East Carolina and possibly result in dismissal of its dynamic leader, Pres. Leo W. Jenkins, who had initiated the controversial call for university status two years earlier. After resounding defeat of his first bill, Henley drafted another, with input from Sanford, Morgan, and Jenkins, providing for East Carolina’s status as a regional university, and the same for Western Carolina College in Cullowhee, Appalachian State Teachers College in Boone, and N. C. A&T College in Greensboro. Along with regional university status, these institutions were given authority to plan for implementing doctoral programs, subject to approval by the N. C. Board of Higher Education. Because the upgrade was not immediately accompanied by autonomy over doctoral programs, many critics downplayed it as simply a nominal change. Henley responded that he was “convinced East Carolina College is a university now except in name. If, indeed, we now add university to that name, we not only recognize the notable contributions of academic excellence made by this institution, but we quite frankly challenge its leadership to prove its right to expand its programs and services to its people within the next five years.”

Gov. Dan Moore, a UNC graduate who earlier prevailed in quashing East Carolina’s ambitions, claimed that regional universities would destroy the state’s Consolidated University system and seriously impair the integrity of its Board of Higher Education. Henley and other supporters denied the same, emphasizing instead the benefits that academic upgrades for these campuses would bring to the people of North Carolina. Within a few years, however, during Gov. Bob Scott’s administration, North Carolina abandoned the Consolidated University system and disbanded the state Board of Higher Education in favor of a newly reorganized multi-campus state university system guided and administered by the newly founded UNC Board of Governors. Although hardly its intention, Henley’s bill not only won East Carolina’s long-coveted university status, it also played a pivotal role in revolutionizing higher education in North Carolina, elevating a cohort of campuses to new academic heights and thereby enhancing educational opportunities for North Carolinians statewide. In that respect, Henley’s impact on the state’s university system made him far more than simply a friend of ECU. He was also a friend of all North Carolinians committed to social progress through education.

Related Materials

John Tannery Henley, Sr. Image Source: News & Observer June 30, 1967. P. 1. Staff photo by Lawrence Wofford.

Sources:

• Atkins, Jerry. “Headline Review: A University At Any Cost.” East Carolinian. July 6, 1967. P. 2. https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/39007
• Clay, Russell and Kate Erwin. “Moore Cold-Shoulders Henley Bill.” News and Observer. June 2, 1967. Pp. 1, 2.
• “Dr. Jenkins’ ECU Policy.” East Carolinian. July 18, 1967. P. 1. https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/39008
• “EC University Bill Weathers 2 Year Battle Throughout State.” East Carolinian. Summer Orientation Issue 1967. P. 1. https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/39253
• Erwin, Kate. “West Files University Status Bid.” News and Observer. June 14, 1967. P. 1.
• Erwin, Kate. “Four Colleges Win Regional U. Status By Landslide Votes.” News and Observer. June 30, 1967. Pp. 1, 16.
• Hart, Reese. “East Carolina University Bill Beaten.” Asheville Citizen-Times. April 28, 1967. P. 1.
• Hendricks, Walter F. “ECU Bill Passes Senate, 34-12.” East Carolinian. June 22, 1967. P. 1. https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/39005
• “Henley Bill On ECC University May Be Threatened.” Burlington Daily Times-News. June 13, 1967. P. 4A.
• “Henley Says Board Pressured Colleges.” News and Observer. June 20, 1967. P. 5.
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• “Here Stands A University!” East Carolinian. September 12, 1967. P. 1. https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/39297
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• Jenkins, Jay. “Colleges Join Bid By ECC: Western Carolina, ASTC Make Pleas.” Charlotte Observer. June 14, 1967. Pp. 1, 2A.
• Jenkins, Leo. “The Case for Independent University Status for ECC.” News and Observer. March 19, 1967. Sect. III, p. 5.
• “N. C. House Continues Debate; Includes A&T In Henley Bill.” East Carolinian. June 29, 1967. P. 1. https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/39006
• “Obituaries: John T. Henley, Sr.” News and Observer. March 20, 2012. P. B6.
• Powell, William S. “John Tannery Henley.” North Carolina Lives: The Tar Heel Who's Who. Hopkinsville, KY: Historical Record Assn., 1962.
• Putzel, Michael. “Moore Sees ECU Proposal As University In Name Only.” Robesonian. June 2, 1967. P. 5.
• Robl, Ernest. “Senators Reject ECU Bid, 27-22.” Daily Tar Heel. April 28, 1967. P. 1.
• “Sanford’s Hand Seen In ECC Bill.” Statesville Record and Landmark. June 2, 1967. P. 4.
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• “Students Express Opinions On East Carolina University.” East Carolinian. July 6, 1967. P. 1. https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/39007
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• Wood, Rob. “No Regional University – Senate Vote Defeats Drive By ECC.” Rocky Mount Telegram. April 28, 1967. P. 1.

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