Records of the President, Raymond G. Bressler (Rec.Gr. 1.6)

Biographical note

Raymond G. Bressler was born in 1887 on a farm in Halifax, Pa. At the age of thirteen, he left school to work for the railroad. He saved enough money to attend Shippensburg Normal School, where he graduated in 1904. He taught school for two years in rural Pennsylvania. Subsequently, he returned to school, earning a B.A. from Valparaiso University, a M.A. from Wofford College, a B.S. from Texas A. and M., and a M.S. from the University of Wisconsin. In 1931, when he was hired for the presidency of Rhode Island State College, he had completed the residency and examination requirements for a Ph.D. at Teachers College, Columbia. He was never able to find the time to finish his dissertation.

When approached about the presidency at Rhode Island State College (RISC) in 1930, Bressler was Deputy Secretary of Agriculture for the state of Pennsylvania, a position he had held since 1927. Previously, he had been an English professor at Texas A. and M., chairman of the Department of Rural Education Extension at the University of Texas, and Vice Dean of Agriculture at Pennsylvania State College. Bressler accepted the appointment to the presidency of RISC in December of 1930. He was president of the college from April 1931 to August 1940, when he was forced to resign by a newly-formed Board of Trustees. In 1941, Bressler was appointed R. I. Director of Agriculture and Conservation.

Raymond Bressler was president of Rhode Island State College during the Depression Years. He was a very energetic and likeable man who viewed the College in the more concrete terms of buildings and enrollments. Although he had no real philosophical agenda to promote the College, he believed that as a Land Grant College, Rhode Island State College had an obligation to make higher education accessible to everyone. He reorganized the College to provide better structure and a clearer chain of command.

The College under Bressler responded to the Depression by economizing and enrolling students to the maximum capacity. Bressler felt that it would be better for young people who could not find jobs to be in college rather than be idle. Although Bressler kept costs as low as possible, summer jobs became nonexistent and the College had to raise its fees to compensate for reduced funding by the State Assembly. Many students were unable to stay in school due to inadequate financial resources.

The Public Works Administration provided funding for construction of several new buildings on campus during the 1930s. These included Eleanor Roosevelt Hall, a women's dormitory, Quinn Hall, home of the School of Home Economics, a new dairy barn, and Green Hall, which housed the Library and the administration offices. In addition, Lippitt Hall and Edwards Hall were remodeled. This federally-funded building project provided much needed classroom space and employment opportunity for local people.

The Board of Regents, appointed in 1935, and the Board of Trustees, appointed after the dissolution of the Board of Trustees in 1939, were constant sources of trouble for Bressler. The Board of Regents, which governed both RISC and Rhode Island College of Education, chose to meet only four times per year and declined to include the Presidents of either institution in their meetings. This created a lack of communication between the President's Office and the Board and a backlog of unresolved business. To help eliminate this backlog, a subcommittee was formed to help govern RISC. Through inaction on the part of the Board, this committee came to run the College, with little input from Bressler.

In 1939, the Board of Regents was abolished in answer to criticism that it was controlled by state politics. An executive committee was formed to study the question of governance of RISC and R. I. College of Education. It was chaired by Henry M. Wriston, President of Brown University, and came to be called the Wriston Committee. Bressler had begun to lobby in favor of changing the College to a university, largely to increase the institution's prestige. He saw the reorganization of the Board as a chance to initiate this change in the College's status. He was disappointed to learn that the Committee refused to recommend university status, citing the College's lack of non-vocational programs as the reason. Bressler felt the Wriston committee wanted Brown University to remain the only university in Rhode Island, and therefore thwarted his efforts to obtain university status for RISC.

The rest of the Wriston Committee report recommended: 1. a seven member board of non-political appointees to govern both RISC and R. I. College of Education, 2. both Presidents should attend all meetings, and 3. a set income for both institutions separate from Assembly control. Before it was passed by the Assembly, some changes were made. The Director of Education, a political appointee, was named as an ex-officio member, replacing one of the other seven members. The Assembly did not approve the provision for a fixed income, which would have eliminated reliance on the Assembly for funds.

The new Board and Bressler got off to a rough start. The lack of communication that had plagued Bressler's administration from the beginning became acute under the new Board. They did not trust Bressler's financial abilities, so a comptroller was appointed to care for finances. He would report not to Bressler but to the Board itself. Bressler, feeling that he had been stripped of his power to run the College, asked for a leave of absence from April 1 to August 31, 1940 to search for another position. His contract was due to terminate on August 31 and the Board let him know it would not be renewed. The Board granted the leave of absence and appointed John Barlow as Acting President.

A public outcry followed the announcement of Bressler's "leave of absence." He was popular with students and the general public, who demanded clarification of his status. At this time, the Board asked Bressler for his formal resignation, implying financial mismanagement as the reason.

This raised an even larger protest so the Governor was forced to appoint a special committee of educators from outside Rhode Island to investigate. They concluded that neither the Board nor Bressler was at fault and that both sides should attempt reconciliation. The Trustees ignored the Governor's committee report. They had already begun to look for Bressler's replacement.

Bressler sued in court to have the Trustees prohibited from searching for a new president, claiming his rights had been violated. His case was dismissed on procedural grounds so he appealed to the State Supreme Court. Meanwhile, 1940 was an election year. The Democratic candidate, J. Howard McGrath, vowed that, if elected, he would restore Bressler to the presidency. But upon his election in 1940, McGrath discovered that legally he could not force the Board to rehire Bressler. The Trustees remained firm, in their resolve to find a replacement for Bressler. In fact, they already had a man in mind for the job. To compensate Bressler for his unfulfilled campaign promise, McGrath appointed Bressler Director of Agriculture and Conservation in Rhode Island. In July of 1941, the Supreme Court rejected Bressler's suit, destroying any remaining hopes of returning to the Presidency of RISC. In July of the same year, Carl R. Woodward was appointed as Bressler's replacement.

Source: Herman F. Eschenbacher, The University of Rhode Island, New York, Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1967.

CHRONOLOGY OF EVENTS, 1931-1940

1931 Raymond G. Bressler appointed President. President's house built.

1932 Reorganization of College: Schools of Engineering, of Science and Business, and of Agriculture and Home Economics established.

1934 Asa Sweet and Edward Sweet lands purchased.

1936 Chapter of Alpha Zeta, national agricultural society, established. Narragansett Marine Laboratory founded. Eleanor Roosevelt Hall built. Animal Husbandry Building built. Quinn Hall built. Central heating plant installed.

1937 Green Hall built.

1938 Meade field built.

1939 Board of Trustees of State Colleges created.

1940 Bressler resigns.