Records of the President, Francis H. Horn (Rec. Gr. 1.9)

Francis H. Horn was the sixth president of the University of Rhode Island, serving in that position from July 1, 1958 to June 30, 1967 (on leave from July 1 to August 31, 1967). Horn presided over the University at a time when it was undergoing a period of unprecedented growth, both in enrollment and physical plant. It was also a period during which students were first beginning to challenge the administration on a broad range of issues, particularly in the areas of the University's role of in loco parentis. As a result, Horn's administration generated considerable controversy both within and without the university community.

Horn came to the University of Rhode Island with both great hopes for its future and a realization of its limitations in a small state with limited funds to commit to higher education. He early on determined that it would be in the best interests of the University to try to excel in a few areas where ample resources were available. One of these areas was in oceanography for which the coastal state of Rhode Island had a natural affinity. Horn was instrumental in the establishment of the Graduate School of Oceanography in 1961 and the expansion of the Narragansett Bay Campus throughout the 1960'9. The Graduate School of Oceanography became and remains one of the most significant oceanography programs in the nation. His contribution to the GSO was recognized in 1969 when a new marine science laboratory was dedicated in his name.

Other new areas of academic endeavor were also developed during the Horn administration. In 1960, a two year Dental Hygiene program was authorized by the Board of Trustees. In that same year a Bureau of Government Research was established to provide research and administrative assistance to municipal governments throughout Rhode Island. For over twenty years the Bureau of Government Research provided a valuable resource for local communities seeking to improve the efficiency and service of their governments. The Graduate Library School was established in 1963 and continues, as the only such program at a New England land grant institution, to provide graduate instruction in library science to students throughout the region as part of the New England Regional Compact Program.

The sixties was a decade of controversy as well as one of academic innovation, and Horn did not escape such controversy during his tenure. Academic freedom was and is a major issue on college campuses and Horn firmly supported the concept despite the criticism of those outside the University community. As an aggressive and sometimes abrasive administrator, he occasionally offended those with whom he worked. One such occasion occurred in the spring of 1960 when he implemented an administrative reorganization. Those who perceived their power to be diminished or were offended by his administrative style made their disenchantment public. There resulted six weeks of extensive press coverage and Board of Trustee hearings over the issue before it was resolved generally in Horn's favor.

Two controversial issues which emerged in 1966 and 1967 and pitted him against the Board of Trustees ultimately led to Horn's resignation. The first of these was Horn's contention that Rhode Island could not adequately support two major institutions of higher education. His solution to this perceived problem was to combine Rhode Island College and the University of Rhode Island into one administrative entity with its headquarters in Kingston. To indicate his concern for this issue and to insure the Board that he was not interested in enhancing his own position, he offered to resign his presidency to facilitate the Board's consideration of his proposal. When he did resign in 1967, Horn cited his desire for the Board to consider the merger proposal on its merits with both the URI and Rhode Island College presidencies vacant. His proposal was never seriously considered by the Board of Trustees.

The second and more serious issue was Horn's decision to run for the Democratic nomination for the Congressional seat vacated by the death of Rep. John E. Fogarty. Horn's candidacy was abortive and shortlived, but it angered the largely Republican Board of Trustees which asked for and received his resignation in early 1967. President Horn officially left the University of Rhode Island at the end of August, 1967 to assume the presidency of the Association of Independent Colleges and Universities of New York. The records contained in this group are the administrative files maintained by Francis H. Horn during his tenure as president of the University of Rhode Island. They catalogue the enormous growth and development of the University from a relatively small rural college to a major research oriented university.

The records are divided into four series as follows: Series I, Subject Series; Series II, Faculty Senate Series; Series III, Committee Series; and Series IV, Chronological File.

The Subject Series, Series I, is the largest and most comprehensive of the four and covers all aspects of the organization, administration, and operation of the University. It consists of correspondence, memoranda, administrative reports, budget documents, program development documents, programs of university events, and various other records maintained in the president's office.

Series II, the Faculty Senate Series, contains the records of the Faculty Senate established in 1960. It consists of minutes of the meetings of the Faculty Senate and those of its various committees, committee and subcommittee reports, agenda, Faculty Senate Bills, and correspondence.

Series III, the Committee Series, contains the records of the various all-university committees established by the president's office. Included are minutes of committee meetings and correspondence of individual members of the committees and the committee as a whole. In this series are records of such major committees as the Board of Review which considered promotion, tenure, and leave matters; the University Manual Committee which proposed and considered changes to the University Manual, the document chiefly governing the relationship between faculty and administration in the days before faculty unionization; and the Visiting Scholars Committee which oversaw the program to bring distinguished scholars to the campus. Also included are the records of more mundane committees such as the Social and Recognition Committee and the Ceremonials Committee.

The Chronological File, Series IV, consists of carbon copies of outgoing letters written by President Horn between April, 1960 and December 1961. Many of these letters can also be found in the appropriate folders of the Subject Series.