Francis H. Horn, the sixth president of the University of Rhode Island, served from July 1, 1958 to August 31, 1967, during the last two months of which he was on leave. Horn was born in Toledo, Ohio in 1908 and attended the public schools of that city. He graduated from Dartmouth College in 1930 with a degree in English. He earned an M.A. in English Literature from the University of Virginia in 1934 and Master of Arts and Doctorate in Education from Yale University in 1942 and 1949 respectively.
Horn came to Rhode Island after a long and distinguished academic career in posts throughout the world. From 1930 to 1933 he was an instructor in English and History at the American University in Cairo, Egypt. In 1936 he was appointed Assistant Dean at the Junior College of Commerce, now Quinnipiac College in Connecticut, where he served for six years in progressively more responsible positions.
After military service, Horn joined the faculty of Johns Hopkins University as Dean of McCoy College, the evening division, Director of the Summer Session, and Associate Professor of Education. In 1951 he was appointed acting chairman of the Department of Education and chairman in 1952. In 1953 he was appointed president of Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York, where he served for four years. He resigned the presidency of Pratt in 1957 and served as a Distinguished Visiting Professor of Higher Education at Southern Illinois University during the 1957-58 academic year. He assumed the presidency of the University of Rhode Island on July 1, 1958.
During Horn’s nine years at the University of Rhode Island the University underwent extraordinary growth in both enrollment and physical plant. A new library was constructed and opened in 1965. Two new graduate schools, the Graduate Library School and the Graduate School of Oceanography were established in the early 1960's. The Graduate School of Oceanography, in particular, became internationally known and continues to be one of the University's most prominent programs. In addition, the Dental Hygiene program, the Bureau of Government Research, and the Faculty Senate were all established in 1960. After his resignation from the presidency in 1967, Horn remained active in academic administration as successively the president of the Commission on Independent Colleges and Universities of New York, president of Albertus Magnus College in New Haven, Executive Vice-president of Wagner College on Staten Island, president of the American College in Switzerland, and director of the British branch of New England College at Arundel in Sussex. He retired to Kingston, RI in 1985. He died on Monday January 11, 1999.
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President's Office Francis H. Horn Papers, Rec. Gr. 1.9, University of Rhode Island.
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 excell 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.
The collection is arranged in four series as follows:
RG#1.9 Series
The materials were compiled by Dr. Kevin J. Logan.
Finding aid prepared by Dr. Kevin J. Logan.
Finding aid encoded by Le Yang on 2011 May 24
This series consists of materials relating to the administration of the University of Rhode Island during the presidency of Francis H. Horn. The bulk of the series contains correspondence, memos, and reports to and from Horn regarding the administration of the University, its growth and development, and its relationship to the community at-large. Also represented herein are the more mundane matters of university administration, such as burned out light bulbs and muddy footpaths.
President Horn presided over the University at a time when it was undergoing a period of unprecedented growth and was at the same time being challenged by students to reassess its role of in loco parentis. Consequently Horn's administration generated considerable controversy both within and without the University community. Of particular interest in this area are the academic freedom folders which detail controversies over Communist speakers on campus, the presentation of pornographic films on campus, and the right of the student newspaper to publish articles without prior administration review. Challenges to the University's in loco parentis role and its attempts to meet those challenges can be found in the Judicial Board, Dean of Men, Dean of Women, and Dean of Students folders. The issue of alcoholic beverages on campus also occupied considerable administrative time and activity.
During Horn's tenure forty-one million dollars in new construction was completed and a number of new graduate programs instituted, including the nationally renowned Graduate School of Oceanography. The details of the construction program can be found in the plant development folders, and the expansion of Graduate programs at the University is outlined in the folders of the various colleges and in those relating to the Graduate School of Oceanography. President Horn's administrative style generated considerable controversy of its own, especially during the early years of his administration. Holdovers from the previous administration were not accustomed to Horn's aggressive style and they complained, first to Horn and then publicly in the spring of 1960. Examples of disagreements over both policy and style can be found particularly in Admissions, Dean of Men, and Dean of Women, folders. Controversy over Horn's administrative style peaked in May, 1960 with a series of newspaper articles and an investigation by the Board of Trustees. Horn's response to the charges leveled against him can be found in the folder labeled "Board of Trustees, Communications from Horn." The Board resolved the controversy generally in Horn's favor, criticizing his style but supporting the goals he was attempting to achieve.
The series is arranged alphabetically by subject and chronologically by date within folders.
The Faculty Senate Series consists of materials relating to the activities of the University of Rhode Island Faculty Senate and its interaction with the administration. The Faculty Senate was created in 1960 to give the faculty a greater voice in university governance, and the records contained herein document its development from a rather tentative organization to one playing a responsible and important role in university governance.
The Faculty Senate Minutes and the sometimes sharp correspondence between Senate leadership and President aim shed light on a number of issues confronting the University, including controversial speakers on campus, the larger issue of academic freedom, the role of faculty vis a vis the administration, and the criteria for faculty promotion and tenure. The reports and minutes of Faculty Senate committees such as Curricular Affairs, Joint Educational Policy, and Faculty Salary document the faculty's concern for both the University's and its own welfare. Finally, the Faculty Senate bills indicate the immediate concerns and long-range goals of the University as perceived by the faculty. To facilitate access, the series has been divided into five sub-series as follows: Agenda and Committee Reports, Bills, Committees, Correspondence, and Minutes of Meetings. (The minutes are copies sent to the President's Office. The official copy of Faculty Senate minutes are contained in Record Group 122, Records of Faculty and Administrative Meetings.) The Agenda and Committee Reports, Correspondence, and Minutes of meetings are arranged chronologically by date. The Committees are arranged alphabetically by name and chronologically by date within folders. The Bills are arranged numerically by bill number.
This series contains records of the various all-university committees established by the President's Office. Although largely eclipsed in the area of university governance by the establishment of the Faculty Senate in 1960, the all-university committees still played a significant role in the life of the University. Particularly important are the files of the Academic Deans' Committee, later the Deans' Council,and the Board of Review.
The Deans' Council met regularly and served as an advisory council to the president on major policy decisions. The minutes of the meetings and correspondence between President Horn and members of the Council reveal details of Horn's administrative style and the input that the various deans had on issues affecting their respective schools and colleges.
The Board of Review was the committee responsible for considering requests for sabbatical leave and, more importantly, making recommendations to the president on promotion and tenure of faculty. The minutes and correspondence of the Board of Review provide insight into the criteria used for evaluating faculty for promotion, tenure, and sabbatical leaves in the 1960s before the emergence of faculty unions and collective bargaining. They reveal that such criteria were as controversial and uncertain then as they are now.
Included are minutes of meetings and correspondence of the committees. In most instances the files are incomplete. The series is arranged alphabetically by the name of the committee and chronologically by date within folders.
This series consists of carbon and photo copies of letters written by President Horn between April, 1960 and December, 1961. Much of this material can also be found in the appropriate folders of the Subject Series. The series is arranged chronologically by month and chronologically by date within folders.