Wilberforce University - Forcean Yearbook (Wilberforce, OH)

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CHARLES H WESLEY 1942 1947 CHARLES LEANDER HILL 1947-1956 I f 1 . ' : l f l : stitution through two boards of trustees. lf the conditions are not remedied by the time the in- vestigating committee makes its visit, the Board of Review will probably find it necessary in order to complete survey of Wilberforce University, dur- ing the winter of 1945-1946, to determine whether the institution should be continued on the accredit- ed list. ln an effort to accord with the recommendations of the North Central Association, the state of board of trustees for the College of Education and lndus- trial Arts became one of the sponsors for legis- lation, passed by Ohio Assembly during the 1947 session, which not only revamped the occupational spread of the state trustee board but also changed the ratio of state-church members from 6-3 to 8 members appointed by the state, and one by the church. Other provisions of the act changed the title of superintendent, as fiscal officer, to business manager and made the president, in effect, the chief executive officer of the College of Education and Industrial Arts. Seemingly angered by this combination of events - the loss of North Central Accreditation and the amended bill for state control of the College of Education and Industrial Arts - the church board summarily dismissed Dr. Wesley as presi- dent of Wilberforce University on June 11, 1947 by a 16 to 5 vote. Cause for this action was given by the board as an incompetent adminis- tration leading to loss of the North Central Rating. In discharging President Wesley, however, the church board claimed that they were withdrawing from only that section of the joint-executive-com- mittee agreement, which related to the election and removal of the president. At the same time, the church board refused to accept the newly elected trustee alumni representatives to their board, and instead, adopted a new plan for com- position of the board that would provide for great- er divergence of representation, within the board, according to church districts. Sentiment also was expressed that there was no need for North Central Association to tell the AME Church how to run Wilberforce University. Close upon the heels of the action of the Wilber- force University Church Corporation in separating the College of Liberal Arts from a single and uni- fied administration, the state board for the Col- lege of Education and Industrial Arts, meeting in regular session on June 19, 147, voted full confi- dence in President Wesley to proceed at once with reorganization of the educational program of the College of Education and Industrial Arts, so as to include work in'the liberal arts and sciences. A few days later, at a meeting on the Wilberforce campus, the Wilberforce National Alumni Association likewise passed a resolution praising the administration of President Wesley. Furthermore, the Alumni Association called upon both the state and church boards to meet again, through the joint executive committee, in an ef- fort to resolve the present difficulties at Wilber- force University. Although Wilberforce University had its ups and downs , trials and tribulation, it still lives. And today, we can yet say, Wilberforce is one of Ameri- ca's finest Universities and one of the best Black institutions in the world. 9

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. Atoubltl Aetllllolbitnlllltbblnhslbl I RICHARD R. WRIGHT JR. 1932-1936 1940-1942 D. ORMONDE WALKER 1936-1940 q I 0 UIYIIOU I Qvv ll 110 vvlf Ill A. M. E. ministers, and two A. M. E. lay- men. The foregoing distributions may be consider- edtypical. Between 1887 and 1947, a series of amendments to the original act of 1887 were passed by the Ohio general assembly, and these have preserved the legal entity of the state unit at Wilberforce University as a separate and complete educational institution. By the act of August 19, 1941, the combined normal and industrial department was reorganized as the College of Education and Industrial Arts, at Wilberforce University, Greene County, Ohio. Accordingly Wilberforce, as the general public knew it, included two colleges - one, liberal arts and the other, education - when, as a matter of fact, there were two separate col- leges: namely, the college of liberal arts and sciences, controlled by the AME Church and the college of education and industrial arts maintained by the state of Ohio. This meant that two separate diplomas were handed the so-called Wilberforce University graduate - one issued by the AME Church for the college of liberal arts graduate and the other awarded by the state of Ohio to the college of education graduate. Ostensibly, in order to smooth the difficulty in the operation of the two trustee boards at Wilber- force University, a joint executive committee, including three members of the state board and three members from the church board, was es- tablished in 1941. This committee was to have authority to regulate all matters where the in- terests of the college of liberal arts and the col- lege of education and industrial arts overlap and should be unified. The truth of the matter is that this joint executive committee rarely met and accomplished little, because of the constant jockeying for control between the church and state boards - despite an educationally sound set of by-laws. Wilberforce University first received recognition by the North Central Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools in 1939, when the school was granted PROVISIONAL ACCREDITATION. On April 2, 1943, the North Central Association bestowed full accreditation on Wilberforce University and dis- missed its special advisory committee, which had studied the problem of accreditation for Wilber- force University ever since 1939. At the same time that Wilberforce University was securing North Central Association accreditation the church board was intensifying its efforts to control the president. Subsequently, the North Cen- tral Association inquired of the church board of trustees as to their conception of the place and function of the board of trustees in the control of Wilberforce University. Not receiving a satisfac- tory answer, the Board of Review of the North Central Association, on December 19, 1944, voted to appoint a special committee to make an in- vestigation, at Wilberforce University, to determine whether a complete survey is needed as a basis for continuing the institution on the accredited list. On April 10, 1945, the special committee informed President Wesley that it considered un- sound the present condition of control of the in-

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