In 1985, the “Blue Ribbon Commission” was established by a joint resolution of the Rhode Island Assembly. Its mandate was to “study the funding of public higher education in Rhode Island, including the compensation of faculty” and to report its findings and make its recommendations to the General Assembly and to the governor.
The Blue Ribbon Commission consisted of six legislative members and two public members. They held meetings at the campuses of the University of Rhode Island (URI), Rhode Island College (RIC), and the Community College of Rhode Island (CCRI). They collected data from various sources, received written reports, took both oral and written testimony, and submitted their report and recommendations to the governor of Rhode Island and the General Assembly in February 1987. The Commission's report included dozens of recommendations concerning the missions and goals of the three institutions, governance, funding, faculty compensation, and program and degree duplication.
This collection includes the project proposal between Eleanor M. McMahon and the Board of Governors to examine the educational and cost-effective relationship among RIC, URI, and CCRI. The project team, led by Dr. Aims McGuinness Jr., presents the final report on strengthening the relationship between CCRI and RIC’s undergraduate programs and between URI and RIC graduate programs, while addressing conflicts related to program and degree duplication.
Rhode Island College holds copyright to materials in the collection. Researchers are advised to contact Rhode Island College Special Collections for questions regarding permissions to reproduce, distribute, or otherwise publish material from this collection.
The collection is open for research.
Rhode Island College. Council. Blue Ribbon Commission Ad Hoc Committee records, CA-0139, Special Collections, James P. Adams Library, Rhode Island College.
This collection is arranged in chronological order.
The collection was in the holding of the Special Collections prior to 2019
The collection was arranged and described by Alexander L. Kong in 2026 under the supervision of Digital Archivist and Special Collections Librarian, Veronica L. Denison.
The University of Rhode Island University Archives and Special Collections has the following related collection:
The Rhode Island State Archives also has the