The period of time that followed the tragic and unexpected death of President Harry F. Bangsberg in 1967 echoed the national climate at the time: unsettled. By the spring of 1967, the entire country was in the throes of deep divisions, with social and political frustrations escalating in the civil rights movement and the Vietnam war. The State College Board did not appoint a new Bemidji State president for nearly two years after Bangsberg’s death, until Robert Decker finally filled the chair in September of 1968.