 James I. Brownson, who was President of the Board of Trustees, took the Presidency as a temporary position to transition the college into religious control, with the express requirement that he would be released from service as soon as a replacement was found.As pastor of the First Presbyterian Church, he was a good friend of the college, and had been baptized by David Elliott.He had hesitated to take the position because he had been a student at Washington and had been taught by most of the faculty members that he was to lead.