When It Comes to Doing Good Business, Some Principles Go Hand in Hand

Bruce Bartlett ’73 first became interested in issues of free speech as a young boy delivering newspapers in Wakefield, Massachusetts. When he was 11, he watched as movements for free speech and free elections unfolded in Poland and Hungary, only to be violently crushed by the former Soviet Union.

The news sparked in Bartlett a lifelong interest in free speech and its role in business and society. Today, he and his wife Patricia are both committed to nurturing the vital role higher education plays in teaching students the skills of critical reasoning, engaging in open debate and understanding the importance of free speech in market-based economies. To that end, they have established the Bartlett Endowed Professorship of Free Speech and Free Enterprise at Bentley. This new faculty position will focus on free expression as an essential building block for business innovation and entrepreneurship.

The recent gift honors Mr. Bartlett’s pivotal time at Bentley and reflects the couple’s conviction that these principles are fundamental to our society’s ability to thrive and innovate for the good of all. “By participating in and debating ideas in a manner where everyone feels respected and heard, students can break new ground and find ways to improve people’s lives,” Mr. Bartlett says.

“Information and lines of thought that might be dismissed out of hand must be heard and debated,” Mrs. Bartlett adds.

The professorship will explore the history and importance of free speech in promoting economic growth and spurring innovation, and encourage students to develop and practice the critical skills of offering and debating different points of view in a respectful environment.

“The Bartletts’ generous gift promises to enrich our curriculum and campus dialogue and fosters an environment where the free exchange of ideas and creative dialogue can flourish,” President Chrite says. “These guiding principles are essential in upholding business as a transformative and positive force, and they affirm the highest aspirations and principles of a university.”

College sweethearts, the Bartletts are a formidable team. Both started their careers as teachers — Mrs. Bartlett taught elementary school and Mr. Bartlett mathematics. Both worked two to three jobs to make ends meet as they built a life together. Eventually, Mr. Bartlett, after taking on tax work during summers, decided to attend Bentley at night to obtain his accounting certification and sit for the CPA — a step that helped equip him to eventually start his own business.

At that time, in the early 1970s, Bentley was going through its own exciting transitions — the rapidly expanding school had recently relocated to its current Waltham campus and had become fully accredited to offer a complete slate of Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Science degrees.

“I traveled first to a classroom in downtown Boston and then to the sprawling new Waltham campus, which was an amazing contrast,” says Mr. Bartlett, who earned his accounting bona fides with high honors and aced the CPA exam. Later, after partnering with his brother in a joint business venture, he went on to found a company that ensured worker safety at nearly all of the nation’s nuclear power plants. Over time, spurred by a desire to find new ways to protect workers, Mr. Bartlett’s business ventures expanded into manufacturing and construction. Mrs. Bartlett retired from teaching and joined her husband to support his growing companies.

The Bartletts have been Bentley donors for 25 years, generously supporting Bentley’s annual fund and a memorial scholarship established in honor of Peter E. Cruise ’39, a valued mentor to Mr. Bartlett when he entered the accounting profession.

With their most recent gift, the Bartletts join the university’s Great Benefactors Society, a philanthropic group of alumni, families and friends investing in the university with gifts totaling $1 million or more.

“We are deeply grateful to the Bartletts for their remarkable generosity and pivotal role in our school’s journey,” says Chris Grugan, vice president for University Advancement. “The endowed professorship, the first in this area of study at Bentley, adds an exciting new dimension to the university’s tradition of academic leadership.”

In addition to supporting Bentley, the couple backs the sciences, student success initiatives and scholarships at several universities. The Bartletts have also been instrumental in supporting civics education across the country, including by founding the Green Dragon Tavern and Museum in Carlsbad, California, an iconic landmark inspired by the historic 18th-century meeting place of America’s earliest organizers.

“We are honored to bring this added capacity to a school that helped shape my early professional life and that, together, Pat and I have watched grow and innovate to meet the changing needs of students and business,” Mr. Bartlett says.