1842 that sometimes the churches sent to Hamilton “simple hearted brethren desirous to do good” but generally devoid of other qualifications. Following their dismissal after the trial period, they often circulated among the churches as bona fide representatives of the Institution. These, men, the Trustees felt, cast discredit on the Seminary and on the cause of ministerial education.
The Institution, though designed and maintained primarily for Baptists, was open, by 1833, to qualified young men of every evangelical denomination. They were subject to the same requirements as applicants from Baptist churches and pursued the same course of instruction. The number of non-Baptists, however, was small and few traces of their presence can be found.
Academic qualifications for admission to the collegiate department were based from 1833 to 1846 on completion of the course of instruction offered by the preparatory department or the equivalent. Those entering the theological department were expected to have finished a college course. Applicants, who because of their age or other circumstances were unable to devote the necessary time, were still allowed to take the three-year Shorter or English course, the entrance requirements of which were the same as the preparatory department’s.
The faculty apparently found a large number of students poorly prepared, especially in the elementary subjects. To eliminate this difficulty they urged all young men who thought of coming to the Institution to apply for admission as soon as they were qualified to enter the academic department. The students in the Shorter course, particularly, were often deficient in preparation. Professor Raymond facetiously wrote of one as being “an incorrigible rebel against all the rules of Grammar & of Dictionary” who “long before he crossed our academic threshhold” had been “a hardened offender … an Ethiopian whose skin could not be changed . . . and unto all good spelling reprobate.” Yet Professor Raymond was quite ready to admit that such students “with all their disadvantages” usually proved a credit to the Institution.*
The most radical change in the admissions policy and, in fact, one of the fundamental changes in the history of the Institution, occurred in 1839 when the Trustees decided to admit young men who did not “have the ministry in view.” Sentiment for broadening the basis for
*John H. Raymond to James Edmunds, New York, N.Y., Dec. 17, 1844.