Chapter X – STUDENT LIFE, 1869-1890
The composition and complexion of the student body underwent a significant change in the 1869-’90 period as undergraduates in the College who were not preparing for the ministry began to outnumber the theologues. One observer detected the onset of the transition as early as 1873 and noted that it would be difficult to retain the religious and moral tone of the past in combination with all that was really valuable in the life and government of American colleges of the present. Indications of the new order came in 1876 with the entrance of the Class of 1880 which was to be the first in the history of the University to have less than half its members go into the ministry. This class set the pattern for its successors. The profession of teaching was to draw the largest percentage of the non-ministers and law and business were to follow in attraction. Campus life reflected the change as social life, fraternities, student organizations and athletics engaged an increasingly greater amount of student time and interest.
The combined enrollment for College, Seminary, and Academy rose fairly steadily from 162 in 1869 to 346 in 1890. It was not until 1880, however, that the total enrollment of 239 exceeded the record for the 1846-69 period which was 228 in 1855. The increase is most marked for the Academy which had 51 students at the beginning of the period and 154 at its end. Comparable figures for the Seminary are 10 and 56. Expansion in the College was much less; 101 students were registered in 186.9 and 146 in 1890. Reasons for Academy growth may be found in the introduction of the “English and Scientific Course”
and the construction in 1873 of a building for the school’s exclusive use. The major spurt for the Seminary came between 1869 and 1870 when enrollment jumped from 10 to 19; thereafter it rose rather gradually. Provision of its own building, Eaton Hall, in 1886, and curriculum changes of that
