Category Archives: The Case Administration 1942-1962

p. 332 – The Case Administration, 1942-1962

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The most memorable of the reunions was the All-Alumni Reunion in June 1947. Not since 1919 when the University held its first post-war Reunion in connection with the Centennial, had anything like it been undertaken. Every graduate was urged to return and some 2000, representing 58 classes, did. In spite of frequent showers, the “Rally in the Valley”, which some said should have been called the “Romp in the Swamp,” was a heart-warming experience and a source of encouragement for graduates, faculty and staff.

Mr. Case concluded his two decades at Colgate on July 1st, 1962 to assume the presidency of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. Though the University’s remarkable advancement in this period was the work of many hands his role was critical. He was especially successful in bringing it through the war years by securing the national defense training programs and it was under his aegis that a reinvigorated curriculum took shape. The physical plant was greatly enlarged and other resources expended despite unprecedented rising costs. His leadership justified pride of accomplishment and the basis for future progress.

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Commencement first held outside (p. 331)

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SENIOR TORCHLIGHT CEREMONY, 1954
SENIOR TORCHLIGHT CEREMONY, 1954

torches reflected in the icy Taylor Lake and symbolized the end of the long black-out of war. The commencement exercises were first held in 1955 in the Quadrangle instead of the Chapel to accommodate the larger number of graduates and their families and friends.

Alumni reunions, formerly occurring on commencement weekend, were moved in 1955 to the weekend after graduation. To give alumni greater opportunity to meet with members of other classes of their college generation a new reunion schedule was first put in use in 1956 which had worked successfully at Dartmouth since 1948. The flexibility of the program provided for celebrating the key 10th, 25th, 40th and 50th anniversaries of the exact year of graduation.

Colgate’s war service records, which Miss Alice I. Smith, formerly President Cutten’s secretary, meticulously kept up to date for the Alumni office, showed that approximately 3740 of the nearly 7,600 living alumni were in uniform and that there were 141 Gold Star men. One of their most notable morale builders for Colgate servicemen was the mimeographed Newsletter which William A. (Bill) Reid, ’18, Director of Athletics, edited and published. He drew on correspondence with them for much of his copy and sent his missive by first class mail to all corners of the earth. So far as is known, no other college provided its alumni with a similar vehicle of news and cheer.

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p. 330 – The Case Administration, 1942-1962

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FIRST OUTDOOR COMMENCEMENT, 1955
FIRST OUTDOOR COMMENCEMENT, 1955

In recognition of success achieved in community and business affairs Colgate established the practice in 1954 of making Civic Awards to outstanding citizens of the Central New York area who were not graduates of the University. Among the first group of four was Carl W. Baum, “respected Dean of Hamilton’s merchants” beloved of generations of students who learned much about politics, economics, and philosophy in the rear of his store seated around his tailor’s goose. Other recipients have included: Robert C. Roberts, publisher; Edward H. Stone, photographer; and Jesse M. Moses, businessman who was active in village government.

For Colgate graduates, and non-graduates on occasion, the Alumni Corporation instituted Maroon Citations for those whose personal services to the University were held to be significant and invaluable and were regarded as second only to the Alumni Awards for Distinguished Service. Limited to 13 annually, the first citations were presented in June 1955.

With the return of peace, commencement once more took on its traditional features. One of the most significant was the torchlight ceremony, last held at the “White Commencement” in December, 1942. After a lapse of over four years it was resumed by the February 1947 graduating class consisting mainly of veterans, whose flaming

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125th Anniversary of the university’s charter day (p. 329)

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color, declaring them “relics of the past” and strongly endorsed their elimination. Many of the fraternities made progress toward this end. Changing undergraduate attitudes, marked by a growing stress on academic and outside interests, brought a new approach to the athletic program. It was with general student approval that the traditional Syracuse-Colgate football rivalry ended in 1961. As one senior wrote soon after

In the past twenty years, much has been added to Colgate’s ‘athletic creed’. It is the increasing emphasis upon selecting men who will be a credit to their school both on and off the field. Every athlete recognizes that his primary responsibilities lie in the classroom…. A man who practices a sport for three hours a day has just that much less time to meet his academic requirements. Under these conditions every victory is held dearly.

The last two decades have been exciting ones for the Colgate athlete. Almost every team has had its ups and downs. But in the final analysis, the Colgate letterman of 1961 has the unparalleled respect of his fellow students. It is a respect for the added work and not the granted privilege. *

The 125th anniversary of the incorporation of the Baptist Education Society, the University’s Charter Day, was not allowed to go unnoticed in 1944 despite war-time conditions. On March 4th a special program was broadcast, through the courtesy of the National Broadcasting Company and its independent affiliated stations, to alumni luncheons throughout the country and by short wave to Colgate men in the armed forces overseas. Speaking on that occasion to the theme, “The American College: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow” were Dr. Harry Emerson Fosdick, ’00, pastor of the Riverside Church, New York City; Lt. Gen. Alexander A. Vandegrift, Commandant, U.S. Marine Corps; and President James Phinney Baxter III of Williams College. At commencement in June and Founders’ Day convocation in September, President Alan Valentine of the University of Rochester and Chancellor William P. Tolley of Syracuse University respectively added their tributes. Dr. Paul F. Swarthout, ’21, pastor of the First Baptist Church of Hamilton, delivered a brief address commemorating the Thirteen Men at a vesper service on September 24th. Thereafter Founders’ Day was observed in conjunction with the fall convocation.
*Quoted in Colgate Alumni News (February, 1962), p. 17.

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WRCU starts broadcasting (p. 328)

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peace in 1943 came a series of annual summer conferences on this topic from 1944 to 1946, sponsored by the University and the New York State Citizens’ Council, in charge of Dr. Raymond O. Rockwood of the History Department. From this enterprise developed the Colgate Foreign Policy Conference, with Professor Charles R. Wilson, Chairman of the History Department as Director; it was held each summer, 1949-59 and 1961.

Though the war broke the continuity of campus life the returning veterans and new students quickly picked up its strands. To assist them Lloyd L. Huntley, ’24, was appointed Director of Student Activities in 1947. From his office in the Student Union he coordinated all student extra-curricular activities except publications and athletics. New enterprises included the Campus Fund Drive, in support of the Red Cross, March of Dimes, and other charitable organizations, which was established in 1947; and the radio station WRCU which began broadcasting in 1951.

With standards of admission rising after the war freshmen were better prepared than formerly. By 1962 enrollment seemed stabilized at approximately 1,400. Tuition, which reflected price increases and inflation, more than tripled, going from $400 in 1942 to $1,375 in 1962. George W. Cobb, ’94, established the awards bearing his name to be given to undergraduates who demonstrated outstanding leadership and devotion to the University and who were especially effective in developing among prospective students an interest in Colgate. The War Memorial Scholarships, maintained by the Alumni Fund, were instituted in 1946 and enabled many students of high leadership and academic qualifications to come to Colgate.

Swollen enrollment after 1945 created serious student housing problems, particularly since many of the returning veterans were married and often had families. To accommodate them the University and the Federal Public Housing Authority provided converted barracks which met their needs quite satisfactorily.

Fraternities reestablished themselves quickly. Two new ones were added-Tau Kappa Epsilon in 1952 and Alpha Chi Epsilon, a local, in 1959-making the total 15. Phi Kappa Tau built a new house in 1951 and Sigma Chi in 1959. In response to faculty and undergraduate pressures, the Board of Trustees took a stand in January, 1955, against membership clauses which discriminated on the basis of race, creed, or

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University Studies established (p. 327)

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Sciences, and University Studies (embracing the core courses). Each was administered by a Director, subordinate to the Dean of the Faculty, for whom the five directors served as an advisory group.

Under Mr. Case the role of faculty as a deliberative body for discussing and deciding academic affairs was revived. Instead of meeting regularly only three times each year, as had been customary in the ’30’s, the faculty convened once a month. As a kind of “academic senate” there was the Educational Policy Committee which was set up in 1947 following the discharge of the Committee on the Post-War College after its report had been adopted. The membership included the President as chairman, the deans and some other administrative officers, and division directors, all ex officio, and elected faculty members who constituted the majority. Two ad hoc faculty committees, one on the Humanities and the Self-Study Committee, conducted extensive investigations of the curriculum and its possible revisions and of the efficiency of administrative and instructional procedures and made several recommendations, some of which were implemented. Likewise, four separate visiting committees of outside experts, invited to the campus in 1958, and 1960-’62, to examine the work of the Divisions, made helpful suggestions for improvements.

Closer relations between the faculty and Board of Trustees were promoted by the Faculty Conference Committee, first appointed in 1954 as a Liaison Committee, to consult with the Trustee Committee on Academic Affairs. It was useful in supplementing the President’s presentation to the full Board of faculty views and needs.

The faculty’s economic and organizational status improved greatly under Mr. Case’s administration. By 1960-61, the average salary for full-time members in all ranks reached more than $9,000. Fringe benefits, in addition, included the annuity and group insurance programs and payments of medical insurance premiums. In 1959 it was possible to revive the program of sabbatical leaves which had been in abeyance since 1929. Six months with full salary or a year on half salary was arranged to enable professors to travel, carry on research, and restore some of the energy expended over the preceding six years. Growing out of Post-War Committee discussions came a statement on academic freedom,tenure, and promotions adopted by Trustees and faculty in 1948-49.

Out of faculty and community discussions of the problems of the

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Kenneth W. Morgan appointed first university Chaplain (p. 326)

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A. Choquette, Chairman of the Romance Languages Department, it was a supervised workshop equipped with a variety of modern audio-visual aids.

With the adoption of the post-war program, preceptorial counseling, which faculty members had formerly provided for freshmen and sophomores under the Colgate Plan, was entrusted to graduate students who served as counselors to freshmen only. Administered by a Director of Preceptorial Studies, the program involved the assignment of about twenty freshmen to a Graduate Preceptor. Besides his counseling duties, the preceptor spent half his time in studies for the master’s degree. By action of the faculty in 1962, the Preceptorial Program was terminated in favor of using instructors of small sections of a new course in rhetoric and literature and undergraduate and graduate resident advisors. Counseling services were strengthened in 1959 with the appointment of a University Counselor, a trained clinical psychologist to assist in exploring and solving personal problems, and by setting up of a well-equipped Placement Center in the Spear House to offer guidance to seniors in the choice of jobs or graduate schools.

The appointment of Kenneth W. Morgan as the first University Chaplain in 1946 gave new leadership and effective organization to the religious life of the student body. Under his direction the University Church provided regular Sunday worship in the Protestant tradition and a study and service program. Guided by the Chaplain, the Colgate Religious Association facilitated the work of all religious groups on the campus. The chaplains, who were also on the Philosophy and Religion Department staff, had a part in the University counseling services by advising students with religious problems.

Beginning in 1946 Colgate offered a five-year program in teacher education leading to a Master of Arts degree. It grew out of faculty discussions prior to the war and in conformity to the State Education Department certification requirement of a fifth year of graduate study in addition to the usual four years for a bachelor’s degree. A program for those who wished to teach physical education and a selected subject-matter field was instituted in 1947.

The seven “schools” into which the curriculum had been organized in the 1930’s were replaced by five Divisions-Humanities, Natural Sciences and Mathematics, Physical Education and Athletics, Social

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p. 325 – The Case Administration, 1942-1962

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Reid Athletic Center, A1000-61, p325

The Washington Study Group, sponsored by the Political Science Department since 1935, was resumed in 1947. The Economics Department first made available a similar opportunity with the inauguration of a study program in Manchester, New Hampshire, in 1950 under the direction of Professor Frank A. Farnsworth, ’39; subsequently others were conducted in Knoxville,Tennessee; Atlanta, Georgia; Norway (1960); and England (1962 to the present). The first Colgate foreign study group was that which went to Argentina in 1958 with James F. Dickinson, ’39, of the Romance Languages Department as director.

New facilities and techniques for language instruction were provided in 1953 with the installation in Lawrence Hall of a language laboratory, the gift of Frank J. Stoner. Designed by Professor Charles

Dodge, Eaton, and Kendrick houses, A1000-49, Folder 2, p325

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The Core Curriculum (p. 324)

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EVERETT NEEDHAM CASE LIBRARY
EVERETT NEEDHAM CASE LIBRARY

the Thirties.” The Core Curriculum provided courses in the natural and social sciences; foreign geographical areas; and representative works of art and literature, and philosophy and religion in the humanities; with instruction by intensive study of carefully chosen case materials whenever possible. Designed to give a coherent if minimum education in the liberal arts and sciences the Cores absorbed about a fourth of a student’s schedule and extended throughout all four years of college. The concentration program (departmental or topical) in the last two years and electives rounded out the course of study. Integrated with the academic offerings was the Air Reserve Officers Training Corps program which was instituted in 1947 and carried credit for the  bachelor’s degree.

Chapel House, A1000-29, Folder 1, p324

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Seven Oaks opens in its East Lake Road location (p. 323)

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East and West Halls, had been completely renovated in 1954.) The library, designated the Everett Needham Case Library in 1962, was dedicated in 1959. As far back as 1931, Charles W. Spencer had stressed the need for a new building but it was his successor, Thomas M. Iiams, who was to have a major role in planning the structure and to see it take shape. The architect was Robert B. O’Connor (D.F.A., ’59) of O’Connor and Kilham. Chapel House, an anonymous gift, was designed by Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill and completed in 1959. It has a chapel for meditation and prayer, a library, a music room, and facilities for a small number of interfaith resident guests. The Athletic Center, honoring William A. Reid, ’18, Director of the Division of Physical Education and Ath1etics (1935-1955), was opened in 1959, also; its architect was Oscar F. Wiggins, ’22. Watson House, a home for the President, given by Mrs. Thomas J. Watson, Sr., in honor of her late husband, was ready for occupancy at the time of Mr. Case’s retirement in 1962. Arthur A. Meggett, ’36, designed the building; its completion made the president’s former residence, Merrill House, available for the Faculty Club.

Two other facilities should be mentioned. The first, the Colgate Camp on Upper Saranac Lake, was the gift of S. Bayard Colgate (LL.D., 1958), a Trustee, and his family in 1953. It is well suited for use of the Outing Club and for faculty conferences and summer recreation. The second is the new Seven Oaks golf course in the valley east of the campus and the village which was opened in 1958 to supersede the old course behind the dormitories.

As early as 1941 the American Association of University Professors Chapter began a survey of the curriculum and University organization. In the spring of 1943, at Mr. Case’s suggestion, a committee on the Post-War College was established from the faculty with the President as Chairman, to continue the study with particular reference to the needs of a world at peace. Its far-ranging report received searching faculty analysis and was adopted, part by part, from 1945 to 1947.

Central to the program was the general education Core Curriculum, made up of a series of courses prescribed for all students. This concept was an outgrowth of experience with the five one-semester survey courses in the Biological Science, Physical Sciences, Social Sciences, Philosophy and Religion for freshmen and a course in Fine Arts for sophomores, which were an important feature of the “Colgate Plan of

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