Category Archives: timeline

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Naval Flight Prep. school established (p. 317)

Posted on June 21, 2012 by | Comments Off on Naval Flight Prep. school established (p. 317)

as to the date was uncertain. By student request, military drill and calisthenics were instituted in November, 1942, to promote physical fitness when the call should come. The program continued until civilian enrollment in early 1943 became too small to maintain it.

Because of the accelerated academic schedule, the Class of 1943 graduated December 13, 1942. Wartime travel difficulties failed to keep parents and relatives from coming in great numbers to see 184 seniors take their degrees. The consciousness that most of them would soon be in service and some would never be back made this “White Commencement” probably the most poignant in Colgate’s history. Later commencements were held at the end of each term, some with so few seniors present that the exercises took place in the library of the President’s House.

Meanwhile, the new president had been active in Washington trying to convince appropriate officials of the University’s qualifications for training naval cadets. In December he could report that Colgate had been asked to become one of 20 colleges to establish a Naval Flight Preparatory School on January 7, 1943. Six hundred cadets would be assigned to the campus to take a three-months course in the study of aircraft and an intensive program of physical training prior to going on to flying school. From this date forward a large proportion of the University’s instruction and facilities were to be devoted to the use of the Navy for this program and others to follow. Lt. Commander E. Trudeau Thomas, headmaster of a boys preparatory school in Pennsylvania, was officer in charge of the unit and Dr. Sidney J. French, coordinator for the college. The unit was always at or near the top position in scores on uniform tests administered to all Naval Flight Preparatory Schools. This record is noteworthy when it is remembered that most of the Colgate faculty, unlike instructors at the engineering colleges in the program, had only limited backgrounds for teaching such subjects as navigation, mathematics and physics. They successfully “re-tooled” and met a demanding assignment. The cadets lived in the dormitories and were fed in the Student Union which was also headquarters for the Unit. When the program was discontinued in September 1944 its enrollment had totaled 2808.

The excellent records established by the War Training Service and the Naval Flight Preparatory School programs, and the cordial relations between Colgate and Navy personnel favored establishing a third

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Posted in Chapter 15, p. 317, The Case Administration 1942-1962, timeline

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Civilian Pilot Training Program becomes War Training Service Program (p. 316)

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PRESIDENT EVERETT NEEDHAM CASE, 1942-1962
PRESIDENT EVERETT NEEDHAM CASE, 1942-1962

The Civilian Pilot Training program which had been in operation since October, 1940, had developed by July, 1942, into the War Training Service program for flight training for Army and Navy enlisted cadets, and, after September, for Navy Cadets exclusively. Despite the loss of the hangar and 21 planes by fire two months later, the instruction was not interrupted since the Navy replaced the planes and suitable housing for them was provided. Dr. William J. Everts, ’23, of the Romance Language Department was coordinator for the program until it terminated in August, 1944, having graduated over 500 cadets since its inception.

Campus morale in the fall of 1942 was understandably abnormal since most students expected to be in uniform but government policy

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Posted in Chapter 15, p. 316, The Case Administration 1942-1962, timeline

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Everett Needham Case becomes 9th president (p. 315)

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Chapter XV – THE CASE ADMINISTRATION 1942-1962

When Josiah Quincy brought his history of Harvard University, published in 1840, to 1780 he stated that he had reached “our times,” a period too close for proper perspective and that he, therefore, would restrict it to “an outline of events.” Though Colgate’s history is far shorter than Harvard’s, 1942 can be viewed as ushering in a modern era best treated by a brief recording of what seem to be high points, subject to revision as perspective lengthens.

Everett Needham Case, the ninth president, formally entered on his duties at his inauguration September 24, 1942. He had graduated from Princeton in 1922 and studied at Harvard from 1924 to 1927 following study for an honors degree in modern history at Cambridge University. After experience in industry he became assistant dean of the Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration in 1939. From 1927 to 1933 he had been assistant to Owen D. Young of the General Electric Company whose daughter he married and who was to make her own contribution to the Colgate community through gracious hospitality, membership on a variety of committees, her scholarly interests, publications, and stimulating and creative ideas.

The new president, in his first address to faculty and students, stressed Colgate’s obligation to see that its facilities were used with the greatest possible effectiveness in the war training program. In fulfilling this responsibility the University would not only contribute to military victory but also keep itself alive; its Navy contracts were to prove most helpful in meeting basic operating costs. The enrollment for the fall term was 873 which was only 15 percent below normal but there was every reason to expect it would be drastically reduced by calls to the  armed services; by July, 1944, the figure stood at 77 civilian students.

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Posted in Chapter 15, p. 315, The Case Administration 1942-1962, timeline

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Class of 1930 first to have Senior Torchlight ceremony (p. 312)

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Old Golf Course behind President's House c. 1920, A1000-63, Folder 2, p312

players of the period became All-Americans-J. Edward Tryon, ’26; Leonard D. Macaluso, ’31; John F. Orsi, ’32; and Robert L. Smith, ’33, captain of the famed 1932 team. The Colgate undergraduate spectators, too, won recognition as “the All-American cheering section.”

With the Seminary’s removal to Rochester in 1928 the time was opportune for changes in commencement practices and festivities. The Class of 1929, with their gift of Bachelor of Arts hoods, introduced a new note of color at the graduation exercises. The Alumni Corporation, in an attempt to induce graduates to return to the campus, in 1930 established Alumni Day on the Saturday prior to the Monday of the actual commencement exercises. The Class of 1930 was the first to carry out the Senior Torchlight ceremony on the Taylor Lake peninsula, on Baccalaureate Sunday evening, and James C. Colgate delivered to them the first of a series of memorable homilies he was to give on these occasions. The idea for the ceremony originated with Frank

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Posted in Chapter 14, p. 312, The Cutten Period 1922-1942, timeline

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’32 football team first to be called Red Raiders (p. 311)

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1932 Football Team, Sports-12, p311

The coaches were: Richard C. Harlow (1922-26), George W. Hauser (1926-27), Earl C. Abell, ’16 (1928), and Andrew “Andy” Kerr (1929-46). All made genuine contributions but it was Andy and his teams who became legendary. His gridiron innovations, which he insisted be executed with mathematical precision, and the impact of his character on his players are a legacy of great value.

The outstanding 1932 team will always be remembered in Colgate annals as “unbeaten, untied, unscored on,-and uninvited” to play in the post-season Rose Bowl game. This team incidentally was the first to be called “Red Raiders.” Their new uniforms of maroon pants, white jerseys trimmed with maroon, and white helmets were responsible for the designation which all successive football teams have borne. The unbeaten 1925 team inaugurated a 23-year period in which Colgate either defeated or tied its arch-rival, Syracuse. Hamilton College reappeared on the schedule for the last time in 1926 and ’27. Four

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Posted in Chapter 14, p. 311, The Cutten Period 1922-1942, timeline

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Seven Oaks golf course completed (p. 309)

Posted on June 21, 2012 by | Comments Off on Seven Oaks golf course completed (p. 309)

had lived before migrating to the United States, was completed in 1928. The next year James Dalgety came as the first coach and golf professional. When new Huntington Gymnasium pool, the gift of James C. Colgate, was put in use, swimming was added as a sport in1926 under the coaching of J. Howard Starr of the Physical Education Department.

Dr. Cutten sought to foster winter sports, especially as an outlet for student energy. Hockey which had an intermittent existence since 1916, partly because winter weather sometimes failed to provide the necessary ice, returned in 1928 as a minor sport and in 1929 had become a permanent part of the program. Ten years later skiing gained recognized athletic status and won popularity under the sponsorship of David W. Trainer, of the Geology Department, a Dartmouth alumnus who as an undergraduate had been active in the Dartmouth Outing Club. In appreciation of his efforts the ski slope behind the Huntington Gymnasium was named Trainer Hill.

In addition to the required two years of freshman-sophomore physical education, Colgate in 1930 introduced an intramural program. Supervised by the Physical Education Department, it afforded all students opportunity for athletic competition on the basis of fraternities and other groups and elicited a wide response. Several sports, such as golf, tennis, handball, squash, and swimming were stressed as those which could be carried over into the post-college years.

Colgate’s football record of the ’20’s and ’30’s matched, and in some instances surpassed, that of the preceding decades. Students, alumni, faculty, trustees, and townspeople shared in giving the team enthusiastic support. There probably were no followers more eager than the President of the University and the President of the Trustees. Dr. Cutten, the former Yale center, who occasionally took a hand in coaching, could always be relied on for rousing speeches at student and alumni rallies; Mr. Colgate repeatedly stressed the ideals of good sportsmanship, as well as the “will to win” theme. The editor of the Alumni News, recognizing in 1927 that at Colgate and many other colleges there was undue emphasis on football, believed that instead of trying to “drive the customers away from the side-show” greater effort should be made to get them interested in the “main tent”-i.e. the intellectual life of the college. In developing the Colgate Plan the University was attempting to demonstrate the worth of this approach.

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Posted in Chapter 14, p. 309, The Cutten Period 1922-1942, timeline

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Civilian pilot training program is introduced in response to WWII (p. 308)

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thus enabling each house to admit a larger number. Lack of an adequate freshman dining hall delayed putting the recommendations into effect until 1937 when the Student Union Building was opened.

The outbreak of World War II impinged rather little on the usual student interests and activities though the undergraduates were alert to the rush of events. Many were somewhat prone to be skeptical over reports they read, fearing they would become victims of propaganda as they felt the World War I generation had been. By the fall of 1940 Colgate had established a Civilian Pilot Training program under contract with the Civil Aeronautics Authority. The unit had a flying field on Route 20 between Madison and Bouckville, three planes and three instructors, and members of the Physics and Geology Departments taught the ground school courses. Initially 30 students enrolled and up to June, 1942, 159 had completed the program, most of whom made war careers of flying.

The news of Pearl Harbor came shortly before a Christmas Vesper Service at which the Rev. William F. Davison, ’23, preached on “Home for Christmas” to a shocked congregation far removed from the happy spirit associated with the season. As they left the Chapel in the soft white snow-the first of the season-they faced the future with uncertainty. Students were counseled to remain in college to complete as much of their education as possible before going into service. Colgate, like most colleges, adopted an accelerated academic program early in January, 1942, which provided for a three-term year and enabled the Class of 1943 to graduate six months ahead of schedule. Learning and teaching took on a new seriousness. Hamilton’s first blackout, the initial visit of the Red Cross bloodmobile, the collection of scrap metal, new wartime courses such as Map Reading, Democracies and Dictatorships, and Military German, and the presentation of a service flag by the Class of 1932, all served to remind students and faculty that the nation and its colleges were at war, Colgate among them.

The preceding two decades had seen great expansion of the athletic program. Golf was introduced in 1923, though for some years before students had, played on the old course, bounded roughly by the quarry, cemetery and President’s House, which had been constructed in 1917 on the initiative of some faculty and townspeople. A new course, incorporating and expanding the old one and named Seven Oaks for the village in Kent, England, near which the Colgate family

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Posted in Chapter 14, p. 308, The Cutten Period 1922-1942, timeline

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‘Colgate Thirteen’ is organized (p. 306)

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of the English Department and coach. Despite the limited facilities of the Little Theater in the Administration Building and later in Lawrence Hall, Masque and Triangle, the dramatic society, staged some notable productions under his direction. The actual performances were usually given in the village “opera house” or movie theater.

Under the leadership of Professor Hoerrner and, after his retirement in 1934, Professor Thomas Roberts, the Glee Club received wide support and held to its customary high standards. Its quartet made the first commercial recording of Colgate songs in 1926 and in 1929 for the first time the Club gave a joint concert with a girls’ chorus, the Skidmore Glee Club. A smaller and more informal singing group, the Colgate Thirteen, was organized in July, 1942, “to spread Colgate spirit through song.” Beta Theta Pi inaugurated its annual intrafraternity song contest in the spring of 1930. The first of a series of student musical comedies was produced in 1935.

The highlight of the debating program was probably the team’s successful trip to English universities in 1924. Cambridge and Oxford teams visited the campus on their American trips. Able students and effective coaches-Carl A. Kallgren, ’17, Ralph E. Kharas, Lawrence A. Appley, and Jasper (Jack) V. Garland-combined to make excellent records.

The YMCA, renamed successively Colgate University Christian Union and Colgate Christian Association, played an active part in student religious life, especially under the sponsorship of Dr. Alton and Secretaries Shotts and Gregory. After the latter’s resignation in 1933 students with some faculty assistance took greater responsibilities. The Association arranged in 1936 for the first of the all-campus Mother’s Day weekend programs which Beta Theta Pi had inaugurated in 1933.

The two honorary senior societies, Skull and Scroll and Gorgon’s Head, in 1925 vainly attempted to merge as the Mercurius Society in an effort to eliminate campus politics in selecting members. Seven years later, however, they succeeded in consolidating as Konosioni which emphasized service to Colgate as well as recognition for athletic and other attainments. Acknowledgment of freshman and sophomore campus leaders came with the formation of the Maroon Key Club, a junior honorary society, in 1931.

Fraternity life was in its heyday in the 1920’s and ’30’s. Two were added to those already on campus-Theta Pi Delta, a local group

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Posted in Chapter 14, p. 306, The Cutten Period 1922-1942, timeline

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Colgate Inn built (p. 298)

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Student Union, A1000-67 Folder 4, p298

would no longer be accommodated at the fraternity houses. George Cobb again headed the appeal for funds which alumni and friends gave as an affectionate tribute to Mr. Colgate. Norman F. S. Russell,’01, the capable and devoted Chairman of the Trustee Committee on Buildings and Grounds, was especially active in working with Mr. Chambers in designing the building and overseeing construction.

Though not a University property, Colgate Inn was an important center for many University activities. Built in 1925 by a corporation of alumni and local residents, it replaced the old Park House which had stood on the same site for over a century.

The faculty in 1922 numbered 54 of whom 6 were in the Seminary and 48 in the College. By 1942 the latter group reached 90. The ratio of teachers to students dropped from approximately 1 to 18 to 1 to 11. Often deceased or retiring professors were replaced by men in the instructors rank, a practice which lowered the average age and average salary. The salary scale, which in 1923, was very modest in

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Posted in Chapter 14, p. 298, The Cutten Period 1922-1942, timeline

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McGregory Hall dedicated and Student Union completed (p. 297)

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CORNER OF BIOLOGY BUILDING, LATHROP AND MCGREGORY HALL

McGregory Hall, the chemical laboratory, was made possible by a bequest of Miss Evelyn Colgate, supplemented by a gift from her father, James C. Colgate. It honors Dr. Joseph F. McGregory, esteemed Professor of Chemistry for forty-five years, who assisted the architect, Mr. Chambers, in drawing up the plans for the building which he intended to provide ample accommodations for his department. Its dedication in 1930 was the occasion for a conference on chemical education addressed by leaders in the field.

The projected student activities center, which the burning of the old gymnasium in 1926 delayed, at last became a reality in 1937 in the James C. Colgate Student Union. The need for a freshman dining hall had become acute in view of the impending change in fraternity practices, which would defer rushing and pledging from the first to the second semester. This would require eating arrangements for the first year men, more extensive than the Commons in East Hall, since they

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Posted in Chapter 14, p. 297, The Cutten Period 1922-1942, timeline

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