Tag Archives: Administrative Changes

Coeducation becomes part of the undergraduate program (p. 339)

Posted on June 21, 2012 by | Comments Off on Coeducation becomes part of the undergraduate program (p. 339)

Among the administrative changes of the Barnett period was the creation of a new office. A Provost was appointed to be in charge of university affairs in the absence of the President. The Vice President for Development was made Vice President for Development, Alumni Affairs, and Public Relations. The office of Vice President for Business and Finance was set up as a concurrent appointment to be held by the Treasurer. The staff of the Dean of Students was enlarged by adding an Assistant Dean of Students for Fraternities, to provide professional leadership in developing policies and standards for fraternity chapter operations.

Colgate’s enrollment, slightly less than 1,500 in 1962, had risen to just over 2,000 in 1968. Tuition, which had been $1,375 in 1962, by 1968 had increased to $2,285. So far as possible students whose financial resources were inadequate to meet costs were assisted by scholarships, work opportunities, and loan funds.

Coeducation became a part of the undergraduate program in 1968. Women were first permitted to study on the graduate level in summer session in 1959 and at the special summer session commencement in 1961 they received their first earned degrees (M.A.). They were admitted to the teaching intern program in 1963 and attended classes during the regular academic year. Accepting the recommendations of a trustee-faculty-administration-alumni committee, the Trustees in 1967 endorsed the principle of coeducation and directed that feasibility studies be made of methods by which it might be adopted. A few months later, however, they decided that a pilot program should be initiated in September, 1968, and three women were admitted as undergraduates. Plans were made for Skidmore College students (approximately 50) to join in the 1969 January Plan on the Colgate campus and for the same number of Colgate students to participate in Skidmore’s January Plan. For the spring term of 1969, Colgate and Vassar College expected to initiate an exchange of students, probably 20-30, on a one-to-one basis. Vassar had already completed similar arrangements with Williams and Trinity Colleges.

Noteworthy features of undergraduate life included the elimination of compulsory chapel. Worship services, normally led by students, were held Wednesday morning with voluntary attendance. In October, 1964, and in March, 1968, students organized and conducted the Creative Arts Festival and the Fortnight of the Arts which afforded

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Posted in Chapter 16, p. 339, The Barnett Period 1962-1969, timeline

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p. 321 – The Case Administration, 1942-1962

Posted on June 21, 2012 by | Comments Off on p. 321 – The Case Administration, 1942-1962

Dean of Students, Kallgren, Dean of the College in 1943 to enable him to assume some of the President’s functions since Mr. Case often had to be away from the campus. The office of Assistant to the President was also established in 1943 and F. Reed Alvord, ’31, appointed to it; in 1945 he became Secretary of the University as well. To collect and preserve the University’s records and to supply information from them, Howard D. Williams, ’30, a member of the History Department, was appointed Archivist in 1947. The office of Dean of Faculty, abolished in 1934, was revived in 1945 with the appointment of Sidney J. French, Professor of Chemistry. The mounting burden of arranging for financial assistance and scholarships led to the creation of the position of Director of Student Aid to which William F. Griffith, ’33, was named in 1945; by 1957 he had become Dean of Admissions and Student Aid and was made Dean of Students a year later. The position of Vice-President for Development was established in 1958 and filled by Howard L. Jones, ’39, who had been Director of Development. Facilitating the work of these and other officers were the regular Administrative Staff meetings for discussion of problems and procedures which President Case instituted in 1942. Miss Gertrude E. Edgarton became the President’s Secretary also in 1942.

Anticipating the University’s post-war requirements, Mr. Case in 1943 appointed a faculty Committee on Needs and Resources and encouraged the Trustees and the Alumni Corporation to select similar groups; all three would cooperate in establishing a priority schedule of needs and canvass possible sources for meeting them. From this nucleus evolved the Development Council and the organization of a Development Office for which F. Gordon Boyce, ’39, became executive officer in 1946. Meanwhile, the annual Alumni Fund, thanks to the efforts of Carlton O. Miller, ’14, Alumni Secretary, and alumni workers throughout the country, had greatly increased goals which were met, making this resource most important in financing the University. Rapidly spiraling costs of all kinds gave special urgency to fund raising. With the blessing of the Committee on Needs and Resources, a successful drive was launched in 1947 to raise $250,000 for a Colgate infirmary and the Hamilton hospital. The most important single accomplishment was the Development Campaign begun in 1956 with an objective of $3,300,000 for raising faculty salaries, building a new library and an athletic center, and meeting operating costs of the

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p. 287 – The Cutten Period, 1922-1942

Posted on June 14, 2012 by | Comments Off on p. 287 – The Cutten Period, 1922-1942

james-c-colgate

rallies when his succinct and telling remarks won suspenseful attention and great applause.

Throughout his twenty years at Colgate, Dr. Cutten had as his secretary Miss Alice 1. Smith who had served in similar capacity for President Bryan and for Dr. Read when he was President pro tem. A daughter of one of the old Hamilton families and steeped in village and University history, she was an invaluable member of the administrative staff. Her quick perception, discretion, friendliness, and kindly wit contributed greatly to smooth operation of the top executive office.

Increasing University functions and responsibilities led to considerable administrative proliferation during the Cutten period. A Depart-

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Elmer B. Bryan becomes Colgate’s seventh president (p. 263)

Posted on June 14, 2012 by | Comments Off on Elmer B. Bryan becomes Colgate’s seventh president (p. 263)

Chapter XIII – THE BRYAN PERIOD, 1908-1922

Colgate’s seventh president, Elmer Burritt Bryan, relieved Dr. Crawshaw of his duties as president pro tem in the fall of 1909. The Dean had hoped that he himself might get the appointment and for a while Dr. Bryan was suspicious of him. In time, however, the President was to discover that no member of the faculty was more loyal and years later he graciously acknowledged that their relations had been entirely harmonious.

Unlike all except one of his predecessors, President George W. Smith, Dr. Bryan was not a clergyman but an educator. A Baptist, he came to Colgate from Franklin College, a denominational institution in Indiana whose president he had been since 1905. Born in Ohio, he spent most of his life in Indiana where he graduated from the State University in 1893 and taught in the public schools, at Butler College and at his Alma Mater. Following advanced study at Harvard and Clark Universities, he was Normal School Principal and Superintendent of Education in the Philippines.

Dean Crawshaw remembered the President as “a man not easily swerved or deterred.” He also noted that his strength was directed toward accomplishment not resistance. One of his excellent and useful qualities was a well-developed vein of humor which contributed to a sense of proportion. His droll and whimsical expressions gave spice to his conversation and vigor to his speeches, especially those to students. He sought and enjoyed contact with them on all occasions and astounded them with his uncanny memory of their names and accomplishments. Though he was often in pain because of a leg injury he could laugh at things and men and occasionally at himself.

Some of the administrative changes in the Bryan period reflect the

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Office of the registrar established (p. 218)

Posted on June 14, 2012 by | Comments Off on Office of the registrar established (p. 218)

his friendly and conciliatory nature, his thorough knowledge of the institution and its history, his wide acquaintance with the alumni, all contributed to make him a sagacious and acceptable leader.”

Other changes included: printing the Minutes of Trustees’ Meetings so that each member might have copy; holding two Trustees’ Meetings each year, instead of one, the second to be in New York in December; and electing members of the Board for five-year terms. This modern and efficient approach it was hoped would stimulate genuine Trustee interest in University affairs.

For five years the Trustees searched without success for a president. Various prominent Baptists turned them down because they disliked the poorly defined joint operations of the University and the Baptist Education Society and sensed trouble because the president’s authority over the Seminary was not spelled out. Their objections were especially pertinent in a period in which there was considerable unrest and turmoil in theological circles.

At the outset of the search for a president, the faculty urged the twenty-seven-year old James C. Colgate to accept the office. No doubt flattered, he modestly declined to follow in the footsteps of his demi-god, Ebenezer Dodge. He felt he could be of greater service as a Trustee and time proved him correct. In many ways he was President pro tem and, as such, kept in close touch with Dean Andrews and the faculty committee and with the students. As a means, rather unusual in the 1890’s, of enlisting undergraduate support he furnished the Madisonensis with lengthy accounts of Trustee meetings. Furthermore, he came to the campus as often as he could and talked to the students about his responsibilities and his hopes for the University while, at the same time, frankly admitting he was not much older than they and would like to join in their fun. Under his prodding the Executive Committee made a thorough investigation of the University’s daily operations and called for detailed reports from its officers. In 1892 the office of Registrar was established to consolidate and maintain efficient and complete records of student grades and absences; the duties of the Registrar were combined with those of the Librarian until 1898. James C. Colgate’s influence can be detected also in the reorganization of procedures in the Treasurer’s Office and in forming in 1892 a Trustees’ Finance Committee to have custody of the University’s securities and to direct the investment of its funds. Mr.

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p. 140 – Recovery and expansion, 1850-1869

Posted on May 3, 2012 by | Comments Off on p. 140 – Recovery and expansion, 1850-1869

Chapter VIII – RECOVERY AND EXPANSION 1850-1869

As the embers of the Removal Controversy cooled, the friends of Madison University turned their energy to repairing the serious damage which that intense and bitter conflict had done. Under Stephen W. Taylor’s vigorous presidency, 1851-56, they achieved for it a large measure of recovery. His successor, George W. Eaton, who served from 1856 to 1868, though not so strong a leader, brought the institution through the Civil War years with comparatively slight dislocation. During Eaton’s tenure also, resources and facilities so expanded that the university in 1869, under President Ebenezer Dodge, had every expectation of prosperity and usefulness greater than it had experienced during its first half century.

In the interim between August 1850, when the Anti-Removalists gained control of the University and the Education Society’s Boards, and Taylor’s assumption of office a year later, Professors Eaton and Spear acted as temporary executives. The one “kept his hand upon the helm and his eye upon the starless heavens, the other stood guard over the treasury and cargo.” Final authority and responsibility, of course, rested with the Trustees. Professor Spear, Secretary of both Boards, complained that the Removalist Trustees delayed resigning until August, 1850, even though the injunction against removal had been granted three months previously, because until they should do so and permit the friends of Hamilton to have control, no arrangements for the next year could be made.

The new Trustees, all solid, substantial business men from Hamilton or vicinity, represented the conservative element among the Baptists loyal to Madison University. They and their associates could be expected to perpetuate it with little deviation from the pattern followed hitherto. The President of the Board from 1850 to 1864 was Henry

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