American Association of University Professors-Colgate Chapter | A History of Colgate University, 1819-1969

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

Posted on June 21, 2012 by lisa | Comments Off

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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Posted in Chapter 15, p. 323, The Case Administration 1942-1962, timeline

Tagged American Association of University Professors-Colgate Chapter, Bayard S. Colgate, Chapel House, Colgate Camp, Core Curriculum, East Hall, Everett Needham Case, Everett Needham Case Library, Faculty Club, West Hall

p. 300 – The Cutten Period, 1922-1942

Posted on June 21, 2012 by lisa | Comments Off

Club of Colgate University “to furnish opportunities for social and literary association among its members.”

Faculty meetings at the outset of the Cutten administration were usually held once a month but presidential impatience with tedious professorial discussion led to scheduling them only three times a year-at the opening of the fall and spring semesters and in May or early June. Well-chosen committees were empowered to take action on many matters which would normally have come before the faculty and, from the late ’20’s on, their chairmen and the department heads met Sunday evenings at the President’s House. Meanwhile, the meetings of the Colgate Chapter of the American Association of University Professors became a substitute for faculty meetings and a free forum for airing opinions on campus affairs, especially in the late 1930’s when there was considerable dissatisfaction over the relationship of faculty, administration, and trustees in the operation of the University. Academic freedom or untrammeled classroom discussion the President staunchly supported.

The extensive curricular reorganization and innovation of the Cutten period may be traced to the Faculty Committee on Scholastic Standards, under Professor Greene’s chairmanship, which had been active prior to 1922 and which had been particularly concerned with freshman failures. Well-versed in literature on the problem as seen at other colleges, they recommended a special freshman course taught by a number of professors which was instituted in 1923. The first semester, called “Orientation,” covered such topics as: the University’s history, tradition and ideals; the meaning of college; the value of extracurricular activities; religion in the life of a student and how to study. The second, “The World of Nature and Man”, was an introduction to the physical, biological and social sciences. With the inauguration of the new surveys in philosophy and religion and in the biological sciences in 1928 and 1929, to be discussed later, and the promise of two more in the physical and social sciences, the course lost some of its usefulness and was abandoned. Meanwhile, in 1924, a special orientation program: in advance of registration had been established for a portion of the entering class, and six years later it became a project which the YMCA sponsored at nearby Lake Moraine. After 1937, however, all freshmen were required to attend a week of orientation on the campus.