Tag Archives: Commencement

Commencement first held outside (p. 331)

Posted on June 21, 2012 by | Comments Off on Commencement first held outside (p. 331)
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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Posted in Chapter 15, p. 331, The Case Administration 1942-1962, timeline

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p. 330 – The Case Administration, 1942-1962

Posted on June 21, 2012 by | Comments Off on p. 330 – The Case Administration, 1942-1962
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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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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Class of 1930 first to have Senior Torchlight ceremony (p. 312)

Posted on June 21, 2012 by | Comments Off on Class of 1930 first to have Senior Torchlight ceremony (p. 312)
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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Students Army Training Corps (p. 282)

Posted on June 14, 2012 by | Comments Off on Students Army Training Corps (p. 282)

became head coach for 1920-21. For both coaches and players no one was more helpful than Jack F. Rourke who came to Colgate in 1910 as athletic trainer and track coach. His understanding and kindly Irish wit were as important for morale as his massages, wintergreen oil, and miles of tape for injured arms and legs.

The World War I period was only an interlude in Colgate’s history and the University resumed its normal role easily and quickly at its end. Soon after the declaration of war in 1917 students were drilling on Whitnall Field and an unsuccessful attempt was initiated to have the War Department establish a training unit on the campus. As tension mounted approximately three-fourths of the student body of about 600 left by May to join the armed services or go into some form of “war , work,” especially farming, and the year closed on the 25th with no commencement. The University opened in October with an enrollment of 434 in the College, a reduction of about 20 percent from that in 1916. Under the direction of Lt. Col. James Ballentine, D.S.O., of Canada, all able-bodied students were required to take military drill. As far as possible classes and other activities went on as usual with the year ending early in May. From October to December 1918, however, Colgate was a military installation with a unit of the Students’ Army Training Corps under the command of Major L. B. Lawton, a West Point graduate who had served in the Spanish American War and in China, and a staff of eight officers. Of the 400 students in the College, 388 met the physical requirements and were inducted. In addition to two army units there was a naval section of 50 men. The dormitories became barracks, the Commons the mess hall, the Phi Kappa Psi house the naval quarters; the officers occupied the Delta Kappa Epsilon house and the gymnasium was the headquarters. Cooperation between the military staff and the faculty was cordial and Major Lawton sought to preserve some semblance of the spirit of peace time by such means as daily chapel, student “sings” and brief fraternity meetings on weekends. Athletics and most extracurricular activities were suspended.

Colgate’s war record shows that of about 3,000 living alumni 1,440 saw some form of service including S.A.T.C. Of these 363 held commissions: 283 in the Army, 55 in the Navy, 2 in the Marines, and 23 in the Chaplains Corps. Casualties among Colgate men numbered 22, the first of which was 1st Lieutenant Lloyd Ludwig, ’17, who was killed when his plane crashed on February 28, 1918.

With the war over, plans immediately went forward for Colgate’s

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Posted in Chapter 13, p. 282, The Bryan Period 1908-1922, timeline

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p. 215 – Student Life, 1869-1890

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The commencement season, as always, was the highlight of the academic year. After 1872, it came in June rather than August as had been the old custom. There were separate graduation exercises of each of the three divisions of the University, as well as the usual annual meetings, class reunions, and various events of the College Senior class. Aside’ from the actual graduation, perhaps, the Seniors found Class Day the most attractive occasion of the week. At it they conducted their own program of orations, class history, prophecy, poem, and presented their “class gift” to the University. The Class of 1882 introduced the practice of sending rather elaborate commencement invitations to their friends while the Class of 1889 daringly innovated a “Senior Ball.” For the College graduation, the commencement procession formed at the Baptist Church and marched down Broad Street and up the Hill to Alumni Hall to the third floor auditorium where the exercises took place. By the late ’70’s members of the Junior Class had assumed the duties of marshalls. A band, hired from Utica or Syracuse, led the procession which consisted of the University and Education Society trustees, faculty, classes of the Seminary, College and Academy (or such of the students as chose to remain on campus at the year’s end), alumni, and citizens of Hamilton. The program of speeches by the whole graduating class remained unchanged from the earlier period. Throwing bouquets to the graduates as they came to the platform to receive their diplomas was given up in 1883 and after 1890 the degrees were no longer conferred in Latin. Following the exercises came the Alumni Dinner and the concluding event, the “President’s Levee,” at his home.

Alumni ties to the University and each other were fostered not only by the Alumni Association but also by regional organizations. One was formed in New York City in 1872 and later others were to be found in, Boston, Philadelphia, and Chicago. At the various annual meetings of the Baptist denomination the Madison alumni arranged to foregather. At all of these occasions it was usual for a faculty member to bring greetings and news from the campus. As a means of building alumni loyalty one student suggested in 1885 that graduates assist the faculty in finding jobs for the increasingly large proportion of non-ministerial members of each senior class. Alumni interest in University affairs was reaching the point in 1886 where some were urging that they have representation on the Board of Trustees. This development was to be

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Posted in Chapter 10, p. 215, Student Life, 1869-1890

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p. 134 – The removal controversy, 1847-1850

Posted on May 3, 2012 by | Comments Off on p. 134 – The removal controversy, 1847-1850

The Removalists, whose perspective was distorted by optimism for their projected university at Rochester, underestimated the recuperative powers of Madison. Professor Richardson, writing from Hamilton after the endowment drive had begun stated “I think the sober­ minded business men of this vicinity have scarcely any hope of the success of the effort to sustain an institution here,” and added that he knew of no one who had much confidence except Professor Eaton. Professors Raymond, Conant, and A. C. Kendrick were already at work drawing up a “Plan of Instruction” for the University of Roches­ter and its agents were making a special effort to collect sufficient funds to insure its opening in the fall. The Removalist professors strongly urged students at Madison to transfer to Rochester and many decided to do so. Professor Richardson doubted that five would be left in Hamilton to open the new academic year.

Many commencement-week visitors came to the village in August 1850, expecting the exercises to be the last on the campus. Professor Eaton recalled that “The anti-removalist alumni, to the surprise of both sides, came up in unusual numbers, with sad and heavy hearts, to attend the funeral of their cherished Alma Mater, and see her decently buried.” At their meeting in the Baptist Church, John Newton Brown, Class of 1823, recalling her history and associations and acknowledging with unrestrained emotion his debt to the institution, turned the tide and inspired his listeners to rally to her support. Catching the spirit of the occasion, Orrin B. Judd, Class of 1841, offered a resolution, which was passed unanimously, that “The manifestations of this day remove all reasonable ground, if any such ground has ever existed, for representing our Alma Mater, the Madison University, as being in a hopeless decline.” This demonstration of affection must have cheered Eaton, Spear, Hascall and the others who had fought removal so tirelessly.

During the past three years alumni had followed the course of events with interest and often with anxiety. Some, of course, favored removal but the prevailing sentiment seems to have been against it. One graduate asserted that the richest endowment an institution could have was the “affection of a numerous alumni.” Such feelings closely identified with Hamilton could not be easily transferred to Rochester and any attempt to do so would have meant a loss of this intangible

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Posted in Chapter 7, p. 134, The Removal Controversy, 1847-1850

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The Institution becomes Madison University (p. 92)

Posted on May 2, 2012 by | Comments Off on The Institution becomes Madison University (p. 92)

rangements for male voices, which included original tunes bearing such local names as, “Kendrick,” “Chenango,” “Maginnis Chant,” “Conant,” and “Taylor.” William Roney, a senior in the collegiate department, succeeded Raymond and Wright in 1843. Under his direction the Sacred Music Society gave an ambitious concert on Christmas Night 1843 which featured selections from Handel, Mozart, Rossini, and Beethoven. Isaac N. Loomis, Class of 1845, took over the baton and tuning fork when he began graduate work in the fall of that year. The editor of the local Democratic Reflector commented in 1846 that perhaps no division of the University had improved more rapidly in the past decade than the music department.

Commencement, the high point of each year, changed little in character from that of the first in 1822. The date was moved in 1835 from June to August to accommodate businessmen who had to settle their mid-year accounts and for those who wished to attend the annual meetings of the various benevolent societies which usually came in the late spring or early summer. Preparations for the festivities involved town and gown. Village homes were thrown open to the visitors and the Baptist Church was used for some of their meetings. The Students Association took charge of music, ushering, printing of programs, flowers and evergreens for the chapel, building the speakers’ platform, and supervising campus peddlers who sold provisions.

Visitors’ comments abound with praise for the tasteful decorations, fine choral music, and well-delivered orations. On two occasions, at least, they complained that the program was much too long. The theological commencement of 1843 was notable for the great mission­ary convention Baptists from the Northern states held at the same time. When the chapel proved too small, an overflow crowd gathered in one of the nearby ravines to listen to Eugenio Kincaid, Class of 1822, who had recently returned from Burma, give the principal address which one hearer remembered over fifty years later for its marvelous magnetic power.

The Commencement of 1846 is memorable as the first held after the Institution had become Madison University and empowered to confer its own degrees. Professors A. C. Kendrick and Richardson prepared the Latin formula for the diplomas and it has remained in use ever since. They, with Professor Raymond, and three University Trustees, also devised the University seal, consisting of a hand grasping a torch

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Posted in Chapter 5, p. 92, Student Life, 1833-1846, timeline

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p. 54 – Teaching and learning, 1820-1833

Posted on May 1, 2012 by | Comments Off on p. 54 – Teaching and learning, 1820-1833

of Inquiry, each maintained an existence independent of it. In addition to these groups there grew up on the campus the ephemeral Gamma Phi and Lyceum Societies and the relatively permanent Musical Society; little is known of the first two; the third, which existed as early as 1832, fostered vocal music and sang at commencements.

Commencement week included not only the graduation ceremony but also oral public examinations of the various classes. Immediately following the examinations came the “exercises” or “exhibitions” at which juniors and seniors delivered orations. The part of the program given over to the seniors, however, was technically the commencement. The week’s activities gave the officers an opportunity to show something of the work of the Institution and at the same time provided students who were graduating a chance to make useful contacts with denomi­national leaders who might attend. Even though no class had completed the course in June 1821, “public exercises” were held so that friends of the school could see and hear its students at the end of the first year’s work. The program consisted of fifteen orations, all on religious subjects, including one in Latin and one in Greek.

Arrangements for the commencement of 1822 set precedents which were followed rather generally until students were to be graduated from the collegiate department in the middle 1830’s. The newspapers of the vicinity were notified of the week’s program, a public dinner planned, parchment diplomas printed, a procession provided for, and Jonathan Olmstead appointed marshall. Probably this commencement and all those before 1827 were held in the Baptist meeting house. Concluding the 1822 program was an “Address to the Class-By the Professor,” identified as Kendrick since he usually delivered a kind of baccalaureate sermon to subsequent graduating classes. Alumni remembered long afterward the sound advice and fatherly admonition packed into them. Nor did they forget tearful farewells as they went their separate ways once the ceremony was over.

Of the 110 men who had finished the course in the Seminary by June 1833 nearly all had entered the ministry. Nine became foreign missionaries and probably most of the others at some time in their careers preached in the sparsely settled parts of the United States. In any survey of these alumni Jonathan Wade stands out. His fame as a missionary rested not only on his preaching but on his scholarly efforts. He reduced several Burmese dialects to written languages, wrote

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Posted in Chapter 3, p. 54, Teaching and Learning 1820-1833

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