Tag Archives: Enrollment

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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WRCU starts broadcasting (p. 328)

Posted on June 21, 2012 by | Comments Off on WRCU starts broadcasting (p. 328)

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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Posted in Chapter 15, p. 328, The Case Administration 1942-1962, timeline

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

Posted on June 21, 2012 by | Comments Off on Everett Needham Case becomes 9th president (p. 315)

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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p. 304 – The Cutten Period, 1922-1942

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Sponsored by the chapter, the Phi Society elected annually those sophomores whose first year’s work merited recognition for excellence. Nine members of the Class of 1931 became its initial members in December 1928.

Since the A.B., B.S., and B.Th. degrees were nearly equivalent the faculty in 1926 decided upon one degree, the A.B., with uniform requirements; the B.D. was retained for theological students who had taken two extra years. With the increasing emphasis on the undergraduate work the faculty came to recognize that the college was not prepared to maintain programs for the master’s degrees in arts and science, which had never attracted many students, and in 1926 gradually began to eliminate them; ten years later they had disappeared.

Enrollment in the College in the Cutten period showed a steady gain, save a slight decrease in the Depression years 1932-35, with the total rising from 664 in 1922 to a high of 1,092 in 1939 and declining to 1007 in 1942. Seminary enrollment stayed at about 60 until the removal to Rochester in 1928. It was in the fall of 1930, however, that the enrollment reached the 1,000 mark. Though the totals after 1930 frequently went beyond the 1,000 limit set by the Trustees in 1924 the excess was slight and attrition through the academic year was sufficient to prevent serious overcrowding of facilities.

As was to be expected, student life reflected the spirit and behavior on eastern campuses in the carefree “roaring twenties” and Depression ’30’s. Colgate was noted for its athletic enthusiasm which often overshadowed its genuine non-athletic accomplishment. Mobility became increasingly easier with the greater number of student automobiles. In 1923 it became necessary to restrict owning and operating motor vehicles to juniors and seniors and to require that vehicles be registered at the Registrar’s Office. By 1928 parking had become so much of a problem that the Trustees adopted a set of rules to deal with it. Student dress of the 20’s featured coonskin coats for the more affluent, and sheepskin-lined khaki coats with high collars for their fellows. Red rubber overshoes and maroon sweaters were worn in winter, and distinctive class blazers in the fall and spring. The Class of 1926 seems to have been the first to adopt the blazer which remained in vogue until 1931. Perhaps white bucks were the hallmark of the less flamboyant ’30’s.

Student discipline, long the province of the Senior Governing Board  which concerned itself about such matters as enforcing the wearing of

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p. 274 – The Bryan Period, 1908-1922

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1912. To meet the competition of other preparatory schools and the improved public high schools, the Academy had needed new equipment for science instruction, a gymnasium, and dormitories-all at a cost of about $150,000, which was not available. Furthermore, Principal Shepardson reported a small falling off in enrollment but more significant was the disadvantage of being in the shadow of the College for which the Academy was no longer a significant “feeder,” nor did many of its students enter the Seminary. Changed conditions made clear the wisdom of closing, a step which James C. Colgate approved but which his sister, Miss Mary, out of loyalty to the memory of their father whose “pet” the Academy had been, could never accept.

Statistics of over-all enrollment growth show that the total number of students on campus in 1908 was 492 and that there was a rather steady rise from that number to 678 in 1922. The most significant feature is the increase for the College from 307 at the beginning of the period to 624 at its conclusion. Except for 1918, the Seminary enrollment varied from a low of 36 to a high of 51. The Academy during its last four years, 1908-1912, had from 124 to 136 students. By 1920 the geographical distribution of students had broadened and become more cosmopolitan with 24 states and six foreign countries being represented, President Bryan reported to the Trustees.

The Bryan period also shows a notable increase in expenses for students in the College. The bare minimum of about $150 in 1908 had risen to about $500 in 1922. The tuition of $60 which was among the lowest in the East in 1908 rose to $180 in 1922. Tuition in the Academy was $45. Expenses for Seminary students were much less, of course, since they paid no tuition and could live in rent-free rooms in Eaton Hall. So far as scholarships and other funds would permit, the University intended that no diligent, worthy student should leave for lack of funds. Both Dean Crawshaw and the faculty were disturbed by an increased scale of expenditures, especially since a large number of students came from homes of limited means.

Student religious life, aside from required chapel attendance and occasional participation in village church activities, centered in the YMCA which had an energetic program under Professor Alton’s guidance which included prayer meetings and Bible study. After Taylor Hall became available in 1912, the “Y” established social rooms  there and for a brief period maintained a snack bar open from 8:00 to

TAYLOR HALL, HOME OF THE ACADEMY FRATERNITIES
TAYLOR HALL, HOME OF THE ACADEMY FRATERNITIES

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Posted in Chapter 13, p. 274, The Bryan Period 1908-1922

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p. 253 – The Merrill Presidency, 1899-1908

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tion of his associates and the students. An alumnus of Amherst where he was a pupil of the great pioneer in physical education, Dr. Edward Hitchcock, he had studied medicine and physical education at the University of Virginia and had taught physical education and Greek at the University of Nashville. He introduced the novel idea that muscle-building should give way to body-building and that the often dreary and dreaded required “gym-hour” should become a “play-hour” with a purpose. His courses in hygiene related physical well-being to mental and spiritual health. Assuming general supervision of intercollegiate athletics in addition to his other duties, he made out schedules, planned finances, and accompanied teams on trips. His wisdom and leadership were crucial as Colgate athletics burgeoned in the first quarter of the 20th century.

From 1899 to 1908 enrollment in the College rose from 151 to 278, an increase the President worked strenuously to bring about through advertising, the travels of the Field Secretary, Vincent B. Fisk, and the usual contacts through speeches and correspondence available to him and the faculty. Dean Crawshaw represented Colgate in devising theuniform college entrance examinations of the Association of the Colleges and Preparatory Schools of the Middle Atlantic States and the faculty accepted them in 1902. The largest spurt in enrollment, from 178 in 1903 to 228 in 1903 served to underline the growing need for more faculty and facilities.

In contrast to the College, the Seminary had difficulty in maintaining its enrollment which dropped from 46 in 1899 to 37 for the next three years and then gradually pushed up to 53 in 1907 and receded to 50 in 1908. Hence, there was no strong pressure for increasing its faculty. One, however, was added in 1900: John B. Anderson, a graduate of the College in 1896 and of the Seminary in 1898, who came from a pastorate at Camillus to teach ecclesiology and English Bible. Each year a number of experts, many of them widely known, gave lectures in a variety of fields to supplement the regular courses. Though the theological views of the faculty were quite diverse, freedom of discussion prevailed without the conflict which the Schmidt case generated in the 1890’s. President Merrill believed that the graduates of the Seminary should be thoroughly equipped to deal with the current theological questions and controversies as well as for carrying out pastoral duties.

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p. 233 – Colgate in the 1890’s

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University’s benefactors to establish a chair of Semitic languages and in September Schmidt resigned to accept appointment to it.

The extent of faculty involvement in their colleague’s case is difficult to determine. Of those in the Seminary, Jones, in addition to Burnham and Loyd, opposed him while Clarke assisted him and McGregory and Brigham, among his friends in the College, appear to have been active in his behalf. Little publicity seems to have been given to the case until after Schmidt resigned when a long account appeared in the New York Sun. Aside from the issue of academic freedom, valid objection can be made to the procedures employed to effect his dismissal. No definite charges were formally made; no investigation of allegations undertaken; nor was he given a hearing and an opportunity to defend himself. Had he possessed a less pugnacious spirit it is entirely possible that the Trustees could have parried outside criticism of his views and permitted him to continue teaching along with the liberal William Newton Clarke. He “was sent away because he was a troubler of the peace,” Dr. Loyd confessed some years later.* At Cornell he was to win great fame as scholar, author and teacher.

The combined enrollment of all three divisions of the University during the ’90’s fluctuated, with a high of 369 in 1891 and a low of 314 in 1898. The College enrollment reached its peak of 167 in 1895 and its low of 125 in 1898; likewise the Academy with 184 in 1891 and 111 in 1894 and the Seminary with 61 in 1892 and 45 in 1891. The number of graduates from the College entering the Seminary declined from 10 in 1890 to 6 in 1898.

The growing secularization of the University caused concern to the theological faculty who were mindful that its original purpose was to provide an educated clergy. The alumni, too, noted changed conditions and complained about the loss of “the old spirit” which they remembered from the days when a large percentage of the College students went into the ministry.

Student interest in religious matters continued, however, but expressed itself in new forms. In 1891 William H. Cossum, ’87, came to the campus as an agent for the YMCA-related Student Volunteer Movement and organized 57 students from all divisions of the University into the Students Volunteer Band for Foreign Missions. They met for prayer and the study of missions and carried their message and

*Copy, letter, Dr. Hinton S. Lloyd to Rev. E.P. Brigham, January 15, 1902.

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p. 201 – Student Life, 1869-1890

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Chapter X – STUDENT LIFE, 1869-1890

The composition and complexion of the student body underwent a significant change in the 1869-’90 period as undergraduates in the College who were not preparing for the ministry began to outnumber the theologues. One observer detected the onset of the transition as early as 1873 and noted that it would be difficult to retain the religious and moral tone of the past in combination with all that was really valuable in the life and government of American colleges of the present. Indications of the new order came in 1876 with the entrance of the Class of 1880 which was to be the first in the history of the University to have less than half its members go into the ministry. This class set the pattern for its successors. The profession of teaching was to draw the largest percentage of the non-ministers and law and business were to follow in attraction. Campus life reflected the change as social life, fraternities, student organizations and athletics engaged an increasingly greater amount of student time and interest.

The combined enrollment for College, Seminary, and Academy rose fairly steadily from 162 in 1869 to 346 in 1890. It was not until 1880, however, that the total enrollment of 239 exceeded the record for the 1846-69 period which was 228 in 1855. The increase is most marked for the Academy which had 51 students at the beginning of the period and 154 at its end. Comparable figures for the Seminary are 10 and 56. Expansion in the College was much less; 101 students were registered in 186.9 and 146 in 1890. Reasons for Academy growth may be found in the introduction of the “English and Scientific Course” and the construction in 1873 of a building for the school’s exclusive use. The major spurt for the Seminary came between 1869 and 1870 when enrollment jumped from 10 to 19; thereafter it rose rather gradually. Provision of its own building, Eaton Hall, in 1886, and curriculum changes of that

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Emily Taylor and co-education (p. 159)

Posted on May 3, 2012 by | Comments Off on Emily Taylor and co-education (p. 159)

methods the library seems to have been quite generally neglected. Its collections, which numbered 8,000 volumes in 1850, had grown to only 9,821 by 1869. One student remembered it as consisting chiefly of German editions of Greek and Hebrew classics “which gave forth an unspeakable antique odor.” Modern literature was to be found in the libraries of the literary societies which, with that of the Society for Inquiry, boasted over 3,000 volumes in 1858.

The practice of awarding prizes to stimulate students’ intellectual ambitions was not instituted until 1867 when James J. Lewis, not yet a member of the faculty, donated a fund in memory of his brother, Captain George W. M. Lewis of Utica, the income to be given on an annual competitive basis to the senior who delivered the best original oration. President Dodge, perhaps influenced by the system of awards Wayland had introduced at Brown, founded prizes for the best prepared entrants to the freshman class. George B. Lasher, Class of 1857, also established prizes for Juniors who excelled in English composition. These awards have all been maintained to the present.

Student enrollment statistics furnish a good indication of the University’s prosperity. Starting with an attendance in all departments of 33 in the fall of 1850, the number reached 90 by August 1851. During the Taylor administration it increased to a high of 228 in 1855 and thereafter declined to a low of 117 in 1864. By 1869 the figure had climbed back to 162. Registration dropped off seriously in the College and Grammar School during the Civil War years, as might be expected, the low for the College being 56 in 1865 and 20 for the Grammar School in 1864. The average number of students per year in all departments for the period from 1850 to 1869 was 164.

Admission requirements for each of the three departments remained much the same as drawn up in the 1830’s. The Catalogues from 1869 on, however, called attention to the fact that “Students from all denominations of Christians are admitted to the Seminary.” But there is no reason to believe that any considerable number of non-Baptists sought to enter its doors. The only instance of “co-education” to be found is the presence of Emily Taylor, daughter of the President, in her father’s class in intellectual and moral philosophy.

The faculty were sanguine over the first post-Removal student body, probably because they were pleased at having any to teach, and for a

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Posted in Chapter 8, p. 159, Recovery and Expansion, 1850-1869, timeline

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Hamilton Student, the first student newspaper (p. 136)

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and Spear. In a joint session, the University and Education Society Trustees agreed on replacements and thus enabled Henry Tower, the new President of the University Board, to give out their names at the close of the week’s exercises when he announced that instruction would be resumed as usual in the fall.

During the period 1847 to 1850, teaching had often become secondary to the question of location. One or more of the faculty was usually absent from classes on removal business, especially Eaton and Raymond. As was to be expected, the students took sides on the exciting issue. Influenced by the professors who favored Rochester, several were eager for relocation. When the Gridley injunction in the spring of 1850 obviated that possibility they eagerly awaited the announcement of the opening of the new institution so that they might enroll and in due time 21 did. Others, uneasy because of the strained atmosphere on the campus and the University’s uncertain future, withdrew, 24 going to Union College. Registration shrank from 216 in 1847 to 140 in 1850. The losses were particularly severe in the collegiate department where the decline was from 140 to 93. Students had been warned on all sides that the institution would soon be dead. Yet not all could believe this prediction. A minority swayed by William T. Biddle, Class of 1849, then in the theological department, and a few like-minded companions, agreed that if classes met in October they would return.

Numerous cases of student discipline reflect the unrest which resulted from the Removal Controversy. The most serious, that in connection with Professor Maginnis’s delivery of Dr. Kendrick’s funeral sermon in January, 1849, has already been mentioned. Disturbances in the dormitories were frequent. George B. Eaton, son of Professor Eaton, no doubt greatly embarrassed his father by instigating several, one involving the exploding of gunpowder under the bed of a fellow student. In many cases the culprits were required to make public confession in chapel as part of their punishment.

The most recalcitrant, perhaps, was George G. Ritchie, Class of 1849, who won distinction for starting the first student publication. As a freshman he discussed with some of the faculty his plan for issuing a paper and, notwithstanding their apparently mild objections, got out the first number on November 2, 1846. He called it the Hamilton Student with the subtitle, “A Semi-Monthly Mirror of Religion, Litera-

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Posted in Chapter 7, p. 136, The Removal Controversy, 1847-1850, timeline

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