Tag Archives: Frank L. Shepardson

Dana Arts Center, Cutten Hall, Bryan Hall, and O’Connor Campus Center built (p. 336)

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also established a scholarship program for five years with an initial grant of $130,000 with the possibility of extending it for a second five-year period.

The expansion of Colgate’s physical facilities, an important feature of the Case presidency, continued during his successor’s. Four new buildings were erected and others modified or renovated. With the destruction of the Administration Building by fire in October, 1963, the old library, then serving as a Foreign Language Center, became the new Administration Building after extensive alterations and the transfer of the language center to Lawrence Hall. The Reid Athletic Center, in use since 1959, was completed in 1966 with the dedication of the basketball court to the memory of Wesley M. Cotterell, ’19, Trustee, 1961-65; the hockey rink in 1965 had been named for J. Howard Starr, Professor of Physical Education Emeritus, and former hockey coach. Alumni Hall was completely remodeled in 1965 and occupied by the Division of the Social Sciences, except for the Education Department which was located in Lawrence Hall; Arthur A. Meggett, ’36, was the architect. The Arts Center, named for Charles A. Dana whose foundation had provided a challenge grant as the basis of the funds raised for the building, was completed in 1966. A striking example of modern architecture, it was designed by Paul Rudolph, and provided classroom, office, studio and performing space for courses and activities in the fine arts, music and drama, and also housed a theater and an art gallery. Two residence complexes, Cutten and Bryan Halls, were completed in 1966 and 1967; the architects were Perkins and Will. The first was named for Colgate’s eighth president and comprised four houses commemorating faculty members active during his term-Albert P. Brigham (geology); Frank L. Shepardson (Greek and University Treasurer); Harold O. Whitnall (Geology) and Melbourne S. Read, (Philosophy, Psychology, Education, Vice President, 1912-21, and President pro tem, 1921-22). The second building perpetuates the memory of Colgate’s seventh president and also consists of four houses named for Dean William H. Crawshaw, ’87; George W. Cobb, ’94, Trustee (1907-45) and donor of the Cobb Awards; William M. Parke, ’00, Trustee (1926-61; President, 1937-48); and Norman F. S. Russell, ’01, Trustee (1928-54; President, 1948-52). The A. Lindsay and Olive B. O’Connor Campus Center, designed by Arthur A. Meggett, ’36, and opened in 1967, provided facilities for the

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Posted in Chapter 16, p. 336, The Barnett Period 1962-1969, timeline

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p. 270 – The Bryan Period, 1908-1922

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gation that deterioration was most serious and that in their opinion the chief causes were the poor quality of the average entering student, an apparently lax faculty attitude toward academic responsibilities, and undue pressure from outside activities. Responding to their recommendations the faculty: limited entrance to about 200 of the best applicants; refused to permit new students to register until all their credentials had been approved; and urged that highest academic standards be maintained with no concessions to extracurricular activities and that the amount of required work be increased by about 25 percent. Other reforms included reducing the amount of time required for athletic practice, a tougher policy on excused class absences, a more rigid control of schedules for teams and other groups traveling off campus, more stringent rules on eligibility for extracurricular activities, and the adoption of a quality point system which meant in effect that a student must have an average standing of C in all his work to graduate.

The curricular aims of the College remained substantially unchanged throughout the Bryan period. Its essential purpose was to provide a liberal education and character training as preparation for whatever profession its graduates might enter. With the Class of 1914 business rather than teaching for the first time attracted the largest number of graduates. With the Class of 1916 the percentage going into the marketplace made a notable increase which remained steady.

Instruction in the humanities saw various changes and innovations.
The beloved Newton Lloyd Andrews retired in 1918 as the Professor of the Greek Language and Literature to be succeeded in 1920 by Richard A. Parrock, an 1891 graduate of Pembroke College, Cambridge. Principal Frank L. Shepardson joined the Classics Department to teach Greek as well as to become Treasurer after the Academy was discontinued in 1912, and James C. Austin, A.B., Syracuse, 1916, was added in 1921 to teach Latin. After Dr. Andrews retired, Dean Crawshaw introduced courses in General Literature including those in Greek literature in translation which Dr. Andrews had offered. “Craw” maintained that literature courses had great value as a “liberalizing” influence, especially for students entering business or science. Their response was so great that some of his classes, especially Shakespeare, had to be held in the chapel-testimony to the truth of his conviction and his inspired teaching. Elmer W. Smith, ’91, who had come from Colgate Academy to the English department in 1908, specialized in

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p. 265 – The Bryan Period 1908-1922

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er, were those of a university chaplain and “Director of Religious Life.” Every faculty member, as had always been the custom, was expected to maintain contact with students outside the classroom. Because he was often away from the campus lecturing and cultivating friends for the University, Dr. Bryan had the Trustees appoint Professor Melbourne S. Read Vice President to act in his absence. Frank L. Shepardson, Principal of Colgate Academy until it was discontinued in 1912, was made Treasurer of the University to succeed the late William W. West. In an attempt to get the College qualified forinclusion in the Carnegie Foundation pension plan by demonstrating that it had no denominational ties, the composition of the University Board of Trustees had been altered in 1908 by eliminating the provision of the Compact of 1893 which required the Baptist Education Society to select five members. The fact that the Trustees were none-the-less required to maintain a Baptist theological seminary re-

Dean William H. Crashaw, '87, A1016-7, Folder 283, p265

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Off-campus study group begins (p.254)

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Two innovations appeared in the Seminary’s program: an off campus study group and an Italian Department. The first, begun in 1905, permitted advanced students to spend a term in New York City under the instruction of Edward Judson, minister of the Judson Memorial Baptist Church in Washington Square, who had taught Pastoral Theology on a part-time basis, 1897-1900. They were thus enabled to gain first-hand experience with urban problems, city missions, charity organizations and settlement work. The second, the Italian Department, established in 1906, for training Italian young men to become ministers of Baptist churches of their countrymen in the United States, was similar to those for Germans at Rochester and Scandinavians at the Chicago Theological Seminaries. Antonio Mangano, a former student at Colgate and a graduate of Brown and Union Theological Seminary, became the professor in charge. With the assistance of three special faculty members, he formally opened the department in 1907 in Brooklyn where it was to continue for twenty years.

Colgate Academy under Principal Frank L. Shepardson held to its philosophy of developing Christian character and high scholarship as essential qualities for useful citizens. Enrollment ranged from a low of 131 in 1906 to a high of 153 in 1905. To improve standards a “pre-academic” course was added to the regular four-year course in 1905 to accommodate the young men who had’ not completed all necessary preliminary subjects on entering, a change bringing to the Academy full accreditation of) the New York State Board of Regents. The extra year also made possible additional offerings in the Scientific Course.

The marked decline in the number of students who planned to enter the ministry which had appeared in the College in the 1890’s was more pronounced in the early 1900’s. A trend, begun in 1897, when the proportion of the graduating class going into teaching exceeded those for the ministry, was maintained without interruption. In the Class of 1908, six were headed toward the pulpit and 13 toward the classroom. Business was generally the second choice but the popularity of this vocation was not to become dominant until a later period. The campus was assuming a distinctly secular coloration.

To give fitting recognition to the opening of the academic year, President Merrill instituted a formal convocation in September 1901, a custom which each of his successors observed in due course. He made it an opportunity for delivering a homily on some aspect of university

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Posted in Chapter 12, p. 254, The Merrill Presidency, 1899-1908, timeline

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p. 230 – Colgate in the 1890’s

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Following Professor Thurber’s resignation in 1895, Professor Sisson was made Acting Principal for one year and Professor Frank L. Shepardson succeeded to the vacancy in 1896. A graduate of Brown, he came to Colgate with a fine record as a teacher and as principal of Worcester Academy in Massachusetts. He was to discharge his duties in the Academy with distinction and on its closing in 1912 became Treasurer of the University and Professor of Greek.

Theological instruction in the 1890’s was strengthened and made flexible by the introduction of electives in 1892 and by lengthening all courses of study from two to three years. In 1894, as a new departure, a Bachelor of Divinity degree was authorized for students graduated with an A.B. who had taken the full three-year course, including courses in Hebrew and the Semitic languages and written a thesis.

Easily the most outstanding Seminary professor was William Newton Clarke who had been induced in 1890 to leave the pastorate of the village Baptist church to fill the vacant chair in theology of the late Dr. Dodge. No appointment could have been more momentous. He had graduated from Madison in 1861, served the University for many years as Trustee and Secretary of the Board, been minister to churches in New England and Montreal, and taught in the Toronto Baptist College. For some time he had struggled with theological problems in a period when new interpretations and analyses gave rise to much controversy. His first classroom lectures were the distillation of his advanced thinking and evoked keen interest and active discussion. Though he provoked harsh criticism for what many considered his unorthodox ideas, he maintained that he “endeavored reverently and honestly to deal with the Christian truth.” His students were not required to agree with their teacher but rather “encouraged to think for themselves and form their own conclusions.” These lectures saw publication in 1894 as Outline of Christian Theology, which has gone through 21 editions and represents a milestone in the development of progressive theology in the United States.

Among Dr. Clarke’s colleagues was David F. Estes, a graduate of the University of Vermont, who had studied at the Newton Theological Institution and at Gottingen, had taught in the Atlanta Baptist College, and been pastor in four New England churches. He took over Dr. Harvey’s courses in New Testament in 1891 and in 1892 followed Professor Thomas as University Librarian. Arthur Jones was added in

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Posted in Chapter 11, Colgate in the 1890's, p. 230

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