Tag Archives: Young Men’s Christian Association

‘Colgate Thirteen’ is organized (p. 306)

Posted on June 21, 2012 by | Comments Off on ‘Colgate Thirteen’ is organized (p. 306)

of the English Department and coach. Despite the limited facilities of the Little Theater in the Administration Building and later in Lawrence Hall, Masque and Triangle, the dramatic society, staged some notable productions under his direction. The actual performances were usually given in the village “opera house” or movie theater.

Under the leadership of Professor Hoerrner and, after his retirement in 1934, Professor Thomas Roberts, the Glee Club received wide support and held to its customary high standards. Its quartet made the first commercial recording of Colgate songs in 1926 and in 1929 for the first time the Club gave a joint concert with a girls’ chorus, the Skidmore Glee Club. A smaller and more informal singing group, the Colgate Thirteen, was organized in July, 1942, “to spread Colgate spirit through song.” Beta Theta Pi inaugurated its annual intrafraternity song contest in the spring of 1930. The first of a series of student musical comedies was produced in 1935.

The highlight of the debating program was probably the team’s successful trip to English universities in 1924. Cambridge and Oxford teams visited the campus on their American trips. Able students and effective coaches-Carl A. Kallgren, ’17, Ralph E. Kharas, Lawrence A. Appley, and Jasper (Jack) V. Garland-combined to make excellent records.

The YMCA, renamed successively Colgate University Christian Union and Colgate Christian Association, played an active part in student religious life, especially under the sponsorship of Dr. Alton and Secretaries Shotts and Gregory. After the latter’s resignation in 1933 students with some faculty assistance took greater responsibilities. The Association arranged in 1936 for the first of the all-campus Mother’s Day weekend programs which Beta Theta Pi had inaugurated in 1933.

The two honorary senior societies, Skull and Scroll and Gorgon’s Head, in 1925 vainly attempted to merge as the Mercurius Society in an effort to eliminate campus politics in selecting members. Seven years later, however, they succeeded in consolidating as Konosioni which emphasized service to Colgate as well as recognition for athletic and other attainments. Acknowledgment of freshman and sophomore campus leaders came with the formation of the Maroon Key Club, a junior honorary society, in 1931.

Fraternity life was in its heyday in the 1920’s and ’30’s. Two were added to those already on campus-Theta Pi Delta, a local group

Comments Off on ‘Colgate Thirteen’ is organized (p. 306)

Posted in Chapter 14, p. 306, The Cutten Period 1922-1942, timeline

Tagged , , , , , , , , ,

p. 274 – The Bryan Period, 1908-1922

Posted on June 14, 2012 by | Comments Off on p. 274 – The Bryan Period, 1908-1922

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

Comments Off on p. 274 – The Bryan Period, 1908-1922

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

Tagged , , , , ,

p. 257 – The Merrill Presidency, 1899-1908

Posted on June 14, 2012 by | Comments Off on p. 257 – The Merrill Presidency, 1899-1908

Academy student, demonstrated his ability at illustration and caricature which were later to win him wide acclaim.

Colgate achieved notice and commendation as a “singing college” in the 1900’s. Among a freshman’s first obligations was to learn the growing number of Colgate songs. Village merchants, the Madisonensis, and the student bookstore distributed song sheets, especially during the football season when classrooms often rang with singing before the business of the day started. Several students tried their hand at producing new songs. None was as successful as Lindol E. French, ’02, who had in mind the music of the popular ballad “Juanita” as he wrote the words “When through thy valley…” in 1904. He knew nothing of their enthusiastic acceptance until he discovered at a football game some time later the students were singing them as the “Alma Mater”and as such they have remained.Conversation, Lindol E. French, ’04, and H.D.W., June 12, 1937.

The YMCA program attracted considerable support. It included: publishing the Student’s Handbook, i.e. Frosh Bible; the annual reception for freshmen in September; prayer meetings; and Bible study classes. Attendance at chapel was required but Sunday church services in the village had long since become voluntary. In the spring of 1908 student religious interest was quickened by a series of meetings held in the Baptist Church by a traveling evangelist.

Public speaking contests inspired a great deal of enthusiasm. Inter-class debates were encouraged, particularly as training grounds for intercollegiate rivalry. The first intercollegiate debate seems to have been with Cornell in 1904. Colgate, represented by members of its first debating club, won the decision. The Lewis, Rowland and Grout oratorical prizes were eagerly sought after. The chief public speaking contests received as detailed and enthusiastic reporting in the Madisonensis as the major games on the gridiron, diamond, or court.

For about a decade after the middle 90’s student efforts at play production seem to have been nonexistent. Whether their interests were diverted in other directions or whether James B. Colgate’s hostility to the stage thwarted them is not known. In 1905, about a year after his death, they produced a comedy and a few months later organized a dramatic club which gave new life to this activity.

Several of the theologues organized the Jonathan Wade Union about

Comments Off on p. 257 – The Merrill Presidency, 1899-1908

Posted in Chapter 12, p. 257, The Merrill Presidency, 1899-1908

Tagged , ,

Salmagundi yearbook commences publication (p. 211)

Posted on June 14, 2012 by | Comments Off on Salmagundi yearbook commences publication (p. 211)

The Madisonensis continued as the student newspaper and literary magazine. Regularly featured were editorials, essays, campus and village jottings (or gossip), college exchanges and alumni notes. There were also occasional poems, book reviews and reminiscences. President Dodge held to a no-censorship policy for the paper even though some items might seem to call for deletion or correction. He regarded the printed comments as “a vent to what was more likely to be harmful if repressed.

The first number of the yearbook, Salmagundi, appeared in 1883. Published by the Junior Class, its editor was James C. Colgate. The title, meaning a miscellany or medley, may well have been suggested by the Washington Irving, James K. Paulding periodical bearing the same name. Its contents, which covered the wide gamut of college activities included lists of faculty, fraternities and other organizations and their membership. Its antecedents were The Madisonensian, which first appeared in 1858, and other publications issued at commencement to inform alumni and friends of the extracurricular achievements of the past year.

Student government, as such, seems to have become dormant after 1872, perhaps because the growing interest in class organizations and other specific groups brought students together. The Dormitory Association, established in 1886, was helpful in maintaining cleanliness and quiet in the college buildings. The Society of Inquiry, which had been active in earlier periods, became moribund but was not to be dissolved until 1893. The Young Men’s Christian Association, founded in 1881 as a branch of the national organization, moved into its place. The Y’s emphasis was on the implications of Christianity in campus and community life rather than on foreign missions. In 1885 the Academy students set up their own YMCA which carried on an active program. There were also other short-lived clubs to foster special interests such as in history, German, and debating.

As was true in many colleges, the literary societies, the Adelphian and Aeonian, deteriorated, thanks doubtless to the flourishing fraternities which took over their objectives of promoting an interest in public speaking and writing as well as maintaining boarding clubs and providing opportunities for social life. The Greek letter societies were definitely in the ascendant. Faculty hostility had changed to acceptance and Dr. Dodge, a loyal Alpha Delta Phi since his college years at

Comments Off on Salmagundi yearbook commences publication (p. 211)

Posted in Chapter 10, p. 211, Student Life, 1869-1890, timeline

Tagged , , , ,