USA > Maine > Kennebec County > Waterville > The history of Colby College > Part 55
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Significant as were these innovations in engineering and teacher training, of even greater influence on the Colby curriculum was the introduction of a unit of the Air Force Reserve Officers Training School in 1951. Soon after the Air Force was made a separate arm of the service, it sought to institute a program for training prospective officers in the colleges, similar to the college training pro- grams of the Army and the Navy. The result was the AFROTC, with units orig- inally activated in 65 American colleges, one of which was Colby.
The members of the faculty were by no means unanimous in welcoming a military unit to the campus in peacetime. The Korean War had not started when Colby was asked to decide whether it would accept the Air Force unit, and 19 members of the faculty registered their opposition to "military intrusion into the curriculum." On the other hand, 18 expressed themselves as strongly in favor of the unit, seven were mildly favorable, four were indifferent, and ten did not vote.
The voice of the student body was overwhelmingly for acceptance of the unit. Ninety percent of the male students voted for the plan on an emergency basis, and seventy percent wanted to place it on a permanent basis. A majority of the girls also favored the plan.
As soon as President Bixler and the Executive Committee of the Trustees decided that Colby should make formal application for an Air Force unit, the question arose whether enrollment of Colby men in it should be required or volun- tary. On urgent advice of visiting inspectors, especially from two men who were themselves graduates of colleges of liberal arts, it was decided to make enrollment compulsory for all freshmen and sophomores who could meet the physical re- quirements. Soon learning that the AFROTC in many other New England col- leges was on a voluntary basis, the Colby authorities regretted their decision and determined to make the local unit also voluntary as early as possible. Eight years elapsed before that could be done, but at last in the fall of 1959 the entering class of men was given the option to take or omit the courses in Air Science.
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On October 4, 1951, the faculty voted by a large majority to grant full credit for all Air Science courses.
The program consisted of two years of basic instruction, followed by two years of advanced work. On completion of the advanced course, graduates were commissioned officers of the Air Force. As time went on, improvements were made in the courses, always with a view to increasing their academic content or bringing them more in line with the usual liberal arts subjects. In making these changes the College found the Air Force fully cooperative. A distinct contribu- tion was made by Colby to the national program of AFROTC when President Bixler proposed a plan by which nearly all the military instruction of the basic course was placed in the first year, and, except for the weekly drill, the entire second year was devoted to a course in Logic and Moral Philosophy. The high command of the Air Force agreed that their future officers could well profit by systematic instruction in the forms and principles of valid reasoning, as well as in the application of ethical principles to questions of political obligation and social value.
Intellectual life of the campus received stimulus from many lecturers and consultants whom President Bixler brought to the College. Early in his adminis- tration Dr. and Mrs. George G. Averill established the Averill Lecture Series; Mr. Guy Gabrielson of the Board of Trustees set up the Gabrielson Lectures on Government and Politics; and Robert Ingraham, 1951, inaugurated the Ingraham Lectures on Philosophy and Religion. Most of the lecturers spent several days on the campus, holding conferences with students and informally speaking at classes, as well as delivering formal addresses.
A climate favorable for learning was further enhanced by President Bixler's innovation of scheduling a prominent academic convocation at least once in every student generation of four years. The first such event was held in the spring of 1953 under the title, "The Liberal Arts in Illiberal Times." The distinguished participants were on the campus from April 14 through 17, carrying on panel discussions and meeting groups of students. The major addresses were "The Col- lege Graduate Looks at Life," by Guy Gabrielson, former Chairman of the Re- publican National Committee; "Religion in Our Secular Society," by Theodore Greene, Professor of Philosophy at Yale; "The College as Trustee of the Free Market in Ideas," by Everett N. Case, President of Colgate University; "And Gladly Teach," by Marjorie Nicholson, Professor of English at Columbia Uni- versity; "Science in the Liberal Arts," by Detlev Bronk, President of Johns Hop- kins University; and "The Whole Man Requires a Whole Education," by Norman Cousins, editor of the Saturday Review.
So enthusiastic was the student response to the first convocation and so richly was the intellectual atmosphere stimulated that both students and faculty were eager to repeat the experience in 1956. The topic was then "The Rediscovery of the Individual," to which President Bixler applied Emerson's slogan, "Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind." The five day session began on Sunday evening, April 8, with a nation-wide radio broadcast on "America's Town Meeting of the Air." The moderator was Shepard L. Whitman, Director of Resi- dential Seminars on World Affairs. Under his direction President Bixler, Dean Ernest Marriner and Chaplain Clifford Osborne discussed the question, Have mass pressures invaded the campus? Convocation addresses during the following days were given by distinguished American scholars.
In 1959 the third convocation considered "The Liberating Role of the Hu- manities and the Social Sciences." This convocation was timed to coincide with
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HISTORY OF COLBY COLLEGE
the opening of the Lovejoy Building, dedicated to the humanities and the social sciences.
Although Colby had become widely known as "the little college that is go- ing to move," not until well into the Bixler administration did it get truly national publicity. Then an article in the Saturday Evening Post told its many readers about the little college in Central Maine. In the summer of 1950 the producers of the motion picture series, The March of Time, chose Colby for the filming of Vannevar Bush's forceful book, Modern Arms and Free Men. For four weeks, cameras and microphones prodded into campus corners, stores and barber shops, to recruit students, faculty and townspeople for roles in the picture. More than 30,000 feet of film were recorded, of which 6,000 were used. The story began with a group of students discussing atomic bombs and pondering the advisability of continuing in college. They met with President Bixler, who agreed to invite Dr. Bush to Mayflower Hill to conduct a seminar on the critical subject. After showing meetings at the College, interspersed with shots of interviews in the town, the film ended with an optimistic statement by Dr. Bush.
President Bixler strengthened the faculty by several significant appointments, notably of distinguished scholars to head the departments of biology, chemistry, physics, psychology, and history. He led a successful campaign for increases in faculty salaries, and he showed active interest in the teachers' human as well as scholarly welfare. When the Tuition Exchange Plan for the college education of faculty children was organized, Colby had been a charter member. Within
five or six years the plan proved unworkable, because the children wanted to at- tend so few colleges that those few could take only a small percentage of the faculty children applicants, while other colleges to which they did not care to apply, had plenty of room. Colby was one of the first colleges that was obliged to refuse many desirable applicants eligible under the plan, because the faculty children of other colleges who wanted to enroll at Colby exceeded by more than ten to one the number of Colby children who wanted to go elsewhere, and the plan demanded a one to one exchange. The result was that in 1959 Colby withdrew from the Tui- tion Exchange Plan, and on recommendation of President Bixler the Colby Trustees agreed to pay the tuition of the child of any Colby faculty member in any college where the child was accepted, up to an amount not exceeding the tuition fee at Colby. For many years preceding that generous decision, Colby faculty children had been entitled to attend Colby with complete remission of the tuition fee, and that privilege was of course extended. Beginning in 1959, any faculty child could attend either Colby or any other accredited college on a stipend that would meet full tuition up to the cost of Colby tuition itself.
What proved to be one of the most important of the Bixler innovations was Parents Day, first held in 1948. On a Saturday early in the fall, when a home football game was scheduled, the parents of all currently enrolled students were invited to the campus to assemble at a luncheon, attend the game, and receive other courtesies as guests of the College. At the first meeting in 1948, nearly 500 parents attended. Each succeeding year the number rose rapidly until in 1959 it exceeded 1200. The result was the formation of a very active Associa- tion of Colby Parents, which not only gave material assistance to the Fulfillment Campaign, but has in other ways been a constant source of support in the progress of the College.
A threatened catastrophe won Colby a lot of attention in 1956 and 1957, when the State Highway Commission announced that the new Interstate Highway would be built through the front of the campus only a few hundred feet east of
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the women's quadrangle and even nearer to the President's home. Protests came not only from Colby alumni, but also from hundreds of non-Colby citizens. The presidents of the other three long established colleges of Maine raised influen- tial objections to the Highway Commission's plan. So effective were the pro- tests that the Commission agreed to reroute the highway behind, instead of in front of, the college buildings. Although the new road is not far from the men's dormitories, and although it has taken a small section of college land near the Field House, it does not bisect the campus and it does not interfere with campus expansion in the direction of the city.
A barometer of Colby expansion is the record of its finances during the eighteen years of the Bixler administration. The Mayflower Hill development up to the completion of the first part of the Fulfillment Campaign in 1959 has been told in a previous chapter. But the financial achievements of the 1940's and 1950's went far beyond the erection of the new buildings, though they were the visible sign of progress. In 1942, when Seelye Bixler became President, the endowment stood at slightly less than three million dollars. Ten years later it had reached almost four million, and in 1959 the auditors' report placed it at $7,600,659 cost, or $8,542,549 market value. In Bixler's first year total ex- penditures were $408,000; in 1958-59 they were $2,293,000. The total holdings of tangible property had risen from $1,357,000 in 1942 to $9,126,000 in 1959.
When Bixler entered the presidency the maximum salary of a full professor was $4000. With determined persistence he persuaded the Trustees to increase the salary scale several times, so that by 1959 the minimum paid a new instruc- tor was higher than the maximum paid a full professor seventeen years earlier. The first substantial increase came at the end of the war in 1945, when instruc- tors could get as much as $2500 and full professors $5000, but those figures were the possible maxima, not the average salaries actually paid. Within a year, through the strong support of Chairman Leonard, President Bixler had secured a vote of the Board to increase those maxima to $2900 and $5500 respectively.
In 1947 the Trustees abandoned the policy of uniform and regular salary increments to all faculty members, and substituted a policy of salary adjustments based on merit. At the same time they adopted the following salary scale:
Instructor
$2400 to $ 3400 3100 to 4100
Assistant Professor
Associate Professor
3800 to 4800
Professor
4500 to no stated maximum
When that scale was next raised the professor's maximum was set at $7000, then later at $8000, and in 1951 at $10,000. The scale announced in 1951 at- tracted much favorable attention in the press:
Instructor
$2800 to $ 3600 3100 to 4300
Assistant Professor
3800 to 5200
Associate Professor
Professor
5000 to 10,000
After 1951 the scale saw repeated increases until in 1959 the minimum for an in- structor was $4500, while the maximum for a full professor was $12,000. In 1958-59 the College expended $586,462 in salaries to the teaching staff and $60,000 in administrative compensation.
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HISTORY OF COLBY COLLEGE
Stimulus was given to salary increases in 1956 when the Ford Foundation granted 26 million dollars to 615 independent colleges of liberal arts, for the pur- pose of raising faculty salaries. Colby was one of 126 of those colleges to re- ceive an extra amount in the form of an "accomplishment bonus" in recognition of what the corporation had already done for its faculty from its own resources. Colby's share in the Ford grant amounted to $432,900.
Progress made by Colby College in the hundred years since the middle of the nineteenth century is almost incredible. In 1858-59 the total operating in- come had been only $4738. Since expenses ran to $6410, the deficit had to be met by applying a portion of capital returns to current needs. The total in- vestments were then $22,772. There was then no such thing as a systematic budget. The Board simply accepted the Treasurer's prediction that in 1859-60 the receipts would be about $5013, of which $3200 would come from term bills and $1700 from interest on investments and land notes. Against the expected in- come the Treasurer made the gloomy prediction that expenses would amount to $5800. He listed only two items: salaries $4800; all other expenses $1000. A hundred years ago the College thus faced a deficit of about 16% of its expected income. What a difference in 1959! The endowment then exceeded eight mil- lion dollars. Annual expenditures had for some time surpassed two million, with no deficits. The College received from tuition more than a million dollars, and the $1810 of annual investment income a hundred years earlier had risen to $345,427.
The figures for plant investment show similar contrast. In 1859 the college lot on the bank of the Kennebec, together with its three buildings, was valued at $68,000. Other land in Waterville was placed at $4000 and land in Winthrop at $4500, a total of $76,500. In 1959 the college property was valued at $9,126,000.
When the sixth decade of the twentieth century was drawing to a close, it was costing $268,000 a year for maintenance of buildings and grounds, exclusive of workmen's wages, which added $181,000. Fuel cost $37,000 a year, and electric power $31,000. Telephone service cost $5400. To operate the dining services at three centers took more than $400,000. The cost of fuel alone in 1958-59 would have paid all the expenses of the College, including faculty salaries, for five years in the 1850's.
Administrative reorganization began early in the Bixler administration. In 1945 an office of admissions was established and that responsibility was re- moved from the offices of Dean of Men and Dean of Women. When it was decided to set up the new office of Dean of the Faculty in 1947, the separate admissions office was abolished and responsibility for the enrollment of new students was returned to the offices of the Dean of Men and the Dean of Women. The transition was made easier because George Nickerson, who had been serving as Director of Admissions, succeeded Ernest Marriner as Dean of Men, while Marriner became Dean of the Faculty. Within a few years the work of men's admission had so overburdened Dean Nickerson's office that William Bryan of the Class of 1948 became Nickerson's assistant. When the authorities were at last convinced that the College must have a single admissions office, as had been intended in 1945, Bryan was the logical choice for the position. By 1959 he too had an assistant and an office force of several persons. Meanwhile, as a member of the College Entrance Examination Board, Colby had come to demand both the scholastic aptitude test and achievement tests of every applicant.
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FITTING COLBY TO ITS NEW CLOTHES
Another administrative advance came in 1950 when Galen Eustis was ap- pointed to the new office of Vice-President, charged especially with management of business and financial affairs. His valuable contribution to the successful operation of the College continued until his untimely death in 1959, and the new building to house all administrative offices was appropriately named the Arthur Galen Eustis Administration Building.
Eustis' successor in the office of Vice-President was a young man whom Eus- tis himself had brought to the Colby staff shortly after the war. A graduate of Colby in 1935, after war service as a naval officer, a master's degree in Business Administration and important business experience, Ralph S. ("Ronnie") Wil- liams had returned to his alma mater as Instructor in Business Administration. He rose through the several ranks to a full professorship and chairmanship of the department. When the burdens of the President's office pointed clearly to the need for an administrative assistant, Williams became the first incumbent of that responsible position. All through the years he had been close to Galen Eustis, the man whose financial acumen, vigilant oversight and devotion to the College had been so largely responsible for the success of the Mayflower Hill venture. When Colby suffered the sudden loss of Eustis by his death in 1959, it was more than good fortune-it was the careful planning of Eustis himself-that made ready as his successor the competent, loyal "Ronnie" Williams.
When Seelye Bixler came to Colby, he announced his firm belief in demo- cratic administration. As a result, faculty members were elected to various admin- istrative committees; student representation participated in such areas as disci- pline and convocations; and the Trustees provided for the seating of two mem- bers of the faculty as observing, non-voting members of the Board.
In 1956 the Trustees decided that the time had come for an objective study of the entire organization of the College, to be conducted by a competent outside body. They employed Booz, Allen and Hamilton, Management Consultants of New York City, to make a Survey of General Administration and Planning at Colby and present suitable recommendations. Their comprehensive report, run- ning to 80 typewritten pages, was made in September, 1957, and it resulted in substantial changes. The survey found that administrative responsibility had not been clearly defined, that the first incumbents of new offices had been obliged largely to feel their way into areas of duty not clarified, and that Colby adminis- tration, like Topsy, "just grew."
The survey's most important recommendation concerned the President of the College. Any organization, the surveyors argued, must have one and only one executive head. He may, of course, delegate certain responsibilities, but every other major officer of the College should be responsible to him, and none of them have responsibility directly to the Trustees. There were numerous other recommendations, many of which were implemented in a reorganization authorized by new by-laws adopted by the Trustees in 1958.
The first step in a rather sweeping reorganization concerned membership on the growing Board itself. Since the founding of the College the Trustees had been a self-perpetuating body, accustomed to re-elect members for term after term. Alumni membership had indeed offered opportunity for changes, but in many instances alumni members whose terms expired were elected to regular membership. Pursuant to a recommendation of the survey, the new by-laws provided that "any person who has been a Trustee for twelve or more consecu- tive years, whether by election by the corporation or the alumni, shall be ineligible to be reelected until one year after he has ceased to be a Trustee." The new
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HISTORY OF COLBY COLLEGE
provision was not made in any criticism of persons then serving on the Board. Seldom in its history had Colby enjoyed the devoted service of such a con- scientious group of men and women as were its Trustees in 1958. The criticism concerned policy, not persons. It was agreed that a policy of rotation was to be preferred.
The new by-laws provided that the second ranking officer should be the Dean of the Faculty, who in case of absence or disability of the President was empowered to perform the duties of the presidential office. Assisting the Presi- dent in all academic matters, the Dean of the Faculty was authorized "to direct academic departments in carrying out approved program; to recommend faculty appointments, promotions, salaries and leaves to the President; to direct the pro- gram of counseling and guidance; to review and approve class and examination schedules prepared by the Registrar; and report to the President on the progress of the academic program." While he was responsible directly to the President, other officers responsible to the Dean of the Faculty were Librarian, Registrar, Chaplain, Director of Admissions, Director of Placement, Director of Adult Edu- cation and Extension, and all divisions and departments of the faculty.
The officer next in importance, under the new provisions, was the Adminis- trative Vice-President, who became responsible for "the supervision of the main- tenance of buildings, grounds and facilities; operation of the dining halls, book- store, supply and administrative services, finance, payroll, purchasing and ac- counting; and developing and carrying out plans for new construction." He had responsibility to the Committee on Investment for recommendations regarding college funds. Like the Dean of the Faculty, the Administrative Vice-President was responsible to the President, while the other officers responsible to that Vice- President were Treasurer, Director of Food Service, and Superintendent of Build- ings and Grounds.
The office of Vice-President for Development was retained. He was, "sub- ject to the direction of the President, responsible for supervision of the public relations and fund-raising programs of the College." To him was responsible the Director of Public Relations, and it was his duty to supervise the coordination of the Alumni Fund with the general fund-raising program.
A noteworthy change in the new statement concerning the Deans of Men and of Women was the complete omission of the time-honored terms "Men's Division" and "Women's Division." They were simply empowered to "have supervision of the student life of the men and women respectively." The Direc- tor of the Roberts Union became responsible to the Dean of Men, and the Direc- tor of the Runnals Union to the Dean of Women.
In the spring of 1959 the Maine Legislature passed an act amending and restating the charter of the College, in conformity with the proposed changes (See Appendix R.)
In June 1960 the notable administration of Julius Seelye Bixler came to an end. What he had done for the little college up in the northeast corner of the nation was given international publicity in the magazine Time on November 23, 1959.
Colby has attracted money because Bixler has given the campus intel- lectual tone. Along with boosting the curriculum, notably in philosophy and religion, he launched art and music departments. He fostered a course in creative thinking. He stirred the school to provide a 'book of the year'. He got Colby to give TV courses for credit to rural
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FITTING COLBY TO ITS NEW CLOTHES
viewers, made the school a summer center for adult education. [Arous- ing of] 'intellectual curiosity' would not have been possible if Colby had not risen to the quality in J. Seelye Bixler.
Colby would indeed miss the scholarly leadership and the warm personality of Dr. Bixler. It would miss too the genuine hominess and utter lack of ostenta- tion shown by his wife Mary. Seelye and Mary Bixler were persons whom every- one in Waterville regarded not with aloofness and awe, but with the respect of genuine friendship.
In 1957, when Ernest Marriner retired as Dean of the Faculty, there had been brought to Colby as his successor Dr. Robert E. L. Strider, II, Professor of English at Connecticut College and prominent Elizabethan scholar. In October, 1959, the Trustees elected Dr. Strider to succeed Dr. Bixler in the presidency. With his charming, cultured wife and his four growing children, Robert Strider had won the respect and affection of faculty, students and community. When he took office as Colby's seventeenth president8 everyone knew that another era of significant achievement lay ahead.
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