The history of Colby College, Part 71

Author: Colby College
Publication date: 1963
Publisher: Waterville, Colby College Press
Number of Pages: 716

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In the 85 classes that had received diplomas from 1822 to 1906 there had been 1292 men, of whom 707 had graduated since 1875. The decline in men's enrollment is shown by the startling fact that in no year since 1898 had the number of male graduates been as large as in seven of the years between 1880 and 1895. In fact the graduating men in 1839, 1847, 1855, and 1857 numbered more than in 1904. The tabulation of men graduates by decades tells an in- teresting story: 1830-1839, 114; 1840-1849, 118; 1850-1859, 123; 1860-1869, 112; 1870-1879, 120; 1880-1889, 239; 1890-1899, 257; 1900-1909, 217.

By 1907 the alumni who became career teachers outnumbered the minis- ters, 289 to 277, and the number of lawyers, 227, was not far behind the clergy- men. A goodly number of graduates had achieved national prominence. Four had been governors of states, eight members of Congress, eight presidents of colleges, fourteen judges in state courts. Seven had become manufacturers of nationally distributed products, and no fewer than forty had edited newspapers. While twelve alumni had gone into insurance and one was a broker, not a single graduate was then listed in advertising. Before the end of Colby's first century her alumni were widely distributed. In 1907 they were living in forty-one states, the District of Columbia, and five foreign countries.

As indicated in a previous chapter, the first woman had received her Colby degree in 1875. In the 32 classes between that date and 1906, the women grad- uates totaled 219. In the first twenty of those years their number was only 59, and in the first ten years there had been only 14. Never except in a single year, 1902, had the graduating women numbered as many as 16. Nevertheless, since 1900 the number of girls in each class was too close to the number of men to please the apprehensive alumni. The Class of 1902 had 22 men and 16 women; 1903 had 25 men and 13 women; 1904 had 16 men and 10 women; and 1905 had 24 men and 14 women.

Before Arthur Roberts became President in 1908, the Alumni Association had already done much besides winning representation on the Board of Trustees. They had financed the first General Catalogue in 1878, had erected a wooden grandstand on the athletic field, had played a prominent part in securing for Colby a chapter of Phi Beta Kappa, and had taken a leading part in both the fiftieth and the seventy-fifth anniversaries.

Fraternity politics, well-known in student affairs, entered alumni circles in 1890. The Association records tell us: "It was found that those who had re- ceived the largest votes for office in the association were indebted to an elec- tioneering document sent out by students, asking members of their society to vote

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THE ALUMNI

for those persons. An exciting discussion ensued, and this undergraduate attempt to interfere with the business of the alumni was severely denounced."

Until 1913 only graduates of the College were accepted as members of the Association; yet it had long been apparent that some of Colby's most loyal sons had left college without the degree. The constitution was therefore amended to admit non-graduates as associate members, but denying them the right to vote for alumni trustees. It was not until 1927 that non-graduates were granted full rights.

Secretaries of the Alumni Association had long tenure, only six of them serving a total of 65 years. For more than a third of that time the office had been held by Edward W. Hall, 1862, who served for 26 years. Frank W. Alden, 1898, held the office for ten years; Charles E. Hamlin, 1847, and Ernest C. Mar- riner, 1913, each for nine years; Edwin C. Whittemore, 1879, for six years; and John B. Foster, 1843, for five years.

Among the Association's presidents have been such well-known Colby men as Josiah Drummond, General Harris M. Plaisted, Leslie C. Cornish, Reuben W. Dunn, Dudley P. Bailey, Warren C. Philbrook, Forrest Goodwin, Richard C. Shannon, Norman C. Bassett, Asher C. Hinds, Charles Hovey Pepper, Harvey D. Eaton, Henry W. Dunn, Archer Jordan, Charles P. Barnes, T. Raymond Pierce, J. F. Hill, Herbert E. Wadsworth, Fred F. Lawrence, Charles F. T. Seav- erns, Neil Leonard, and Leonard Mayo.

Long before the Centennial each graduating class had sent more alumni into teaching than into the ministry. It was not until 1928, however, that the in- fluence of the Department of Business Administration came strongly to be felt. Then, for the first time, the number going immediately into business exceeded those who entered teaching.

By 1925 there had arisen a demand for a full-time alumni secretary. Pro- fessor Libby sounded the clarion cry in the Alumnus.

Let the College pay half the expenses and the Alumni Association half, and an Alumni Secretary becomes an established thing. Here we have nearly 4000 graduates and non-graduates scattered over the world. Every one of them should be tied to the College by the strongest bonds. An Alumni Secretary of the right type, travelling hither and yon, taking in all alumni and alumnae gatherings, carrying the message of the new and greater Colby to each and all, what could he not accomplish? All this work is quite beyond the President of the College. He ought not to be called upon to enter such an endurance test. It is for a young man to do, a young man of enthusiasm, striking personality, and vision. The Alumni Association could accomplish no greater good than to urge the Trustees to create such an office.3

Nothing came of this plea for five years, but at last in 1930 President John- son announced that Joseph Coburn Smith, 1924, had been engaged in the dual capacity of Alumni Secretary and Publicity Agent. In addition to keeping records of the alumni, Smith would assist in organizing the development campaign for Mayflower Hill. It should be remembered that the stultifying effects of a national depression were beginning to be felt. Had it not been for that faithful friend of the College, Mrs. Eleanora Woodman, even a part-time secretary could not have been provided. President Johnson told the Trustees in April, 1930: "Through the generosity of Mrs. Woodman, Joseph Smith has been acting as alumni secre- tary since February. He has also taken charge of the college publicity with

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noticeable success. I do not see how we ever got on without such an officer, and I hope ways may be found to continue his services."

A year later it had become apparent that, despite the depression, Joe Smith's full time should be devoted to publicity and promotion. The time had come for an officer to have no other duties than that of Alumni Secretary. What hap- pened was acclaimed in the Alumnus in the summer of 1931.

Year after year the Alumnus has strongly urged the appointment of an Alumni Secretary. It has never felt that the Alumni Association as such was doing very wonderful work. Simply to meet once a year, listen to speeches, and pass a few votes, then disband for another year except for meeting in small groups over the country, is not a program over which one can get wildly excited. The decision to appoint an Alumni Secretary has now been made. A most capable young man, in the person of G. Cecil Goddard, 1929, has been selected. It now remains for the officers of the association to map out a program to be accomplished. The Secretary should be expected to organize a good many Colby clubs in various towns and cities, and he should meet with those groups every year. He should, through the Alumnus and other channels, keep in touch with the great host of Colby men.

The year 1933 saw the birth of the Alumni Council. This group was made necessary, not only to act on alumni matters between meetings of the Associa- tion, but also to supervise the Alumni Fund, which had been Goddard's first out- standing contribution as secretary. Started late in the college year-March, 1933 --- the infant fund had brought in a modest $2,918, not so much as President Roberts had sometimes raised with his annual Christmas appeal. But it was a good start on a permanent feature of alumni activities. In fact President John- son was able to tell the Trustees in November, 1933: "The alumni office was last year underwritten by the Trustees in the amount of $3000. This has now been returned to the College treasury through the Alumni Fund, and the office will henceforth be self-sustaining."

The Alumni Council was established by amending the Association's con- stitution to provide for a council of twelve members elected from the alumni at large, and as ex-officio members the President of the Association and its Secretary, the ranking alumni member of the Athletic Council, a representative of the faculty, and a member from each organized local association. The amended constitution also provided for a special committee to nominate alumni trustees, who would be elected by mailed ballot sent to all association members.

In its first year the Alumni Fund secured subscriptions from 539 alumni living in 29 states and six foreign countries. Contributions came from 61 classes, three of which were represented one hundred percent. For many years annual dues had been solicited from the alumni. With the inauguration of the Alumni Fund, dues were abandoned. Not all payers of dues easily transferred their habit to the Fund, for 336 of those who had paid dues in 1931-32 did not con- tribute to the Fund in the following year.

In its second year the Fund raised $3552 from alumni and $1425 from other sources, a total of $5027. There were 672 contributors, averaging $7.48 each. Added were 253 new givers, but 120 of the previous year's contributors did not repeat. The percentage of all alumni contributing had risen from twenty to twenty-three.

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THE ALUMNI

After five years of increasingly successful work by Goddard and the Alumni Council, President Johnson felt the time had come to place alumni activities in the annual college budget. He told the Trustees that the Council had contributed in many ways to the College, that most colleges made budget provision for the entire support of the alumni office, and that it was the experience of such colleges to see the annual amount turned into the college treasury far exceed the cost of the office. On recommendation of the Alumni Council, strongly supported by Johnson, the Trustees voted in November, 1938, to authorize the Treasurer to pay, for the fiscal year 1938-39, the expenses of the Alumni Office, with the understanding that the Alumni Fund should be turned over to the College with- out restriction. They also voted to appoint a committee to study the future relations between the College and the Alumni and Alumnae associations, for the purpose of recommending a permanent policy at the June meeting. To make that study the chairman of the Board appointed Dr. Frederick T. Hill, Miss Florence Dunn, Dr. George G. Averill, Frank B. Hubbard, and Neil Leonard.

Sixteen years after the first woman had graduated, a number of Colby women decided they should have an organization similar to that of the men. Under the leadership of Miss Louise Coburn, 1877, there was hence formed in 1891 the Colby Alumnae Association. The Trustees had permitted girls to enroll in the College but were reluctant to spend money for their needs. It was therefore the organized Colby Alumnae who, for more than a quarter of a century, saw to it that Colby girls received some respectable attention in financial considerations. The Association provided furnishings for more gracious living, put on a success- ful campaign for physical education in the Women's Division, and provided the first successful loan fund in the College. Even more notable achievements, including erection of the Alumnae Building, raising funds for the Women's Union, and securing recognition from the American Association of University Women, have been recorded in a previous chapter. In 1935 President Johnson remarked that Colby women had set the precedent of making small annual gifts to the Col- lege long before the men had started the Alumni Fund.

In 1916 the Alumnae Association had set up a committee to advise and assist the Dean of Women. It was that group which later became the Alumnae Council, a body comparable to the Alumni Council of the men. In 1930 they employed their first Alumnae Secretary, Miss Alice Purinton, 1899. In 1934 she was succeeded by Ervena (Mrs. Joseph C.) Goodale Smith, 1924, who directed the office through the crucial years of fund raising for Mayflower Hill, and who spearheaded the successful campaign for the Women's Union.

There thus existed a dual organization in 1938: an Alumni Association with an executive secretary, Cecil Goddard; and an Alumnae Association employing as its secretary Mrs. Ervena Smith. The trustee committee headed by Dr. F. T. Hill made its report at the annual meeting of the Board in June, 1939. In re- sponse to the committee's recommendations, the Trustees voted:

The College shall provide in its budget for a joint Alumni and Alumnae Office, with an Alumni Secretary and an associate secretary, who shall be from the alumnae; the College to assume the financial responsibility for the salaries of the above secretaries and for clerical help and other expenses necessary to maintain the office. The two secretaries shall be college officers, responsible to the President and the Trustees of the College, to be elected by the Trustees from nominations made by the respective councils. All funds received from the Alumni and Alumnae Councils shall accrue directly to the College, with the pro-

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vision that each council shall have the privilege of making suggestions as to the spending of any money raised by them over and above the amount necessary to carry on their proportionate share of the expense of the office. The Alumni and Alumnae Councils shall retain their separate identities and hold separate meetings, except when some com- mon problem arises. The Alumni Office shall be a joint office, avoiding unnecessary duplication, and it is charged with the keeping of alumni and alumnae records and statistics, the publication of the Alumni maga- zine, the conduct of alumni and alumnae funds, and all other graduate activities pertinent to the College.

G. Cecil Goddard became Executive Secretary of the combined office, and Mrs. Ervena Smith was named as his associate. Although working in a single office and cooperating fully, Goddard and Mrs. Smith actually represented two different associations until near the end of World War II. In May, 1944, a group of representatives from alumni and alumnae met in the Women's Union for the purpose of organizing a joint Colby Alumni Association and Council. The summer issue of the Alumnus told the story.

Neil Leonard reported as chairman of the Committee on proposed or- ganization. He said that in Portland, in October 1943, the Alumni Council had suggested to the Alumnae Council that a joint association be formed to replace the present separate associations. Committees of both councils had subsequently approved a plan of merger, calling for a single Alumni Council made up of both men and women. Both as- sociations had voted to accept the recommendations, had dissolved their own associations, and had agreed to form a single organization known as the Alumni Association of Colby College.

The meeting then voted to organize the new association, and as a nomi- nating committee there were chosen Raymond Spinney, 1921, Lester Weeks, 1915, Eleanor Marriner, 1910, and Alice Good, 1911. On their nomination Bernard Esters, 1921, was elected the first chairman of the merged council, with Mrs. Ruth Hamilton Whittemore, 1912, as vice-chairman. Cecil Goddard was made Executive Secretary. The council consisted of four men and three women elected at large, divided into three groups, for three year terms, besides two men and one woman in each group to be elected by the council itself. Certain other repre- sentatives in the old council were also retained.4

In 1944, despite rigors caused by the war, the Alumni Fund brought to the College nearly thirty thousand dollars. The graduates had learned the truth of President Roberts' remark: "It is by giving rather than by getting that love and loyalty grow." When the Council met in the fall of 1945, they learned that their united efforts had brought in more than $61,000 during the year -- $30,000 in unrestricted gifts to the Alumni Fund, $21,000 in restricted gifts, $2800 in subscriptions and advertising to the Alumnus, $4100 for the Roberts Union, $1400 for the Women's Union, and nearly $700 for the Alumni Loan Fund.

In 1946 the Council consisted of 53 members, of whom 18 had been elected at large and nine by the Council itself. Both the faculty and the Colby Athletic Council had a representative. Twenty-four represented local Colby associations or clubs scattered throughout the United States. That the merger had not yet made universal appeal is shown by the fact that on the Council the alumni and alumnae of Portland had separate representation. The same was true of Hart-

THE ALUMNI

ford, and in Boston there were three represented groups: the Boston Alumni, the Boston Alumnae, and the Boston Colby Club. Several years elapsed before Colby men and women in Portland, Hartford and Boston held joint meetings.

As has already been mentioned, the annual alumni luncheon was a time- honored Commencement event. Its companion meal, held in another building, was the alumnae luncheon, and it frequently became the duty of the President of the College and the Chairman of the Trustees to hedge-hop between the two meetings. Thus a man did occasionally address the assembled alumnae, but never until the 1944 merger did a woman appear at a sacred gathering of the alumni. Ever since the change to weekend commencements, Saturday had been designated as Alumni Day, and that practice was retained after the merger of the two associations. After the end of World War II the joint alumni luncheon became a significant event. With the chairman of the Alumni Council presiding, speeches from class representatives have been limited to the fifty and the twenty- five year classes, and the graduating class. The chairman of the Alumni Fund has announced the result of the year's contributions, the President of the College has given a thrilling address, and the Council has made its annual awards.

Those awards have been the unique way in which the Alumni Council has honored individual graduates of the College, both men and women. To those selected for meritorious service to the College have been presented Colby bricks, made from the same special material designed for the Mayflower Hill buildings. To graduates who have been elected to head state or national organizations have been given Colby gavels.

In 1946 the Council inaugurated an Alumni College, to be held for several days immediately following Commencement. The first year's attendance was 35; in 1947 it was 51; it was somewhat lower in 1948, and was then discontinued.

In 1949 Cecil Goddard resigned the secretaryship to become head of a prominent insurance agency in Waterville. Ellsworth "Bill" Millett, 1925, the man who has long been affectionately known as "Mr. Colby," became Alumni Secretary. The change was a hard decision for "Bill" to make. Long a member of the staff in Athletics and Physical Education, he was reluctant to leave the "gym," but he was a loyal alumnus who heeded the call of duty. Nor did his direction of the Alumni Office mean that he lost his interest in Colby sports. On the contrary, he became their vigorous spokesman at alumni gatherings.

For many years the Colby Alumnus, although stoutly representing the alumni, had not been under the control of the Association. Started by Charles P. Chip- man and continued by Herbert C. Libby, it had consistently presented to the graduates the achievements and the needs of the College. It had been the organ for every fund appeal from the Centennial campaign to the early solicitations for Mayflower Hill; it had persisted in the appeal for higher faculty salaries; and it had called attention to the achievements of Colby men and women all over the land.

It will be recalled that, when they set up the joint office in 1939, the Trus- tees had laid down as one function of that office "the publication of the alumni magazine." The Association had actually taken over control of the Alumnus in 1934, soon after Cecil Goddard became secretary. Its publication was placed in the hands of a committee of alumni, with one man designated as editor. After a period of such supervision, under Oliver Hall and Harland Ratcliffe, both ex- perienced newspaper men, responsibility for the publication was placed in the publicity office, and during the fifth decade of this century it was ably edited by Joseph C. Smith. When Smith left the College in 1949, to become an executive

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of the public relations firm of Marts and Lundy in New York, Spencer Winsor, 1940, edited the Alumnus for a year until it came into the able hands of the new Director of Public Relations, Richard Dyer. Though not a Colby man, Dyer soon identified himself with the College and made the Alumnus outstanding among graduate magazines in the nation.

Until 1950 the Alumnus had been sent only to individual subscribers. In that year the Alumni Council voted to send the magazine to all living graduates and non-graduates of Colby, and since that date it has been the true voice of Colby men and women all over the world.

It had been a long journey, with many headaches, that had finally brought cooperation between men and women graduates. In fact, a part of the story of Colby's gradual and sometimes thorny change from a men's college to coordination, and onward to complete coeducation is the story of the tardiness with which the graduates realized what was already happening in this respect on the campus.

In 1901 the male association voted: "We favor the policy of two separate colleges, one for men and one for women, to be established as soon as condi- tions will permit." In 1904 the Alumni Association sent the following memorial to the Trustees:

It has been reported that it is the purpose of your honorable body to erect a ladies' dormitory on the lot now occupied by the Dutton House on College Avenue. The Alumni Association, while it has no means of officially knowing the facts, desires to place itself on record as op- posed to such action. In view of the relations that exist between this association and your honorable body and in view of the fact that the future of both the men's and the women's colleges is involved, we re- spectfully ask that the proposed women's dormitory be not erected on College Avenue, but that its erection be deferred until it can be placed upon grounds adequate for a complete women's college and farther removed from the Colby campus.

It was 1908 when Arthur Roberts first attended an alumni meeting as head of the College. Quite aware of the predominant feeling that enrollment of women was turning the institution into a woman's college, he said: "Give me boys! I would rather have you send me boys than a check for a thousand dollars."

When the Alumnae started their campaign for a Health and Recreation building for the girls in the early 1920's, they met at first with resistance, then with only tolerance from the men. Alumni leaders felt the women were getting in the way of their major campaign for a new gymnasium and other facilities for the men.

Gradually, however, the patience and persistence of such women as Dean Ninetta Runnals, Florence Dunn, Adelle Gilpatrick and Ervena Smith, aided by a host of others, won the day. The work for which Louise Coburn so valiantly and so frustratingly labored was finally accomplished. Even the most recalcitrant of the men came to recognize not only the justice, but also the value of the women's claims. Colby not only had loyal, generous, devoted women graduates; it also needed them. At last the Alumni Association welcomed them, not as rivals and competitors, but as partners in the common enterprise for a greater Colby.

CHAPTER XLIX

Adult Education

C VOLBY COLLEGE has never operated a general summer school, although several attempts have been made to start one. During World War II, when ac- celerated programs were common in most of the colleges, a full summer term was operated for undergraduates. Every summer since 1948 has seen a session of the Summer School of Languages, attended largely by undergraduates. With those exceptions the summer program on Mayflower Hill has been devoted chiefly to adult education.

Colby became interested in extending its services beyond the undergraduate body as early as 1892. In that year President Whitman, assisted by W. S. Bay- ley and Shailer Mathews, devised a plan of extension work throughout the State. During the winter of 1892-93, courses were given in Waterville, Portland, Bath, Rockland, and Bangor. At the end of that experiment, the report said:

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The history of Colby College, Part 71

Author: Colby College Publication date: 1963 Publisher: Waterville, Colby College Press Number of Pages: 716

Author: Colby College
Publication date: 1963
Publisher: Waterville, Colby College Press
Number of Pages: 716