Grove City College Bulletin - February 1927

The following is a transcript of the Grove City College Bulletin from February 1927 published by Grove City College.  Any notes in [ ] are my own remarks and were not in the original document.  

The original page numbers are noted in <green> and the names of people are highlighted. 

GROVE CITY COLLEGE

BULLETIN

Published Monthly by Grove City College, Grove City, Pa.

Vol. 19                       February, 1927                     Number 2

ALUMNI NUMBER

Entered as Second-Class Matter at the Post Office at Grove City, Pa., Under Act of July,1894.

<page 2>

FOREWORD 

It has been some months since a copy of this bulletin was sent to the alumni and friends of the College. The failure to issue an alumni number has been in part due to the fact that during the fall some special bulletins were issued including a number containing the charter and by-laws of the College and a number containing the proceedings of the Commencement Week and the Celebration of the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Founding of the College. It is our plan, from time to time, to issue this bulletin. We would be glad to have the cooperation of the alumni. If there are items of interest which you think should appear in the bulletin we will be very glad to have them. They can be sent to the President or simply direct to the College Office, Grove City College, Grove City, Pa.

The body of this bulletin is made up largely of extracts taken from the Report of the President of the College to the Board of Trustees made at the Annual Meeting of the Board of Trustees held in Pittsburgh on January 18th. While it is realized that much of the material in the Report has no immediate news value it was felt that perhaps there were many of the alumni and friends who would find matters of interest in it. 

<page 3>

THE PRESIDENT’S REPORT

Mr. David. L. Gillespie

Mr. Hamilton Stewart

Since the Board last met the College has suffered an unusually great loss in the death of two of its members, Mr. David L. Gillespie and Mr. Hamilton Stewart. Both of these men gave generously of their interest and time and means in the support of the College. Mr. Gillespie had been a member of the Board since 1917 and Mr. Stewart since 1912. As Chairman of the Building Committee of the College Mr. Stewart had in recent years taken an active interest in the physical development of the College and in the few months preceding his final illness had given considerable thought to the plans of the College for its future development. As late as the latter part of May he had expressed a desire and purpose to visit the College at the Commencement Season and, if possible, spend several days going over the grounds to see the needs of the College and to ascertain what steps should be taken to meet those needs. Both of these men will be sorely missed in the counsels of the College. They have left an impress on the life of the institution and have made a lasting contribution to the cause of higher education.

Mr. Edward O'Neil

Since the meeting of the Board of Trustees the College has lost another of its valued trustees in the death of Mr. Edward O’Neil of Sewickley, Pa. Mr. O’Neil was in point of service the oldest member of the Board of Trustees. He joined the Board in 1895 at the time of the reorganization of the College and served on it continuously until his death. He was always active in the affairs of the Board and was a member and Chairman of a number of important Committees. He was Chairman of the Library Committee when Mr. Carnegie was first interested in the College. During that period Mr. Carnegie gave $500.00 to the Library and a little later erected the present Library Building. In recent years Mr. O’Neil has been active as Chairman of the Nominating Committee and it is in no small measure due to his untiring efforts that the high character of the personnel of the Board of Trustees has been maintained. Mr. O’Neil had been in failing health for some months. His death is a severe loss to the College.

<page 4>

Miss Hazel Hill

During the holiday season the College suffered another loss in the death of the Librarian, Miss Hazel Hill. Miss Hill had been associated with the College for a number of years and during the past few years had acted as the Librarian. In that capacity she had rendered the College a loyal, faithful and efficient service. Her heart was in her work and her death is a distinct loss to the institution.

The Summer Term

The plans for the summer term of 1926 were on the whole very similar to those followed in previous years. The College maintained not only a rather full schedule of college work but also special work for teachers in the elementary schools. In connection with our teachers’ work we had a special course in which five members of the State Department of Public Instruction participated, each taking a week. Their work was supplemented by two or three educators of note from the district. The attendance was about the same as that of the immediately preceding term and, on the whole, the results were satisfactory.

The Bible School

The Bible School of 1926 was a successful session. The program seemed especially attractive to those who attended and the influence of the Bible School was stimulating and in every way constructive. We are now looking forward to the Bible School for 1927 and some plans are already under way for it. We were greatly shocked during the fall by the death of Dr. Henry E. Dosker who for a number of years has appeared on the program of the Bible School and who only a few weeks before his death had signified his intention to return in 1927. In his last letter, in accepting the invitation to appear on, the program, he said, "I consider it a great honor to be called back for so many years for an annual service to the Bible School.” It is a matter of profound regret that he will no longer be with us.

Semester Plan 

At the January meeting of the Board last year the Board approved the adoption of a semester plan to take the place of the term plan which had previously been followed. The semester plan was put into operation with the beginning bf the new college year. So far as we can determine it is working satisfactorily. One of the chief reasons for its adoption was the fact that it would make the policy of the College in this regard conform to that followed by most of the other in-

<page 5>

stitutions in the State. It has accomplished this purpose and has proved to have certain other rather marked advantages over the other plan. One of the chief advantages is that it avoids one of the breaks during the college year. Under, the old plan there were three registrations. Now there are only two.

The College Enrollment

For the past two or three years we have felt that the College had about reached its capacity. Nevertheless this year there has been an increase in the number of full-course college students. I rather think that our enrollment has about reached the maximum possible and desirable with our present equipment and faculty. Unless there should be some rather radical change in the policy of the College it is difficult to see how we could satisfactorily accommodate a larger enrollment. We have not only reached the capacity of our dormitories but have practically reached the capacity of our classrooms and laboratories. In fact in some of our laboratories we are overcrowded and handicapped.

We were compelled to turn away a number of young women who sought entrance to the College during the summer. We had established a waiting list, however, and the pressure from those who were on this waiting list became very insistent. Just before College opened, in an effort to take care of some of these urgent cases we made a survey of the situation and found that three desirable homes could be secured on the edge of the campus which would serve as cottages for girls. In view of the fact, however, that our dining room at the Colonial was crowded to its capacity it was necessary to find additional space for dining room facilities if we permitted any additional girls to enter. To accomplish this end we had the sun-parlor of the Colonial repaired and refinished. It is today serving acceptably as a supplementary dining room and living room. The improvement in the sun-parlor of the Colonial was desirable in any case and in view of the fact that it enabled us to take care of about twenty additional girls we believe that the cost of the improvement was more than justified.

Faculty Changes

 Last year the Board granted Dr. Calderwood, the Dean of the College, a leave of absence to study in Europe. At the time we realized his health was not good. We did not, however, realize that his condition was to prove so serious. Instead of improving while abroad he got continually worse and when he returned in the fall it was apparent that he would be unable to resume his work at that time.

Go to the next page

Return to the main Grove City College Bulletin page