Part 7 (1/2)
In the statutes of Wellesley College, as printed in 1885, we read that ”The College was founded for the glory of God and the service of the Lord Jesus Christ, in and by the education and culture of women
”In order to the attainment of these ends, it is required that every Trustee, Teacher, and Officer, shall be a elical church, and that the study of the Holy Scriptures shall be pursued by every student throughout the entire College course under the direction of the Faculty”
In the early nineties, pressure froelical churches, induced the trustees to alter the religious requireanization of the Department of Bible Study a few years later resulted in a drastic change in the requirements for students
As printed in 1898, the statutes read, ”To realize this design it is required that every Trustee shall be a elical Church; that every teacher shall be of decided Christian character and influence, and in ious spirit and aie was founded; and that the study of the Sacred Scriptures by every student shall extend over the first three years, with opportunities for elective studies in the sa the fourth year”
But it was found that freshe the new courses in Biblical Criticism, and the statutes as printed in 1912 record still another amendment: ”And that the study of the Sacred Scriptures by every student shall extend over the second and third years, with opportunities for elective studies in the saes are the nificant, since all actual power, at Wellesley as at es, resides with the trustees if they choose to use it They ”have control of the college and all its property, and of the investment and appropriation of its funds, in conforn of its establishment and with the act of incorporation” They have ”power to make and execute such statutes and rules as they may consider needful for the best administration of their trust, to appoint committees from their own nue, and to prescribe their duties and powers” It is theirs to appoint ”all officers of government or instruction and all employees needed for the administration of the institution whose appointment is not otherwise provided for” They determine the duties and salaries of officers and employees and may remove, either with or without notice, any person whooverned unde body of directors, Wellesley is of course no worse off than the overnenerated so little friction during forty years, speaks voluenerous tolerance, and the Christian self-control of both faculty and trustees If, into consider the scruples of groups of individuals on the faculty, along lines of economic morals, they have nevertheless taken no official steps to suppress the expression of such scruples They have withstood any reactionary pressure from individuals of their board, and have always allowed the faculty entire acadee classes, they are usually content to ratify the appointments on the faculty, and approve the alterations in the curriculue; and the president, in turn, leaves the professors and their associates reulate the personnel and the courses in the departments
In this happy condition of affairs, the alu part, for they understand the college froraduate of a e--can hope to, be he never so enthusiastic and well- as the faculty are excluded from direct representation on the board, the situation will continue to be ano to assert that Wellesley's develop are due to the cooperative wisdom and devoted scholarshi+p of her faculty The initiative has been theirs They have proved that a college for woht and administered by women To the, women have predominated on the Wellesley faculty The head of the Department of Music has always been a man, but he had no seat upon the Acadeht heads of departments, three were men, the professors of Music, of Education, and of French
Of the thirty-nine professors and associate professors, not heads of departments, five were men; of the fifty-nine instructors, ten wereto note that there were no men in the departments of Greek, Latin, Mathematics, Physics, Che and Speaking, Art, and Archaeology, during the academic year 1914-1915
Critics sometimes complain of the preponderance of women upon Wellesley's faculty, but her policy in this respect has been deliberate Every wo its own experiments, and the results achieved at Wellesley indicate that a faculty ely of woh academic standards, sound scholarshi+p, and efficient administration That a es, she does not deny
Froiate point of view, this feminine faculty is a very well raduates froes, and froes and state universities, as well as men from Harvard and Brown The Wellesley women on the faculty are an able e to avoid acade and to keep the Wellesley influence a ht heads of departlish Literature, Chemistry, Pure Matheraduates, three of them from the celebrated class of '80 Of the thirty-nine professors and associate professors, in 1914-1915, ten were alumnae of Wellesley, and of the fifty-nine instructors, seventeen Since 1895, when Professor Stratton was appointed dean to assist Mrs Irvine, Wellesley has had five deans, but only Miss Pendleton, who held the office under Miss Hazard froraduate of Wellesley Miss Coman, who assisted Miss Hazard for one year only, and Miss Chapin, who consented to fill the office after Miss Pendleton's appointment to the presidency until a perraduates of the University of Michigan Dean Waite, who succeeded to the office in 1913, is an alue, and has been a lish at Wellesley since 1896
II
Only the woher education of wo and ro the last half-century
To be a teacher was no new thing for a woman; the dame school is an ancient institution; all down the centuries, in classic villas, in the convents of the Middle Ages, in the salons of the eighteenth century, learned ladies with a pedagogic instinct have left their impress upon the intellectual life of their tiht be intellectually and physically capable of sharing equally withthe scholarshi+p of the race had never been seriously considered until the nineteenth century The woes in the '70's and '80's and '90's knew themselves on trial in the eyes of the world as never woht to that trial the heady enthusiasm and radiant exhilaration and fiery persistence which possess all those who rediscover learning and drink deep They knew the kind of selfless inspiration Wyclif knehen he was translating the Bible into the language of England's common people
They shared the elation and devotion of Erasmus and his fellows
To plan a curriculum in which the huiven a fair chance; to distinguish intelligently between the advantages of the elective systees; to decide, without prejudice, at what points the education of the girl should differ or diverge froic es and discover which were antiquated and should be abolished, which were susceptible of reform, which were sound; to invent new methods,--these were the romantic quests to which these enah more than half a century, they have been faithful
Wellesley's student laboratory for experimental work in physics, established 1878, was preceded in New England only by the student laboratory of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Her laboratory for work in experiy, established by Professor Calkins in 1891, was the first in any woe in the country, and one of the first in any college In 1886, the American School of Classical Studies at Athens invited Wellesley to becoes to sustain this school and to enjoy its advantages The invitation came quite unsolicited, and was the first extended to a wo their Triviuna, experienced no keener intellectual delights than did their belated sisters of Vassar, Smith, Bryn Mawr, Wellesley
But in order to understand the passion of their point of viee her education for which the women of the nineteenth century were enthusiastic was distinctly an education along scholarly and intellectual lines; this early and original inal and distinguishi+ng function of the woht of to-day by a generation that knew not Joseph The zeal hich the advocates of educational and do to force into the curricula of wo, dressraphy, typewriting, double entry, and the lasses ible to the wo of such colleges as Bryn Mawr, Smith, Mt Holyoke, Vassar, and Wellesley,--not because theyvalue of either honize their needs, but sies were never intended to o to the Metropolitan Museum of Fine Arts, we do not complain because it lacks the characteristics of the Smithsonian Institute, or of the Boston Horticultural Show We are content that the Massachusetts Institute of Technology should differ in scope froraduates even, see that Wellesley and Bryn Mawradequately to life, because they do not add to their curricular activities the varied aie, a School of Philanthropy, and a Cooking School, with required courses on theof , such as Pratt Institute in Brooklyn and Sinity and a usefulness which no one disputes Undoubtedly Anity and usefulness of the colleges dedicated to the higher education of worams with courses on business or doe faculties to admit vocational courses to the curriculum is not due to academic conservatism and inability to march with the times, but to an unclouded and accurate conception of the her education”
But definiteness of aim does not necessarily imply narrowness of scope The Wellesley Calendar for 1914-1915 contains a list of three hundred and twelve courses on thirty-two subjects, exclusive of the gyaiene Of these subjects, four are ancient languages and their literatures, Greek, Latin, Hebrew, Sanskrit
Seven are es and their literatures, Gerlish Literature, Coe
Ten are sciences, Mathematics, pure and applied, Astronoy and Physiology, Hygiene Seven are scientifically concerned with the mental and spiritual evolution of the human race, Biblical and Secular History, Econoy, and Philosophy Fourits history, Music, and Reading and Speaking, which old-fashi+oned people still call Elocution
Froe of subjects, the candidates for the BA
degree are required to take one course in Mathelish Composition, prescribed for freshe, unless two es have been presented for admission; two natural sciences before the junior year, unless one has already been offered for admission, in which case one is required, and a course in Philosophy, which the student should ordinarily take before her senior year
These required studies cover about twenty of the fifty-nine hours prescribed for the degree; the reroup her electives intelligently, and to this end she must complete either nine hours of work in each of two departments, or twelve hours in one department and six in a second; she must specialize within liralish Literature and Language, Co and Speaking, and Music All the courses in these departislation, only those ere present at the decisive discussions of the Academic Council can know Possibly they have discovered by experience that young wo the arts; that they gravitate naturally to those subjects which deal with hulish Literature; and that the specialist can be depended upon to elect, without pressure, courses in Philology or Pedagogy
But little effort has been raduate students In this respect she differs from Bryn Mawr
She offers very few courses planned exclusively for college graduates, but opens her advanced courses in raduates This does not raduate work is not on a sound basis Wellesley has not yet exercised her right to give the Doctor's degree, but expert testie, has declared that sorade in quality, if not in quantity; and the work for the Master's degree is said to be more difficult and es where the Doctor's degree is e has in its gift the Alice Freeman Palmer Fellowshi+p, founded in 1903 by Mrs David P Ki an income of about one thousand dollars The holder raduate of Wellesley or so; she e at the tihout the whole of her tenure, and as free as possible from other responsibilities”