Amherst College - Olio Yearbook (Amherst, MA)

Page 17 text:

With the larger world, too, as well as with college affairs, Dr. Gates has always kept up a vital and fruitful connection. He impresses every one, even on the most casual acquaint- ance, as a man whose interest in every noble cause is both broad and keen. An accomplished speaker, he is often to be heard on educational, social, and religious topics, and such is the acceptance with which he speaks, that within a year he has received nearly two hundred invitations to give public addresses in various parts of the country. He has been promi- nently identihed with Civil Service Reform, Ballot Reform, and other important public movements. Since 1884 he has been a member of the United States Board of Indian Commissioners, of which he has recently been elected President, as successor of the late General Clinton B. Fisk. That he is also the master of a literary style alike strong and graceful, may be seen in any of his numerous published articles, among which may be instanced his article on Athens, in I-Iarper's Monthly Magazine for May, 1881, the materials of which he gathered in an ex- tended tour taken in 1878, and his appreciative sketch ofthe life and character of Sidney Lanier, in the Presbyterian Review for October, 1887. President Gates entered upon regular work at Amherst at the end of October in this year, but his formal inauguration will not take place until Commencement, 1891. I S I 4 I4

Page 16 text:

of character. But is it a smaller advantage, in the increasing practical demands of our times, that the president of a college should have been associated with the growing mind through its preparatory training, and that like Greatheart in Pilgrim's Progress he who had conducted the wayfarers safely past giants and lions to the palace Beautiful should receive from his king the further commission to lead his charge onward until they themselves should be leaders? Such a preparation it was, which was afforded Dr. Gates by his twelve years of success- ful life in Albany. In 1882 he was called to the presidency of Rutgers College, at New Brunswick, N. J. It is of course but a partial estimate, and that too taking account perhaps of what is of least signifi- cance, to measure the truest progress of a college by its 1na- terial advancementg but this test is at least the most palpable to the world. And here is the summary of his career at Rut- gers, as given by the New York 72.11168 .' In the eight years of his presidency the number of professorships at Rutgers has been increased from sixteen to twenty-two, the number of students has nearly doubled, the library has been increased from 9,000 to 26,000 volumes, a new chemical laboratory cost- ing 845,000 has been built, and a large dormitory, to accommo- date a hundred students, costing fL75,00o, is just finished, and will be opened in September. Over jf300,000 has been given to the college during his presidency. At the time when this paragraph was printed, August 1, 1890, President Gates's mind was engaged in an earnest debate which of three courses to take : whether to remain at the head of the college that had so remarkably responded to his wise leader- ship, or to accept the presidency of Oberlin, which had been offered him some time before, or to obey the call which the trustees of Amherst had just given him to become president of Amherst College in the place of President Seelye, whose con- tinued ill-health had compelled him to resign. In due time, after one or two visits to Amherst and careful observation of the field, he accepted the last-named invitation, making his decision known August 28, 1890. I3

Page 18 text:

The 9011090 Sanche- Presiding Ofiicer: THE PRESIDENT OF THE COLLEGE. Senior-s.-Clase o'F Ninety-One. NATHAN P. AVERY, GEORGE L. LEONARD, HOWARD D. HAMMOND, CHARLES N. THORP. Juniors.-Class of Ninety-Two. JAMES S. Conn, ADDISON A. EWING, WILLIAM H. LEWIS. Sophomores.-Class o'F Ninety-Three. FREDERICK S- AI-I-IS, JOSEIII-I A. GOonRIcH. Fr'eshman.- Class of Ninety-Four. GEORGE F. BIJRT. FELLOWS AND RESIDENT GRADUATES. VVILLARD D. BIGELOW, B.A. 08895 . Gardner, Kan AJSl.If!I7lf in CM-1111'.rfwj'. FRANK A. DELABARRE, B.A. 08905 . . Conway, Mass , N Lincoln Ibllow in 16fg'l'l'll4' amz' 1'Q1'.vl'ra! Edumlimz. GEORGE R. HARE, B.A. 08905 . . . Kalamazoo, Mich SZzm'enl in C'hvlzl1'.rf1j' ami l'hy.v1'r.r. ROBERT A. MCFADDEN, B.A. 418905 . . Harrisburg, Penn. Simian! in Ph1'!o.vophy and l'al1'l1'ra! Eronovgf. GEORGE H. ROGERS, B.A. 08905 . Holbrook, Mass Sludunl in Chcn11'.s'hj'. ' 5