Swarthmore College - Halcyon Yearbook (Swarthmore, PA)

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1886 Orchestra any other, the Board in 1886 reluctantly liberal- ized its policies, and appointed a new Matron, Elizabeth Powell Bond, to create a proper atmos- phere of dignity and mutual respect among students, in which exhaustive rules would be unnecessary. In slow stages, singing, tea dances, theatre, and other wholesome activities were introduced. In 1889, Swarthmore girls even en- acted Antigone, by Sophocles, the first Greek play ever presented by young women in Amer- ica. Undergraduates called these years a period of reformation, and hoped it would last. Swarthmore College was coming of age in 1889, with 247 students, 31 faculty members, and with five College buildings (Parrish, Trotter, the Old Observatory, the Meeting House, and the President ' s House) , all heated by steam and lighted by gas. 1889 Tug of War Team

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1889 President Edward Hicks Magill 1889, the Second International was founded in Geneva. Kaiser Wilnelm succeeded his lather in Germany. Benjamin Harrison re- placed Grover Cleveland in the White House. And Swarthmore College celebrated its 25th. Still under President Magill in 1889, Swarth- more was wandering off the course set by its founders. Magill, who intended to increase the stature of the College, found he could not do this without sacrificing its distinctive Quaker atmosphere, and moving toward the widespread public conception of College Life. Despite the persistent efforts of the Board of Managers, certain worldly habits were finding their way into Swarthmore. There was no longer a wholly Quaker faculty or student-body, no longer the simple dress and simple speech. The three literary societies had existed from the first year of classes, but in the eighties there appeared also a Glee Club, a Cycling Club, a Chess Club, two fraternities (Kappa Sigma and Phi Kappa Psi), the Phoenix and the Halcyon. Men s sports and women ' s exercises had al- ways had some small place, but in 1888 they were institutionalized with the creation of the Department of Physical Culture. Intercollegiate sports contests in football, track, and tennis were given official sanction, and students were even allowed to attend (in suits) and cheer. Such revolutionary decisions were not made without dissent. A group of elders of Swarthmore Meeting deplored football and the degree to which it was yielding to professionalisation at the College : It is unbecoming and improper on the part of any one, and especially of those claim- ing the name of Friend, to indulge in such prac- tices, and we earnestly urge that this cause for reproach . . . shall be speedily removed by either abolishing the game or so modifying it as to elim- inate these objectionable features. Although Swarthmore was conforming to the college image in many respects, its peculiar institution of coeducation of the sexes remained completely foreign to any public conception of higher education. President Magill staunchly de- fended it, but had constantly to assure public and parents that adequate social restrictions were being take n : Their intercourse is almost entirely under the eye of watchful teachers and caretakers. ' Regulations were established so prohibitive and arbitrary that even the most sen- sitive could not protest ; an explicit code of con- duct. Laws of Swarthmore College Relating to Students (100 of them), was formulated and strictly enforced. By the mid-eighties, such restrictions were having bad effects on student morale, on appli- cations to attend College, and thus on College receipts. In response to the last cause more than 14

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President Joseph Swain 1 n Germany declared war on France. Con- I U I i gress passed tke Clayton Anti-Trust Bill. Courtney Smith was born m a log cabin in Iowa. And Swartkmore College bad its Golden Anniversary. In 1914. Swartbmore was still a leader m tbe national trend toward liberal education. In the Twentieth Centu ry, college was no longer the sanctuary of ministers and scholars, but the training ground for industrial, business, and po- litical leaders — for the well-rounded man. For millions of Americans whose confidence in their country s destiny was riding high, education was the shining light of opportunity. Colleges, Swartb- more included, attempted to offer a wide variety of courses and extra-curricular activities, serve as a vehicle for social prestige, and add a shot of romance to life. College was to be more and more what the undergraduates made it. Swarthmore was now a full-grown institution, full of ivy, endowment, and assurance. Her early graduates were now men of wealth and station, and fiercely loyal in offering financial support and encouraging athletic teams. The Col- lege had a new independent and self-perpetuat- ing character, nearly freed from the personali- ties and religious traditions that had founded it ; a new interest in the outside world. President Joseph Swain, inaugurated in 1902, personified all these features, vowed to interpret the gen- ius of Quakerism in the twentieth century, and take Swarthmore out of the isolated charm of the cultural backwaters and into the swift mam current of higher education in America. A great master-plan for construction of Col- lege buildings had been commissioned around the turn of the century, and during Swam s ad- ministration most of these went up : the Chem- istry Building, Beardsley, Hicks, the Library, the new Observatory, Whittier House, and the last sections of Wharton before the war; and Clothier, Martin, Bartol, and the Fraternity Houses after the war. On Founders Day of this semi-centennial year, at the invitation of alumni A. Mitchell Palmer and Morris L. Clothier, President Woodrow Wilson was guest of honor and principal speaker. He was encouraged to stay over and see the Founders Day dramatic presentation by the Swarthmore Theatre Club, but wisely declined. It was to be The Idiot , a three-act light comedy written by our Shakespearian scholar. Professor Harold Goddard. After a mediocre 3-3 football showing marking the resumption of play with Haverford (with Tom McCabe at Center), alumnus Dr. Edward Mar- tin gave the team its annual pig roast at the Lamb Tavern. Ruff ' Herndon was honored for his ten years of service in Swarthmore athletics. In 1914, Swarthmore teams m nine sports com- peted against almost every college withm travel- ling distance, including Villanova, Bucknell, Trinity, Hopkins, Pennsylvania, Delaware, North Carolina. Virginia, Michigan, Pitt, Penn State, N.Y.U., C.C.N.Y., Princeton, Rutgers, Wesleyan, 16