Brown University - Liber Brunensis Yearbook (Providence, RI)

Page 21 text:

a character spirited and independent. Class crew of 1874.

Page 20 text:

Brown is not just its administration and its faculty. The school is also its students. The Brown experience is one of freedom and stimulation. The Brown undergraduate typifies this ex- pg:rjence. He is spirited; he is independent. He is an in- glvudualist. He might even smash bottles against a tutor's oor. President Messer was disliked for his tyrannical actions. Undergraduates feared that their liberties would be unduly constrained. In 1824, the kegs of wrath broke open. The library was invaded, the pulpit broken down. Windows were smashed in Messer's house. The Brown man is not afraid to voice his objections, nor will he allow this right abrogated. The Brown man is fiercely proud of his school. He will not allow its reputation tarnished. 1827: Students believed Presi- dent Wayland's emphasis on the practical arts to be excessive. A Brown degree would be cheapened, they feared. Some in- trepid students essayed to correct the damage. The now long- forgotten tradition of Book-Burning came into existences Donning fantastic costumes, the students suspended their entire year's production of essays and papers between two poles and set them afire. After much ritual and singing, the flames of knowledge rivaled the Providence sunset. Various men have worried about students' morals. Presi- dent Robinson sowed prolific epigrams among the under- graduates. He hoped to nurture their moral tone. The Brown man will listen to advice. But he will also sow wild oats. He will not allow his life to be run by others. Rumbles of dis- content were heard. 1853: In the Spring, students marched about the city to the main pier, where they proceeded by boat to Foxpoint Channel. There, after a Latin service and an oration, they sank text books in rhetoric and logic. Book- Burials had replaced Book-Burning. As a result, Narra- gansett Bay had to be dredged. Books are no longer buried, although now and then an irate student may be seen flinging an unsatisfactory term paper into the Wriston Quadrangle moat. But the Brown man has not lost his spirit. He still jealously guards the liberal traditions of his predecessors. Discontent is still manifested. Objections are made known. Possibly a letter to the Herald or a Cammarian Club report has replaced the more flamboyant techniques of disapproval. But the Brown man will not allow his liberties to be constrained. These are guaranteed him in his school's Charter. They have been passed down through the years of his school's history. He now must guard them for the future. ... and from its students

Page 22 text:

Elisha Benjamin Andrews, eighth president. Pembroke became a part of the total Brown experience . . .