City College of New York - Microcosm Yearbook (New York, NY)

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in the Medical Service, or a total of 1,127 men. This A section of the army was organized in the military manner as live companies. The Naval section of the Student Army Training Corps, in which were included men looking forward to commissions in the Navy, comprised 225 students organized as a single company. The B section, or Signal Corps, had 556 students at the time of demobilization. Adding to these the commanding officers. Major Harold H. Flower. Captain Harry J. Fee and thirty-nine second lieutenants for the A section. Captain John H. Cunt and six lieutenants for the Signal Corps, as well as the non-commissioned officers and the medical staff of the Army, it can be seen that the College had a military personal of nearly two thousand. The organizing of the military instruction in harmony with the academic requirements of the College had just progressed to the point where excellent results were becoming evident when the Armistice was signed and the Students' Army Training Corps were ordered to be demobilized. Very promptly the college established a short winter term of eight weeks, beginning Decemlier 10. Students were allowed to carry one-half as many credits as those usually contemplated for a full length term, and the Faculty arranged to give some credit for work done under the S. A. T. C. plan of study. With the o| ening of the February term the College of the City of New York was back to its pre-war basis, and with very little academic loss because of the interrupted Fall term. Very rapidjy were the mess halls dismantled and sleeping-quarters changed back to their pre-war con- dition. construction of the new barracks adjoining Compton Hall wtis stopped, and the Ixrtli Building was sublet to the United States Motor Transport Corps. The rapidity with which the college mobilized for war was equal- led by the celerity with which it returned to its jieacc organization. Besides these direct activities which were common to all colleges, our College had certain other war ex- periences which may be of interest. It is always pleasant to reflect upon what might have been. In Scptcmlicr of 1918 the U. S. A. Medical Corps at the Port of New York, working with the College authorities, planned to utilize the entire College plant as a hospital. After some negotiation an arrangement was worked out whereby the Army might have the large Main Building for hospital purposes, while the College would confine its activ- ities to the other buildings and leased space. It was thought that .the use of our building, for this purpose might relieve the Army at a time of serious distress in the matter of caring for wounded men, and that future students might look back with pride at the real sacrifice which their institution had made. Although the College was willing to make this sacrifice, the medical department of the Army found-the pressure less than if had supposed so that it was unnecessary to act upon the patriotic suggestion of the College. During the month of October. 1918, the Signal Corps requested the Director of the Vocational Division to care for a body of two thousand men. At the same time the War Department Committee on Education and Special Training asked him to care for the instruction of a large body of tojiographical draughtsmen, surveyors, airplane mechanics, and gas engine men. The Trustees approved plans which would have involved the leasing of a complete hotel in the neighborhood of Van Cortland Park, and of acquiring property of enormous size near the College. However, lieforc the War Depart- 15

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With the opening of the College in October. 1918. the War Department made arrangements for the conduct of units of the Student Army Training Corps. All men over eighteen at the time had been required to register with the Draft Hoards. Those who were qualified for College had the privilage of immediate enlistment for the purpose of assignment to the Student Army Training Corps. At our College the enlistment was very large. All the students under eighteen and those rejected as physically unfit were sent to the old Twenty-Third Street Building for civilian instruction. Fortunately that huilding had been renovated as a College of Commerce and was in condition to he used for the teaching of over seven hundred civilian students. All the buildings on the heights were devoted to the Student Army Training Corns. This corps was divided into two great sections. The Signal Corps School, which had formally been conducted by the College in direct contact with the Signal Cor| s. now became a part of the Vocational Division of the Student Army Training Corps. It was known as the “B” section of the Student Army training Corps. The “A” section was made up of our own students who were to receive general training to fit them for officer service in the infantry or for service in certain special branches, such as ordnance, engineering, artillery and chemical warfare. The College authorities were faced with the problem of not only instructing but of housing and feeding all the men of the Student Army Training Corps. The general arrangements and responsibility of this work rested with the Vocational Division of the College which had already made similar arrangements for the Signal Corps group. At this | oint the Trustees of the College provided funds on their own personal guarantee to enable the Di- rector of the Division to finance ojierations connected with housing and feeding. The Trustees authorized a loan of $50,OCX) from the Corn Exchange Bank, and Messrs. Baiuch. Kohns, Lydccker, and MeAneny personally endorsed the note. The Loth Building at 150th Street and Amsterdam Avenue was quickly leased and within three weeks con- verted into a very thorough- equipped barracks which cared for over seven hundred and fifty students. The Great Hall was cleared of its chairs and turned into a barracks as were many of the classrooms and corridors of the College. The Students Concourse was strip| ed of its moveable equipment and turned into a great mess hall. The gymnasium became Military Headquarters. In a surprisingly short time the college group on St. Nich- olas Heights were turned into an Army |K»st and no civilian students were cared for during the day with th e only exception of the preparatory students who continued their recitations in Townsend Harris Hall. Of course the Evening Session and Vocational Division of the College continued work as usual, and even grew during the jieriod of the war. The division of the student body according to the courses of study taken was as follows: The Army sec- tion was made up of 834 men pursuing courses prescribed for candidates looking forward to commissions in the Infantry and Artillery: 149 in the Air Service; 79 in the Chemical Service; 44 in the Engineering Corps, and 25 14

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incut could gather together the persons who were to he instructed, peace rumors were current, preparations were held in abeyance, and finally, at the signing of the Armistice, the whole matter was dropped. In co-operation with the Vocational Division of the College the Alliance Francaisc conducted courses in spoken French in tile various armories throughout the city. These courses were designed to give the men of the regiments a s| cakiiig knowledge of French within the short time preceding their orders to sail. Professor Downer, who is also President of the Alliance Francaise in New York, took a personal interest in the matter and taught two of the courses himself. Me also prepared for the National Security league a handy volume for the instruction of soldiers in French. Our college was one of the charter mcmliers of the American University Union in Europe. This organi- zation established the Union houses in Paris, and later one in I-ondon. Here, among other American colleges, it found a simple club and home. In the Union houses were established information bureaus which kept the ones at home informed concerning the others “over there.” The College participated in every conceivable war activity. Though we shall probably never have correct statistics concerning the numbers of men from the College who entered active service, the figures given out at the time of the Alumni Dinner may Ik of interest. Of students leaving courses at the College conducted by the Day Session, the Evening Session and the Vocational Division to enter the Army and Navy active service, there were 1.779. The Alumni in active service were 956. The Faculty in active service were 37. The students en- listed and in training at the College at the time of demobilization were 1.927. making a grand total for the whole College in active service, so far as we can learn up to date. 4.701. Besides these there were many students. Facul- ty members, and Alumni who served with the Y. M. C. A., with the Jewish Welfare Board, and the Knights of Columbus and smaller organizations, and many others dropped from ordinary pursuits to take up technical or professional work directly related to the demands of the war. AW shall not attempt here to give a rc| ort con- cerning those killed, those wounded and those who received decorations. This information cannot be given out before the complete returns arc at hand. Of course we cannot close the account of the College in the tcur without some reference to the work of our Alumnus and Trustee. Mr. Bernard M. Baruch, of the War Industries Board. So also arc we proud of the work of our President, Sidney E. Mezes, as chief of the Board of Experts of the Peace Commission. Five members of our Faculty. Professors Stephen Pierce Duggan. I-ewis Freeman Molt, Nelson P. Mead. William Bradley Otis, and Justin Hartley Moore, left this country only last Spring to take up work with the Army Uni- versity in France. I.ikc America as a whole, the American colleges in general and our College in particular took up the challenge of war. conducted themselves heroically and effectively for the duration of the war. and then, when the war was over, set aside those things which were military and quietly rc«urncd to the task of making democracy fit to survive in the world. 16