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

Page 33 text:

Il was in 1871 that a Commercial Course was first added to the curriculum of the City College. The Course consisted of three sub- jects: Bookkeeping, Phonography and Penmanship. A diploma was awarded upon completion of one year of study, although the regular course of four years leading to the baccalaureate degree was also available to students of the Commercial Course. Charles Alexander Walworth was the one-man faculty of the Commercial Course. Over half of the students in those days elected the popular Mr. Walworth’s courses, much to the discomfiture of the academic fac- ulty, who soon sought to have the commercial subjects dropped from the school curriculum. However, the protests of parents, press, and the student body were so strong that the college authorities tactfully chose not to abolish the courses. They remained until 1882 when Professor Walworth voluntarily resigned. Gradually the Commer- cial Course disintegrated and was finally completely given up. In 1916 commerce again reared its head from under the academic apple-cart, and a curriculum leading to a Diploma of Graduate in Accountancy was instituted. In June of 1919 a separate School of Business and Civic Administration was organized with Dr. Frederick B. Robinson ’04 as dean, a post which he held until 1927 when he was appointed President of the College. I)r. George W. Edwards '11, then Professor of Banking at Columbia took his place, and also served as Professor of Economics. In 1932 Dean Edwards resigned, to Ik succeeded by Dr. Justin H. Moore ’03 who served until 1939. I pon Dr. Moore’s resignation, Professor Lewis Mayers '10, Chair- man of tin- Law Department, assumed the Acting Deanship, and in September of 1910 Dr. Herman Feldman ’15, Professor of Indus- trial Relations at Dartmouth, became the fourth Dean of the School of Business. Dr. Justin H. .Moore ’03 Dr. Herman Feldman ’15

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Or. Frederick II. Kohinson 01 l)r. George W. Edwards I I THEN I N 1919 in an unstable world, The City College School of Business A was born. World War 1 was just finished; Uncle Sam’s army was being demobilized; talk of peace conferences filled the air; everyone was sure the world was safe for democracy and from wars —and America was entering the post war depression. This year the School of Business is twenty-two years old, like a number of its students, eligible for the draft, 'file world has entered another World War: there is still talk of peace conferences; every- one knows that democracy was not made safe by the last war: and America is on the crest of another war boom. Despite the march of history, regardless of wars and economic cycles, education continues. Keenly involved in the educational attempt to develop a new kind of civilian leadership is the City College School of Business, one of America’s leading training centers. Scholastically, City College is recognized as being one of the finest schools in the country, its students having attained a high school average of over 82% for boys and 88% for girls — one of the highest average requirements in the nation. Moreover, each year’s entering class consistently obtains the highest intelligence quotients in the country. Housed in a building which towers sixteen stories above one of Manhattan’s busiest corners, the Downtown Center looks more like an office building than a college. Yet despite its modernity, the school is steeped in venerable tradition, for it stands upon the very site of the original City College, founded in 1819. Then, Lexington Yvenue and 23rd Street was “way up in the sticks.” Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter, United States Senator Robert Wagner, George Goethals, Bernard Baruch, Upton Sinclair, Edward G. Rob- inson and many other famous mcricans studied in the old building.

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FOUR LONG YEARS- 66Tf l)UCATION in its widest sense. includes all those changes which from birth to death are wrought in the in- dividual by the process of learning.” —George S. Counts In their search for learning, some 325 boys and girls filed past Mr. Taylor’s nerve rackingly-eflicient talley bins on the stage of the Pauline Fdwards Theatre. The day was February 4, 1937; the class of 1941 was officially born. Four years have passed and now, about to be gradu- ated, they may look back upon the changes wrought in each other, upon the subtle evolution of their class from fresh- men to graduates, and upon the growth and development of their college. No other class has passed through the college during times of greater change. In 1937 there was Chamberlain, ap- peasement, a Maginot Line, Civil War in Spain, and ASCAP music. There was no conscription in America, no blackouts, no blitzkrieg, and no name for 5th col- umnists. Yes, today the world is changed! And so, too, is the college and its or- ganization. The class of 1941 witnessed the administration of three different presidents and three different deans of the school. Justin II. Moore was dean of the School of Business when the class entered; Frederick B. Robinson was then president of the college. But at this same time the Fusion Administration was rapidly gaining control of the Board of Higher Fducation and changes were patently imminent. In September 1939. as President Robinson departed on so- called “sabbatical leave,” I)r. Nelson P. Mead was named acting president. One year later, Dean Moore announced his resignation and Professor Lewis Mayers, chairman of the Law Department, was appointed Acting Dean. Dr. Mayers’ level-headed practicality and his attempts to improve the school’s appearance won