Eckerd College - Logos Yearbook (St Petersburg, FL)

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An Interpretive History of Florida Presbyterian College History is a kind of pathology, reflecting the nature of mankind Loweth There is a babble of voices, the juke box plays love-songs only half listened to, dishes clatter, the windows reflect the pattern of the lights twice over, but not more; cream, coral, turquoise, gray, in myriad patterns, couples, groups, individuals, a grey-haired security guard, reflections from the windows, some are studying, some talk, many try to laugh away exam worries. IT IS WARM AND HUMAN AND NOISY HERE. Soon it will be time, and we will go. It will never be the same again ... for us or for those who shall come. Lights behind Venetian blinds make crazy, checked patterns in the darkness; somewhere out there intense youth seeks love. To watch, to listen, to savor with the heart, the eye, the mind, the ear, these are pleasures. To be alone, to remember in the midst of it all that we are each dying: the exquisite touch of bitterness in the midst of beauty. IT IS WARM AND HUMAN AND NOISY HERE. Who of us could have known ten or even four years ago that there would be such a night? GO, TELL IT ON THE MOUNTAINS that Jesus Christ is born! Prologue in 1955 a group of representative ministers and laymen of the Synod of Florida (U.S.), with the counsel of Dr. Hunter Blakley, Executive Secretary of the Division of Higher Education of our Board of Education, concurred on the idea of a study ' s being made to discover the possibility of establishing a college in Florida. A group of outstanding educators was secured to make the study by our Division of Higher Education, with the approval of interested Florida Presbyterians. In 1956 the Synod of Florida gave official recognition to these representative Presbyterians, constitut- ing them as a Council under the administration of the Committee on Christian Edu- cation, to cooperate in every way with those making the study. The study . . . was made by co-directors Dr. Gordon W. Blackwell, Director of the Institute in Social Science at the University of North Carolina, and Dr. Francis A. Rosecrance, Associate Dean of New York University. They hod as advisors these outstanding educational leaders: Dr. Theodore A. Distler, Executive Director of the Association of American Colleges; Dr. Wilson Compton, then President of the Coun- cil for Financial Aid to Education; and Dr. Oliver C. Carmichoel, President of the University of Alabama. The study was financed through a $5,000 grant from our Board of Christian Education. In 1957 Synod officially received the finished report of the study committee and authorized the Council of Representative Presbyterians to appoint a committee for the dissemination of the study and a Ways and Means Committee to consider meth- ods by which the college could be brought into reality. In the pursuance of its work the Council modified the Ways and Means Committee into a Coordinating Com- mittee made up of top-flight ministers and elders from representative areas of the state, under the chairmanship of Dr. William H. Kodel, pastor of the First Presbyterian Church, Orlando. In these three years we have proceeded in as prompt and states- manlike manner as possible to determine the facts.

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SH HVhS ' ' ' IT fiHi HN ACTIVITIES Activities 1 960- 1 96 1 pp. 16-27 Activities 1961-1962 pp. 28-37. Activities 1962-1963 pp. 38-57. Activities 1963-1964 pp. 58-79. ration . . . passim HISTORY OF THE COLLEGE pp. 6- 1 5, 8 1 -89 ORGANIZATIONS pp. 90-95 ADVERTISERS pp. 97-112

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We [The Ways and Means Committee] are unanimously convinced that a Presbyterian College is necessary, desirable, and feasible. We believe the time is at hand to establish in Florida a quality institution of Higher Education where young people may prepare themselves for their life v ' ork in the atmosphere of the finest Christian concepts. ' The Synod of Florida (U.S.) accepted those recommendations on May 20, 1958. At that time, the first Board of Trustees was elected. Meeting in Tampa on May 27, the Board selected Dr. Kadel as the first president. A site selection committee was chosen. On September 15, the Site Committee recommended and the Board of Trust ees accepted St. Petersburg as the location for the campus. The Board then adjourned to a joint ses- sion with the Board of Trustees of the Presbyterian College at Winter Haven, a college sponsored by the United Presbyterian Church in the USA. At that meeting, the two groups agreed to merge their efforts. The merger was formally approved by a joint meeting of the two synods at the Interim Campus on October 9, 1958. The Winter Haven movement had begun its efforts in 1957, as a group of interested lay- men led by Dr. Robert M. Pratt. At that time, they formed themselves into the Committee for a Presbyterian College at Winter Haven. Their efforts came to the attention of Dr. Kadel and his committee. Throughout the rest of that year, discussions were held on ways and means to found and possibly merge the two colleges. During this period, the Synod of Florida of the United Presbyterian Church in the USA approved the plan of its laymen and appointed Dr. Pratt as a committee-of-one to continue study. By May of 1958, the discussions between him and the Council of Representative Presbyterians (US) had broken down. The Southern Presbyterians decided to go on alone. At the May 1958, meeting of their Synod (see above), they elected a Board of Trustees and a President, Dr. Kadel. In June, the United Synod adopted a charter for the Winter Haven College and appointed a Board of Trustees. That action caused a reopening of the discussions about a possible merger of the two colleges. By September 1958, those discussions produced an agree- ment whereby the two colleges were combined on a three-fifths US and two-fifths United membership of the Board of Trustees, Dr. Kadel remained President, the St. Petersburg lo- cation for the campus was retained, and Dr. Pratt was to be appointed Vice-President for Development. That September was eventful in other ways, too. Dr. Kadel and Mrs. Emma H. Conboy, Administrative Assistant from the First Presbyterian Church of Orlando, moved from their store-front Orlando office to the Maritime Base in St. Petersburg. By November, plans were being laid for a fund-raising drive to build the college that was to cost $9,300,000 for a copitol plant for 1200 students. Dr. Kadel, Dr. Rosecrance and Dr. Bevan got ready to make a series of nationwide trips in search of a better curriculum. Dr. Rosecrance was unable to go. This trip was one of the first signs of things to come. Not only hod we begun to dare and dream in a significant way, but also, the Ford Foundation ' s Fund for the Advancement of Education had given us the first of many grants. With the New Year came the kick-off of the fund-raising campaign and the official ap- pointment of Dr. Bevan as Vice-President for Academic Affairs (Dean). Renovation work