George Washington University - Cherry Tree Yearbook (Washington, DC)

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EORGE WASHINGTON was an educator because his life exemplified the ideal of an American gentleman. First he educated himself; then he edu- cated those young people with whom he came in contact; and eventually he educated the entire people of the United States through the inspiration of his lofty character and by his power of expression. His encompassing intellectuality enabled him to be always a competent leader. COLUMBIAN COLLEGE

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WILLARD HAYES YEAGER Chairman, Executive Committee of Columbian College. A B. degree, Ohio State University, 1919 A, M. degree, Ohio State University. 1926. Professor of Public Speaking, George Washington University, since 1929, Associate Professor in Public Speaking, Univ. of Illinois, 1927-1929, Instructor in Public Speaking, Ohio State University, 1923-19 27. Acacia ; Delta Theta Phi ; Phi Gamma Delta; National Association of Teachers of Speech ■ HISTORY OF COLUMBIAN COLLEGE | uther Rice, Columbian College in the District of Columbia, Colum- bian University, The George Washington University : a man — his length- ening shadow, an institution. While still a student at Williams dedicating himself to the service of God and his fellows, becoming a missionary to Burma, then a missionary to his own countrymen, conceiving the idea of college, pioneering up and down the states in his gig seeking friends and supporters, materializing his idea, and struggling for its maintenance until death overtook him— such was the career of the college’s founder. First there was failure when a charter was sought from Congress, and then stopping in the midst of the debate on the Missouri Compromise that same Sixteenth Congress sent forth the charter which guaranteed to teachers and students freedom from all interference on matters of religion. On a lot of forty-seven acres, north of Florida Avenue, and between Four- teenth and Fifteenth Streets, overlooking the young capital city the college plant was built, and to the streets which were laid out around it were given from time to time the names of college notables ; but one, that of the second President, Chapin, still remaining. On January 15, 1822, thirty-nine students having presented them- selves, the faculty was formally inaugurated, and three years later the first gradu- ating class, with three members, was sent forth into the world, while Lafayette, President Monroe, John Quincy Adams, John C. Calhoun, and Henry Clay looked on. In 1836 died Luther Rice, founder of the College. Those first fifteen years had been arduous ones for the Presidents and for Rice, during most of his time the financial agent. Difficulties had harrassed from the beginning. In 1827 the pro- fessors in dismay had resigned in a body. Writing to President Chapin from Georgia in the year of his death Luther Rice had said; 1 request you will not men- tion in the District any expectation of my being there the first of June: merely be- cause, if it should be known, it will excite the creditors of the college to bestir themselves.” An increasing number of students was about the only source of encouragement, but after 1836 the fortunes of the College seemed to take a turn for the better. Each year a graduating class of around ten was going out, about half of them into the Christian ministry. Twenty-three