Lehigh University - Epitome Yearbook (Bethlehem, PA)

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started with tnree classes in residence at Lehigh, the Special Schools having been opened, and no less than fifty students had affiliated them- selves with the polytechnic school. Packer Hall, a gilt of the founder, was first occupied in Sep- tember 1 868 and thus the University was off on its career as a full-fledged personality — as a real influence in the lives and thinking of the people who were destined to come in contact with it during the ensuing years. Extra-curricular life began as undergraduates formed the Junto, an honorary literary society of which all members of the faculty and Board of Trustees were automatic members and to which students were elected. Another phase of non- academic life created quite a stir on the campus and surrounding Bethlehem when several not too gentle pitched battles occurred between the Lehigh students and town roughs in Bethle- hem and South Bethlehem. Publications were also one of the first organ- ized student activities on campus. In 1875 mem- bers of the Junto established the Epitome as a publication of the sophomore class. Written in somewhat flowery language, the first Epitome was a paper-bound volume and, by its own ad- mission, did not claim to be a literary publica- tion. Responsibility for publishing the yearbook was taken over by the junior class in 1884; not until 1951. however, did the senior class begin publishing its own annual. Except lor a short- lived publication by the class of 76, the Lehigh Journal, the next literary endeavor to raise its staff among Lehigh students was the Burr which operated under the motto, Don t sit on me. The faculty apparently had little regard for the in- UNIVERSITY LIBRARY

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Around the upper margin of the Seal are the words of Lord Bacon: HOMO MINISTER ET INTERPRES NATURAE. Around the lower corner margin, the words: LEHIGH LNI ER- SITY. Below the Bible, the words: FOUNDED BY ASA PACKER. 1865 . Lehighs motto is taken from Francis Bacon s Novum Organum and may be translated: Man, the servant and interpreter of nature. Having been chartered by the state legislature of Pennsylvania February 9, 1866, The Lehigh University opened its doors to forty members of the first two classes on September first of the same year. The dream of Asa Packer and the hard, careful labor of Bishop Stevens had finally created a reality! The Lehigh Man of eighty-six years ago cer- tainly saw his college in a much different light than many of those who were to follow in his footsteps. A Moravian church which had been bought with the property and renamed Christ- mas Hall was the sole building on the campus and, as such, served as chapel, dormitory ' , reci- tation and lecture hall, and as the administra- tive offices. These hrst students, who were at least sixteen years of age and possessed good moral character, were required to pass rigorous prelimina n,- examinations to enable them to be- gin the first two years of general background studies vhich were thought to be necessary re- gardless of their eventual aim. Rooms were free but the cost of instruction was set at $90 per year for the Hrst and second classes and SI 00 per year for students in the Schools of Special In- struction. To aid deserving men who were un- able to afford the cost of attending Lehigh, three Foundation scholarships were established by Mr. Packer and two Competition scholarships per class were also set up. Of course. Holders of scholarships must be models of excellence and were required, as were all students, to re- frain from smoking, gambling, intoxication, or indecent language. On September 1 , 1867, the new University had gotten its wobbly legs under itself and began taking the first steps in expanding its under- graduate membership and in revising its aca- demic curriculum. The second college year PHYSICS BVILD1SG

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dependent spirit of the Burr s personnel for it was suspended twice during its sojourn on trie cam- pus, the final blow falling in 1955. A fourth pub- lication, the Lehigh Quarterly, which devoted its pages to articles on technical subjects, alumni news, and some attempts at creative writing, failed after two years existence primarily because of a general lack of student interest. So-called variety magazines have had a rocky road to travel at Lehigh finding opposition from the faculty on one hand and lack of student interest on the other. Three more such magazines made valiant attempts at success. The Review started out as a literar ' and philosophical magazine for intelli- gent students but forgot its primary aim and fol- lowed the Burr in 1940. The Bachelor had a short life in the early 40 s and, after the second orld ar. the Goblet sprang into e.xistence and sprang almost as quickly out ol the picture in 1949. The Brown and White, first published in 1894, led a much less stormy existence and is today one of the two student publications on campus. Not all attempts to organize outside-of-class activities had the trials and tribulations of the Burr and its fellow publications. Interest groups got together, organized societies, and en- gaged men from all over the country to visit and talk with them. The first of these was the Chemi- cal Society, begun in 1871, and reputedly the oldest student chemical society still in existence. Shortly after its founding, the society changed its scope to include natural history. Following closely upon the heels of the Chemical and Na- tural Historv Society came the Engineering So- ciety (1873) which was the sponsor of the ill- fated Journal and Quarterly. The idea and value of such interest groups caught on at Lehigh until every course had its own club or organization and students who lound mutual interests often established such groups as the Christmas Hall Telegraph Club. Honoraries, another [jliase ol student activities, apparently had their beginning at Lehign when A 1 5 CHARLES RL ' SS RICHARDS HOUSE Prof. E. H. Williams. Jr., recognizing the lack of a Phi Beta Kappa to honor outstanding achievement in the field of engineering, organized the first chapter of Tau Beta Pi at Lehigh in 1885. Since that time, this society has been adopted by 91 of the leading technical schools of the country. Phi Beta Kappa followed in 1887. As a result of the efforts and foresight of thou- sands of men who have planned and partici- pated in the fjrofessional, interest, avocational, and honorary groups throughout the history of Lehigh there are over eighty different directions in which the Lehigh man of today can expand his extra-curricular horizons. Any discourse of the benefits which are avail- able to an undergraduate today cannot bypass the name of Richard Harding Davis, one of Le- high s most famous undergraducUes. Although he never graduated Irom Lehigh (he was ex- pelled), his tremendous energy, his sharf) wit, and his general personality have done a lot