Miami University - Recensio Yearbook (Oxford, OH)

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A Heritage of ExceHence ver the span of her first 175 years Miami has come to be known by many names. To members of Greek letter organizations she is the llMother of Fraternities. To sports enthusiasts she is the Cradle of Coaches. In her formative years she was called the iiYale of the Early West. Historians know her as the iiAlma Mater of a President? while admission counsellors sometimes refer to her as Ohiois Public Ivy? Americais poet laureate, Robert Frost, summarized the feelings of generations of Miami stu- dents when he pronounced her the prettiest college that ever there was . . . Miami is unique among American universities because she has all the ambiance of an independent Eastern college while maintaining the essen- tially Western tradition of a public land-grant institution. And her grant of land is one of the very oldest in the nation, dating back to May 5,1792 when a single township In the Old Northwest Territory was committed to her support in an Act of Congress signed into law by our first President, Geor e Washing ton. To this day $7500 of public assis- tance is realized each year, as it has been for most of the past 175 years, from annual land rents paid by lot owners in the college township to the University. Though regarded as a munificent sum when the Miami University was char- tered by the State of Ohio on iiShe is a rural college . free from the distractions and vices of city life. Every visitor to Oxford is impressed by the loyalty, diligence and seriousness of purpose characteristic of Miami students, free to think and develop amid the natural beauty and historic associations of this famous old college town. -- 1914 Miami publication February 17, 1809, $7500 soon proved to be woefully inadequate to meet the yearly expenses of the University. As a consequence, Miami early developed a reliance on the financial support of students and alumni to help secure her present and assure her future, a tradition of giving which continues to this day and helps account for much of Miamiis uniqueness. Yet Miamiis distinctiveness is attributed even more to the multiplicity of her roots. For in the square mile that was Ox- ford before the Civil War, no less than five institutions of higher learning emerged. The one called Miami was char- tered as a school for men only - there weren t any womens colleges in 1809. Then in the 1840is and 18505 when higher education for women finally came to be recognized as eminently desirable, three independent womens, col- leges emerged in Oxford e the Oxford Female institute in 1849 we recognize its prin- cipal building today by the name of the Oxford College Halli; the Western Female Seminary in 1853 tit was called Westernii because it was the western outpost of the Mount Holyoke SeminaIy of South Hadley, Massachusetts; Peabody Hall today is on the site of its original buildingi; and the Oxford Female Col- lege of 1856 tthe Marcum Conference Center now stands on its site, having re- placed O.F.C.is old Fisher Halli. In 1838 the Theological Recenslo - 1 907 175th Anniversary 1 7

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1 6 ' 175th Anniversary Above: In 191 9 the view down Slant walk was slightly different. The walk still took the same route, but bricks covered the entire walkway and the original Centennial Gates stood at the entrance. Right: These Sigma Chi's sat on their front porch in the years before females were first enrolled in 1889. The Sigma Chi's were founded at Miami in 1855, one of six Greek Alpha chapters established in Oxford. l- ar Right: Membership in the literary societies before the 19205 was highly prestigious. In this picture a new member was initiated into the Erodelphian Literary Society instead of its counterpart, the Union Society. Recensio - 1 91 9 Photo courtesy 10f Kaye YorWMurstein Alumni Center

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Right: Pole Rush used to be an institution at Miami during Scrap Day which was an annual competition between the freshman and sophomore classes. President Guy Potter Benton organized the first Pole Rush in 1903 to replace the perilous Tower Rush of years past. Photo courtesy of Kaye YorWMurstein Alumni Center 1 8 175th Anniversany