New York University - Violet Yearbook (New York, NY)

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security, graduates gave more time to self- analysis and thoughts about their later years in a world they had not made but must continue. I Similar uncertainty with less disastrous consequences, was general some one hundred and twenty years ago. Then, the cause was the accession to the presi- dency of Andrew Jackson, with the control of the nation passing from the aristocratic, landed few to the unprepared masses as a result. O So long as this ruling class re- mained socially and politically ignorant, so long as it could not lead, there was danger. Fear of such a situation provoked public- minded men throughout the country to find means to educate the people. In New York City a group met to lay the foundation of a university whose purpose would be to pro- vide useful and practical education for the now governing elements. A school of liberal arts already existed in New York, devoted to the training of men for the professions, but the new university was planned to serve men who intended to enter business, engi- neering, or architecture, but who lacked the classical background necessary for admission to the universities of the day. U The gene- sis of the university was a meeting held on English Department Chairman-Professor Albert Ste- phens Borgman: flllilfg Michigan, A.B. 1911, Har- vard, A.M. 'l9'l2, Ph.D. 1919. December 30, 1829, presided over by the Reverend James Mathews, who later be- came the first chancellor. The men at the meeting decided to invite leading citizens of New York to a gathering, at which the actual formation of this university would be dis- cussed. At the second session, General Mor- gan Lewis, former governor of New York, 'NN Trees, hedges, and bush. Trees shade, they cover, and they lighten the spirits: This green plot shall be our stage . . . - Midsummer-Night's Dream

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..-f Peace was a year old when the Class of 1950 began to study at University Heights, and crises were already developing. While men studied within the separated area of forty-three semirural acres, the world they were to live in was being changed. Sus- picion replaced cooperation and doubt be- came the successor to belief in progress. The K Classics Department Chairman-Professor Albert Billheimer: rx, fllllli, liflili, 'i'Ii.x, ll:-lf, .vlfila Gettysburg College, A.B. 1906, Princeton, A.M. 1910, Ph.D, 1918. last year of the first half of the twentieth century saw an increase in the frequency of disturbances, and that an allusion to a Geiger counter could be drawn to describe this situation, indicates the most important fear and problem facing the country. C lt was an unusual year in many ways. There was the weather, which got itself confused, bringing dry Thursdays and colds. Less universal instances of uneasiness were the song revivals and the return to the Twenties for women's fashions, investigations and ac- cusations, the large play given to the extra- marital life of Hollywood stars, rising un- employment and restricted hiring in several fields, a dull year on Broadway, indications of growing religious interest, and extremes in various aspects of social life. 0 Almost everyone had received a lesson in the chem- istry of death. The hydrogen bomb was widely discussed, and although it was de- nounced as a weapon of destruction with unknown possibilities, the world was still building into two armed camps. The future was unexpectedly cloudy, and doubts and fears grew. Not yet a lost generation and determined to live in peace and accustomed

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Physics Department Chairman--Professor Joseph C. Boyce: Princeton, B.A. 1922, M.A. 1923, Ph.D. 1926. was elected chairman, and universal educa- tion for the preservation of a republican form of government, training in more practical subiects, and non-sectarian control were adopted as the principles upon which the university would be established. O An in- teresting innovation was a meeting to discuss the organization of the university, to which such notables as former Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin and Daniel Webster were invited. The control of the university was put in the hands of a council, elected by the shareholders, which in turn would elect a chancellor to serve as executive head of the institution. O Having little more than half of the proposed capital, the University, chartered by the New York State Legislature in April, 1831, opened its gates at Clinton Hall. The initial matriculated class contained one hundred and thirty-eight students, of whom thirty-six received their baccalau- reates. In order to keep the school in opera- tion, the administration faced the problem of raising sufficient funds and the construc- tion of a permanent building. When it was German Department Chairman-Professor Henry Brennecke: IIN, 'l'liK, Columbia College, A.B. 1914, A.M. 1915, New York University, Ph.D. 1926. discovered that Chancellor Mathews had neglected to alleviate the school's financial deficit and that the University was running deeply into debt, he resigned and steps were taken to pay off the obligations. O ln the summer of 1833 the construction of the mar- ble, Gothic-style building which was to be-