Northeastern University - Cauldron Yearbook (Boston, MA)

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Just what were they celebrating anyway? The University ' s History 1898-1974 In 1898, what was to become Northeastern University was embod- ied in a series of night courses in law sponsored by the Boston Young Men ' s Christian Association and Lowell Institute; and in the person of Frank Palmer Speare. Head of the YMCA ' s education division since 1896, it was Speare whose imagina- tion, perseverance, and work enlarged the scope of course offerings and di- rected the organizational development which culminated in the incorporation of Northeastern College in 1916. Frank Palmer Speare Speare ' s major objective was the promotion of unique educational op- portunities for young men. Beginning at the YMCA, and later as Northeast- ern ' s first president, he guided the institution through its early years of growth and experimentation. Northeastern is not an old institu- tion. Many of the men who have de- voted their lives to helping the univer- sity get off the ground are still alive. The university represents the at- tempts and failures, the strengths and weaknesses which result in any effort conceived and nurtured by a group of Carl Stephens Ell men. The ideas of men sometimes require many tests and much use be- fore they can be recognized as either successful or unsuccessful. Many of the things the university does now may prove in time to have been based on faulty reasoning. Then improve- ments will follow. No one is omniscient enough to in- stitute a program secure in the knowl- edge that it will succeed and continue to be relevant forever. In spite of occa- sional failures, in specific situations, the basic philosophy and structure of the institution as established by Speare seem to be stable. The university ' s three presidents have carried the institution through different phases. Speare ' s era was one of experimentation and formulation. Ell ' s administration was one of per- sonal rule in spite of the rapid growth of the campus and the ever- Asa Smallidge Knowles increasing size of the student body. During his tenure President Knowles has had to respond to the monumental pressures exerted by the sixties, with more students than ever, and with the impending Diamond Anniversary dawning over a cramped and suddenly inadequate campus .

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Other events of the Diamond Anniversary celebration includ- ed the minting of a sterling sil- ver commemorative plate by the Franklin Mint. For $150, alum- ni were offered the opportunity to purchase one of a limited edi- tion of the plate, which con- tained the Northeastern Uni- versity seal with the words 75th Anniversary replacing Boston, Massachusetts as it appears on the ordinary seal. The plates were minted in sterling silver, with the seal in- laid in gold. After the October 3 deadline for orders had passed, the plates were minted and the dies were destroyed, thus pre- serving their exclusive com- memorative value. In the first major expansion project since the completion of the Criminal Justice building in 1969, the Diamond Anniversa- ry year saw the groundbreaking for an addition to the Mugar building. To be called the Ame- lia Peabody Allied Health Pro- fessional Center, named after a member of the Board of Trus- tees, the five-story building was scheduled for completion in Fall, 1974. To be used by members of the colleges of Criminal Justice, Liberal Arts, and Pharmacy and Allied Health, the addition was planned to include medical and dental facilities, biology labora- tories, and research areas.

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Copley Square YMCA - 1908. The philosophy of Northeastern has always been to offer unique edu- cational opportunities without overly duplicating the efforts of other local institutions. In 1898, the Evening Law School was started, which in 1904 was incorporated with degree privileges. The Law School was one of the main- stays of the developing university for 55 years. The first formal program of the university, it offered working men the chance to study law at night. In 1953, the Law School was phased out for 17 years because it seemed to du- plicate unnecessarily the efforts of the many local law schools which had been established during the first half of the twentieth century . The philosophy of offering unique opportunities sprang from the fact that the Evening Institute courses were entirely dependent on communi- ty interest for their success or failure. To become just one more in a large number of institutes offering dupli- cate programs would have spread the public too thin. The Evening Institute thus offered unique opportunities, procuring the entire segment of the community interested in its particular programs. The favorable response to the law courses offered in 1897 encouraged the YMCA directors to approve Speare ' s plans for more advanced law courses to be offered beginning in 1898. This more formal program was to become the first school of North- eastern, and thus its inauguration is considered the actual start of the university. Huntington Avenue — c. 1925 . With Speare ' s perseverance and ini- tiative, the Evening Institute grew from an eraser and two sticks of chalk into a viable organization. Ear- ly successes were achieved through the teamwork of its organizers and the enthusiasm of its students . In the early years of the Evening Institute, Speare inaugurated many courses, some of which populated, others of which died for lack of inter- est. The unsuccessful course is exem- plified by one called Knots and Splices which Speare conceived simply be- cause he knew a retired sea captain available to teach it and because he thought it would be useful and intri- guing. No one shared his interest e- nough to enroll, and the course was never taught.