Wake Forest University - Howler Yearbook (Winston Salem, NC)

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posing English ihcincs. tlic did little to intcilric with intercollegiate athletics. In fact, in T ' lS Wake Forest was able to beat State in football, and in I ' ' 20 the tennis team won the cup in the state tournament in Greensboro. In the fall of 1 ' ' 21 the facult - and trustees assumed financial responsibility and lull c ontrol of all college athletics. The noise made b ' spectators at athletic contests could not be heard, however, above the turmoil and dissension stirred up b - the e -olution controversy. Dr. Poteat believed lli.il llii ' dieory of e i)lulion was valid and that science and religion were not antago- nistic, and he did not hesitate to assert his beliefs. Moreover, he was living in a time when the word e olution could cause as much c.Kcitement as the word C:ommunism did thin -five years later. . s a result resolutions were drawn up by -arious associ- ations, declaring Thai we . . . belie e that this godless theory has no rightful place in any of our Baptist schools and That any school tolerating this theory thereby forfeits all claim t(j the financial and moral support of our Baptist people. This conllicl culminated on December 12. I ' )25. when (jiie could see, reported Dr. Edwin Minis in his c Ai ranrino South, a Poteat speaking to a Baptist Convention assembled to condemn his views on esolution and leaving them so overwhelmed with his sincerity and his spiritual insight that no one dares to speak against him. In the years following World War I, as enrollment in the college increased and fraternities were legalized, interest in th - literary .societies began to decline. Weary secretaries still made such marginal notes as I would just remark in a general way that this de- bate on the next page is a tiresome thing. Oh, ye CJod. how the medalists rant and rare. Members still took pride in the imposing furnishing of their respective halls. Rivalry still existed between the two societies, culminating each year in the two annual 14 li«.lipiiJlilip(||l|l|,l{lll|ip[l|P|lJlipp f p I! 1 mil I iltjil II 11(11111 UI JJ! ! ' -JJ! ' . ' .,l. 23

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.Wl. membership in the American Medical Association. When Dr. Tun lor resigned he was succeeded by William Louis Poteat, the first layman to become president of Wake Forest. During the administration of Dr. Poteat there were few abrupt changes in the life of the college. Instead the changes came about gradually as a result of the ne s ' policies of the presi- dent. Until 1883, when the Rev. Mr. R. T. Vann was called to the pastorate, the Wake Forest Baptist Church had had as its pastor the presiding officer of the college. Moreover, imtil Jiuic, ril4, the students had been required to attend the Sunday morning worship service and to indicate in chapel on Monday whether dicy had attended church the day before. In the October, 1887, issue of the ] ' ake Forest Student there appeared an article in which the editor, J. W. Lynch, later pastor of the Wake Forest Baptist Church and chaplain of the college, protested strongly against compulsory attendance at religious services. At Wake Forest, he argued, there are 12 services weekly that are of a religious character. Attendance at 7 of these is compul.sory. We are opposed to this regulation in vogue in many of the colleges of the country. We are opposed to an thing that savors of ecclesiastical tyranny. Despite the students ' increasing dislike for chapel services, however, the religious life on the campus has always been wholesome, invigorating, and pervasive. This interest in religion has been due in large measure to the examples of the spirit of Christianity and de- otion to religious ideals and activities set by such men as President Poteat and his son. Dr. H. M. Poteat, Dr. W. B. Royall. Dr. J. W. Lynch, and Dr. W. R. CkiUom. As early as the summer of 1914 Wake Forest began to feel the effects of the First World War. In com- pensation for the depiction of students the trustees voted to accept the plan of President Woodrow Wilson whereby young men, by joining the Student Army Training Corps, could attend classes rather than be sent to a training cainp. Although hiking, digging trenches, kitchen police, and other aspects of the military schedule interfered somewhat with conjugating Latin verbs and com- ■wrffrn

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conli-sts. Fouiulrr ' s I )a and Sociclv I tis. Tin- (loldcn As;c cjT the lilcraiA- soiiclics. hi) c cr, had |),iss:-d In thr spiin ol T ' D.i the collci r annual, ihc HnwiKK. Insi appealed, endorsed In- lln- lileiaiA soeietie.s. To eunipensale lor difficulties in hn.mein ' ,; it the staff usually dedicated the book to soineone with a well-padded pocketbook. Even so the editors and business managers went into debt, and in ' 2(i a jjublications fee was established to co er the costs ol IHiblieation of the Hciwi.er. Tin Sliulnil. and die Old (Udd and lilmk. which had been established under (jrixate ownership ten years before. Wake Forest first began to outgrow the bnuiul.iries of its rock wall in I ' X ' O, when the Bowni.m ( ha Foundation donated appro.xiniatcly a million dollars lor the establishment and support of a four-year med- ical college, to be located in Winston-.Salem and called the Bowman Gray .School of Medicine of Wake Forest College. The removal of the medical college and its expansion into a four-year school were effected in the summer of 1041. Another innovation in the college scene was brought about on January 15. l ' )42. when the Board of Trus- tees oted to accept the recommendation of Dean 1). B. Br an to admit young women on the same The potentialities for still greater service are unlimited terms as men. . dormitory was made available for women, but when the forty-seven girls arrived they found that it was already being occupied by the . rmy Finance .School. As a result the girls and their dean, Miss Lois Johnson, were forced to live off the campus for the duration. They did not, however, let the added distance deter them from making their presence felt in every phase of campus life. . mong the organizations affected by the admission of women was the student government. At first the college had made and enforced its own disciplinary rules concerning hazing and cheating on examina- tions. In 1922, however, a constitution was drawn up, and John Thomas became the first president of the student body. The student government was gradually developed, with the abandonment of such provisions as the prescribed freshman cap and mass hazing, until it now consists of a legislature and two honor councils — one for men and one for women. 1946 brought the beginning of a new era in the life of the college. The Z. .Smith Reynolds Foundation offered to pay Wake Forest as much as $350,000 a year in perpetuity if the college would provide the necessary buildings on a new campus in Winston- Salem. The Baptist .State Cbn ention otcd to accept the offer; the old campus was .sold to the .Southern Baptist Convention for the establishment of the Southeastern Baptist .Seminary, and under the leader- ship of President H. W. Tribble an intensi -e fund- raising campaign was begun. Now, ten years later, this dream of a new campus is to be fulfilled. This year students still elected their magnolia queen, cheered tlieir teams on to -ictory, attended chapel, went on clioir and debate trips, isitccl iShorty s, painted sceneiy and smeared grease paint, played ping-pong, handball, and tennis, joined fraternities and acce[3ted pins, crammed for c|iiizzes, went to vespers, mixed chemicals and peered through microscopes, kept nightly vigils on Pub row. Attention was focused, however, not upon the forests of Wake, but upon the hills of Forsyth. The seminar - had already begun to take o er the old campus; faculty members were eager to get settled in their new homes; an atmosphere of anxious waiting and hopeful anticipation prevailed. The college was ready to make another forward step, a step which would be the culmination of all its past achievements and traditions and the foundation lor future progress.