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Wabash College
File:Wabash College logo.jpg
Latin: Collegii Wabashensis
MottoScientiae et Virtuti
Motto in EnglishFor Knowledge and Virtue
EstablishedNovember 21, 1832
Typeprivate all-male
Endowment$320 million[1]
PresidentDr. Patrick E. White
Academic staff82
Undergraduates875
LocationUnited States Crawfordsville, Indiana, United States
40°2′17″N 86°54′18″W / 40.03806°N 86.90500°W / 40.03806; -86.90500Coordinates: 40°2′17″N 86°54′18″W / 40.03806°N 86.90500°W / 40.03806; -86.90500
Campus60 acres (24 ha)
NewspaperThe Bachelor
ColorsScarlet     
AthleticsNCAA Division III, NCAC
10 varsity teams
NicknameLittle Giants
MascotWally Wabash
Websitewabash.edu

Wabash College is a small, private, liberal arts college for men, located in Crawfordsville, Indiana, US. Founded in 1832 by several Dartmouth College graduates and Midwestern leaders, Wabash ranks in the top tier of national liberal arts colleges by the U.S. News & World Report.[2] Though there have been calls to institute coeducation, the trustees have consistently rejected such attempts. Because of this, Wabash remains one of the three remaining traditional all-men’s liberal arts colleges in the United States.

History[]

Caleb Mills, Wabash College's first faculty member, would later come to be known as the father of the Indiana public education system and would work throughout his life to improve education in the then-primitive Mississippi Valley area. Patterning it after the liberal arts colleges of New England, the College's founders resolved "that the institution be at first a classical and English high school, rising into a college as soon as the wants of the country demand." The "demand" occurred rapidly. It was initially named "The Wabash Teachers Seminary and Manual Labor College" but was soon changed as the college solidified. Still, until the early 1900s, the College also offered a "Preparatory School" in order to sufficiently prepare incoming students who may have come from less-rigorous rural high schools and had not had the opportunity to study the courses required for entrance to the College.[3] After declaring the site at which they were standing would be the location of the new school, they knelt in the snow and conducted a dedication service. Although Mills, like many of the founders, was a Presbyterian minister, they were committed to the idea that Wabash should be independent and non-sectarian.

Elihu Baldwin was the first President of the College from 1835 until 1840. He came from a church in New York City and accepted the Presidency even though he knew that Wabash was at that time threatened with bankruptcy. He met the challenge and gave thorough study to the "liberal arts program" at Wabash. After his death, he was succeeded by Charles White, a graduate of Dartmouth College, and the brother-in-law of Edmund O. Hovey, a professor at the college.[4]

Joseph F. Tuttle, after whom Tuttle Grade School in Crawfordsville was named in 1906 and Tuttle Middle School in 1960, became President of Wabash College in 1862 and served for 30 years. "He was an eloquent preacher, a sound administrator and an astute handler of public relations." Joseph Tuttle, together with his administrators, worked to improve relations in Crawfordsville between "Town and gown".[5]

During World War II, Wabash College was one of 131 colleges and universities nationally[6] that took part in the V-12 Navy College Training Program which offered students a path to a Navy commission.[7]

In 1996, Wabash became the first college in America to stage Tony Kushner's Angels in America.[8]

Academics[]

Curriculum[]

Wabash College's curriculum is divided into three divisions: Division I, Division II, Division III representing the natural sciences, social sciences, history and language. Wabash offers twenty-two major programs, several additional minors, and several areas of concentration.

Comprehensive Exams[]

Seniors at Wabash College take a comprehensive exam in their major subject. Over three days, there are two days of written exams and one day of oral exams. A senior must pass the examinations in order to be eligible for a degree.

Student Life[]

Student Culture and Traditions[]

Rhyneship was a freshman indoctrination program that took first semester freshmen, "rhynes" and acculturated them to Wabash. While some aspects of rhyneship were less visible, the most visible was the wearing of the "rhynie pot", a green hat with a red bill. When approaching a member of the faculty or Senior Council, the freshman would dip his pot as a sign of respect. This tradition is carried on by the pledges of the Phi Delta Theta Fraternity.

Student Government[]

The student government, referred to collectively as the Student Body of Wabash College, comprises executive and legislative branches. The executive authority of the student body is vested in a president and vice president, who chair the Senior Council and Student Senate, respectively. They are ex officio, non-voting members of the body that they do not chair. The president has broad powers of appointment over all Senate standing committees. The vice-president possesses a tie-breaking vote in the Student Senate.

The Student Senate of Wabash College is the legislative authority, consisting of senators from each residence hall and fraternity, four representatives from each of the three underclasses, and the chairmen of the Senate's standing committees. The body of approximately 32 voting members manages an annual budget of over $400,000, allocating funds and setting guidelines for recognized associations. The Senate also serves as a general student forum.

The Senior Council of Wabash College is a special quasi-legislative body comprising the presidents of certain student organizations and self-selected at-large councilmen. The Senior Council is responsible for representing student concerns to the faculty and administration, as well as fostering campus unity and maintaining proper regard for college traditions.

The Inter-Fraternity Council (IFC) is a body composed of representatives of each of the college's fraternities. It helps to organize recruitment activities, all-campus entertainment, and honors the chapters with the best Grade Point Average and Intramural Athletics record.

Student Organizations[]

Student Organizations at Wabash receive funding and recognition from the Student Senate. The student paper of Wabash College is The Bachelor and has been publishing since the early 1900s.

Fraternities[]

The Greek system has a unique role at Wabash. The first fraternity appeared at Wabash in 1846 and has been on campus continuously since. It was quickly followed by others. Many of the traditions of the college were begun and are maintained by the fraternities, both individually and collectively. On average, 50-60% of students belong to one of the campus's nine national fraternities.[9] Unlike most other colleges and universities, Wabash fraternity members — including pledges — live in the fraternity houses by default. While most Wabash fraternities allow juniors and seniors to live outside the house, the majority of Greek students live in their respective house all four years. This has led to the odd circumstance of a college with fewer than 1,000 students being dotted with Greek houses of a size appropriate to campuses ten times Wabash's size. The fraternity chapters range in size from approximately 40 to 70 members each.

The college and the fraternity system have created a somewhat symbiotic relationship that differs from most other colleges and universities. The college believes that the system largely accomplishes the task of quickly involving new students in the life of the college while also providing leadership opportunities for a larger number of students. All fraternity houses on campus, except one, are owned by the college. In 2009 the college and the fraternity's alumni associations completed a ten year project of rebuilding or renovating the chapter houses. At the same time, the college realized that fraternity life is not right for each student. Therefore the re-building project also included the renovation of most of the dormitories on campus.

List of Active Fraternities[]

Inactive Fraternities:

Endowment[]

For the 2012 fiscal year, the value of the college's endowment was approximately $320 million, making it one of the highest in the United States on a per-student basis. The endowment was created primarily over the past seventy years utilizing both major campaigns and estate planning with alumni. Those who have funded this endowment notably include the pharmaceutical industrialist Eli Lilly, the company his grandfather founded, and his heirs. The school's library is named after him as are a number of premier scholarships. During the most recent capital campaign, "Challenge of Excellence", between Fall of 2010 and 1 October 2012, the college raised $68.1 million, exceeding the original goal of $60 million.[10]

Athletics[]

The school's sports teams are called the Little Giants. They participate in the NCAA's Division III and in the North Coast Athletic Conference, where they are back-to-back-to-back-to-back (2005–2008) NCAC football champions. Every year since 1911, Wabash College has played rival DePauw University in a football game called the Monon Bell Classic. Wabash College is a member of the North Coast Athletic Conference. The rallying cheer of Wabash College athletics is "Wabash always fights". Wabash College competes in men's intercollegiate baseball, basketball, tennis, cross country, track and field, golf, football, soccer, swimming and diving, and wrestling. The head swim coach is Steve Barnes, and is assisted by Craig Fleming.

The basketball team at Wabash is coached by Antoine Carpenter, a 2000 Little Giant graduate. Carpenter replaced Malcolm "Mac" Petty who retired after 35 seasons at Wabash. Wabash won the 1981–82 NCAA Division III title with a 24–4 record. Wabash won the first national intercollegiate championship basketball tournament ever held in 1922.

Football at Wabash dates back to 1884, when student-coach Edwin R. Taber assembled a team and defeated Butler University by a score of 4–0 in the first intercollegiate football game in the history of the state of Indiana.[11] The current head football coach is Erik Raeburn.

In the summer of 2010, Wabash reconstructed Mud Hollow and Byron P. Hollett Stadium to provide the football, soccer, baseball and intramural teams with better athletic facilities.

Monon Bell Classic[]

Voted "Indiana's Best College Sports Rivalry" by viewers of ESPN in 2005, DePauw University and Wabash College play each November — in the last regular season football game of the year for both teams — for the right to keep or reclaim the Monon Bell. The two teams first met in 1890. In 1932, the Monon Railroad donated its approximately 300-pound locomotive bell to be offered as the prize to the winning team each year. The series is as close as a historic rivalry can be: Wabash leads the series 56–53–9. The game routinely sells out (up to 11,000 seats, depending upon the venue and seating arrangement) and has been televised by ABC, ESPN2, and HDNet Each year, alumni from both schools gather at more than 50 locations around the United States for telecast parties, and a commemorative DVD (including historic clips known as "Monon Memories") is produced each year. The most recent Monon Bell game, played on November 12, 2011, saw Wabash defeat DePauw 45-7.

In 1999, GQ listed the Monon Bell game as reason number three on its "50 Reasons Why College Football is Better Than Pro Football" list.

Summer programs[]

Wabash has a summer program for high school students: OLAB (Opportunities to Learn about Business).

OLAB is a co-ed program going into its 39th year at Wabash. OLAB is a one-week hands-on introduction to business and the market economy for young women and men entering their senior year in high school. In 2010, 44 students from 11 states and Korea participated in the OLAB program.

National rankings[]

There are approximately 2000 four-year colleges and universities in the United States. Over the years, various publications have attempted to "rank" them according to a variety of standards.

Wabash has long been ranked in the top-tier of all national liberal arts colleges in the annual U.S. News & World Report.[12]

According to the Princeton Review's Annual Rankings of College, Wabash was ranked nationally in the following categories:

  • Best career services, number 11
  • Professors get high marks, number 18
  • Most accessible professors, number 7
  • School runs like butter, number 11
  • Great financial aid, number 15
  • Students pack the stadiums, number 19
  • Best athletic facilities, number 2

Wabash College is also listed in Loren Pope's Colleges That Change Lives.

Notable alumni[]

Business

  • Robert Allen, former AT&T CEO (after whom the athletics and recreation center is named)
  • John Bachmann, former CEO of Edward Jones
  • Joseph D. Barnette, Jr., former CEO of Bank One
  • David A. Broecker, President of Harlan (company)
  • Robert Charles, inventor of the Happy Meal[13]
  • Kevin G. Clifford, President and CEO of American Funds
  • James Bert Garner (Head of Chemistry department, 1901–14); inventor of the gas mask used in World War I
  • James A. Davlin V, current Vice-President & Treasurer General Motors.
  • John N. Fox, Jr., former Vice-Chairman of Deloitte
  • Thomas Hays, former Chairman of The May Department Stores Company
  • William J. Wheeler, CFO of Metlife
  • Frederick W. Wilson, Jr., former Chairman and CEO of Saks Fifth Avenue
  • Daniel F. Evans, former Chairman of the Board and CEO of L. S. Ayres & Company

Politics

  • Bayless W. Hanna, Indiana Attorney General, United States Ambassador to Iran and United States Ambassador to Argentina
  • John C. Black, US Representative and Medal of Honor recipient
  • John Coburn (Indiana), United States Representative from Indiana
  • Hiram Orlando Fairchild, speaker of the Wisconsin State Assembly
  • Stephen Goldsmith, former Mayor of Indianapolis, former Deputy Mayor of New York City
  • Dwight Green, Governor of Illinois and Capone prosecutor
  • M. Ashraf Haidari, Deputy Chief of Mission & Political Counselor of the Embassy of Afghanistan in Washington-DC
  • Randall Head, Indiana State Senator, District 18
  • Andrew Hamilton, US Representative
  • Will Hays, postmaster general and film censor czar
  • Thomas Riley Marshall, twenty-eighth Vice-President of the United States (under Woodrow Wilson)
  • Joseph E. McDonald, US Representative and Senator
  • Thomas MacDonald Patterson, US Representative and Senator
  • Reginald Meeks, Kentucky State Representative
  • Luke Messer, Indiana House of Representatives
  • William Pittenger, US Representative
  • John Pope, Chicago alderman (10th ward)
  • Richard O. Ristine, Lieutenant Governor of Indiana, executive vice-president Lilly Endowment
  • Todd Rokita, United States Congressman
  • Richard J. Stephenson financier of conservative causes
  • Reginald H. Sullivan, Mayor of Indianapolis
  • Brent Waltz, Indiana State Senator, District 36
  • Charles P. White, former Indiana Secretary of State
  • Raymond E. Willis, US Senator
  • Henry Lane Wilson, US Ambassador to Mexico
  • James Wilson (Indiana), United States Representative
  • John L. Wilson, US Representative and Senator

Media and The Arts

  • Eric Daman, Emmy-winning costumer and fashion designer
  • Dean Jagger, Oscar-winning motion picture actor
  • Andrea James, LGBT rights activist and film producer
  • Kenyon Nicholson, playwright, film
  • Tim Padgett, Miami Bureau Chief, Time Magazine
  • Byron Price, winner of a Pulitzer Prize in Journalism (1944); Director of the Office of Censorship
  • Dean Reynolds, ABC News correspondent and son of ABC News anchor Frank Reynolds
  • Frank Reynolds, ABC World News Tonight anchor
  • Lawrence Sanders, American novelist
  • Allen Saunders, cartoonist
  • Dan Simmons, science-fiction author (who dedicated his novel Ilium to the college)
  • Sheldon Vanauken, author and C. S. Lewis confidante
  • Ryan Smith, CBS News, 48 Hours

Military

  • Major General Edward Canby, only United States general killed during the Indian Wars
  • General Charles Cruft, Civil War officer
  • Brigadier General Speed S. Fry, Civil War officer
  • Major General Lew Wallace, Civil War officer, statesman, and author of Ben-Hur.
  • Brigadier General John Coburn, Civil War officer; Accepted surrender of Atlanta.

Law

  • Albert Baker, co- founder Baker & Daniels (now Faegre Baker Daniels)
  • Edward Daniels, co-founder Baker & Daniels (now Faegre Baker Daniels)
  • Robert T. Grand, managing partner Barnes & Thornburg
  • David E. Kendall, President Bill Clinton's attorney, known for a number of anti-death penalty cases

Sports

Medicine

  • Goethe Link, innovative surgeon, accomplished aeronaut, co-founder of the Indiana University School of Medicine
  • Emery Andrew Rovenstine, co-founder of the American Society of Anesthesiologists
  • Robert G. Roeder, Arnold and Mabel Beckman Professor and Head of the Laboratory of Biochemical and Molecular Biology at The Rockefeller University.

Academia

  • George J. Graham, Jr., political theorist
  • John S. Hougham, natural scientist and President, Purdue University, 1876
  • Tom Ostrom, social psychologist
  • Dr. Mauri Ditzler, President, Monmouth College
  • Stephen H. Webb, theologian and philosopher of religion

See also[]

  • Monon Bell
  • Modular Neutron Array
  • 1922 National Intercollegiate Basketball Tournament

References[]

  • Gronert, Theodore G., Sugar Creek Saga: A History and Development of Montgomery County, Wabash College, 1958.
  1. As of September 30, 2012. "About Wabash" (webpage). Wabash College. http://wabash.edu/aboutwabash/. Retrieved February 12, 2013.
  2. "Wabash College | Best College | US News". Colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com. http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/wabash-college-1844. Retrieved 2012-11-08.
  3. Gronert: pg. 30–31, 107.
  4. Gronert: pg. 66–67.
  5. Gronert: pg. 205–206.
  6. Henry C. Herge. "Navy V-12, Vol. 12". Turner Publishing Co., 1996. http://books.google.com/books?id=utiWeaPsyvQC&pg=PA22&lpg=PA22&dq=v-7+navy+program&source=bl&ots=geSgzYlc0M&sig=bu896PgKd-zh-wir4kWdTX5SExg&hl=en&ei=ieJ8TomNCcLfsQL0lr0O&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=7&ved=0CE0Q6AEwBg#v=onepage&q=v-7%20navy%20program&f=false. Retrieved September 22, 2011.
  7. "V12 Reunion Brings Back Unique Alumni Group". Crawfordsville, Indiana: Wabash College. 2011. http://www.wabash.edu/news/displaystory.cfm?news_ID=3845. Retrieved November 8, 2011.
  8. "Wabash College, One of a Dying Breed". 1999. http://www.usnews.com/usnews/culture/articles/990208/archive_000234.htm. Retrieved February 22, 2013.
  9. "Most Students in Fraternities | Rankings | US News". Colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com. http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/rankings/most-frats. Retrieved 2012-11-08.
  10. "The Challenge of Excellence". Wabash College. http://www.wabash.edu/excellence/home.cfm. Retrieved 28 February 2013.
  11. Ancestry.com Edwin R. Taber
  12. "National Liberal Arts College Rankings | Top Liberal Arts Colleges | US News Best Colleges". Colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com. 2012-11-05. http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/liberal-arts-rankings/page+3. Retrieved 2012-11-09.
  13. "Kusa-Tv". M.9news.com. http://m.9news.com/news.jsp?key=200743. Retrieved 2012-11-08.

External links[]

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