Bridgewater College: the First Hundred Years, 1880-1980 437
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VIII The Presidency of Jacob Ira Baugher 1946-1948 The Choice of a New College Head In response to President Paul Haynes Bowman's formal resignation of his office on April 9, 1945, the college's board of trustees instructed its chairman, John C. Myers, to appoint a committee to search for and recommend a successor. The committeemen were Charles W. Wampler (chairman), Malcolm A. Long, R. Douglas Nininger, John A. Pritchett, and Isaac C. Senger.1 On November 6, 1945, the trustees, accepting the recommendation of its special committee, unanimously elected Jacob Ira Baugher as president of the college, and Dr. Baugher agreed to serve in the position, his term of office to begin on July 1, 1946. In choosing Dr. Baugher, the trustees had considered a statement, presented by Earl M. Bowman and Jacob F. Replogle (representing 16 Church of the Brethren clergymen of Virginia, West Virginia, and Maryland), of what they believed to be desirable qualifications for a president of Bridgewater.2 The choice of Dr. Baugher was applauded by those who knew him. "I cannot think of anyone in the Church [of the Brethren], whom I would prefer having as my successor," declared President Bowman,3 who, in the intervening months, did all he could to help his successor make the adjustment to his new office, in the matter of making plans and faculty appointments for the coming session.4 Others who knew the president-elect also felt that his native ability, his training and experience, his character and personality eminently qualified him for the position to which he had been chosen. At Dr. Baugher's request, the college undertook no elaborate inauguration affair. He preferred instead, a planning conference. 5 1TrM, April 9, 1945. 2TrM, Nov. 6, 1945. 3PHB to Jacob I. Baugher, Nov. 6, 1945 (copy), AMML. 4rhe Baugher-PHB correspondence, 1945-46, is in the AMML. 5TrExCornM, May 17, 1946. 435 436 The Presidency of Jacob Ira Baugher, 1946-1948 The New Leader Jacob Ira Baugher (1889-1949), the son of Aaron S. Baugher and Lydia M. (Buser) Baugher, was a native of York County, Pennsylvania. He was educated at Elizabethtown College (B. A., 1923) and at Teachers College, Columbia University (M. A., 1925; Ph. D., 1930). He was professor of education and psychology at Elizabethtown College, 1923-29; superintendent of the public schools in Hershey, Pennsylvania, 1929-42; and visiting professor at Pennsylvania State College during the summers, 1938-42. During the war years, 1942-44, he was a senior education specialist in the planning research branch of the War Production Board. From 1944 to 1946, he was director of teacher education and professor at Manchester College, and in 1946 he assumed the presidency of Bridgewater College.6 Bridgewater's retiring president, Paul Haynes Bowman, referred to Dr. Baugher as "the first professional educator" to be Bridgewater's administrative head.7 JACOB IRA BAUGHER President of the college, 1946-48 6Who's Who in American Education (1947-48), p. 76. 7PHB, Southeast, p. 269. Bridgewater College: The First Hundred Years, 1880-1980 437 President-elect Baugher, 57 years old and robust in appearance, was a person of strong character, high principles, and progressive ideas. His "kindly and friendly manner," his unpretentiousness, his straightforwardness and courtesy, and "his truly democratic spirit" inspired respect, confidence, and cooperation. He was an able speaker and a strong churchman, and he had a pleasing personality. He had already demonstrated, in previous offices he had held, commendable administrative ability.8 He and Mrs. Baugher were the parents of seven children, already grown to adulthood. Their domicile, in Bridgewater, was the former Yount-McCann-Bowman house (no longer standing) along the northeast side of East College Street, opposite Founders' Hall. A number of problems confronted the new president. One was that of completing faculty appointments for positions left vacant by resignations. Another was that of providing housing accommodations for the burgeoning student population in the early post-war years. Other problems awaiting solution were the need for more classrooms and laboratory equipment, more books and larger quarters for the college library, a new and larger gymnasium, an athletic field not soggy after rains, and a campus center building; also the need for higher salaries for faculty members and administrators, and the need of an adequate college endowment fund. These problems, and others, President Baugher set out to tackle with vigor and enthusiasm, and with high hopes and aspirations. Other Officials President Baugher found it necessary to make some appointments to the college's administrative staff because of the resignation, in 1946, of certain officials, among them Everett R. Shober, the faculty's "executive secretary'' (academic dean and registrar) since 1943, and Morley J. Mays, assistant to President Paul Haynes Bowman, director of public relations, and the alumni association's executive secretary. Charles C. Wright became acting academic dean and Mrs. Betty M. Ray acting registrar for the session, 1946-47. John W. Boitnott (B. A., Bridgewater; M. A., Ph. D., University of Virginia) became academic dean and registrar, as well as head of the Education Department, on July 1, 1947. Ida E. Shockley (B. A., Manchester College; M. A., University of Chicago) became "Dean of Students," a new position in which she served, 1946-48, while also teaching English. W. Earl Breon (B. A., McPherson College; B. D., Bethany Biblical Seminary) became for two years, 1946-48, director of public relations and of the Expansion Movement (for financial support). Rebecca Gene Bowman (B. S., Bridgewater) became the college's dietitian and instructor of home economics in 1947, and served in those capacities for two years. Rufus B. King (B. A., Bridgewater; M. S., Virginia Polytechnic Institute) became the alumni association's executive secretary in 1947, and remained in that position until 1956.9 Professor Rudolph A. Glick, of the Bridgewater faculty, was director of the college's summer sessions of 1946 and 1947.10 In 1948, Dean Boitnott became the director. Cecil C. Ikenberry continued to serve as the college's business manager and treasurer. 8Bee, March 21, 1947, p. 1; Oct. 17, 1947, p. 1; PHB, Southeast, pp. 268-69. 9TrM, Feb. 25, April 25, 1946; Newsette, Aug., 1946, pp. 3, 4; B, Dec., 1946, p. 8; Oct., 1947, p. 3; Dec., 1947, p. 3; Oct., 1948, p. 3. l°'rrM, April 25, 1946; B, Oct., 1947, p. 4. 438 The Presidency of Jacob Ira Baugher, 1946-1948 JOHN W. BOITNOTT The college's academic dean, 1947-67; its registrar, 1947-62; and director of its summer sessions, 1948-61, and 1963-66. CECIL C. IKENBERRY The college's business manager and treasurer, 1941through1957; its superintendent of buildings and grounds, 1941-49; and the supervisor of the college's farm, 1941-47, and 1953-57. Bridgewater College: The First Hundred Years, 1880-1980 439 The Students and Their Living Quarters Dr. Baugher's presidency witnessed a considerable increase in student enrollment, due largely to an influx of World War II veterans. In the session, 1946-47, the enrollment was 445, more than 55 percent greater than that (286) in 1945-46; in 1947-48, it was 512. In the 1946-47 session, 140 (31 percent) of the students were war veterans; in the next session, 185 (36 percent). The students came from 16 of the nation's states. About 75 percent of them were Virgi:aians. Half of the students in both sessions were members of the Church of the Brethren. Methodists, Presbyterians, and Baptists were the next largest church groups. 11 In the session, 1947-48, there were three Chinese students, who left Canton when the communists were coming into power in their country. One of those students, Lillian Wai Lan Chan, received the B. A. degree from Bridgewater in 1948, and the M. D. degree from the Medical College of Virginia in 1953. The resident male students were housed in Wardo Hall and in North Hall, the name Professor Rudolph A. Glick suggested several weeks after the dormitory was opened in September, 1946. 12 The resident female students were lodged in Yount Hall, Rebecca Hall, the George B. Flory House, the Alumni House, and the Apartment House. Resident married students and their families lived in the 14 trailers stationed in front and on the site of, what is today Nininger Hall. Other students, not living with their families, found rooms in or near the town of Bridgewater .13 During the summer of 1946, three students, Arby H., Paul V., and Raymond C. Phibbs, brothers, by agreement with the college, built a five-room dwelling for themselves and their families back of what is now Kline Campus Center. They made it from two garages which they placed parallel to each other and then joined by constructing an intermediate section. College officials, however, persuaded them to give up their dwelling and move into other quarters (which they were to have rent-free), so as to enable the use of "The Cottage" (as it came to be known) as a residence for 11 college girls. Arby and Paul, and their families, moved into the trailer village, and Raymond into Wardo Hall. In later years, the Cottage (which stood until 1970) was occupied at times by married students, at other times by faculty or administrative staff members and their families. 14 In the summer of 1947, the college had the Nielsen Construction Company, of Harrisonburg, build (at a cost of $24,295.56) another temporary men's residence, an L-shaped, one-story structure, adjacent to North Hall, the two buildings together forming a rectangle. "North Hall Annex" (as it was called), occupied in October, 1947 (and removed in 1959), housed 37 male students and a resident director.