DOCUMENT RESUME -tD--077 365 HE'004 160 AUTHOR Hackensmith, Charles William TtTLE Ohio Valley Higher Education in the Nineteenth Century. INSTITUTION Kentucky Univ., Lexington. Bureau of School Service. PO DATE Mar 73- r-- 136p. ,AVAILABLE FROMBureau of School Service Bulletin, University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky 40506 ($1.00) JOURNAL CIT Bureau of School Service Bull( in; v45 n3 p1-135 Mar 1973 ORS: PRICE MF-$0.65 BC-$6.58 DESCRIPTORS Bibliographies; Church Related Colleges; *Educational History; *Higher Education; *Historical RevieWs; *Leadership; *-UniVersities ABSTRACT The history of higher education in the Ohio Valley in the 19th century is reviewed-in light of leadership and dogma, theoidgy, and religion-6 bickering. Emphasis is placedon Washington and Jefferson College, Transylvania University, denominational colleges in Kentucky, Miami. University, and Ohio University. An ekbl-e-nsive bibliography is included. (MJM) FILMED FROM BEST AVAILABLE COPY t*VOUCATio U S OEPARTMENT OF HEALTH. EDUCATION &WELFARE NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF EOUCATION THIS DOCUMENT HAS BEEN REPRO DUCE° EXACTLY AS RECEIVED FROM THE PERSON OR ORGANIZATION ORIGIN Ant,46 IT POINTS OF VIEW OR OPINIONS STATED DO NOT NECESSARILY REPRE SENT OFFICIAL NATIONAL INSTITUTE Or EDUCATION POSITION OR POLICY //////11/IWISi VOLUME XLV MARCH 1973 NUMBER 3 BUREAU OF SCHOOL SERVICE COLLEGE OF EDUCATION UNIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY -FILMED FROM Br-Sir AVAILABLECOPY Editorial Staff for the Bureau of School Service Bulletin Editor: W. Paul Street, Director, Bureau of School Service, University of Kentucky ASsistant Editor: Ann Major, Bureau of Scheel Service, UniVersity of Ken- .' tucky Editorial Advisory Committee: Collins Burnett, Chairrnan/Professor,_Higher and Adult Education Robert Driska, Associate, Vocational Education Gordon Liddle, Professor, Educational Psychology and Counseling William Peters, Assistant Professor, Curriculum and Instruction Paul Street, Director, Professor, Administration and Supervision Robert Valyo, Assistant Professor, Special Education Peter Verhoven, Assistant Professor, Health, Physical Education and and Recreation Richard Warren, Chairman/Associate Professor, Social and Philosophical Studies Second-class postage paid at Lexington, Kentucky 40506. Published quarterly by the University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky. Price $1 postpaid. 4'1 c:a Ohio ValleyHigher.rtEducation in the NineteenthCentury By Charles William Hackensmith 3 BUREAU OF SCHOOL SERVICE BULLETIN Volume XLV March 1973 Number 3 College of Education University of Kentucky, Lexington TABLE rOF,cONTENTS PAGE B'oreWord 3 I.Washington and Jefferson College 5 II.Transylvania University 12 III.Denominational Colleges in Kentucky 36 IV.Miami University 56 V.Robert Hamilton Bishop 68 VI.Indiana University 81 VII.Dr. Andrew Wylie 87 VIII.Ohio University (1804-1839) 96 IX.Ohio University (1839-1843) 112 X.William Holmes McCulley (1800-1873) 119 FOREWORD Dr. -Haekensinith's book- -Will--be_, periant, to fieUlty- and graduate students who -are interested -intlie- hiitoiical backgrounds during-the inine- teefith century of college presidents and-the institutions-:they served in Kentucky, Indiana, and Ohio. Students of the aintellectual history of that period in America will find this book an excellent reference, also. One, of Dr. Haekenainith'sMajor thernes is that the -history of higher education in the Ohio Valley during the- nineteenth century is a Study of the leadership or the collegepresident.If -the president were successful as a scholar and a leader, the college had -a period of- prosperity and success. If the president failed in leadership, enrollments declined, faculty moved to °ther institutions, and finance became a problem. President Holley Of Transylvania University, for example, increased enrollment from 1)0 in- 1816 to 282 in 1821, placing it third in comparison with Yale and Harvard. By 1826, the enrollment had increased to 418, the faculty in law and medicine were gaining national recognition, and the institutionwas in a prosperous period. Other early outstanding college presidents were Andrew Wylie of Indiana University, Robert Hamilton Bishop of Miami University, and Jacob Lindley of Ohio University. Another relator theme in this book isthat dogma, theology, and religioui bickering were a part of, the founding and the struggle for existence of the denominational colleges founded in the Ohio Valley.fil- ternal dissension over man's original sin was a part of the squabble that led to Dr. Holley's dismissal at Transylvania, but even worse, thisconcern about human depravity ruined forever the chance for national greatness at that institution. Perhaps this sort of stranglehold on church dominated colleges in the early nineteenth century started the wave of secularism Which in 1973 has placed church control at the trace level rather than critical mass stage. Perhaps a lesser theme but one that is very evident, nonetheless, is that higher education in the Ohio Valley in the nineteenth century was a sub system of American society and as such faced problems similar to, ones which are a part of the contemporary scene. The colleges were a part of a changing society, a milieu -of the past era and the dynamic surge of new forces. The Kentucky legislature took a stand in Transyl- vania's development. President Fee of Berea College found his stance on slavery unpopular with friends and supporters of the College. 3 , Dr. Hackensmith has written an historical approach withcareful doc- umentation which is also a behavioral narrative -in that success 'or failure Of the early colleges in the Ohio Valley was a mix of personalities reacting with each other and to the social and economic forces of the .time. Collins W. Burnett Professor of Higher. Education UniverSity of Kentucky Via, per quam ad hanc horam venistii, ardua et difficulis fu'it... Nam discipuli via non semper rosarum, sed saepe spinarum via est. DR. DANIEL STEVENSON The road through which you have come to this hour has been tortuous and difficult,... for the way of the learner is not always lined with roses; it is often beset with thorns. 4 CHAPTER I HIGHER EDUCATION AND LEADERSHIP IN THE OHIO VALLEY DURING THE NINETEENTH= -CENTURY C. W. Ildekenstnith Washington and JeffersOn College Of all the traits which wily western societycultivated, of all the ideals it sought to reali?.e, moral education seems most universally, most con- sistently, most earnestly and ardently desired. It is true that the idea of moral education was not uniquely an idea of the West; it was an eastern idea transported into the West.It found virgin soil which encouraged a luxurant growth, -and it was tended by earnest gardeners who were, in their way, adventurers so that a transplanted idea thrived in its new free- dom until it came to be the most flout ishing and repreientative product of the West. At no time or -place in American history has an enthusiasm for higher education been so marked, and the provisions for itso amply provided. The early culture of the Ohio Valley offered little enough'art; its lack of age and tradition hindered that; but it established schools and colleges throughout the West and offered to the free citizens abundant opportunities for liberal education. In doing this, western democracy destroyed the last barrier between the aristocrat and the common man. Then it went a step farther in the culture of the Ohio Valley; women found themselves for the first time granted equal educational privileges with men. The early phase of the history of higher education in the Ohio Valley isthe history of the denominational college.In this field of cultural endeavor the organized church assumed the lead. The states,itis true. recognized their responsibilitieS and made provisions for endowments and grants for the support of schools, but the responsibilities for the establish- ment of the colleges and the development of their programs was assumed by the church. The educational program which resulted was, consequently, of a moral nature. So desely interwoven are these phases of religions and educational culture, therefore, that itis impossible to discuss the one without discussing the other. The effort toward higher education was, however, but one phase or expression of the religious culture of the West; but it is the phase wind' has contributed the most valuable and enduring monuments. While all sects were more or less active in the development of programs for higher education, the Presbyterian Church was most aggressive. The plans, therefore, were rigidly orthodox and conservative, shaped after the pattern employed in preparing Presbyterian ministers in Edinburgh and 5 Princeton, and taking little note of advanced, challenging ideas.The ministers to whose lot the development of these programs fell were, however, by no means lacking in spirit. They were young men, cautious, itis true, yet imaginative and capable of appreciating the inadequacies of conventional sytsems.Itis to the individual vision and initiative of these men, therefore, -that western 'culture is indebted for educational_ programs much more liberal and progressive than those of eastern .institu- dons. In the opinion of English observers, American educational standards, even in the East, were not high. Curricula were meager and faculties were inadequate. Even in the best universities the courses of study impressed one as woefully narrow and distorted. The disproportionate emphasis on Greek, Latin, and Hebrew, and the neglect of the sciences were problems which western educators