New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1903-02-01
THE SYRIAN COLLEGE AT BEIRUT.
An Appeal for a Half Million Endowment
Fund.

An endowment of $4,000 is asked for by the
board OF trustees of the Syrian Protestant College
at Beirut. This institution has been doing note
worthy work for the Of higher Christian e1u-
cation In the East FOR over third of a century.
1t was established in 1855 the outgrowth of sue
cessfu missionary In its first year the
Der of students 16. and this year it is
pected TO reach SO.
The students of the college drawn mostly
from the Christian population of the countries
under Mahometan governments, but about 10 per
from non-Christian sects-Mahometaps.
Druses and Jews. The geographical area from
which they extends from the Black Sea to the
soudan, and from Egypt and Greece to Persia a
district large as the United States east of the
Mississippi
The location of the college at Beirut. a city
trally situated and healthful. of twelve thousand
people, gives if many advantages. The college
a site of about forty acres, in the de-
sirabe part Of the city. There are fifteen perma-
nent buildings Of large size, and well equipped for
the purposes for which they used, well
several smaller structures Since its establishment
institution has 27e2 students under its in
struction. and there graduated 2O3 bache-
lors of art 189 physicians. 81 pharmacists and 462
preparatory students The medical department
opened in 1851. the preparatory IN 1871 and the
commercial in 1900. The college Is Christian, but
not sectarian. 1t educates young from the
fields of score of missionary societies of numer
Gus denominations. Its graduates and other stu
dents occupy positions of influence civil and
physicians and pharmacists, physicians
of military and secular hospitals. lawyers. judges.
civil functionaries teachers, preachers. editors.
authors and merchants. number Of them in
the military and consular service
The rapid growth of the college. especially with
in the last five years, while a most gratifying
evidence Of prosperity is source of great anxiety
to the trustees and faculty. The endowment of
the institution is little larger than It twenty
years ago, when there were six members Of the
faculty and eight instructors, most of the latter
AT rie he irro of 1{c ar6o M
owing to the general lowering of the rate of in
terest, is less now than then, although there are
sixteen members Of the faculty and twenty-five
instructors, the latter at much higher salaries
than formerly. While the income from students
is larger 1t is not sufficient offset the enhanced
cost OF instruction Nor 1t provide for proper
increase of the salaries Of professors made neces-
sary by the advanced Of living and especially
for a graduated increase Of such salaries in pro-
portion TO length Of service.
The addition of buildings has considerably aug
mented the cost Of administration Science Hall
implies the establishment OF curatorship, and an
adequate fund for the maintenance and increase
of its collections and apparatus. The valuable col
lections. worth least $4,000, and much of them
impossible to replace If suffered to deterorate or
be lost by neglect call urgently for efficient
means OF preservation and gradual enlargement.
The trustees who are Morris Sesup presdeen n
Samuel S. Dennis Alexander Maitland and v
Everit Macy. say that the institution has now
reached a stage Of its progress in which it is In
danger from Its rapid and phenomenal success.
IL Il cannot be provided with funds sufficient to
meet the wants growing out Of this success, it
must go backward. RetrenChT1ent means Gripping
the courses of instruction and SO lessenng the
prestige OF the institution. the number of Its stu
dents and the present leadership in higher Chris
tan education.
They therefore ask for $4,000 TO provide for the
new professo.shps and instructorships established;
$50 90 for maintenance of Science Hall and d
curator: $4,000 for hospital pavilions for women
and children and training school; $4,000 for the
endowment Of forty-siX beds in the same, and
500 900 for pavions and endowment Of forty beds
for eve ear and skin diseases.
The institution IS chartered under the laws OF
this State with the corporate name OF The tTus-
tees of the Syrian Protestant college The ad-
dress OF the treasurer is No. s9 John.st.