The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1909-10-21
MIDDLEBURY COLLEGE GROWING
A New Building For Men and New
Gymnasium Necded-RepOrt of
President Thomas.

freshman class at Middlebuly
College numbers SO, so men and As
women. The total registration is 1853
all regular students and candidates
for the degree of A. B. and B. s..
The entering class shows a gain OF
% over last year, and the total at
tendance is Al larger than year
ago.
President John NJ. Thomas has JUST
issued his first annual report, in
which he takes the public fully into
his confidence as to the endowment
of the college, the receipts from tut
ton and other sources, and the needs
of the institution. 1t appears that
Middlebury has a plant valued con-
servatively at $225,000, and resources
of 1851, 600, of which $4,000 will he
expended in the erection of a new
building the coming year. The in
come last year was $4,000, of which
81, 095 was received from students
The gain in income the first year of
President Thomas administration
was over $4,000. The college has nn
debt and the treasurers report shows
efficient business management The
gifts Of the past year were over $140,-
600, a larger amount than for many
years.
The increase in students, which
has been steady for the past six
years, taxes the buildings to their
capacity, and new recitation halls,
laboratories and dormitories must De
provided. The report proposes Il
100000 expansion fund, to include
$4,000 for a new building for men
and $4,000 for a new gymnasium,
which it is proposed to place in
charge of a college officer who
would give instruction in physiology
and hygiene and have charge of ath-
letics. Middlebury is much better off
in scholarships for students than
in professorships, and the endow-
ment of other chairs in adequate
amounts is urged
During the past year two deans
were appointed to assist the presi-
dent in keeping in close touch with
the students. Prof. Walter z. How
ard was made dean of men and Miss
Rhoda M. White dean of women.
Miss White, who holds the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy from the Uni
versity of Wisconsin and whose spec
iaty is sociology. is the first woman
to hold official position in Middle
bury. The interests of the women
students are her special charge and
she VIII have general oversight of
all their enterprises. Six new pro-
fessors are added to the Faculty this
year, and the instrucing staff now
numbers nineteen.
The summer session is declared to
have been a great success. Eighty
seven students were registered, of
whom fifty-eight were teachers and
forty-five Vermont teachers. The
work OF the students was of excep-
tionally high quality, and the loyalty
of Middlebury professors and alum.
nj is shown by the fact that seven
teen of them gave six weeks instruc-
ton at the summer session without
pay.
The report shows that Middlebury
is making rapid and substantial pro.
gress along wise lines. During the
year President Thomas made over
100 addresses outside of Middlebury
in the interest of the college. The
principal achievements were the rails
ing of the Pearsons fund of 100000
in exactly a years time, the securing
of an annual appropriation of $4,000
from the State for the establishment
of a department of pedagogy for the
training of teachers, and the increase
of income from students of four
times what it was the year previous
With the attendance this year over
forty what it was last, the outlook
for Middlebury's future is indeed
bright.
President Thomas closes his re-
port with these words: II believe
in Middlebury College, in its past and
in it's fucure. / am persuaded :,
we have a duty to American co
ton, and to a large number d
terestiog and promising young men
and women. Our problems, especial
ly as to the coordinate education of
men and women in a long-establish-
ed eastern college, are unique, and
our attempts at their solution will
be observed widely. Our sixty-five
acres of campus, compact and on the
edge of a thriving village, supplies
us already with that which many in
situations find their severest obstacle
an adequate site for the large
equipment which modern higher ed
ucation finds necessary. We have an
opportunity to do something new and
distinctive, and we need for the
work a plentiful amount of common
sense, together with grit, patience,
and faith"