Rollins College Rollins College is a private , coeducational liberal arts college located in Winter Park , Florida ( a suburb of Orlando , Florida ) , along the shores of Lake Virginia . Rollins is a member of the SACS , NASM , ACS , FDE , AAM , AACSB International , Council for Accreditation of Counseling , and Related Educational Programs . History . Rollins was incorporated , organized , and named in the Lyman Park building in nearby Sanford , Florida on 28 April 1885 opening for classes in Winter Park on November 4 of that year by New England Congregationalists who sought to bring their style of liberal arts education to the frontier St . John ' s basin . A commemorative plaque listing the names of the founders was dedicated 1 March 1954 and is displayed in historic Downtown Sanford . Rollins College is Florida ' s oldest post - secondary institution , and has been independent , nonsectarian , and coeducational from conception . In March of 1936 during a visit to Central Florida , U . S . President Franklin D . Roosevelt was conferred an honorary degree in literature at the Knowles Chapel on campus . Other U . S . Presidents who have visited the campus include Calvin Coolidge ( 1930 ) , Harry Truman ( 1949 ) , Ronald Reagan ( 1976 ; prior to his 1980 election ) , and Barack Obama ( 2012 ) Campus . The Rollins campus contains a range of amenities , including a theater for performing arts , the Cornell Campus Center , and the Alfond Sports Center . Peace Monument . In 2000 , the Rollins College ' s Peace Monument was featured in a " New York Times " article . Erected in 1938 and dedicated on Armistice Day by college president Hamilton Holt , it consists of a German artillery shell , surrendered by Germany at the end of the First World War , mounted on a pedestal , bearing this inscription : The top half of the monument was stolen by vandals during World War II , but the plaque from the bottom half survives and is in the stairwell leading to the second floor of the Mills Memorial building . Winter Park Institute . The Winter Park Institute located on campus , brings scholars , leaders , and artists , from diverse fields of disciplines and expertise , to Rollins grounds for symposiums , seminars , lectures , interviews , exhibits , readings , and master classes , that are also open to the Winter Park community . It launched in the fall of 2008 , the first guest being U . S . Poet Laureate Billy Collins , who has returned every year since . Other guests include environmental lawyer Robert F . Kennedy Jr . to singer - songwriter Paul Simon . Olin Library . Rollins ' Olin Library was dedicated in 1985 , with a US $ 4 . 7 million grant from the F . W . Olin Foundation . It is four stories high , with containing thousands of volumes , periodicals , serials , electronic resources , a number of special collections , and hundreds of compact discs , DVDs , and videotapes . From 1909 until 2011 , the library was a federal government documents repository . Olin still provides access to hundreds of online government resources . Olin Electronic Research and Information Center . The Olin Electronic Research and Information Center was also established with a second gift of US $ 2 . 7 million from the F . W . Olin Foundation . The center features the latest technology , including computer stations , color printers , scanners , audio and video digitizers , compact discs , videodiscs , and videotapes . These tools facilitate creativity as students pursue research questions , prepare multimedia presentations , and create Web pages . Bush Science Center . The Bush Science Center at Rollins has state of the art SMART classrooms , faculty offices , and 38 teaching and research laboratories for the physical and behavioral sciences , mathematics , and computer science . The science center is where Donald J . Cram launched his chemical studies , becoming the 1987 Nobel Prize winner in Chemistry . Cornell Fine Arts Museum . The Cornell Fine Arts Museum is located on school grounds and contains works of art and objects from antiquity to the 21st century . The museum was built instead of what would have been the Ackland Art Museum at Rollins ; millionaire and amateur art collector William Hayes Ackland wanted to leave his fortune to a Southern university for an art museum and narrowed his choices to Duke University , the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill , and Rollins , in that order . After Ackland ' s death , Duke refused the request , and UNC and Rollins , excised from Ackland ' s final will , both brought suit to locate Ackland ' s museum on their campuses . In a case that went to the United States Supreme Court , Ackland ' s trustees sided with UNC , but a lower court ruled for Rollins ; a higher court finally granted the bequest to UNC . Rollins was represented in the case by former U . S . Attorney General Homer Cummings . Annie Russell Theatre . The Annie Russell Theatre is a historic theater in Winter Park , Florida , located on the premises of Rollins College . The theatre was named after the English - born actress Annie Russell in 1931 , who taught at Rollins until she died of lung disease in 1936 . It was designed by the architect Richard Kiehnel of Kiehnel and Elliott . In October 1998 , it was added to the National Register of Historic Places . Knowles Memorial Chapel . The Knowles Memorial Chapel is a historic chapel on the Rollins campus . In February 1998 , it was added to the National Register of Historic Places . Ground was broken for the chapel on March 9 , 1931 and the cornerstone was laid on May 12 of the same year . The dedication service for the chapel took place just a year later on March 29 , 1932 . Rollins has no religious affiliation , so the chapel is interdenominational . A Protestant services is held on Sunday mornings , and Catholic Mass is held on Sunday evenings . Walk of Fame . The Rollins Walk of Fame consists of more than 200 stones taken from places connected to historic people including Christopher Columbus , Elizabeth Cady Stanton , and many others . Academics . Rollins has four divisions that offer a variety of programs : College of Arts and Sciences ; College of Professional Studies ; Crummer Graduate School of Business ; and Hamilton Holt School . Rankings . 2012 marked the eighth consecutive year that " U . S . News & World Report " ranked Rollins as the number one college in the South . Rollins had held the number two spot on the list for the previous ten years consecutively . Dating back to 1995 . For three straight years ( 2010 - 2012 ) Rollins College has also been ranked as one of the best in the nation in both academic and athletic standards according to the NCSA Collegiate Power Rankings including the most recent 2012 ranking of 2nd best in Division II and 15th best overall . The 2010 rankings placed Rollins 13th in Division II and 2011 3rd best in division II , while 37th overall . The college has also been named one of the top national producers of Fulbright Scholar s among Masters granting institutions throughout the U . S . Since inception of the scholarship in 1951 , 42 Tars have been awarded the prestigious honor . College of Arts and Sciences . The College of Arts and Sciences and the College of Professional Studies have a total of 1 , 884 students and a student to faculty ratio of 10 to 1 . Ninety - two percent of the faculty possess a Ph . D . or the highest degree in their field . The College offers twenty - eight undergraduate majors and a variety of interdisciplinary programs that allow students to design their own courses of study . Like many liberal arts programs , the College of Arts & Sciences operates on the philosophy that students should receive a well - rounded education regardless of their chosen specialty . As such , completion of a Bachelor of Arts degree requires the 140 credits required for graduation to be approximately evenly derived from general education courses , major / minor courses , and elective courses . Classes in the College of Arts and Sciences are typically worth four credits , in contrast to the traditional 3 credits per class structure of many American Universities . The college also requires 140 credit hours to graduate instead of the traditional 120 . Crummer Graduate School of Business . The Rollins College Crummer Graduate School of Business offers a Masters in Business Administration ( MBA ) through three different programs : Each program is designed to lay the foundation for students to accelerate their career goals , gain a competitive advantage in the marketplace , and advance in their organizations . Rollins MBA graduates are prepared for the challenges of a competitive global economy through international study opportunities , and all students and alumni have access to career development services . Rollins MBA alumni have access to events , networking opportunities , free MBA classes , and career services for life , as well as discounts on professional development courses offered through Rollins ’ Management and Executive Education Center . The Rollins MBA programs are listed in several national rankings of business schools , including : The Princeton Review features the Rollins MBA in its 2012 edition of " The Best 294 Business Schools " ( 2012 edition ) . The Rollins MBA is accredited by The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business . Hamilton Holt School . Adult education courses at Rollins were initially only offered to returning World War II veterans . On September 7 , 1960 , the Executive Committee of the Board of Trustees of Rollins College gave formal authorization for the Institute for General Studies to award degrees upon completion of program requirements . On November 6 , 1987 , the school ' s name was changed to Hamilton Holt School , in honor of Rollins ’ eighth president . The Hamilton Holt School offers Bachelor of Arts degrees in a variety of majors as well as several graduate degrees . Like the College of Arts & Sciences , the undergraduate program at the Hamilton Holt School requires a combination of general education courses , major / minor courses , and electives . Unlike its residential counterpart , however , the Hamilton Holt School ' s focus is on the non - traditional student , identified as a working individual seeking professional advancement and therefore schedules most courses in the evenings and on weekends . Students enrolled in the Hamilton Holt School pay tuition per credit hour and are not eligible for on - campus housing , although surrounding communities offer off - campus housing specifically for Rollins students . The Hamilton Holt School requires 140 hours to graduate and will also transfer up to 64 credit hours or equivalent to an A . A . degree from a 2 year community college . Students can also transfer in courses from 4 year colleges and universities . In addition , the program allows for students to register for the course load suitable to their schedule during any of the Hamilton Holt School ' s three semester terms ( Fall , Spring , Summer ) . Taking smaller course loads will extend the students completion date . Graduate programs offered through the Hamilton Holt School include : Special programs . Rollins also has four special programs : Rollins College Conference ( RCC ) . The Rollins College Conference , taken in the first semester of a student ' s freshman year , is required of all non - transfer students in the College of Arts and Sciences . The course serves as both an orientation course and a topic course in a student ' s area of interest . The professor for this course will serve as the enrolled students ' academic advisor until they select a major and choose a new advisor from the corresponding department . One or two peer mentors ( upperclassmen with special training ) join the course and offer counseling and support to the new students . Honors Degree Program . The Honors Degree Program allows the top students in each entering class of the College of Arts and Sciences to complete a series of special interdisciplinary seminars , which replace approximately two - thirds of the school ' s general education requirements . To earn an honors degree , students must also complete a thesis in their major field during their junior and senior years . Accelerated Management Program ( AMP ) . The Accelerated Management Program allows selected students to earn both a BA from the College of Arts and Sciences and an MBA from the Crummer Graduate School of Business in a total of five years . Students enrolled in this program must complete all general education and major / minor requirements prior to the conclusion of their third year . In their fourth year , students take courses from the Early Advantage MBA program , from which credits are applied to both their undergraduate and graduate transcripts . Upon completion of the fourth year , AMP students graduate from the College of Arts and Sciences and walk with their class at commencement . In the fifth year , students complete the MBA degree and graduate a second time . International programs . All three schools at Rollins offer international courses to destinations such as London , Sydney , and Madrid , among others . Some programs are offered directly through Rollins , while others are offered through partnerships with other colleges and universities . Students may study abroad for a week or an entire semester . Athletics . Rollins participates in NCAA Division II ' s Sunshine State Conference for the majority of its sports ; the college competes in the Deep South Conference for men ' s lacrosse ; women ' s lacrosse competes as an independent program ; Southern Intercollegiate Rowing Association and Florida Intercollegiate Rowing Association for rowing ; South Atlantic Intercollegiate Sailing Association for sailing ; and the Bluegrass Mountain Conference for swimming . Its athletic teams are called the Tars ( an archaic name for a sailor ) . Rollins ' Athletic Tradition includes 22 National Championships and 65 Sunshine State Conference titles . The school sponsors twenty - three varsity teams : Men ' s sports Women ' s sports Campus life . Fox Day . Fox Day is an annual tradition at Rollins . Since 1956 , each spring , the President cancels all classes , providing students with a surprise day off to explore local beaches and amusement parks , together as a college , returning in the late afternoon for a barbecue . It ' s known as Fox Day , because a statue of a fox is placed on Mills Lawn ( the school ' s main lawn ) , signifying the day off . In the past , most students waited for the fox statue by camping out on Mills Lawn . In 2010 , a student with a dorm room directly overlooking Mills Lawn , pointed an HD camera at the site , and streamed the video feed digitally at FoxDayCam . com , so that students could monitor the site for the arrival of the fox statue from their dorm room . With an undergraduate population of 2 , 331 , the site had 3003 unique IP viewers its first year . The site terminated its run for 2012 on Fox Day and will return in 2013 . Since FoxDayCam ' s inception , the site has been optimized for mobile devices so that users can stream on smartphones . In 2011 , an iPhone application became available in the Apple AppStore , and in 2012 , an iPad version was made available , as well . Bach Festival . Since 1935 , the Winter Park Bach Festival , the third - oldest continuously operating Bach festival in the United States , has brought some of the highest caliber of classical performers from around the world to campus , for a two - week event . The 150 - voice Bach Festival Society is regarded as one of the finest oratorio societies in America . Controversies . Okinawa statue . In October 1994 , the school made international headlines when the government of Japan , per the request of its Okinawa Prefecture , asked for the return of a statue that was taken as war loot after the Battle of Okinawa in 1945 by Clinton C . Nichols , a then - lieutenant commander in the United States Navy and a Rollins graduate . Nichols had presented the statue of Ninomiya Sontoku , a prominent 19th - century Japanese agricultural leader , philosopher , moralist , and economist , to then - President Hamilton Holt , who promised to keep the statue permanently in the main lobby of the Warren Administration Building . At first , the school rejected the offer made by Okinawan officials , who suggested that a replica of the statue will be presented to the school if the original was returned to the island ; however , after consulting both with the U . S . State Department and the school ' s board of trustees , then - President Rita Bornstein accepted the offer and the statue was returned to Okinawa in 1995 in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the end of World War II . In addition to providing the school with a replica of the original statue , the government of Okinawa and Rollins signed an " an agreement of cooperation " that pledges to develop additional cooperative projects between the College and Shogaku Junior and Senior High School , the Okinawan school where the original statue has been placed . Kairis case . On March 31 , 1998 , the body of Jennifer Leah Kairis , a sophomore student , was found in her Ward Hall dormitory room by a residential assistant . Kairis , who had attended a fraternity party held by the Tau Kappa Epsilon chapter on campus hours before she had died , was both legally intoxicated and had a large amount of prescription drugs in her system . At first , the assistant medical examiner at the Orange County coroner ' s office ruled Kairis ' death as a homicide . However , that conclusion was quickly changed after Dr . Shashi Gore , the county ' s chief medical examiner ruled that she had died as a result of an accidental prescription drug overdose . Kairis ' parents , who always believed their daughter was raped and murdered by her college boyfriend , requested a lengthy state investigation into their daughter ' s death due to their belief that the Winter Park Police Department botched the case . On March 4 , 2004 , Dr . Bruce Hyma , the Miami - Dade County chief medical examiner and expert toxicologist hired by State Attorney Lawson Lamar ruled that Kairis had committed suicide via a prescription drug overdose . The seven - year investigation was officially closed on April 13 , 2005 . Regardless of the investigation ' s outcome , the Kairis family asked then Governor Jeb Bush , to bring in an outside medical examiner to take another look at the case and autopsy results and order an independent investigation of their daughter ' s death to resolve what they called the " Dueling Medical Examiners " . Security measures . In September 2011 , as a result of fleeing criminals using the campus to hide from law enforcement officers and the armed robbery of two students who were sitting in a car outside their dormitory within one week , the school ' s administration initiated discussions on new security measures . Some measures include blocking or limiting access to four of the school ' s entrances and installing new security cameras to assure student and faculty safety on campus . In popular culture . After a speaking appearance at Rollins in 1988 , Kurt Vonnegut used it as one of the models for the school in " Hocus Pocus " and directly mentions Rollins as being the former place of employment of the fictional school ' s president .