Greensboro College
Has Centennial
Despite numerous obstacles anil
difficulties. Greensboro College
lias continued to render a great
service in tlie educ'ation of
women in North Carolina.
Bij RAYMOND A. SMITH
SHOULD women be educated!
This was a real question a hun¬
dred years ago.
“Inflated pedantry may sneer at tin-
idea of a female rival in the walks
of literature, and contracted ignor¬
ance may prescribe limits beyond
which young ladies should not be per¬
mitted to go. in the ascent of the hill
of science; but the day is past, when
female genius is to la- trammeled by
the obsolete and tyrannical customs
of a barbarous age. The time has now
arrived when they must, and will,
throw off the restrictions imposed up¬
on them and assumo tin- station to
which nature and Clod entitled them.”
Such delightful excerpts as the
above will reward anyone who will
take the trouble to read the address
to the Virginia Methodist Conference
of 1837 at which a mast vigorous ap¬
peal was made for the church to sup¬
port the plan to establish a college
for women in Greensboro, .V. O. The
address evidently was effective, for in
December 1S38 the North Carolina
Conference of the Methodist Kpiseo-
pal Church secured a charter from
the state authorizing the establish¬
ment of Greensboro Female College.
This institution, according to the
trustees of that first year of its char¬
tered history, was to l>e “a pledge on
the part of the church in North Caro¬
lina to redeem her from the reproach
under which she has long and per¬
haps too justly labored; of indiffer¬
ence to the intellectual advancement of
by far the most interesting portion of
both society and the church.”
Third Oldest College
Greensboro College, celebrating its
centennial this academic year, claims
the distinction of being the third
oldest chartered college for women in
the country, only Mt Holyoke and
Wesleyan of Georgia lioing one and
two years older, respectively. This
North Carolina institution was. fur¬
thermore, the first four-year college
now in existence for women to be
chartered by the Methodist Church.
It numbers among its graduates some
of the best known women of the state,
several governors' wives having at¬
tended there. The mother of Lady
Astor, world renowned British woman
political leader, the mother of the
famed O. Henry, the wife of the Sce-
rctary of Commerce in the present gov¬
ernment administration, Mrs. Mar¬
garet Lou McKenzie Roper, and
mnny other distinguished women are
numbered among its alumnae.
Rut these hundred years of out¬
standing service to church and state
have not been achieved without sac¬
rificial devotion upon the part of
those who labored for the mainte¬
nance of the college’s place in the edu¬
cational world. Starting their work-
long before the state undertook any
adventures ill the higher education
of women, its alumnae and friends
have saved the institution from ex¬
tinction by fire twice and from finan¬
cial disaster on several occasions.
Believing firmly in the truth of the
old adage that “the first hundred
years arc the hardest” this Greens¬
boro and North Carolina institution
looks to the future with confidence
Recent investigations by the Pom-
mission on Pollege Policy of the
Methodist Church have given the in¬
stitution assurance of the unqualified
support of this important body as
well as that of the General Board of
Christian Education and of a nutn-
Fitzgerald Hall, Greensboro College
her of the church's outstanding lead¬
ers such as Bishop Paul B. Kern.
A New Administration
May 28, 1934 marked the loginning
of a now administration for the col¬
lege when Dr. Luther Lafayette Gob-
bel,
Л.В., Л.М.,
Ph.D., was elected
president succeeding I»r. Samuel B.
Turrentine, who had rendered long
and distinguished service to the col¬
lege and who was elected President
Emeritus and professor of Bible. The
two and a half years of Dr. Gobbel's
administration have seen numerous
improvements made in and around
the buildings and grounds of the in¬
stitution. More than a thousand
shrubs and trees have been planted
on the campus, the interior of main
building has been redecorated and re¬
furnished (with the active assistance
of interested alumnae), dormitories
and classrooms have been renovated,
numerous improvements have been
made in the library and laboratories,
new tennis courts have been construct¬
ed, the dining room has l>eon re¬
painted and various improvements
made in Odell Memorial Auditorium
which houses the School of Music.
These later changes included the mov¬
ing of an organ to a more advan¬
tageous position, thus releasing needed
space on the stage. Besides these ma¬
terial improvements, new members
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