The
THROOQy
MOUH*V
Decree
October 25, 1966
Founders’ Day Bulletin
President Collins' Message on
Wesleyan's Tenth Anniversary
The first students arrived at North
Carolina Wesleyan College on September
19, 1960. Ninety-two students registered
in that first freeman class, and the col
lege emerged from the dream world and
became a reality.
This did not just happen—five long
years of planning went into this simple
beginning. In 1955 the people of Rocky
Mount 2.roposed to the North Carolina
Annual Conference of The Methodist
Church that cooperatively a new college
should be located in Rocky Mount. The
conference approved the establishment of
a senior, coeducational, liberal arts col
lege in Rocky Mount in Goldsboro at a
special session in May, 1956.
The State of North Carolina granted a
charter to the proposed college on Octo
ber 25, 1956 and under the leadership of
twenty-four trustees, a college was offi
cially born.
With Luther W. Hill of Tarboro as
Chairman of the Board of Trustees and
W. Jasper Smith of Bethel as Business
Manager, the planning began. The Trus
tees selected the firm of Lasmit, James,
Pollock and Brown of Winston-Salem,
North Carolina to serve as architect and
engineers for the new campus. Approval
was given to the modified Georgian Co
lonial architectural pattern and the power
plant was started in 1958.
In March 1959 Thomas A. Collins was
elected to become first president of the
college. A ministerial member of the
North Carolina Annual Conference of
The Methodist Church, he was serving as
Executive Director of the Board of Mis
sions and Church Extension. He began
the task of selecting a Dean, Director of
Admission, Librarian, and with Dean
Jack W. Moore, the first college faculty.
Dean Moore came to Wesleyan in Jan
uary of 1960 after seven years as Dean
of Kendall College of Evanston, Illinois.
They enlisted the aid of nine full time
faculty members, and three part-time
associates for that first faculty. Four
members of that first faculty still teach
at Wesleyan, Dean Jack Moore, Dr. Ray
mond Bauer, Dr. William Sasser and Dr.
Arch Sharer.
_ A first goal of any educational institu
tion must be accreditation of its program
by educational associates. Accreditation
is a magic phrase which is sometimes dif
ficult to understand. Accreditation re
presents approval by educational associa
tions that a college has established, and
will maintain, an academic program rec
ognizable as meeting basic requirements
of competence, and preparing students
well enough to make them acceptable for
transfer or for continuance in graduate
schools in competition with other students
from similar schools and colleges offer
ing a liberal arts educational program.
From the beginning communication was
maintained with the Southern Associa
tion of Colleges and Schools, the Univer
sity Senate of The Methodist Church, the
North Carolina College Conference (now
the Association of North Carolina Col
leges and Universities and with the Of
fice of Education, Department of Health,
Education and Welfare.
Because of letters of commendation
from neighboring North Carolina Col
leges, Wesleyan was quickly approved
for governmental programs by the U. S.
Office of Education. The University
Senate of The Methodist Church ap
proved North Carolina Wesleyan for pre-
theological training, and for admission to
Methodist graduate schools of theology in
the fall of 1963.
In December 1963 the Southern Asso
ciation of Colleges and Schools granted
North Carolina Wesleyan College a sta
tus of candidate for membership. This
was the first college in North Carolina
ever to have been so honored. This can
didacy has been renewed each year until
this fall when official action will be
taken on our application for membership.
Last academic year Wesleyan under
went a thorough self-study. In April a
Special Study Committee visited from
the Southern Association, and made their
report this fall. Official action will be
taken on the application at the Annual
Meeting in Miami Beach November 27-
30, 1966. If approval is given for mem
bership, this will extend occreditation
back to the first students who studied
and were graduated from North Carolina
Wesleyan College.
James Cass, education editor of Satur
day Review, said, in the current issue,
“Education reporting today is very much
like snapping a photo of a moving ob
ject—nby the time the shutter has clicked,
the picture has changed.”
This is what it is like to try to take
a look into the future for North Carolina
Wesleyan College. Not many years ago
it was possible to look at the records of
the past few years, add a fixed percent
age of students, classrooms, and books,
the predict needs for the future. This is
no longer possible.
To look into the future and plan for
Wesleyan’s part in that future, the Board
of Trustees wisely approved the estab
lishment of a Long Range Planning Com
mittee consisting of trustees, administra
tive officers, faculty members, students,
and alumni of the college. This commit
tee has met four times and will meet
many more times before they bring in
recommendations for growth and develop
ment during the next decade to the an
nual meeting of the Board of Trustees
next spring.
With no attempt to prejudice the care
ful study and planning by this commit
tee there are some things we can foresee
for North Carolina Wesleyan College as
it looks frrward to a twentieth birthday
in October 1977.
The student body will have grown be
yond the 1,000 mark with approximately
800 resident students in campus houses.
Possibly 575 will be male students and
450 female students.
An Auditorium-Fine Arts complex will
be built with an Auditorium seating 1,-
200 persons for performances and func
tions on campus. A Physical Science
Building will house the expanded Chemis
try and physics departments, with Grave
ly Science Building serving the biology
department.
Student life on campus will be enriched
by the Natatorium adjacent to the pres
ent Gymnasium and additional tennis
courts. _ The present student union-cafe-
teria will be the college cafeteria, and a
new Student Union will offer recreational
and social activities such as bowling,
table tennis, billiards, club rooms, and
social halls for large and small social
gatherings.
The religious life of the students will
center around the College Chapel built
just in front of the College Library. An-
ditional buildings will be added as new
needs are discovered.
A strong faculty will be a primary
emphasis, as it has always been. We will
retain a 14-1, 15-1 student-faculty ratio
so contacts can be numerous and student
Lieut. Governor Robert Scott
FEATURED SPEAKER
The featured speaker at North Caro
lina Wesleyan’s tenth anniversary con
vocation will be Lt. Governor Robert
Scott.
Scott, a native of North Carolina, was
born at Haw River on June 13, 1929.
From 1947-49 he was a student at Duke
and North Carolina State University,
where he received his B.S. degree. On
October 1, 1951, he married Jessie Rae
Osborne.
In 1965 Scott was elected Lt. Gover
nor, beating Clifton Blue in the second
prirnary of that year. Mr. Scott has made
an impressive record as a staesman and
a citizen of North Carolina. The follow
ing are only a few of his accomplish
ments: Member of North Carolina Board
of Conservation and Development, Mem
ber of the North Carolina Seashore Com-
miission (1961-1964), Chairman of the
U.F. for Education, Democratic Precinct
Chairman (1963-64), County Vice-Chair
man, State Social District Executive
Chairman, and he served in the United
States Army from 1953-55.
AV/V THEATER TO
PRESENT PROGRAM
The Aviv Theater of Dance and Song
will present its musical program at 8:15
in Garber Chapel to culminate activities
of Funders’ Day.
Aviv has been received with great en
thusiasm wherever it has appeared. Dur
ing the past seven years the company
has toured throughout the United States,
Canada, and South America, appearing
on coast-to-coast television on all major
networks, at music festivals, in theaters,
co'lleges, and community centers.
Members of the company are Frances
Alenikoff, Viki and Yuri Chatal, and the
folksinger “Dushka.” Frances Alenikoff,
director-choreographer of Aviv and its
principal dancer, has had a varied and
Contimied on Page Two
participation in all phases of college life
can be expected.
We have looked into the future beyond
what any of us can see, but much of what
we see through a glass, darkly, will be
come clear before any of us are conscious
that the years have flown so swiftly.