Susustine’s B^ecorb
Volume XLIV
MAY-JIIXE. 1!)3!)
Xo. 4
REPORT OF THE PRESIDENT—MAY 24, 1939
To tlie Trustees of St. Augustine’s College.
Gentlemen:
During tlie past year tliere has been a total of 311
students including pupils in tlie St. Agnes’ Training
Scliool for I^urses and in tlie Bisliop Tuttle Training
School for Religious Education and Christian Social
Service. This is a small increase over the total enroll
ment of last year and includes an unusually laige
Freshman Class in the College. About 25 states, Cuba
and the British West Indies are represented in the
student body. Texas, Mississippi, Michigan and Cali
fornia are among the distant points from which oui
students come. An increasing number of them are
from our ISTcgro parishes thus adding to our communi
cant strength and helping them to maintain an atmos
phere favorable to religious training. St. Augustine s
hopes to be of growing usefulness in strengAennig our
church work among our I^egro population in all parts
of the country. At the College, both on the campus
and in the community, there is active church woi .
Such organizations as the Woman s Auxiliary,
senior and junior branches, the Brotherhood of St.
Andrew, the Altar Guild and the Laymen’s League
are doing definite and effective work. Each year
is a confirmation class usually of from ten to
members, and every year a letter is sent to a
have been confirmed in the Chapel in recent years
asking each one to take part in a Corporate Com
munion on the fifth Sunday in Lent in our Chape or
if tliat is not possible to observe the day m some specia^
manner. Our young people hold services at St. Agnes
Hospital and frequently sing at a nearby prison camp
and at the County Home. Eepresentatives attend
numerous religious conferences, both racial an m ei-
racial. They have been especially interested in the
Annual Conference of our Episcopal College studmits
at Greensboro. The Lenten offering for missions
an.ounted to about $350. A project in connection ^Mt
the Missionary Shortage Fund has also been under
taken.
Prom ti.™ to time rq,res»tative Negro clergy oc-
«i,y tl.o pulpit in St. Augustine's Chapel. Tl^ .
Augnstino’s Conference for Clergy and
era that meet, early in Jnne indnJes an effee_
'i^oung People’s Conference and is growing m
ness. The average attendance is about 100.
During the past year there have also met at St
Augustine’s the State Public We fare 1-tit.te f
J^egro Workers; a conference of the Rational ^eg
IJecreation Association and the annual meeting
Crown and Sceptre Club, the State High School
Scholarship Society. Radio broadcasts by members of
the staff and by students have helped to keep our con
tact with the alumni and general public.
By a reciprocal arrangement with Shaw University
in Raleigh, there has been an interchange of students
in certain courses. Plans are being made to strengthen
further the work of each institution by this and other
methods of co-operation, including the establishment
of a joint jirofessorship in the department of English,
which will be made possible through help received from
the General Education Board.
The question of moving the Bishop Payne Divinity
School from Petersburg, Virginia, to the vicinity of
St. Augustine’s College is still being considered by the
Trustees of the Bishop Payne School.
The death last October of William Augustine Perry
of the Class of 1902 took from us an alumnus who had
found opportunity in his busy and useful life for service
to the College throngh his gift of music. Both words
and music of our College Hymn and of the Alma Mater
song, “The Blue and the White,” were his own compo
sition. His contribution through them will continue
to help us.
We are still endeavoring to increase interest and
participation in a general program of physical develop
ment. With a comparatively small student body it
should be possible for every one to take part in some
form of sport. Except under abnormal conditions St.
Augustine’s cannot expect to compete successfully with
larger institutions in the heavier sports. However,
other fields are open for athletic achievement. For the
second successive year the College w'on the Colored
Intercollegiate Tennis Championship in both singles
and doubles. A real need in connection with the pro
gram is an adequate building for physical education.
About $50,000 would probably be needed for this pur
pose.
St. Agnes’ Hospital
During the past year St. Agnes’ Hospital with its
Training School for ^furses increased the volume of
its already large and useful work. From May 1, 1938,
to May 1, 1939, there were 25,350 hospital days, 1,419
bed patients, 1,924 clinic patients, 3,904 out-patient
visits and 1,110 operations. The Hospital has con
tinued to co-operate with the State Commission for the
Blind by holding clinics and admitting patients for
observation or operation. It has functioned in the
same way in connection with the State Division for
Crippled Children. Through the co-operation and aid
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