Wesleyan University

This article concerns Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut; a number of other colleges and universities have names that include Wesleyan.

Wesleyan University

File:Wesleyan shield copyright.jpg
Type	Private
Established	1831
Endowment	$640 million
President	Douglas J. Bennet (to be succeeded by Michael S. Roth)
Academic staff	350
Undergraduates	2,700
Postgraduates	200
Location	Middletown , CT , USA
Campus	Urban
Athletics	Wesleyan University Cardinals
Nickname	Cardinals
Website	www.wesleyan.edu

Wesleyan University, founded in 1831, is a private liberal arts college in Middletown, Connecticut. Founded by Methodist leaders and residents of Middletown, the now-secular college was the first college or university to be named after John Wesley, the founder of Methodism. Wesleyan shares a common Methodist heritage with about twenty other U.S. colleges and universities also named after Wesley.

Today, Wesleyan occupies a position in American higher education between the research universities and the liberal arts colleges, emphasizing instruction, but also supporting a research agenda in many academic disciplines. Wesleyan is one of the three small New England liberal arts colleges that constitute the "Little Three" (the others are Amherst and Williams Colleges).

History

Wesleyan was founded as an all-male Methodist college in 1831. Under the leadership of President Willbur Fisk, the college did not have a denominational requirement for admission and had a innovative curriculum including electives and modern languages. Fisk also travelled to Europe during his presidency to purchase books and scientific equipment, including one of the first telescopes at a college or university. Wesleyan remained a leader in educational progress throughout its history, and erected the first building dedicated to the sciences on any American college campus, Judd Hall. It also has always maintained a much larger library collection than a comparable institution its size.

In the 1840s, Wesleyan was already beginning to make a reputation for itself both for the anti-slavery reputation of its students, and with their ongoing association with the Transcendentalist movement. Both Ralph Waldo Emerson and Orestes Brownson were brought to the campus by the student literary societies, especially the Mystical 7. As national affairs moved closer to war, Wesleyan was put in a more awkward position than many other New England colleges; the Methodist Church was very strong in the South, and a significant number of students were from Southern states. These links were severed after 1861. Not every alumnus who served in the Civil War fought for the Union.

In 1872 it became one of the first U.S. colleges to experiment with coeducation, allowing a small number of female students to attend — a venture then known as the "Wesleyan Experiment". Because of the preponderance of female students preparing for college in that period, some of Wesleyan's alumni believed that opening the door to coeducation would eventually result in the student body becoming entirely female. Given that concern, Wesleyan ceased to admit women, and from 1912 to 1970 Wesleyan operated again as an all-male college. When Wesleyan stopped admitting women, it was one impetus for the establishment of all-female Connecticut College in nearby New London, founded by Wesleyan alumnae in 1911.

In the days before the invention of the forward pass, Wesleyan was a leader in the development of football as a college sport. For a little more than a decade, Wesleyan fielded teams that played against Yale, Michigan and Harvard. However these much larger schools were able to far outstrip Wesleyan, and one game, where Wesleyan lost 133 to 0 to Yale, (still a record loss in the northeast), proved that Wesleyan could no longer compete at that level.

As detailed by David Potts' in his history of Wesleyan, the last decades of the nineteenth century were crucial for Wesleyan. Wesleyan developed the patronage of several prominent families in New York City, (Harriman, Andrus, and to a lesser extent, Vanderbilt), and the institutional ties to those groups marked increased, while that of the Methodist Church decreased. At the same time, Wesleyan went from being a colorful but minor sectarian educational center to being a well-connected New England college.

Wilbur Olin Atwater, a professor of Chemistry and director of the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station conducted pioneering tests in human metabolism in the new campus labortory, the John Bell Scott Memorial, and his work shows the heightened presence of the sciences at Wesleyan in this period compared to some of its peer institutions.

Wesleyan severed the final ties to the Methodist Church in 1937. The administration ceased to define the curriculum as Christian in the 1960's, and also eliminated cumpulsory chapel at the same time. Today, many regard Wesleyan as a haven for counter-culture intellectuals, social progressives, and political activists.

During WWII, the Wesleyan student body dropped so much in number that the school was in danger of having to close. The school was made a V-12 officer training location, which allowed the campus to remain open.

In the mid 1950s, Wesleyan, under the presidency of Victor Lloyd Butterfield, began an ambitious program to reorganize itself into several residential colleges. Three buildings were built as one complex west of the campus, and three more as one complex to the south of the campus. The programs were never fully developed, but the buildings of the residential colleges still serve as the Foss Hill dormitories and the Butterfield dormitories. Two colleges still remain, however, the College of Letters and the College of Social Studies, and are considered exceptional intensive study programs, and both are excellent preparation for later graduate work.

The student body became prominent in the counter-culture movement of the 60s and 70s. In the tumultuous spring of 1970, which saw the Bobby Seale murder case in nearby New Haven, Connecticut and the killings at Kent State, Wesleyan was among the U.S. colleges where a majority of undergraduates boycotted classes. The college was closed down early for the summer as many students canvassed the community to oppose racism and the Vietnam War, but not before the Grateful Dead played a free open-air concert at the Powder Ridge ski slopes in Middlefield. By 1972, Timothy Leary was quoted as saying about Wesleyan that "the best acid in the world comes from there."

Wesleyan's University Press was an important asset to the school, and for several decades it produced a series called My Weekly Reader which was a subscription service to elementary schools used across the country. It was sold in the early 70's to Xerox for a sizable amount of Xerox stock. This marked the Wesleyan's entree in the stock market, and about the same time, Edwin Deacon Etherington, former President of one of the two New York Stock exchanges became President of the college. Wesleyan since that time has been investing its endowment, with various degrees of success. Although Wesleyan's endowment more than doubled from 1995 to 2005, as of 2007 it stands at approximately $640,000,000, which is still well below that of its closest peer institutions; nonetheless, the University has attempted to use its endowment wisely.

Wesleyan's ten year plan, which started in 2000, included the expansion of undergraduate housing, the renovation of old classrooms and buildings, and a large commitment in investment in technology used for research and teaching. The Wesleyan Board of Trustees has also approved a $100 million project to build a new science building to replace Hall-Atwater Laboratory. The University and its admissions officers were featured in Jacques Steinberg's 2002 book The Gatekeepers.

Student body and rankings

Wesleyan is one of a small handfull of colleges and universities codified as "most selective" by Barron's Guide to Colleges. With a class size of slightly over 700, Wesleyan accepts just 26 percent (class of 2011) of those who apply. (On a scale from 60 to 99, the Princeton Review rated Wesleyan's Admissions Selectivity at 97). In 2007, it was ranked 10th overall among the top liberal arts colleges in the country by US News. In the 2006 Washington Monthly rankings, it placed third among liberal arts colleges, just after Bryn Mawr College and Wellesley College, in terms of its scientific and humanities research contributions, service to the nation and advancement of social mobility. Wesleyan traditionally has been very strong in the natural sciences and mathematics and presently holds the number 1 position in National Science Foundation (NSF) funding among liberal arts college peers. The university also ranks first in science and math publications, leading all peer liberal arts colleges, as reported by Wesleyan's alumni magazine (issue 1, 2007).

For a small college, Wesleyan's student body is geographically highly diverse. Students hail from 49 U.S. states, the District of Columbia, and 45 foreign countries. Thirty-two percent of the class of 2010 identified themselves as students of color.

Wesleyan's student body is well-known for its activism regarding issues of race, gender, ethnicity, and nationality. This served as the inspiration for the 1994 movie PCU, which satirizes an exaggerated Politically Correct University. Additionally, the student body is known for its significant international student population. The university also has a large percentage of students who study abroad.

The official statistics for students admitted to the class of 2011 are as follows:

- 7,749 Applications received (record high)
- 2,029 Admitted (26%)
- SAT medians: Verbal 730, Math 710, Writing 710, and ACT 31
- 112 International students (5.5%)
- 38% Identify themselves as students of color

Campus

Olin Memorial Library (right), the Harriman Hall(middle, and Judd Hall (left), as seen from Foss Hill.

Wesleyan occupies a 360-acre campus, with over 340 buildings including: the five building College Row; the Samuel Wadsworth Russell House, a National Historic Landmark; Alsop House; Olin Memorial Library; Harriman Hall; the Exley Science Center; Shanklin and Hall-Atwater Laboratories; the Van Vleck Observatory; the Foss Hill dormitories; the Butterfield dormitories; the Center for Film Studies; the Freeman Athletic Center, (which includes a 50-meter swimming pool, the Spurrier-Snyder Rink for skating, the 1,200-seat Silloway Gymnasium, the 7,500-square-foot Andersen Fitness Center, and the Rosenbaum Squash Center with eight courts); and 11-building Center for the Arts complex. The campus also has the William Street apartments, which never proved to be the asset to the community it was hoped. High Street, which is the old center of campus, was once described by Charles Dickens as "the handsomest street in America."

The new Usdan University Center, expected to open in September 2007, will consolidate dining facilities for students, and will house seminar meeting spaces, the Wesleyan Student Association, the post office, and retail space.

Further detail about Wesleyan's campus can be found at the interactive Virtual Wesleyan website.

Undergraduate programs

Wesleyan's 39 academic departments offer over 900 courses each semester. Undergraduates receive the Bachelor of Arts in one (or more) of 44 major concentrations. No minors are offered. Wesleyan is highly supportive of interdisciplinary programs. For example, one can pursue a custom-designed major, known as a University Major. Double majors are also popular. Most classes at Wesleyan are small; the average class size for both graduates and undergraduates is approximately 19 students.

Several of Wesleyan's undergraduate programs are particularly well-known. For example, Wesleyan's program in World Music employs leading teaching musicians and ethnomusicologists, representing a variety of musical traditions. Javanese Gamelan, South Indian Classical, West African, African-American, and Experimental musics have been permanent components of the Music Department since the 1960's. A Masters degree in World Music and a PhD in ethnomusicology are offered.

Wesleyan is well regarded for its film studies department. The Cinema Archives, run by renowned film historian Jeanine Basinger, documents the film industry during the 20th Century. The archives contain the personal papers of Elia Kazan, Frank Capra, Ingrid Bergman, Clint Eastwood, Martin Scorsese, John Waters, Roberto Rossellini, Gene Tierney, Raoul Walsh, and others.

Wesleyan also has strong theatre programs. Wesleyan is home to Second Stage, the first student-run college theater company in the country. Second Stage produces at least one show per weekend during the school year, either in the fully equipped black-box Patricelli '92 Theater or alternate spaces around campus. The '92 Theater became available for student run productions when the Center for the Arts opened in 1974, providing the Theater Department with a state-of-the-art facility.

Wesleyan offers an astronomy program comparable to those at much larger universities. The Van Vleck Observatory, built in 1914, sits atop Foss Hill near the center of the Wesleyan campus. According to the department's web site, "The telescopes are used for research-based observing programs and sky watching events open to Wesleyan students and the general public." The university owns three telescopes. A 16-inch, and a 20-inch are both used for weekly public observing nights, open to the Wesleyan community and the general public. The third telescope, the 24-inch Perkins telescope, is used primarily for research, including for senior and graduate student thesis projects, as well as for departmental research programs. The Perkins scope is one of the largest telescopes in New England. Wesleyan also has a partnership with the WIYN .9-meter telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory in Arizona. Students and faculty have the opportunity to spend time in Arizona doing research with the telescope.

Departments and majors

The following is a list of undergraduate departments and programs. Each department offers one or more major programs of study, except as noted:

• African American Studies
• American Studies Program
• Anthropology
• Archaeology Program
• Art and Art History
  • Art History
  • Art Studio
• Asian Languages and Literatures
  • (No separate major, see East Asian Studies)
• Astronomy
• Biology
• Chemistry
• Classical Studies
  • Classics
  • Classical Civilization
• College of Letters
• College of Social Studies (see below) - (online site)
• Dance
• Earth and Environmental Sciences
• East Asian Studies Program
• Economics
  • Economics
  • Mathematics-Economics
• English
• Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies
• Film Studies
• German Studies - (online site)
• Government
• History
• Latin American Studies Program
• Mathematics
  • Mathematics
  • Computer Science
• Molecular Biology and Biochemistry
• Medieval Studies Program
• Music
• Neuroscience and Behavior Program
• Philosophy
• Physical Education
  • (No corresponding major)
• Physics
• Psychology
• Religion
• Romance Languages and Literatures
  • French Studies
  • Italian Studies
  • Romance Studies
  • Spanish Literature
  • Iberian Studies (2006-2007 addition)
• Russian and East European Studies Program
• Russian Languages and Literatures
• Science in Society Program
• Sociology
• Theater

Interdisciplinary programs

College of Social Studies: The College of Social Studies (CSS) was founded in 1959, combining the fields of history, economics, government, and philosophy. It emphasizes intellectual independence and collaborative and social ties between faculty and students. Students take 7 of the program's 12 (thesis-writing students take 13) required credits during their sophomore year. Sophomore year focuses on the development of modern Western society from historical, economic, social and political perspectives, and culminates with comprehensive final exams. Junior and Senior years have a more global focus.

College of Letters: The College of Letters (COL) offers a similar program in language and literature, with a primary focus on the Western canon. COL students take one colloquium together each semester and study abroad for the second semester of their sophomore year; they are expected to be at an intermediate level of study in their language of choice at the time they enter the program as sophomores. During their junior year students prepare for intensive comprehensive examinations on the three colloquia taken up to this point. During their senior year students must write a thesis (full year paper) or an essay (half year paper).

Science in Society Program: The Science in Society Program (SiSP) is an interdisciplinary undergraduate major that encourages integrated study of the sciences and medicine as institutions, practices, material cultures, intellectual achievements, and constituents of culture and politics. Majors combine sustained study within one or more scientific fields with work in the history, philosophy, sociology, anthropology, and feminist studies of science and medicine. Students often complete an additional major within one of the natural sciences. The core of the program consists of one course each in history of science, philosophy of science, and sociocultural studies of science, and at least two additional elective courses in the Science in Society Program itself.

Certificate programs

Wesleyan's certificate programs are "designed to bring coherence to programs of study that include courses from many departments and programs." and include:

• Certificate in Environmental Studies
• Certificate in Informatics and Modeling
• Certificate in International Relations
• Certificate in Jewish and Israel Studies
• Certificate in Molecular Biophysics

Athletics

Wesleyan is a member of the Division III New England Small College Athletic Conference(NESCAC), fields intercollegiate varsity teams in 17 sports, and competes against traditional Little Three rivals Amherst and Williams.

The football team takes on Trinity College at Andrus Field in the final game of its 2006 season. Construction on the new Usdan University Center can be seen in the background.

The University's Freeman Athletic Center features the 60,000 sq. foot Bacon Fieldhouse, Spurrier-Snyder Rink, Rosenbaum Squash Center, a 1,200 seat gymnasium, a 7,500 sq. foot fitness center, and a beautiful pool. Football and baseball games are played on Andrus Field in the middle of campus, while tennis matches are held at the John Woods Memorial Courts. Wesleyan also recently dedicated Jackson Field, the site of soccer contests, and Smith Field, a newly constructed synthetic turf field and the site of lacrosse and field hockey games. The Wesleyan Crew team rows out of Macomber Boathouse on the nearby Connecticut River.

Andrus Field is currently the oldest continuously used football field in the United States. Wesleyan recently celebrated the 125th anniversary of its first football game which was played against the Amherst Aggies (now UMass-Amherst) on October 31, 1881.

The University also has numerous intramural leagues in a wide range of sports, and sponsors the annual Wesleyan Dorm Cup between the various dormitories and fraternities on campus.

Graduate programs

Wesleyan features 11 graduate departments. Graduates receive the Master of Arts, Master of Science, and/or Doctor of Philosophy degrees. Generally, Wesleyan's graduate programs retain a small college atmosphere similar to the undergraduate program. For example, departments feature small administrative staffs, close student-faculty interaction, and open laboratory facilities. Administrators limit graduate course enrollment to 18 students or less.

In 1953, Wesleyan pioneered the study of liberal arts at the graduate level, with the Graduate Liberal Studies Program. To date, hundreds of educational institutions have followed suit with similar programs, including many of the world's leading research universities. Wesleyan's Graduate Liberal Studies Program offers both the Master of Arts in Liberal Studies (M.A.) and the Certificate of Advanced Studies (C.A.S.). The former requires 36 credit hours of study and culminates in capstone project or thesis. The latter requires 30 credit hours of additional study and a thesis.

The following is a list of graduate departments and programs. Some departments offer more than one program, as noted:

• Anthropology (5 year BA/MA program)
• Astronomy
• Biology
• Chemistry
• Computer Science
• Earth Science
  • Environmental Science
• Liberal Studies
  • Certificate of Advanced Studies
• Mathematics
• Molecular Biology
  • Biochemistry
• Music
  • Ethnomusicology
  • Composition
• Physics
• Psychology

Secret Societies and Greek Life

Secret societies on campus include two Mystical Sevens, Skull and Serpent and Theta Nu Epsilon. The Mystical Seven senior society building, a two story seven-sided structure, burned in 1997 when candles were left accidentally lit overnight in the building. The shell of the building still stands. The Skull and Serpent building, "The Tomb," is close to the Mystical Seven building on Wyllys Avenue and is still used for regular meetings.

Wesleyan is home to several fraternities including Beta Theta Pi, Psi Upsilon, Delta Kappa Epsilon, and one former fraternity, Eclectic. Wesleyan is also home to the Alpha Delta Phi Society which is a literary society and co-educational Greek-letter institution. In 1992, Alpha Delta Phi divided into two separate and self-governing organizations: the Alpha Delta Phi Society, and the Alpha Delta Phi Fraternity. Some of the older fraternities possess fine, very large houses adjacent to the campus while some of the newer ones do not own buildings.

Black greek life is prominent on the campus as six members of the Divine 9 reside on the campus. Wesleyan is included in the Nu Psi chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi and the home for chapters of Phi Beta Sigma, and Alpha Phi Alpha, all of which are fraternities. Alpha Kappa Alpha, Delta Sigma Theta, and Zeta Phi Beta sororities make up the female greek presence of the National Pan-Hellenic Council on Wesleyan's campus.

Student activism

Regarding need-blind admissions

Wesleyan employs a need-blind admission policy. Financial circumstances are not considered when deciding whether to admit, wait list, or turn down an applicant. In 1982, trustees announced that, following federal cuts to student aid, Wesleyan would begin to consider financial circumstances when admitting wait-listed students. Students protested the decision, and though trustees did not back down from their recommendations, Wesleyan raised enough money for financial aid to avoid putting the new policy into effect. In 1992, the administration again considered a moratorium on need-blind admissions. A student group, Students for Financially Accessible Education (SFAE), organized a series of actions, including rallies, a silent vigil encircling a trustee meeting, a sit-in in an administration building, and a camp-out on its lawn. Wesleyan's need-blind admissions policy was preserved and remains today. For several years, SFAE continued to raise awareness about financial accessibility, offering interest-free loans to students with financial emergencies, and raising money for financial aid through energy conservation campaigns. The group appears to be dormant at this time.

In recent years, need blind admissions has been a significant strain on the finances of the university. This is due to the large and volatile nature of the annual financial aid commitment, and the university's comparatively small endowment (which at approximately $600M, is about half the size of endowments belonging to its peer institutions).

Recent activism

In 2001 students of the United Student Labor Action Coalition occupied the admissions building during the month of April to protest the University's use of sub-contracted janitors who were not being paid a living wage. As part of the nationwide Justice for Janitors campaign, USLAC demanded that the University amend its contract with the service contractor to provide for a living wage and to let the janitors form a union if so desired. As April is the peak of college admissions season for prospective students, USLAC had a considerable amount of leverage as the University found itself with a severe public relations problem. After about two days the University conceded to the student demands.

Recent years have seen a resurgence in activism at Wesleyan. In December 2004, over 250 students occupied South College and trapped President Bennet in his office for several hours to protest the lack of student voices in administrative decision making. The building occupation was followed by a forum the next day, in which President Bennet promised to respond to student demands in January 2005. The motivations behind the occupation, in addition to its efficacy in transforming administrative policy, remain hotly contested among students today.

Another controversy in the same period was the status of the campus radio station, WESU, founded in 1939 as the second college radio station in the United States (KUOA at John Brown University in Siloam Springs, Arkansas was the first, in 1936). Since 1988, WESU's format had been entirely free-form, with DJs having complete freedom to program what they will. The university had, at that time, announced its intent to seek an affiliation with National Public Radio, and to drastically change the station's format.

A constant undercurrent of activism bubbles up from time to time in response to the Chalking Moratorium issued by President Bennet in 2003. Although this temporary moratorium was eventually replaced by a formal ending to all chalking on Wesleyan property, students have consistently chalked as a way of expressing dissent, of raising awareness on topics of sexuality, race, class, and gender, of bringing humor and fun into people's daily life, and of inviting students to parties and club events. Chalking, while controversial, has always been employed for both fun and politics.

Notable alumni

• Notable Wesleyan University Alumni

External links

• Wesleyan University
• Virtual Wesleyan - An award-winning, interactive guide to Wesleyan University
• The Wesleyan Connection - Official newsletter of the University administration
• Wesleyan Student Assembly
• The Wesleyan Argus - Primary student newspaper
• Wesleyan's University Profile
• Wesleyan's History
• Articles on Wesleyan History by Students
• Wesleyan University Second Stage
• Wesleyan Cinema Archives Website
• WESU Middletown Radio Station
• WESU Magazine
• Wesleyan University Athletics
• Wesleyan University Press
• Google Earth Campus Map
• Wesleying - Student-run collaborative blog about undergraduate life at Wesleyan
• Mind Matters - Mind Matters - the student-run journal of psychology