Randolph College

Randolph College

Motto	Vita Abundantior (Life More Abundant)
Type	Private liberal arts college
Established	1891
President	John E. Klein
Academic staff	72
Undergraduates	493
Location	Lynchburg , VA , USA
Campus	suburban; 100 acres
Endowment	$126.1 million
Mascot	Wanda the WildCat
Website	randolphcollege.edu

Randolph College is a private liberal arts college located in Lynchburg, Virginia. It was founded in 1891 as the women's college Randolph-Macon Woman's College, and assumed its current name on July 1, 2007, when it became coeducational.

History

The college was founded by William Waugh Smith, then-president of Randolph-Macon College, under Randolph-Macon's charter after failing to convince R-MC to become co-educational. Randolph-Macon Woman's College and R-MC were governed by a separate board of trustees beginning in 1953. Randolph-Macon Woman's College has historic ties to the United Methodist Church. After many attempts to find a location for Randolph-Macon Woman's College, the city of Lynchburg donated the property for the purpose of establishing a women's college. In 1916, it became the first women's college in the South to earn a Phi Beta Kappa charter. [1]

In August 2006, only a few weeks into the academic year, Randolph-Macon Woman's College announced that it would adopt coeducation and change its name. Former Interim president Ginger H. Worden argued (in a 17 September 2006 editorial for the Washington Post) that, "today, the college is embarking on a new future, one that will include men. Yet that original mission, that dedication to women's values and education, remains. The fact of the marketplace is that only 3 percent of college-age women say they will consider a women's college. The majority of our own students say they weren't looking for a single-sex college specifically. Most come despite the fact that we are a single-sex college. Our enrollment problems are not going away, and we compete with both coed and single-sex schools. Of the top 10 colleges to which our applicants also apply, seven are coed. Virtually all who transfer from R-MWC do so to a coed school. These market factors affect our financial realities. "

The decision to go co-ed was not welcomed by everyone. Alumnae and students organized protests which were covered by local and national media. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/21/education/21women.html Many students accused the school of recruiting them under false pretenses as the administration did not warn new or current students that they were considering admitting men. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=OQoqAAAAIBAJ&sjid=jNAEAAAAIBAJ&pg=7124%2C2327029 Lawsuits were filed against the school by both students and alumnae. http://www.preserveeducationalchoice.org/pressrelease2.htm

It was re-named Randolph College on July 1, 2007, when it became coeducational.

The last class to have the option to receive diplomas from Randolph Macon Woman's College graduated on 16 May 2010.

Presidents

• John Klein 2007-Present
• Ginger H. Worden '69 (Interim President), 2006–2007
• Kathleen Gill Bowman, 1994–2006
• Lambuth M. Clarke, 1993–1994
• Linda Koch Lorimer, 1987–1993
• Robert A. Spivey, 1978–1987
• William F. Quillian, Jr., 1952–1978[2]
• Theodore H. Jack, 1933–1952
• N.A. Pattillo, 1931–1933
• Dice Robins Anderson, 1920–1931
• William A. Webb, 1913–1919
• William Waugh Smith, 1891–1912 [3]

Notable alumnae

Name	Known for	Relationship to college
Pearl S. Buck	First woman from the United States to win the Nobel Prize in literature in 1938 for "the body of her work", notably her novel "The Good Earth" which was chosen for its "rich and truly epic descriptions of peasant life in China and for her biographical masterpieces." In addition Buck's The Good Earth has won the Pulitzer Prize for the novel in 1932	class of 1914
Emily Squires	One of the twelve directors of Sesame Street. She has won 6 Daytime Emmy's since 1985.	class of 1961
Candy Crowley	CNN senior political correspondent whose illustrious career includes two awards for outstanding journalism from both the National Press Foundation and the Associated Press.	class of 1970
Frank M. Hull	Current judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.	class of 1970
Susan Webber Wright	US district court judge in Little Rock, Arkansas. She presided over Paula Jones's sexual harassment lawsuit against former President Bill Clinton. She was also involved with the investigation of the Whitewater Scandal with Kenneth Star.	class of 1970
Blanche Lincoln	Senior Democratic U.S. Senator from Arkansas, assumed office in 1999. She has previously served in the House of Representatives from Arkansas' 1st district. Lincoln was the youngest woman to be elected to the Senate in 1998 at the age of 38. She is currently the youngest senior senator.	class of 1982
Rachel A. Dean	U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, killed in September 2006 while on duty in Kazakhstan.	class of 2003
Anne Tucker	Museum of Fine Arts, Houston photography curator (named "America's Best Curator" by TIME, in 2001)
Suzanne Patrick	US Deputy Undersecretary of Defense for Industrial Policy

Traditions

One of the college's oldest traditions is the Even/Odd rivalry. The year the student graduates denotes whether they are an Even or an Odd. The two staircases in Main Hall lobby are known as the "Even Stairs" on the left and "Odd Stairs" on the right. According to superstition, a student who uses the wrong set of stairs will not graduate. The class of 1903 unofficially established the Odd/Even tradition by adopting the class of 1905 as "little sisters."

The campus symbol of the Odd classes is the "Odd Tree," located on campus's front lawn. Legend has it that the original Odd Tree was viciously burned down by Evens. A large cement replica of the trunk now stands in the spot where the original tree stood. The Odd symbols are the Witch and the Devil. Their colors are Red, Gray, and Blue. Their spirit organization is the Gamma 13 founded by the class of 1913. The Gammas promote ODD spirit among their sister classes.

The "Even Post" in front of Main Hall serves as a symbol of the Even classes. Dr. William Waugh Smith tied his horse, Mr. Buttons, to this hitching post every day. The Evens also adopted Dr. Smith's dog, Mr. Bones, as a mascot. The symbols of the Even class are buttons (after the horse) and bones (after the dog). Their colors are Green, White and Tan. Their spirit organization is called the Etas. The Etas promote EVEN spirit among their sister classes.

Members of the Even and Odd classes attempt to keep their respective Post and Tree clean and white, while striving to spray paint or otherwise deface the symbol of their rival class.

Throughout the semester, Skeller Sings are held between the Odd and Even classes. The senior spirit group stands on the stage in the Student Center to lead their sister class with class songs. The junior spirit group is sent to the stairs to lead their class respectively. At the end of the Skeller Sing, both the Etas and the Gammas come together to sing the Song of Syncopation and the school song.

Even or Odd Day is celebrated during the spring term. Members of First Year Board secretly decorate the campus the night of Even/Odd Day to surprise their sister class. The Evens and the Odds then face off at dinner time with a water balloon fight.

"Bury the Hatchet" is celebrated at the end of the spring semester before graduation. A senior presents a hatchet to the most spirited junior to symbolize the Odds and Evens coming together in friendship at the end of the academic year.

Ring Week

Ring Week, held in November, is celebrated by juniors and their sister class, the first-years. The week begins with junior draw, when the juniors are picked by members of the first-year class. Throughout the week, the first-year will leave the junior gifts anonymously, and decorate their door. At the end of the week the juniors have a class dinner before taking part in a campus-wide scavenger hunt created by their first-years. The juniors are then presented with their class ring. Sometimes the first-year will have the junior complete a final task before receiving her ring such as breaking open a piñata, digging through Jell-O, or dancing outrageously.

Pumpkin Parade

Pumpkin Parade is celebrated by seniors and sophomores in October. Sophomores select a senior to secretly leave presents for during the week leading up to Pumpkin Parade. At the end of the week, the sophomore presents a carved pumpkin to her senior. The seniors, dressed in their graduation robes, carry their lighted pumpkins on a parade along the Crush Path across front campus. The parade ends on the steps of Moore Hall. There the senior and sophomore classes serenade one another with class and school songs.

Other Traditions

Never Ending Weekend is celebrated during the fall semester. The weekend begins on Friday with Tacky Party, a dance party where the attendants aspire to dress in the tackiest outfits possible. The Fall Formal dance follows on Saturday night.

Holiday dinners are celebrated during the last week of the Fall semester. Sister classes dine together in Cheatham dining hall, which is decorated for the occasion. At the end of the meal, students stand on their chairs and sing holiday songs. The evening is closed with the singing of the school song.

The Greek Play Mabel K. Whiteside, professor of Greek, began a Randolph-Macon Woman's College tradition in 1909 by producing Euripides' Alcestis in Greek. She led her students in an annual production of a Greek play from then until her retirement in 1954.

Beginning with the production of Sophocles' Antigone in 2000, Greek professor Amy R. Cohen and her students have revived the tradition. The renewed series produces the plays mostly in English. In reviving the College tradition, the Randolph College Greek Play adheres to most of the original conventions that governed theatre in the time of the great tragedians, believing that the best plays will emerge from the conditions for which they were written. The College and her alumnae have blessed the College with an outdoor Greek theatre, which allows the plays to be performed in daylight for an audience seated in a semi-circle around the performers. The Randolph College Greek Play adheres to other ancient conventions as well: three actors play all the roles; the Chorus—which sings and dances—remains on stage for most of the play; and the performers all wear masks. Through the 2006 Greek Play we also had one sex play both men and women, but the 2008 Greek Play inaugurated the era of gender-blind casting.

The Greek Play is supported by Randolph College, by the Classics Department, and by the student booster group, Melpomene.

In addition to the traditions described above the college is host to many others including: Christmas Vespers, Senior Dinner Dance, Founder’s Day, and MacDoodle Day.

Traditions behind the Red Brick WallReference this website, maintained and assembled by reference librarian Professor Francis Webb. It contains many articles of the student run newspaper The Sundial from the past, as well as photos!

Maier Museum of Art

Randolph College’s nationally recognized Maier Museum of Art [4] features works by outstanding American artists of the 19th and 20th centuries. The College has been collecting American art since 1920 and now holds a collection of several thousand paintings, prints, drawings, and photographs in the Maier’s permanent collection.

The Maier Museum hosts an active schedule of special exhibitions and education programs throughout the year. Through its programs, internships, museum studies practicums, and class visits, the Maier Museum of Art provides valuable learning opportunities for Randolph students and the Lynchburg community at large.

Special programs

Randolph College Abroad: The World in Britain

Since 1968, the college has hosted a study abroad program at the University of Reading, England. Each year approximately 30 to 35 students are selected for the program. Commonly taken during the junior year, students may choose to enroll for the full academic year or for the fall or spring semester only. Students live in one of three Randolph-owned houses across the street from the University of Reading campus. [5]

American Culture Program

A minor in American Culture offers Randolph College students the opportunity to study American society and culture by drawing upon resources, techniques, and approaches from a variety of disciplines. The American Culture program also accepts visiting students from other American colleges and universities for a one-semester intensive study of a particular theme or region, including literature, art, history, and travel components.

External links

• Randolph College
• Alumnae Association website

Traditions behind the Red Brick Wall RC Greek Play