The William Jewell college story.

What is a college?" President Walter Pope Binns used to ask his audience at an annual function in Kansas City. He would proceed to answer his question by saying a college is its faculty and their students. I propose to take the question and view it in historical reflection. I will ask, What's a college?--this college where we now sit, this William Jewell's jewel.

The Fruition of a Frontier Dream

When Jewell became a college, Kansas City was not yet a chartered town. When Governor Austin King signed the Jewell charter, 27 February 1849, all lands to the west were Indian Territories. Within ten miles of where we sit, wagon trains were being outfitted for the Santa Fe Trail and even Liberty was known as Baxter's Landing on the Missouri just a couple of miles away.

John Mason Peck, the Baptist missionary, who was everywhere west of Philadelphia in the late 1700s, states that Baptists had made their way to the Missouri Territory near present St. Louis by 1789. Some fifty non-Catholics residing near Jackson south of St. Louis formed the first Baptist church west of the Mississippi River 19 July 1806.

That same year, Lewis and Clark were exploring the area along the tributaries of the Western Missouri. Soon communities began to appear along the banks of this great river. In and near these settlements, frontier farmer-evangelists preached and Baptist churches came into being. Within these small fellowships were individuals who possessed a zeal for evangelism and who also pressed for the education of their brethren. A leader in this early effort among Baptists was Thomas Fristow of Howard County, who was joined by Ebinezer Rogers and Fielding Wilhoit. In their efforts, they were soon joined by a frontier physician, Dr. William Jewell, who had moved west from Lexington, Kentucky. Jewell was a Virginia transplant brought to Kentucky by his parents in 1799. Following study at Transylvania College, he read medicine with a local physician and began a practice in Lexington. Unmarried, the yearn to travel west led him to join an immigrating group that eventually settled in Boone County, Missouri. Here he was influenced to join Fristow, Wilhoit, and Rogers in their efforts at evangelism and education. These four worked tirelessly to establish the Baptist General Association, and from this group came the founding of William Jewell College.

Dr. William Jewell was both energetic and a visionary. He found time to be engaged in city governmental planning and politics, in architecture as well as building supervision, and he constantly pushed for formation of educational institutions. He laid out the street plaits for the city of Columbia, Missouri; designed and supervised the construction of the courthouse there and the Baptist church adjacent to it; served as mayor of his town and represented his district in the legislature. He participated in the development of a public hospital in St. Louis while he worked for building Columbia College, which later became the University of Missouri.

William Jewell was a man of great integrity. Accused once, by a member of his Little Bonne Femme church, of being dishonest in dealing with his patients, he called his accuser a "quack." Dismissed for disrupting the fellowship, Jewell later apologized and was restored. However, further accusation brought another strong rebuttal, and he refused to apologize and left the congregation. In 1823, he joined a group in organizing a new church in Columbia, only five miles removed from Bonne Femme, where he retained his membership until his death.

In the late 1830s, several pastors seriously pushed the Baptist General Association to consider establishing "a college among us." In 1843, Dr. Jewell offered a handsome grant of 3,951 acres of river bottomland, valued at more than $10,000, for this purpose. It came to nought, however, for failure to secure enough money for the project. Once again in 1847, the proposal came forward and in 1848, $16,000 was raised to accompany the Jewell offer. With this the General Association approved asking the state legislature for a charter. This being granted and signed by the governor, 27 February 1849, William Jewell College was born.

This charter contained interesting and unique parts. Among them was the right of perpetual succession of the trustees with the right of electing their own replacements; all professors and staff personnel, as well as the president, would be selected by the trustees who would also prescribe the courses of study; no taxes could be levied against lands or buildings used for the benefit of education at the school; and the charter could only be changed by an act of the legislature signed by the governor. This charter has never been amended nor is it likely ever to be.

A site for the new college was chosen in August 1849. After strong debate from various groups about competing locations, two non-Baptists from Liberty were successful in gaining the votes necessary to locate the college in Clay county. At this meeting Col. Alexander W. Doniphan pulled from his coat pocket a resolution naming the school after the venerable Dr. William Jewell. The doctor was asked, in 1850, to design and supervise construction of the first building on campus. He did this so arduously that in the summer of 1852 he suffered a massive heat stroke and died August 7 in the home of a friend. Thus, a place was chosen, a building constructed, but President Binns's college was still being born, since no faculty and no students were yet on hand.

Becoming a School of Intellectual Potential

The years 1850-51 in western Missouri were a testy time. Former President Gordon Kingsley described it: "I think of the first students who showed up, 137 of them, to find no building on this hill, no Kansas City fifteen miles away, nothing except two professors--one teaching Greek and Latin and the other mathematics, and natural science." It was audacious, to be sure. Frontier lads who could scarcely read and hardly cipher at all, instructed in the classic languages, in natural sciences and in math! But it was Binns's college: students and professors.

Hving no place on campus in which to teach, the first professors brought their students to the basement of a little, square Baptist church near-by. The basement, not yet finished, had to be cleaned and white-washed with lime paint. Students paid $12 for a twenty-six-week semester and $8 for a sixteen-week one. They boarded in private homes of "respectable families" for $1.25 to $1.50 per week. Limited by modern standards, they were "in college"--a teaching professor and the students!

Professional leadership in William Jewell during the formative days was exceptional. The first president, Robert S. Thomas, of Virginia blood, was born in Kentucky where he was graduated from Transylvania College when only eighteen and was granted an M.A. degree at Yale University in one year's study. His successor was William Thompson, graduated Master of Arts at Edinburgh, Scotland. He served Jewell well until the Civil War brought a temporary close.

After achieving a modicum of financial security following the Civil War, classes resumed under the leadership of a Frenchman, Thomas Rambaut. Rambaut was a descendent of Hugenots who had fled persecution and settled in Dublin, Ireland. Robert, born there, was a precocious child skilled in Latin, Greek, and mathematics at age nine. He graduated from Trinity College, Dublin, and, after marrying, sailed for America where he settled in Savannah, Georgia.

Dr. Rambaut became Jewell's president in 1868. The college received its established course toward educational excellence from him. He was successful in gathering an outstanding faculty, two of whom were graduates of the University of Virginia, one of the South Carolina Military Academy and of Furman University, and a fourth was a Ph.D. graduate of Colgate University.

With this faculty core, the new president set about to develop a curriculum that befitted a good college. The pattern he chose was that of the University of Virginia. There would be eight academic divisions at William Jewell. Each division was to be independent and each would be set up as funds developed. Graduation from a course of study was by exam, not measured by the calendar. One needed a score of 75 percent to graduate any course and completion of Latin, Greek, English, history, mathematics, natural science and moral philosophy were required to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree.

This course of study was most challenging. For students who came primarily from small public schools and from frontier academies, it overreached their capacities. It did, however, lay heavy emphasis on individual studies, gave opportunity for rapid or slower progress, and required a high degree of supervision, as well as careful coordination of the testing process in each of the divisions. Rambaut found that failing health required a temporary leave from the college in 1872 and his resignation in 1874. His resignation brought an end to the Rambaut Plan of education which immediately began to unravel. In 1885-86 the faculty decided to amend the course of study requirement and adopted a system of class progression similar to present usage.

After Dr. Rambaut left, no successor-president was named. Through a difficult period of financial stress and academic change, the faculty ran the college under the direction of a faculty chairman. For twenty years, 1873-92, professors William R. Rothwell and James G. Clark successively served in this capacity. Room and board were managed by students themselves through a Boarding Club with a separate Minister's Boarding Club operated for fledgling pastors. In this period, the college survived and developed because of its committed faculty and the quality of students that had assembled. Binns's question was being answered: teachers and students working, living, and learning together are a college.

Maturing Through Adversity

William Jewell College matured through adversity. It had hardly begun when the western phase of the Civil War closed its doors. Its only permanent building, Jewell Hall, was commandeered by Union soldiers and was used as a barracks, hospital, and stable for horses. When following the war the college could open again, it did so with five professors and a handful of students.

Problems that related to academic freedom of professors and the quality and religious commitment of administrative leaders thoroughly tested the college. In the late nineteenth century decisions were made marking out clearly the religious dynamic of the school. Trustees repeatedly found it advisable to state their intent that life and instruction on campus should exemplify Christian ideals and teachings.

These were tested when one religion professor, who had done extensive graduate study in Scotland and Germany, clearly renounced the Protestant theology of Baptists. He was asked to resign, evoking a firestorm of reaction. Two established faculty members became involved and were also asked to resign. These kinds of issues forced the college--faculty, administration, trustees, alumni, and students--to think through rights and privileges of personnel at William Jewell. Where freedom of academic and administrative rights ends and where commitments to stated college aims and pronouncements are maintained is an ongoing concern. Being Binns's kind of liberal arts college was not proving an easy task.

The Priest and the Cardinals

No era of William Jewell College was more eventful than that of President John Priest Greene. For thirty-nine years, 1884-1923, he was associated with the school either as trustee or president. However, longevity does no justice to this administration.

Green was born in Scotland County, Missouri, 20 August 1849 of Virginia parentage. Converted at sixteen years of age, a Presbyterian, he reneged on confirmation until he could read the New Testament through. "I'll decide then," he had said. Somewhat later, he joined a Baptist church and was baptized.

His was a feisty boyhood. In a handwritten manuscript he described a boyish conflict with some "rowdies who came from across the tracks. They taunted us with jeers and peppered us with rocks. Out numbered, we counter attacked and promptly sent them scurrying back where they belonged. "After college, young Green enrolled at Southern Baptist Seminary in Greenville, South Carolina, and following graduation, he studied further at the University of Leipzig, Germany and began a pastorate in Louisville, Kentucky, upon returning to the states.

President Greene came to the college in 1892 from the Third Baptist Church of St. Louis. During his more than thirty years, he changed the physical composition of the campus and greatly influenced all other areas. Roads and sidewalks were laid, piped-water and sewers installed, central heating replaced wood- or coal-burning stoves, and electricity replaced coal-oil lamps. Nine permanent buildings were constructed. The college gained acceptance into the Association of American Universities and became a founding member of the North Central Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools. Through Dr. Greene's efforts, the endowment of the college also doubled, and women were first fully matriculated into the school.

President Greene had trained for the pastorate and loved preaching. He was the stated and regular speaker at the required chapel services. Former President Gordon Kingsley reports an alumnus's memory of those addresses. One address had four points--stated firmly:

1. "Keep your mouth shut"--that is, be teachable, be silent and learn. 2. "Keep your bowels open"--that is, stay healthy. 3. "Trust in God." 4."Work." The college latinized the last two points into the college motto, "Deo Fisus Labora"--trust God and work.

President Green's leadership covered several important events. He had a prominent role in setting forth what became known as The Missouri Plan for the denomination. This consisted of churches dividing their mission gifts between Northern Baptist Missionary Societies and the Mission Boards of the Southern Baptist Convention. The Missouri General Association adopted this plan in 1889. As Southern Baptist work grew stronger over the years, many churches seriously objected to such division. Therefore, on 23 October 1919, the dual alignment practice was ended with each church being expected to determine which of the denominational groups it would support.

Engaging W. D. Johnson, trustee in 1909-49, proved to be Greene's greatest contribution. Johnson, a Texan, had come to Kansas City in the late 1800s. His business prospered, enabling him to give large sums to the college after he became associated with it. A consecrated Christian layman, he sought to make education possible at William Jewell for young ministers. Hence, his gift brought the first endowed department, Religious Studies. As a cattleman, he controlled large acreage in the west where oil was discovered on his land. With this "black gold," he was able to establish a trust with the college that supported much of its activity in the depression days.

In some ways, Charles Haddon Spurgeon and William Jewell have become synonymous. This grew from President Greene's encouraging the purchase of Spurgeon's personal library of 7,000-volumes for the fabulous cost of 500 pounds or $875 American dollars. The library stresses Puritan literature, over 3,500 printed sermons, a classic collection of Bibles and hymnals, a full collection of Spurgeon's own works, and the Genevan "Breeches" Bible of 1583.

Housed also in the college library, are six large volumes by Balthasar Hubmaier, written in script, and provided through the efforts of President Greene. When secured, in 1938, W. O. Lewis, commissioner of the American Baptist Foreign Mission Society, and former teacher at William Jewell, arranged for all the known manuscript material of this famous Anabaptist to be photocopied. They were later translated by professor George W. Davidson of the college's department of modern languages.

On 25 May 1923, Greene's presidency closed. He spoke in chapel that day and took for his topic "Cheerfulness and Self-control." He was speaking strongly when "the bell rang in the midst of a sentence, and Dr. Greene stopped talking--with that, thirty years of chapel talks went into history." Dr. Greene, the resident "priest" to hundreds of "his boys," as he referred to them, retired that spring to a home in California.

From a "Priest" to a "Pope" and Beyond

The college mascot name is Cardinals. It turned out that over time the Cardinals had a "Priest" (Greene) and a "Pope" (Binns) for president. Between their tenures as president, John F. Herget was selected, and a biblical quotation, "There was a man sent from God whose name was John" (John 1:6), came to be applied to him. These three, the "prophet, John"; the "priest, Greene"; and the "pope, Binns" were exceedingly important in the continuing well-being of the college.

Dr. Herget needed to heal the wounds of a previously fractured administration in which a president and six faculty members had resigned. He did this with exceptional skill. His leadership recruited students, reduced debt requirements, strengthened denominational ties, built new and up-dated old buildings; saw the departments of Bible and philosophy endowed and raised total endowment from $400,000 to a value of almost $2.5 million.

Following Herget's tenure, Jewell entered the postwar years. Walter Pope Binns became president in July 1943. His was the task of seeing the college through the closing war years, of preparing for the return of GIs and other students while he made plans for the second century of the college's existence. His goals: stabilize enrollment at 500 students; endow twelve departments of the liberal arts; increase general endowment, and improve physical structures. Much of this he achieved, although only six departments were endowed by his retirement.

Binns's management style was unique and decisive. A spring ritual for all faculty was the granting of contracts. There was no tenure. Once a young prospective teacher raised the tenure question and Dr. Binns informed him, "Yes, we have tenure. All faculty have tenure. If their work is satisfactory they can remain as long as they desire. Of course, unsatisfactory work will always bring termination."

At another contract time, a faculty member sought to have a way of gaining an increase in salary. With his new contract in hand, said faculty person entered the president's office with a report that he had a $1,000 dollar increase in salary offer from another school. Would the president want to match that so he would stay? Dr. Binns replied, "So you have another offer of $1,000 more? Sounds pretty good to me. Give me your contract, and if I were you, I'd just accept the other school's offer." The faculty member went looking, since it had been a bluff all along.

On 28 February 1962, President Binns announced his retirement. Enrollment stood at 1,012. New buildings surrounded the Quad. A grant from the Ford Foundation of $183,500 had been received to increase faculty salaries. It was "the best of times."

In successive administrations of H. Guy Moore, Thomas S. Field, and J. Gordon Kingsley, William Jewell moved through the restless sixties and the prosperous next three decades. In this time the college achieved respectable stability as an educational institution. Curriculum was revised, organizational structure amended with the faculty once more directly involved in programs. A campus abroad program was begun in central England and in Oxford. A grant from the Hall Family Foundation of $1.5 million helped endow study abroad for students in what President Kingsley called the Oxbridge Studies Program. Total endowment of the college had now grown to a book value exceeding. $50 million.

Taking office in 1996, W. Christian Sizemore led in providing a $1.5 million installation of more than 1,600 computer access points for a fully networked campus. The burgeoning field of information technology was now available to the campus. Binns's college--a faculty and students--could now connect from all over the world.

William Jewell's faculty is now engaged in implementation of Leadership 2000: A Strategic Plan for the new millennium. David Duke, a biblical studies professor, envisions Jewell's future. He states in The Strategic Plan that the college "must interpret liberal arts for everyone's clearer perception in a techno-professional society. She must define her Christian mission making clear the relationship between liberal arts and Christian mission. She must be loyal to the ideals of Christ and rooted firmly in her 150-year Baptist tradition." This faculty envisions a "new college in a new century," and it is setting about to realize it.

I close by asking once again, What's a college--this college? It is faculty and students. It is ideas, challenges, discipline, and devotion. It is traditions loved and visions yet unrealized. It is freedom of expression and the ability to control its direction. It is a community of learners and an openness to be taught.

What's a college? It is this place, this hill, these stones, this mortar. It is Dr. William Jewell's jewel, this William Jewell College. Deo Fisus Labora.

David O. Moore is the retired chair of the department of religion at William Jewell College, Liberty, Missouri.