Information about Bates College

Bates College
Motto	Amore Ac Studio ("With Ardor and Devotion," or "Through Zeal and Study," by Charles Sumner)
Established	March 16, 1855
Type	Private
Endowment	$234,300,000[1]
President	Elaine Tuttle Hansen
Staff	206
Undergraduates	1,684
Postgraduates	0
Location	Lewiston , Maine , USA
Campus	Suburban
Athletics	31 varsity teams, 9 club teams
Mascot	Bobcat
Website	www.bates.edu

Bates College is a private liberal arts college, founded in 1855 by abolitionists, located in Lewiston, Maine, in the United States. Bates confers Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) or Bachelor of Science (B.S.) degrees. The College enrolls about 1,700 students. Bates is a nonsectarian institution.

Bates' 109-acre (441,000 m²) campus includes the George and Helen Ladd Library; the Olin Arts Center, which houses a concert hall, the Bates College Museum of Art; and the Edmund S. Muskie Archives and Special Collections Library, which holds the papers of the former Maine Governor, U.S. Senator, U.S. Secretary of State, author of the U.S. Clean Air and Water Acts and member of the Class of 1936. The College also holds access to the 574-acre (2.32 km²) Bates-Morse Mountain Conservation Area, in Phippsburg, Maine, which preserves one of the few undeveloped barrier beaches on the Atlantic coast; and the neighboring Bates College Coastal Center at Shortridge, which includes an 80-acre (324,000 m²) woodland and freshwater habitat, scientific field station, and retreat center. The United States Environmental Protection Agency honored Bates as a member of the Green Power Leadership Club because 96% of the energy used on campus is from renewable resources.

In 1984, Bates instituted one of the first SAT optional programs in the United States. In 1990, the Bates faculty voted to make all standardized tests optional in the college's admissions process. In October 2004, Bates published a study regarding the testing optional policy to the National Association for College Admission Counseling. Following two decades without required testing, the college found that the difference in graduation rates between submitters and non-submitters was 0.1%, that Bates' applicant pool had doubled since the policy was instated with approximently 1/3 of applicants not submitting scores, non-submitting students averaged only 0.05 points lower on their collegiate Grade Point Average, and applications from minority students raised dramatically.^[2] Today, Bates remains a leader in the SAT optional movement.

History

Founded in 1855, Bates was New England's first coeducational college. Several of its earliest students were former slaves.^[3] The college was originally called the Maine State Seminary and replaced the Parsonsfield Seminary, which burned under mysterious circumstances in 1854.[1] The Parsonsfield Seminary was founded in 1832 by Free Will Baptists and served as a stop on the Underground Railroad. Parsonsfield's Cobb Divinity School, founded in 1840, merged with Bates in 1870 and eventually became Bates' religion department. Therefore, Bates' religion department is 15 years older than the College itself.

As with many New England institutions, religion played a vital role in the college's founding. The Reverend Oren Burbank Cheney founded and served as the first president of Bates. He was a Freewill Baptist minister, a teacher, and a former Maine legislator. Cheney steered through the Maine Legislature a bill creating a corporation for educational purposes initially called the Maine State Seminary, located in Lewiston, Maine's fastest-growing industrial and commercial center.

Cheney assembled a six-person faculty dedicated to teaching the classics and moral philosophy to both men and women. In 1863 he received a collegiate charter, and obtained financial support for an expansion from the city of Lewiston and from Benjamin E. Bates, the Boston financier and manufacturer whose mills dominated the Lewiston riverfront. In 1864 the Maine State Seminary became Bates College. The College consisted of Hathorn and Parker halls and a student body of fewer than 100.

Nearly 200 students and alumni of the College and Seminary served in the American Civil War (1861-65), and only two students from Georgia fought for the Confederacy^[4]. With Cheney's support, the first woman to graduate from a New England college was Mary Mitchell, class of 1869. Cheney also ensured that no secret societies or fraternities were allowed on campus. One secret society was founded at Bates in 1881 and is thought to be responsible for a fire starting in the bell tower of Hathorn Hall in March of 1881, but the society was not sanctioned by the President or the College^[5]. By the end of Cheney's tenure, in 1894, the campus had expanded to 50 acres (202,000 m²) and six buildings.

George Colby Chase, a graduate of the Bates Class of 1868, succeeded Cheney in 1894. Known as "the great builder," Chase oversaw the construction of eleven new buildings on campus, including Coram Library, the Chapel, Chase Hall, Carnegie Science Hall, and Rand Hall. A twelve-inch reflecting telescope was installed in Stephens Observatory on top of Carnegie Science Hall in 1929. Chase tripled the number of students and faculty, as well as the endowment. The Cobb Divinity School (Bates Theological Seminary) and Nichols Latin School departments of the College were discontinued under President Chase.

His successor was Clifton Daggett Gray, a clergyman and former editor of The Standard, a Baptist periodical published in Chicago. Gray saw Bates through an era marked by vibrant growth and modernization, but also through the years of the Great Depression and World War II. On campus, renovations were completed on Libbey Forum and the Hedge Science Laboratory, and the Clifton Daggett Gray Athletic Building and Alumni Gymnasium were constructed. In the 1940s, when male students abandoned college campuses to enlist in the armed forces, Gray established a V-12 Navy College Training Program Unit on campus, assuring the College students - men and women - during wartime. When he retired, in 1944, Gray had increased the student enrollment to more than 700 and doubled the faculty to seventy; the endowment had doubled to $2 million.

Charles Franklin Phillips was a professor at Colgate University and a leading economist before coming to Bates as the College's fourth president. He initiated the Bates Plan of Education, a liberal arts "core" study program. He also directed expansions of campus facilities, including the Memorial Commons, the Health Center, Dana Chemistry Hall, Pettigrew Hall, Treat Gallery, Schaeffer Theatre, and Page Hall. When he retired in 1967, Phillips left a student body of 1,000 and an endowment of $7 million.

Thomas Hedley Reynolds assumed the presidency in 1967. His greatest achievement was the development and support of faculty, which brought Bates recognition as a national college. In addition to recruiting teacher-scholars, Reynolds championed better faculty pay, an expanded sabbatical leave program, and smaller classes.

Additions to the campus under Reynolds' presidency included the George and Helen Ladd Library, Merrill Gymnasium and the Tarbell Pool, the Olin Arts Center and the Bates College Museum of Art, as well as the conversion of the former women's gymnasium into the Edmund S. Muskie Archives and the acquisition of the Bates-Morse Mountain Conservation Area. Many of the early twentieth-century houses on Frye Street that now accommodate students, a popular alternative to larger residential halls, were acquired at this time.

Donald West Harward began his service as sixth president of Bates in 1989. During Harward's presidency, students received greater opportunities to study off campus with Bates faculty or in College-approved programs. He integrated more fully into student academic and intellectual life the senior thesis, the important capstone experience that has been a part of the Bates curriculum since the early twentieth century but is now a focal point.

Under Harward, Bates for the first time in many years reached out institutionally into the community of Lewiston-Auburn. Bates students and faculty built relationships in the community through one of the most active service-learning programs in the country.

More than twenty major academic, residential, and athletic facilities were built during his tenure, including Pettengill Hall, the Residential Village and Benjamin E. Mays Center, and the Bates College Coastal Center at Shortridge.

Elaine Tuttle Hansen became Bates' seventh president in 2002. Her immediate goals included securing resources for financial aid, competitive faculty and staff salaries, increased diversity of the faculty and student body, technological advances, and new curricular initiatives. Hansen's accomplishments include a successful major fundraising effort, "The Campaign for Bates: Endowing Our Values," which ended in June 2006 and raised nearly $121 million, $1 million more than its stated goal; and a comprehensive facilities master plan whose realization began in 2006 with construction of new student residences and a new dining commons.

Academics

Bates operates on a 4-4-1 schedule: two semesters and a month-long "Short Term." The College offers 24 department majors, eight interdisciplinary program majors, and 8 secondary concentrations. The most popular majors at Bates are economics, psychology, biology, English, political science, history, and environmental studies. Most majors require a senior thesis.

The percentage of Bates students who study off-campus is among the highest in the nation, with 64% of the Class of 2004 receiving credit for off-campus study.[2]

Currently, all tenured or tenure-track faculty members hold Ph.D.s or other terminal degrees. Bates students work directly with faculty; the student-faculty ratio is 10:1, and faculty members teach all classes. Nearly 60% of class sections, excluding independent studies and senior theses, have fewer than 20 students enrolled.[3]

Ninety-one percent of Bates College seniors or alumni applying to graduate programs in the health professions were accepted for matriculation in the fall of 2005. Bates students and alumni are consistently accepted to the top tier of law schools, including Cornell, Duke, Harvard, University of Michigan and New York University. More than 70% of recent alumni earned graduate or professional degrees within 10 years of graduation.[4]

The Princeton Review named Bates the No. 1 "Best Value College" in the United States in its 2005 ranking. The college is ranked 23rd, just behind Colby College, among liberal arts colleges in annual rankings published by U.S. News & World Report^[6].

Bates is part of the SAT optional movement for undergraduate admission. It was one of the first schools to become a part of this movement in 1984.

Athletics

The Bates Bobcats compete in the NCAA Division III New England Small College Athletic Conference, and Colby-Bates-Bowdoin Consortium. The official school color is garnet (the Garnet was the original mascot), though black is traditionally employed as a complement. Bates is home to one of the oldest college football teams and fields in the United States, Garcelon Field. The first college football game in Maine was played versus Tufts in 1875^[7].

Bates fields thirty-one varsity teams. There are also intercollegiate club teams in cycling, ice hockey, rugby, sailing, ultimate frisbee, men's volleyball and water polo. The men's rugby team placed second in the nation in 1997. Recent NESCAC champions include men's track and field (2000). The 2004 women's basketball team was ranked the number one NCAA Division III team in the United States for most of February 2005 and finished the year ranked number six by the USA Today/ESPN Today 25 National Coaches' Poll. They lost to University of Southern Maine in the Sweet 16.

The Bates College athletics department was ranked 19th out of 420 in the 2005 NCAA Division III winter rankings.

In addition to outdoor athletic fields, Bates has indoor and outdoor tracks, a swimming pool, squash courts, an ice hockey rink, a boathouse, several basketball courts, indoor and outdoor tennis courts, an independent weight room with treadmills and elliptical machines, and a new astroturf field.

Student life

The approximately 1,700 students at Bates come from 44 states, Washington, D.C., and 68 foreign countries. Bates does not and has never had fraternities or sororities. Bates is often described by New Englanders as one of the "Little Ivies."

There are nearly 90 student-run clubs and organizations at Bates, chief among them the Bates College Student Government (BCSG). The BCSG acts as the voice of the student body and oversees all other student organizations. Some of the most active clubs include:

• WRBC Bates College Radio, one of the highest-rated college stations in the country (The Princeton Review).
• The Chase Hall Committee (CHC), the campus programming board, sponsors a wide range of social activities - concerts, comedians and dances.
• A cappella groups such as the Deansmen (all male), the Merimanders (all female), the Manic Optimists (all male), and the Crosstones (co-ed)
• The Bates College Outing Club, one of the oldest college outing clubs in the United States.
• The nationally ranked Brooks Quimby Debate Council.
• The Strange Bedfellows, an improv comedy group.
• Robinson Players, a theater group and Bates' oldest student group.
• OUTfront, a group for LGBTQ students and their allies.
• New World Coalition, a radical social justice group.
• The Bates Musician's Alliance, a student-run group that organizes events featuring a number of student bands.
• The Bates College Democrats.
• The Bates College Republicans.

The Bates Student has been the main student newspaper since 1873. The John Galt Press, a conservative/libertarian newspaper, was founded and published at Bates and distributed at a number of other colleges and universities though it hasn't been printed at Bates since the Winter semester of 2005. The Bates College Mirror has been the student yearbook since 1909. Also, the Garnet, a literary magazine, has been published at Bates since 1879.

Bates has many official and unofficial annual traditions including WRBC's Annual Trivia Night, Puddle Jump, Ronjstock, Senior Pub crawl Parade to the Goose, Lick-It, President's Gala, "Ivy Day" (also known as the Baccalaureate, where class Ivy Stones have been chosen since 1879), Trick-or-Drink, Halloween Dance, Class Dinner, Mustachio Bashio, Triad Dance since 1981, Stanton Ride, Newman Day, Clambake at Popham Beach and Winter Carnival by the Outing Club since 1920, Alumni Reunion Parade since 1914, and the annual Oxford-Bates debate since 1921.

Alumni and faculty

:See also: Many notable individuals have attended Bates College, including Leo Ryan, Edmund Muskie, Bryant Gumbel, Robert F. Kennedy (as part of the Navy's V-12 program in World War II), Peter J. Gomes, Ella Knowles, William Stringfellow, Benjamin Mays, John Shea, David Chokachi, Mark Helm, Maria Bamford and Alice Swanson Esty.

School songs

Alma Mater

Here's to Bates, our Alma Mater dear, Proudest and fairest of her peers; We pledge to her our loyalty, Our faith and our honor thru the years. Long may her praises resound. Long may her sons exalt her name. May her glory shine while time endures, Here's to our Alma Mater's fame.

Words by Irving H. Blake 1911; Music by Hubert P. Davis 1912

The Fight Song

Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight on for Bates For Vict'rys at our door, Today the Garnet Bobcats conquer again, Hathorn bells are ringing in another win Down the field the Bobcats are marching Piling up the score - So fight (pause) for Bates (pause) and glory Give us more! more! more! more! (shout) Hey! Words and music by Hal Hunter Class of '55

Bates Field Song

Bates, Bates, fight till the end, Fight till the end of ev'ry game. Right, right, right till the end Fight for our Alma Mater's name. Fair and square may the battle be, In life or on the field of play. For Bates, Bates, strive till the end To honor her name in ev'ry way.

Words and music by Hubert P. Davis 1912

Bates Victory

Oh Bates, awake to the sound of battle The Garnet waves on high Thy sons are following on to victory Joy and fair fame are nigh The bands are playing, the stands are swaying Now rah! rah! rah! Bates! rah! rah! Up to your cheering Bates Up ev'ry man of you Shout to the welkin blue All together, Bates together, Rolling up the score Add a little, then a little, and a little more And at last when night is falling And the day is done We'll cheer again for dear old Bates And another vict'ry won.

Words and music by Richard B. Stanley 1897

The Bobcat

Oh the day of days is here, And the Bobcat will appear, Yes the claws will fly and the bears will die On this day of Victory, For the Bobcat dotes on fighting And his courage is supreme. And when it comes to smiting, Bears and Mules are all the same. Oh here’s to the fighting Bobcats, The Garnet mascot ever. So here’s three cheers for him who shares The glory of the name of Bates.

Hollis D. Bradbury, Class of '27

The Bates Smoker

Oft times at night I light my pipe, And watch the glowing grates; The shadows fall while I recall Each dream of dear old Bates; Each fair coed, each lesson read, Each comrade’s friendliness. Each victory comes back to me, Each dream brings happiness.

Words and music by Stanton Howe Woodman, Class of '20

Bates in literature, film, and culture

• The Sopranos (1999) — In an episode entitled "College," Tony Soprano and his daughter Meadow visit Bates, where Meadow remarks that Bates students claim "Bates is the world's most expensive form of contraception." Tony and Meadow also visit Colby and Bowdoin, but Meadow is waitlisted and goes to Columbia^[8]
• The Bates campus was filmed in the The Letter, a movie about the pro-diversity rally for the local Somali population in Lewiston, Maine.
• The College gained national notoriety in the New York Times in 2004 for its celebration of Newman Day.
• Dave Matthews referred to a concert he performed at Bates in 1995 on the Charlie Rose Show, claiming that the concert "at this little college in Maine" sparked his career^[9].
• During World War II, a warship was commissioned the S.S. Bates Victory, named after the College.
• In a July, 2006 article in Sports Illustrated, Bates students are credited with inventing "One Ringing." One Ring is a game where friends torment each other by calling and then hanging up immediately during sport matches.

Notes

References

• Alfred Williams Anthony, Bates College and Its Background (Philadelphia: Judson Press, 1936).
• Bates College Catalog 2004-2006, Lewiston, ME: Bates College, 2004.
• Bates Student, 1873-2006
• Emeline Cheney. The Story of the Life and Work of Oren B. Cheney (Boston: Morning Star Publishing, 1907).
• Mabel Eaton, General Catalogue of Bates College and Cobb Divinity School: 1864-1930 (Lewiston, ME: Bates College, 1930)

See also

• Bates Student
• List of Bates College people
• Cobb Divinity School
• Stephens Observatory
• Maine Central Institute
• Lapham Institute
• WRBC
• The Ronj

External links

• Bates College
• Bates Admissions
• Bates Alumni
• Bates College Student Government
• The Bates Student (Bates' official student newspaper)
• Eulogy of Benjamin Bates
• Bates College Radio WRBC
• Bates Daily Jolt
• Princeton Review
• U.S. News & World Report
• Bates College channel on YouTube

•  • [ e] New England Small College Athletic Conference
Amherst • Bates • Bowdoin • Colby • Connecticut College • Hamilton • Middlebury • Trinity • Tufts • Wesleyan • Williams

•  • [ e] Universities & Colleges in Maine
Private	College of the Atlantic • Bangor Theological Seminary • Bates College • Bowdoin College • Colby College • Husson College • Maine College of Art • Saint Joseph's College • University of New England • Thomas College • Unity College
Public	Maine Maritime Academy • University of Maine at Augusta • University of Maine at Farmington • University of Maine at Fort Kent • University of Maine at Machias • University of Maine at Orono • University of Maine at Presque Isle • University of Southern Maine

•  • [ e] Annapolis Group

Chair: Katherine Haley Will, President, Gettysburg College Participating liberal arts colleges: Agnes Scott • Albion • Albright • Allegheny • Alma • Amherst • Augustana (Illinois) • Austin • Bard • Barnard • Bates • Bennington • Berea • Birmingham-Southern • Bowdoin • Bryn Mawr • Bucknell • Carleton • Centre • Chatham • Claremont McKenna • Coe • Colby • Colgate • Colorado • Connecticut • Cornell College • Davidson • Denison • DePauw • Dickinson • Drew • Earlham • Eckerd • Franklin & Marshall • Furman • Gettysburg • Gordon • Goucher • Grinnell • Gustavus Adolphus • Hamilton • Hampden-Sydney • Hampshire • Harvey Mudd • Haverford • Hendrix • Hiram • Hobart & William Smith • Hollins • Holy Cross • Hope • Illinois Wesleyan • Juniata • Kalamazoo • Kenyon • Knox • Lafayette • Lake Forest • Lawrence • Lewis & Clark • Luther • Macalester • Manhattan • McDaniel • Middlebury • Millsaps • Monmouth • Moravian • Morehouse • Mount Holyoke • Muhlenberg • Nebraska Wesleyan • Oberlin • Occidental • Oglethorpe • Ohio Wesleyan • Pitzer • Pomona • Presbyterian • Randolph-Macon • Randolph • Reed • Rhodes • Ripon • Rollins • St. Benedict • St. John's College • St. John's University • St. Lawrence • St. Olaf • Salem • Sarah Lawrence • Scripps • • Skidmore • Smith • Southwestern • Spelman • Swarthmore • Sweet Briar • Transylvania • Trinity College • Trinity University • Union • Puget Sound • Ursinus • Vassar • Wabash • Washington College • Washington & Jefferson • Washington & Lee • Wellesley • Wesleyan College • Wesleyan University • Westmont • Wheaton • Whitman • Whittier • Willamette • William Jewell • Williams • Wittenberg • Wooster