Wofford College - From The Archives

Advice to the Class of 1959

We're moving into Commencement season, and preparations are already well underway for that happy time of the year when we send our newest graduates out into the world.  Last year I wrote a series of posts about Commencement traditions, and I invite you to check some of those out again if you are interested.  

One of the newer traditions that we've established in the past five years is to invite the 50-year class, in this case the class of 1959, to attend and participate in Commencement weekend.  They'll have their official reunion after the Baccalaureate service on Saturday night, May 16, and they'll lead the Class of 2009 into the Commencement exercises on Sunday morning, May 17.  

I've looked through a lot of material about the years from 1955-59 at Wofford recently (more about that in the next few weeks as well) and on a few occasions this year, I've talked about things that happened around here during their senior year.  Continuing that trend, here are some words of advide to the freshmen of 1955 (that is, the class of 1959) from the student handbook from their freshman year.  

Books and Supplies

You'll find the college book store in the canteen in the basement of Greene Hall.  In addition to scholastic supplies you can find drugs and sundries, stationery, Wofford shirts, pennants, and of course Rat Caps.  

Campus Dress

While the college was once referred to as "the Oxford of the South" (By whom, I do not know!), remember that formal wear is not the ordered dress as you will soon see.  Dress comfortably, neatly, but suits and ties are not required.  

Chapel

All students are required to attend chapel exercises.  Four absences for which no accounting is required are permitted in any one semester, but if a student's unexcused absences reach five during any one semester, HE SHALL BE EXCLUDED FROM COLLEGE.  

Dropping Class

You can not drop a class by merely ceasing to attend.  (Actually, this advice needs to be repeated today!)   

Mail

You have been assigned a mailbox in the post office in the north end of Carlisle Hall.  It is your responsibility to keep it dust free.  Write a letter and you'll get one.  Mail enters the college once daily at 8 am.  

Some things change, some things don't.  

Admissions, the 1909 version

Some months ago, I posted information on how one got admitted to Wofford in 1854.  Today, I've got the catalog information from 1909.  South Carolina had more public schools by then, and schools had started offering credits, or units, in various subjects.  Many colleges in the state began accepting students without examination if they could provide a certificate from a reputable high school that they had taken a certain number of "units" and students then were as concerned about having the correct number of units as students today are about standardized test scores, AP exams, and such other measures.  

Here's the text of the 1909 catalog relative to admissions requirements.  After that, I'm including the glowing language about the healthfulness and intellectual climate of the campus and community.  

Admissions Requirements, 1909-10

Students applying for admission to the Freshman class must furnish satisfactory evidence of their fitness to do the work either by examination or by certificates from approved schools and teachers. All certificates must be specific as to the subjects studied, the amount of work completed, and the time devoted to it.

In estimating the applicant's attainments the "unit" system will be used, in which each unit of credit represents a course of one high school year of thirty-six weeks, five periods a week, in any particular study. Applicants for admission must present fourteen units from the list described below. Ten and one-half units must be English Grammar, Composition and Rhetoric, and Literature (3), Algebra through Quadratics (1 1/2), Plane Geometry (1), United States History (1), and foreign language or languages (4). If Latin is offered for admission not less than three (3) units will be accepted.

Not more than four (4) units of conditions will be allowed to entering students, and these conditions must be worked off by the end of the second year. All conditioned students will be registered in the college catalogue as "conditioned students" until they have worked off their conditions. All students who are pursuing a regular degree course and have not more than one study behind will be registered in the college catalogue as "regular"; those who have more than one study behind or are not pursuing a degree course will be registered as "irregular."

Situation and Surroundings

situation.—No better climate can be found anywhere for intellectual work than that of the high Piedmont region of upper Carolina. It is salubrious and bracing, and stimulates mind and body to do their best.

health.—There is perhaps no healthier place in the South than Spartanburg.  The Wofford College campus, upon which the students live, is a high, well drained hill, removed from the dust and smoke and noise of the city. Students thus have within reach all the conveniences of the city, together with the healthful benefits of the country. Besides these natural surroundings, so conducive to health, oversight is taken, as far as possible, of the exercise and sports of students. A thoroughly equipped Gymnasium, under the care of a competent director, has been found of inestimable value, not only in preserving health, but in aiding the growing bodies of young men to a state of vigorous natural development.

social and intellectual surroundings.—Spartanburg furnishes an excellent social and intellectual atmosphere. The best entertainments—entertainments that make for the highest refinement—are constantly within reach of the student. Music by famous musicians, lectures by men of world-wide reputa­tion, readings by authors who are making the literature of the day, are all means of general culture that help to educate in the best sense the students of Wofford

Alumni Judges

I've talked a lot in the past year about faculty of years past, of buildings on the campus, and about various student activities and ceremonies.  I haven't written much about alumni.  Over the next few weeks, I'm going to try to highlight some noteworthy alumni who have distinguished themselves - and the college - in their professions. 

We've never had an alum to become a justice of the United States Supreme Court, but by my count, we've had three judges serve on the U. S. Court of Appeals for the fourth circuit.  One, Judge Dennis Shedd, of the class of 1975, is a current member of that court.  Another, Judge Clyde Hamilton, class of 1956, was a district judge from 1982 to1991, and became a member of the Fourth Circuit Court in 1991.  Another member of that court served long ago.  Charles Albert Woods, of Wofford's class of 1872, was the college's first prominent jurist.  Born near Darlington in 1852, Judge Woods taught and read law after graduating from Wofford.  He began practicing law in Marion, SC in 1873.  He became more successful when he partnered with Henry McIver, and his success continued after McIver was elected to the state supreme court in 1877.  He was a community leader in Marion throughout the late 19th century, and in 1902, he became president of the South Carolina Bar Association.  The next year, Wofford gave him an honorary doctorate.  He also served on Wofford's board of trustees.  In 1903, he was elected to a seat on the state supreme court, a seat made vacant by the death of his mentor, Chief Justice McIver.  After ten years on the state's highest court, Justice Woods was named by President Woodrow Wilson to a seat on the 4th circuit court of appeals in Richmond, VA.  He served on that court until his death in 1925.  One item in the file suggest he was at least considered for an appointment to the U. S. Supreme Court in 1916, an appointment that eventually went to Louis Brandeis.  When he died in 1925, he was the presiding judge and senior member of the circuit court

Several South Carolina Supreme Court justices have earned Wofford degrees.  A few years ago, three of the five sitting justices were Wofford alumni - justices John Waller, E. C. Burnett III, and Costa Pleicones.  The first Wofford alum to become Chief Justice of South Carolina was John G. Stabler, a member of the class of 1905, who joined the supreme court in 1926 and became chief justice in 1935.  In later years, C. Bruce Littlejohn, of the class of 1934, served as chief justice for 16 months in 1984 and 1985.  

Chief Justice Stabler graduated from Wofford in 1905 and taught Latin at the college's Carlisle Fitting School in Bamberg.  Taking a law degree from USC in 1908, he practiced law in St. Matthews, SC, in Calhoun County.  He was active in his local Methodist church and in civic actiities, and in 1920, was elected to the state senate by the voters in his county.  He served for six years, as in January 1926 he was elected by the General Assembly to the state supreme court. He took his seat in July.  In 1935, he was elected chief justice, and served until his death in 1940.  

Chief Justice Littlejohn graduated from Wofford
 in 1935 - he actually left the college for law school in 1933 and upon completion of two years in law school, Wofford gave him his AB degree.  He finished law school, started practicing law, and won the first of 5 terms in the state house of representatives all within a few months, in 1936.  He saw service in World War II, serving as an army lawyer and prosecutor in some of the postwar war crimes trials.  Returning to the legislature in 1947 at the head of a young veterans' movement, he was elected speaker of the house.  Two years later, he was elected to the circuit court, where he served until his election to the state supreme court in 1966.  After almost 18 years as an associate justice, he was elected chief justice in 1984.  His tenure saw a number of important reforms, and he helped revise a number of judicial procedures.  

Of course, other Wofford alumni have held high positions in the practice of law, and quite a few others have been federal district judges, South Carolina circuit court judges, United States Attorneys (including the current U.S. Attorney for South Carolina), South Carolina attorneys general, and bar association presidents.  Those serving today continue a proud tradition of Wofford graduates who have contributed to the law and the judiciary.

Campus Life Building - then and now

Wofford’s Campus Life Building was designed in the late 1970s to serve as the hub of campus athletic, social, and cultural activity, according to an article in the local paper.  At that time, basketball was in Andrews Field House and the Student Affairs Office was in Burwell.  The canteen?  In Wightman.  The Theatre Workshop?  Old Carlisle Hall.  But in the late 1970s, the college was looking to bring together all of these different activities and offices into one building. 

One of the main features of the new building was the arena, designed with movable seating to accommodate 3,000 people.  Though designed primarily for basketball, college officials expected the arena to see use for other athletic and cultural activities.  Named for Benjamin Johnson, a vice president and general counsel of Spartan Mills, a Wofford Trustee, and a member of the class of 1930, the arena has been the site of various dances, dinners, programs, and Commencement 2003 was held there when the weekend turned into a total washout.  The first basketball game in the arena, on January 22, 1981, was between the Lady Terriers and Sacred Heart, and after the building’s dedication following the women’s game, the men’s basketball team played The Citadel.  Beyond the formal events, many a student will remember the days of arena registration – when students ran from one table to another to beg professors to let them into a closed class – which took place on the floor and concourses of the arena. 

While the building, which opened in the 1980-81 academic year, initially was supposed to have meeting rooms, classrooms, racquetball courts, facilities for commuting students, many of these did not make it into the final building.  Offices for student affairs and athletics took up most of the top floor, the theatre, a movie-lecture room, a television lounge, and a game room took up the main floor, and the arena and lockers made up the lower level.  The Tony White Theater, which was dedicated on February 20, 1981, was a black box style theater that provided much-needed space for the college’s growing theatre program.  The premiere production in the new theater was Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, directed by Professor James R. Gross. 

The Campus Life Center was the first new building completed on the campus in over ten years, and it marked the first in a series of newer buildings constructed during the Lesesne Administration.  When I came to Wofford in 1990, the campus life building hadn’t changed much since its opening. The game room had become the college bookstore, the TV room and lounge had been combined and turned into Zach's, the college canteen.  Both of these facilities had moved from old Wightman Hall.  But the building was already overcrowded, with coaches and student affairs staff members elbowing for space on the top floor.  With the opening of the Richardson Building in 1995, more space opened up for student groups on the top floor.  

In the early 2000s, the lobby was renovated into The Commons, with a coffee/smoothie bar, and a very tired, early 1980s look gave way to a sleek, modern, yet comfortable design, with TVs, computer workstations, and more art.  Those of us who remember what the building looked like in the early 1990s hardly recognize the lobby as the same place - where it was merely a pass-through space on the way to the bookstore or to Zach's in those days, today it's truly a student-oriented gathering space.  

Photos - the building from Snyder Field, a dinner (probably a senior dinner) in the arena, the South Carolina Methodist Annual Conference in session in the arena.