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By Rachel E. Tomcsik
 By
1906, Rutgers was no longer the classical college of
yesteryear, but was still perched on the edge of becoming
a center for modern education. Throughout the nation,
institutions of higher learning were undergoing similar
transitions, trying to define their roles for the new
century.
With his inauguration in 1906, William H. S. Demarest,
who was the first alum to serve as president and was
known as "the personification of Old Rutgers," worked
to increase Rutgers' stature throughout the nation.
He recruited more students and eventually increased
the student body remarkably, from 235 in 1906 to 2477
in 1924. By 1908, Demarest had amended the Bachelor
of Arts' admissions criteria to include a more rigorous
exam on literature and writing, including questions
on works from authors such as Samuel Coleridge and George
Eliot, memorization of famous speeches and plays, and
a full formal essay. Demarest thereby explicitly recognized
the value of the curriculum being offered by the English
Department.
The English Chair at the time, Reverend Henry Mulford,
was a man divided between classical college principles
and modern educational ideals. He had spent the previous
six years campaigning for a traditional English Bible
course, and was successful in restoring it to the curriculum.
However, he also recognized the need for modernization.
For example, other universities were now offering composition-centered
courses that emphasized students' practical writing
skills while still reading and discussing literature.
Mulford believed that Rutgers English should implement
courses in this style, classes that universities like
Harvard did not offer because they seemed too remedial.
Although the Department would continue to emphasize
traditional elocution and rhetoric as essential requirements,
the number and variety of literature and composition
courses offered would steadily increase in the following
years, with important new additions, like "Literary
Criticism." However, the emphasis on elocution, rhetoric,
and the reinstated English Bible course was still evident,
showing Mulford's reluctance to let go of the principles
of traditional classical education.
Alongside his efforts to expand the curriculum, Mulford
sought the appointment of a new colleague after the
English faculty had decreased to two. Princeton had
eleven English professors; Columbia had sixteen. Why
should Rutgers English struggle with only two? Mulford
and Demarest appointed a professor from Lehigh University
named Charles Whitman. Whitman was described by his
recommenders as an expert translator of Old English,
a foreign traveler, a track coach, an amateur photographer,
and a fan of music. He was considered a "faithful, efficient,
and successful teacher," with high morals, modesty,
and tolerance. He had "conciliatory manners" and was
respected by students, even those who were indifferent
or hostile to literary studies. He was known for offering
many hours of assistance outside of formal class time.
On composition papers, an approach to modern English
education that he endorsed, he always offered constructive
criticism. Whitman was a dynamic choice; he would soon
become Chair of the Department and would reshape Rutgers
English for the next twenty-six years.
When Mulford resigned in 1911 for personal reasons,
Whitman became Chair, guiding Rutgers English through
a period of intense change. By that time, colleges everywhere
were trying to become modern universities, and the traditional
oratorical education was being replaced by new approaches.
For the previous ten years, composition instruction
had been tainted as remedial, as reviewing basic writing
skills that students were assumed to possess already.
Now, composition was increasingly being seen as a valid
subject, as a way to use literature to improve and refine
students' writing abilities. The discipline of literary
study was recentering on appreciating, understanding,
and analyzing the mechanics of a standard canon of texts,
rather than on being able to read great literature,
memorize it, and declaim its lessons.
The modern "vernacular literacy" that was defined by
career-oriented and practical writing skills was replacing
the traditional "classical literacy" that had been connected
to the gentlemanly study of the great books for social
and personal fulfillment. By 1915, the spirit of classical
education struggled to survive modernization in the
World War I era (1914-1918). Even so, modern literacy
could not eradicate all the traditional values ingrained
in many colleges and universities. In 1911, for example,
the Elocution requirement received an abrupt name change
to Public Speaking, a rhetorical maneuver showing that
although Rutgers English realized the need for modernization,
the Department was reluctant to let go of traditional
values.
Whitman and Demarest both had strong opinions about
the ideal content of English courses. Whitman argued
that students could understand and master literature
through modern composition courses focused on writing
and thinking first, literary appreciation second. In
1915, he proposed abandoning Rutgers' traditional system
of assigning formal essays on literature, unconnected
with coursework, as graduation requirements. Instead,
he wanted to use the usual themes of these essays as
topics for courses in composition. Demarest, on the
other hand, was uneasy about eliminating the traditional
separation between literature and composition. He allowed
the addition of "Advanced Composition" in 1916, but
"the personification of Old Rutgers" also kept the "Essays"
requirement, which was not eliminated until the late
1920s, after Demarest's resignation.
Rutgers as a whole continued to struggle with the
project of reshaping classical education for modern
needs. Although a course in the Bible and ethics would
be listed as a liberal-arts requirement until the mid-twenties,
in 1917 Rutgers English signaled its move toward modernization
by dropping the most traditional course it offered:
Mulford's beloved English Bible course.
To be continued...
Sources
Consulted: Rutgers College Course Catalogues, 1906-1945;
Documents from the Office of the President, 1906-1945;
William H.S. Demarest, A History of Rutgers College,
1766-1924; Richard P. McCormick, Rutgers: A Bicentennial
History; Jo McMurtry, English Language, English Literacy;
David R. Shumway and Craig Dionne, Disciplining English:
Alternative Histories, Critical Perspectives; Mary Trachsel,
Institutionalizing Literacy.
Many thanks to the staff of the Rutgers University
Archives for their help in researching this article.
The Archives preserve course catalogues, the administrative
records of the President's office, and many other documents
from the history of Rutgers.
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