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Parsons College a wonderful private liberal arts college nestled in the South
Eastern corner of Iowa in the town of Fairfield permanently closed its doors in
1973 after almost 100 years of existence. Founded in 1875 Following the wishes
of General Lewis B. Parsons .. in his will written in 1855 ... " ... 1 do
therefore after payment of the foregoing bequests and the reasonable expenses of
administration, give and bequeath the residue of my estate, together with my
Natural History of New York and my small cabinet of minerals, to my said
executors and the survivors or survivor of them. In Trust to be by them used and
expended in founding and endowing an Institution of learning in the state of
Iowa, or to be expended in enhancing an existing institution ...... And on
October 17th 1874 steps were taken by the Synod of Iowa (south) of the
Presbyterian Church which had been looking to establish a school for higher
education in a meeting in Keokuk developed a committee to establish such a
school. On that committee of twelve which included Rev. Willis Craig, Rev.
Carson Reed, and Rev.John G. Armstrong comprised the executive committee.
Prior to this .... The executors of General Parsons visited Iowa in 1869 and
appointed an advisory committee of 3 ministers Rev. G. Sprees of Dubuque,
Rev.John Armstrong of Muscatine and Rev. Willis Craig of Keokuk to locate an
appropriate institution or town in which to invest their funds. So Fairfield
among other Iowa towns volunteered as a place where this could happen ... a
meeting was held and the Location Committee was invited to Fairfield" ...
Wiliiam Elliot presided and opened the meeting with a prayer. This fact was
noted by General Parsons the senior executor of his father's trust, and made an
impression on him, as it was the only place of all which the committee had
visited where prayer was offered." From: 50 Years of Parsons College 1875-1925"
February 24th 1875 a call went out to 25 people of Fairfield who adopted
articles of association ... $27,516.00 was raised. A board was established to
oversee the founding and guide the growth of Parsons which included prominent
business and clergy from surrounding towns. Included in this board was Rev.
Willis Craig.
A plot of land North of town was designated as the site of the fledgling school.
Using a mansion on the grounds of the site Parsons opened as a sectarian college
affiliated with the Presbyterian Church and quietly grew establishing itself and
making do until through funds raised by local businessmen a large building
housing science labs, administration offices and lecture halls was constructed.
Grounds were landscaped and additional structures were raised through the
generosity of Mr.T.D.Foster and others. " ... steps were taken in 1902 to
provide if possible, for additional buildings (after a disastrous fire destroyed
a main building on campus ... Ankeny Hall.)" When Andrew Carnegie was a youth,
he was involved in the construction of a railroad bridge in Keokuk, Iowa and
while in Keokuk was a member of the church whose minister was Dr. Willis Craig.
Being familiar with Mr. Carnegie and he first Carnegie library west of the
Mississippi River in the United States was built in Fairfield, Iowa the Chairman
of the Board Dr. Willis G. Craig and the President of the College went to New
York to see if
Mr. Andrew Carnegie would build a library for the growing Parsons College.
(Scroll down to 1893) ...
As a result of that interview Mr Carnegie promised a gift of $15,000 for a
library building, provided a like amount were raised by the college for
endowment and upkeep. This was considered by the college board to be too severe
a condition at the time so the matter was dropped. Well, after the fire that
destroyed the main building, Ankney Hall, other needs of the growing college
were felt, but happily in the summer of 1905 Mr.T.D. Foster, (Foster Hall) while
crossing the Atlantic, found that Mr. Carnegie was a fellow passenger. An
occasion on board ship occurred and TO "presented the matter again, when Mr.
Carnegie generously waived all conditions and gave $15,000 outright for the
building." Up until 1955 the college was like many other small colleges in the
midwestlt's history was unexceptional and a reputation was purely local. For
more than 75 years Parsons grew slowly, accepting anyone who wanted to
come-mostly from Fairfield's environs,accumulating little endowment and many
deficits.
In the 1950's Parsons had an enrollment of a few hundred and an administration
beset with financial hardship. In 1955 the trustees adapted a "Fifteen-year
plan" to develop the college and appointed Millard G. Roberts a presbyterian
minister from New York City as president of the college. Although he had no
experience in educational administration, the trustees believed that he had the
ability to promote the college,raise more money from donors,attract more
students and possibly manage the school more efficiently. Throughout the twelve
years that Millard Roberts was President of Parsons controversy was one of the
many unforeseen outcomes of his Presidency. Among the positive outcomes, Roberts
promoted a nation wide campaign for students. Enrollment grew from 350 to 5000
students, its income rocketed and the professors entered a circle of the
highest paid teachers in the nation. All due to a program Roberts called "The
Parsons College Plan." Publish or Perish was relaxed at Parsons, a Scholar in
Residence program was established exposing students to top academic instructors
often finding published authors teaching freshman level humanities and history
courses.
Dr Roberts also brought to Parsons his able and greatly appreciated wife, Dr.
Louise Roberts who taught Humanities courses and introduced many students to the
Greek Classics. Her humane and comfortable teaching style inspired many
halfhearted students to rise above their humble academic expectations. The
"Parsons Plan" included academic help in all areas of instruction. A ranked
professor taught a 3 credit course with 3 hours per week of formal lecture, an
academic specialist..usually a masters degree holder or instructor would have a
small classroom seminar 2 days per week to review the lecture notes adding
weekly quizes, and a tutorial center in the Wright Library was available to all
students where by they could review all course work. One third of all students
were recruited from the East,one third from the Midwest and one third from the
West Coast. One third were in the top third academically, one third were middle
level and one third were academacally challanged. Students were permitted to
learn at a rate that was unique to them, often manifesting in the student
repeating the course a following trimester with no loss of standing as an
enrolled student. (Known to the student as double starring) Thus it was possible
for a student to maintain overall cumulative grade point averages of acceptable
levels. Some students would attend parsons and then transfer to more prestigious
venues. Sports was a very big part of Parsons College. Football was ther most
popular sport and provided a link between the college and the community.
Football was the main event from opening night in 1893 and held the publics
attention forr the following 78 years.
The first football game ever played at Parsons was on September 16, 1893. It was
Parsons vs. Elliot Business College of Burlington. Parsons won 70-0. Students
were enthusiastic about sports from then on. This monumental winning promoted
the building of Parsons own stadium and field for their 1894 season. An alum
from the early days said that football was a huge event and very great fun to
attend the games. In 1966 a new 5,000 seat stadium was built on the campus. Iowa
Wesleyan College was Parsons's number one rival for 70 years. The two teams
played each other 60 times. Parsons won 34 of the games, and Iowa Wesleyan won
21 games. During a 41 year span, Parsons won Conference Championship five times,
and six of their players were members of the Parsons College Football Hall of
Fame. All together, the teams played over 600 games. Parsons College was invited
to the Hula Bowl in Hawaii and the Pecan Bowl in Texas. Basketball was another
popular sport at Parsons. The first basketball game they played as an
independent school was in 1963. Other sports Parsons athletes participated in
were wrestling, tennis, baseball, skeet club, golf, soccer, and cross-country.
The more unique sports were fencing and sharpchuters. Fencing began in 1964 and
members learned the art of medieval sword play. Sharpchuters also began in 1964;
now known as parachuting. Parsons College radio station established in the '60s
broadcast these events to the avid student fans.
The Students of Parsons
After the arrival of President Roberts in 1955, the full-time enrollment of
students at Parsons College began to increase dramatically. Enrollment goals for
1963- 1964 had been substantially met and there was a possibility of a slight
overenrollment in the Fall of 1964. At one time, the Board of Trustees had
placed the limit of 3,000 students on campus at any given time. By 1968 the
enrollment topped 5,000 students with a dramatic building plan creating low cost
housing units-"quads", and co-ed housing and standard dormitories (Unfortunatly
often housing 3 students to rooms designed for two). Roberts created the
college's own construction company thus essentially putting money back into the
school's own coffers and lowering costs. A difficult but interesting problem of
Parsons College was how to fill the summer trimester. This problem led to a
scheduling solution that was very different from many other colleges. The
difference being that at Parsons, the third trimester began on June 8 instead of
in April as at other colleges. As the trimester system continued at Parsons,
they were charging $1,650 tuition for 3 semesters. They offered a full tuition
scholarship of $600 during the summer semester if the students maintained a C
average. Those who could manage on a 0 got $250. The students still had to pay
room and board charges. Parsons offered many opportunities for the financially
stressed students with work-study grants employing students as kitchen staff,
serving staff, dishwashers and to attract women to the overwhelmingly male
populated campus "milk maids" (attractive co-eds received free meals for serving
milk in pitchers roaming the dining halls) received full board grants. Full room
and board grants were provided for grounds workers and dorm monitors. Parsons
became known mainly as a college for students who couldn't get into any other
colleges or had been refused readmission from another college due to poor
grades, but not all students went there because of that. Some of them just liked
the atmosphere.
The Parsons Campus was a classical ivy path greensward park like atmosphere,
with gothic cathedral and collonaded porticos on the Hall that Andrew Carnegie
built for a library.
Transfers, at one time, made up 43% of the student body, and never dropped lower
than 22%. This was the main reason that Parsons was often referred to as
"Flunk-Out U" or as a college "for rich dumb kids." An unfortunate article in
Life Magazine (April 1966) highlighted many wisecracking students and
prominently featured the highspirited recreational adventures of many of the
students. Most of the students attending Parsons were from the middle-class. The
rate of students leaving school before graduation was high. Over 70% of students
who entered Parsons in the fall of 1960 left the school by the end of their
second year. Parsons had a loose retention policy, which means grades didn't
have to stay too high for students to stay in good standing with the
institution. The teachers were successful with most students, regardless of
their ability. They only had problems with those who went to class grudgingly,
however, many students didn't go at all. Girls at Parsons were outnumbered 4 to
1. Despite the shortage, most students gave Parsons a four-star rating as a
party college. Townspeople complained bitterly about the drinking parties and
the wild driving that followed these parties. One example would be the classic
party held in a cemetery crypt. The proliferation of Greek letter Fraternities
and Sororites as well as "independent" social groups provided party houses and
socialization opportunities off campus.
The campus was "dry" and the women had "hours", curfews and monitoring. Town
wide celebrations such as homecoming parades, Greek week with chariot races and
"Town and Gown" events with Parsons College fine Drama Department enhanced
cultural life in Fairfield. The townspeople of Fairfield wondered if the hard
drinking hot-rodding invasion of Parsons boys was a mixed blessing. Students
from other communities would flock to Fairfield to learn how to get a piece of
the academic action. But in the end, the fame of Parsons didn't last very long.
A combination of reasons ... academic competition from other schools,The
revocation of accredition by the NCA, the discouraging effect of the Life
Magazine article and the financial dependence on a steady tuition inflow spelled
doom for the underendowed institution. Shedding itself of the maligned and
controversial Dr Milard Roberts the leadership was placed into the capable
leadership of Doctor Robert Tree. The college went to great lengths to stay the
creditors including selling the rich Iowa topsoil from the graceful campus.
Sadly all efforts to save the college were destined to fail. The college
recovered its accreditation, but it was too late. Many Parsons students went on
to academic excellence in other institutions and became great assets to their
communities having mastered social skills in the farm land of Iowa of the '60s.
The graceful buildings and stately grounds have now undergone destruction as the
campus' new incarnation as the home of Maharishi University. A dome now arises
for trancendental medition on the former gridiron where Parsons Football heros
once fought great competitive battles. This addendum supplied by:
GeneParsonsGrad 30 March 2007.
Why Did Parsons Close?
The exit of students due to the loss of accreditation and the bad publicity from
the Life Magazine article hastened the destabilizing of the financial
underpinnings of the College. Never having a large endowment, Parsons depended
on a constant influx of tuition money to satisy creditors. Connecticut General
Life Insurance as well as other institutions Parsons administrators and Board of
Directors reached out to would not provide additional credit and funds to
maintain the operation. GeneParsonsGrad 31 May 2007
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