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A celebration of 75 years of Roosevelt University

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Roosevelt College

The Equality Experiment

January 24, 2020 by Heather Hartmann

April 17, 1945


 
When Roosevelt College was founded in 1945, segregation dominated higher education. Many private universities limited the number of Jewish, Catholic and black students they accepted. To screen out “undesirable” applicants, they required photos, personal interviews or the names of all four grandparents on applications.
 
One exception was the Central YMCA College in Chicago. The school enrolled a diverse group of 2,240 men and women and called itself “liberal in spirit.” By the 1940s, however, college president Edward Sparling began to clash with the Y over admissions quotas and discrimination.
 
When the board told Sparling to prepare a racial and religious census of the student body, he refused, saying, “We don’t count that way.” The board demanded Sparling’s resignation and, in April 1945, 62 faculty members resigned with him in a historic walkout. Students also voted 448 to 2 in favor of separation.
 
Sparling and his supporters planned a new school — initially called Thomas Jefferson College — that would offer admission and equal rights to any qualified student. President Franklin Roosevelt had died on April 12 and two weeks later the school was renamed Roosevelt College.
 
At a time when most American professors were white male Protestants, Roosevelt assembled one of the most diverse faculties in the country. About 1,200 students began classes at Roosevelt College in September 1945. The next year, Roosevelt acquired the famed Auditorium Building on Michigan Avenue. Five thousand students, from military veterans to new high school graduates, registered for classes in the fall of 1947.
 
An act of courage had created, as one journalist wrote, “a model of democracy in higher education.”

Filed Under: 1940s Tagged With: Edward Sparling, Roosevelt College, YMCA College in Chicago

Marshall Field III

January 24, 2020 by Heather Hartmann

Advisory Board Member, Trustee | 1945–56

Marshall Field

In April 1945, Roosevelt College had no funding beyond $10 put up by Edward Sparling for the incorporation fee. Chicago investment banker Marshall Field III agreed to cover the first faculty payroll that fall. Over the next five years, the Marshall Field Foundation donated $175,000 — more than $1.8 million in today’s dollars — to support the mission of the fledgling school. Other early supporters included the Julius Rosenwald Foundation, labor unions and grassroots donors.

Filed Under: 1940s Tagged With: Marshall Field III, Roosevelt College

Marjorie Keenleyside

January 24, 2020 by Heather Hartmann

First Head Librarian | 1945–66

Marjorie Keenleyside

Marjorie Keenleyside walked out of the Central YMCA College with Sparling and started the Roosevelt library from scratch. In its first semester, the library had two orange crates, a folding table, a chair and a typewriter for furniture. “Our folding chairs squeak, but they hold our students,” she said. “Our tables are nothing but sawed-off clothing racks, but they provide writing space.” Keenleyside added 48,000 volumes to Roosevelt’s collection by 1949.

Filed Under: 1940s Tagged With: Edward Sparling, Roosevelt College, YMCA College in Chicago

Eleanor Roosevelt

January 24, 2020 by Heather Hartmann

Advisory Board Chair, Advisor | 1946–62

Eleanor Roosevelt

Eleanor Roosevelt visited the University often in its early years. She spoke at Roosevelt College in November 1945, when the school was dedicated in honor of her husband, and returned in 1959 when the University was rededicated to honor both Roosevelts. In her syndicated newspaper column “My Day,” she wrote the following about the University:

“Here is an experiment in education for democracy where 1,400 students representing a number of foreign countries, as well as many racial and religious backgrounds, are enthusiastically at work. I met the faculty, which is as varied as the student body. But teachers and students alike are dedicated to a search for knowledge and truth through knowledge.”

Filed Under: 1940s Tagged With: Eleanor Roosevelt, Franklin Roosevelt, Roosevelt College, Thomas Jefferson College

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