Olivet College
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- This article is about the college in Michigan. For the university in Illinois refer to Olivet Nazarene University.
Olivet College is a liberal arts college located in the city of Olivet in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of 2004, the college had an enrollment of 1,070 students and is accredited by the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools.
Olivet was founded in 1844 with unique visions of liberal arts education. The founders of Olivet College believed in a coeducational experience. Service was another integral part of the founders' visions, as the founders helped to build the surrounding community as well as the broader community. The founders also believed that an education could be had by anyone, not just those "rich in the world's goods" -- a principle which continues to this day. Olivet also required manual labor as part of service to the community, which also helped form the college's ideals of social responsibility, which included abolitionist beliefs. Abolitionist beliefs, along with a coeducational experience led the state legislature to deny a charter for the college until thirteen years after the first courses were offered. Some Olivetians believe that the charter was denied because of possible competition with Michigan College (now University of Michigan-Ann Arbor.)
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[edit] Early history
After founding Oberlin College in Ohio, John Shipherd and thirty-nine missionaries (which included Oberlin College faculty, students and graduates) came to Michigan to create a college, which Shipherd deemed "New Oberlin." The original land for the college was to be in present-day Ingham County, approximately twenty-five miles from the actual location. Olivetian lore says that while Shipherd was on a trip to the site in Ingham County, his horse continued to get lost, and would always wander back to a hill above a swamp (where Olivet's Campus Square exists today.) Shipherd decided that powers from above must be drawing the horse back to this site, and Shipherd deemed that this would become the site for "New Oberlin," however he then chose to name it Olivet, after the biblical Mount of Olives. Shortly after the founding of the college, John Shipherd succumbed to malaria, as many other early Olivetians would. The first courses began in December 1844, and commencement followed that spring (transfer students from Oberlin College were graduated.) By this point, president Reuben Hatch had petitioned for a charter, which was denied. Olivet thus became the Olivet Institute, a two year school, as it would remain for more than a decade.
[edit] Twentieth century to today
After being founded and earning a positive reputation throughout the late nineteenth century, the majority of the twentieth century saw Olivet College become a typical liberal arts school. With the exception of a short-lived attempt at an Oxford style curriculum, and numerous literary workshops between 1934-1944 Olivet had become a typical liberal arts college.
Until April 2, 1992.
A spat between a white couple broke into a racial dispute when the African American friend of the young man confronted the young woman in her dormitory. Misinterpreting this confrontation, a group of young men from a fraternity accosted the African American student. This quickly grew into a fight between seven members of the campus wrestling team (predominantly white, but also including Hispanic and black students), and nine members of a fraternity (mostly white students) in the lobby of the college's Shipherd Hall, a coeducational dormitory named after founder John Shipherd. Soon after the brawl, rumors and accusations were compounded and off-campus agents of hate, including the Ku Klux Klan and the Nation of Islam used the event at the tiny campus to advance their messages of evil. Amid the tumult, the majority of the college's black population left campus for the final three weeks of the academic year. The incident caused media from around the nation to focus on Olivet. Media attention grew as the weeks passed until April 29, when the acquittal in the trial of the four Los Angeles police officers who had beaten Rodney King. The media had a new racial story to follow and the Olivet story ended as suddenly as it had begun. For 27 days, however, the tiny college was torn and battered. The legacy of that month lives on in much that is happening on the campus still today.
The most positive outcome grew from the faculty of the college, who created a new vision for the institution, Education for Individual and Social Responsibility. Resultant was the Olivet Plan, a guiding set of educational outcomes adopted by the campus community.
[edit] Degrees currently granted
- Bachelor of Arts
- Bachelor of Music Education
- Master of Arts in Teaching
[edit] College Facilities
[edit] Past Facilities
Year completed
- 1871 - Parsons Hall (dormitory)
- 1885 - Mather Hall (academic)
- 1888 - Olivet College Conservatory of Music
- ? - Shipherd Hall (dormitory/academic -- at present site of Kirk Center)
[edit] Current Facilities
Year completed
- 1889 - Burrage Library (addition in 1992)
- 1929 - Blair Hall (men's dormitory, athletic offices -- addition in 1955)
- 1929 - Mackay Gymnasium
- 1932 - Dole Hall (women's dormitory and college administration)
- 1961 - Oaks Theatre (acquired theatre -- renovation in 1989)
- 1963 - Lester K. Kirk Collegiate Center (dining services, bookstore, offices)
- 1966 - Shipherd Hall (coeducational dormitory)
- 1967 - C. S. Mott Academic Center (academic, administrative, auditorium, planetarium, observatory, adjacent visual arts building)
- 1974 - Margaret S. Upton Conservatory of Music
- 1980 - Frederick S. Upton Center (athletics)
- 2004 - Cutler Athletic Complex (athletics)
[edit] Athletics
Olivet College, along with Albion College and Michigan State University, founded the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association in 1888. The MIAA is the nation's oldest collegiate conference. Olivet College athletic teams, nicknamed the Comets, participate in the following intercollegiate sports as a member of the MIAA, unless noted:
Men baseball, basketball, cross country, football, golf, soccer, swimming & diving, track & field, wrestling (Division III Independent)
Women basketball, cross country, golf, soccer, softball, swimming & diving, tennis, track & field, volleyball
[edit] Presidents of the College
- Reuben Hatch 1844-1846
- Enoch N. Bartlett 1846-1849
- Enoch N. Bartlett and Oramel Hosford (co-principals) 1850-1853
- Oramel Hosford 1853-1860
- Minor W. Fairfield 1859-1860
- Nathan J. Morrison 1860-1872
- John W. Hewitt (acting president) 1872-1875
- Horatio Q. Butterfield 1875-1893
- William G. Sperry 1893-1904
- Ellsworth G. Lancaster 1905-1915
- Thomas W. Nadal (acting president) 1915-1916
- Thomas F. Kane 1916-1918
- Paul F. Voelker 1920-1925
- Axel Vestling 1926-1930
- James King 1930-1934
- Joseph Brewer 1934-1944
- Malcolm B. Dana 1944-1948
- Aubrey L. Ashby 1948-1950
- Raymond B. Blakney 1950-1957
- M. Gorton Riethmiller 1957-1970
- Ray B. Loeschner 1970-1977
- Donald A. Morris 1977-1992
- Gretchen von Loewe Kreuter (interim president) 1992-1993
- Michael S. Bassis 1993-1998
- James A. Halseth (acting president) 1998-1999
- Frederico J. "F. J." Talley 1999-2001
- Donald L. Tuski (Olivet '85) 2001-present
[edit] The Olivet Hymn
Blessed was the hour when father Shipherd knelt / Humble before the presence that he felt. / Then he created Olivet upon this hill / And lighted the lamp of learning radiant still. / His ancient faith hath taught us how to pray: Pro Christo et humanitate.
Wilt thou take, O Olivet, our love for thee / To the high goals for all that we should be. / Make us thy sons and daughters ever know the truth / And thus in thy strength give purpose to our youth. / God's blessing rest where we are pledged to say: Pro Christo et humanitate.
By Walter Wynn York
[edit] The Song of the Marching Hosts
Down the years what hosts are marching!
In their hands faith's sword is strong;
Through the mists their eyes are searching
Rough the pathway, steep and long.
But their giving and their striving
Made the paths we tread secure,
And the goals of our arriving
Through their vision shall endure.
For the treasure they have given,
What have we today to give?
Oh! they have greatly striven
That we may greatly live.
Hear us, hosts that went before us,
You whose days in toil were set,
While her oak leaves rustle o'er us
Pledge our hearts for Olivet.
'Mid the oaks you too saw growing
One by one strong towers arise;
On the paths worn by your going
Youth is hastening to be wise.
Faith and valor, still we need them
Goals more glorious beckon yet;
We for brotherhood and freedom
Pledge our hearts for Olivet.
Verses by Mafra Wright Newhall, 1902
Music by Samuel Robinson
[edit] The Oaks of Olivet
When winter's sun is shining over hills of snow,
There is one hill above the rest he loves the best, I know,
Where students gay, from peep of day until the sun doth set,
In search of wisdom, work among the Oaks of Olivet.
CHORUS
One and all, singing all, of days when first we met,
All our hearts keep throbbing time to memories lingering yet.
Songs of days when life was young, ne'er can we forget
The blue by day nor stars by night, o'er the Oaks of Olivet.
When merry springtime comes again to bless the earth,
Fling book and pen light hearted by, exchanging care for mirth;
The maple leaves are freshest green, the oak buds softer get,
The squirrels greet the birds among the Oaks of Olivet.
And when the sun is setting in the golden west,
Then do not mourn the passing of the day, for night is best,
There's nothing in the whole wide world can make us e'er forget
The shining of the stars above the Oaks of Olivet.
By Mafra Wright Newhall, 1902
[edit] External links
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