Parsons College
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Parsons College was a private liberal arts college in Fairfield, Iowa. It was founded by the Presbyterian Church, based on the will of Lewis B. Parsons, and was in existence for almost 100 years, before closing in 1973.
Established on a plot of land just north of Fairfield, it started with one building and gradually grew as supporters made gifts and bequests for additional facilities. A fire destroyed the main building, but a 1905 gift from Andrew Carnegie made it possible to rebuild.
Until 1955, the college was like many other small colleges in the Midwest. Its history was unexceptional and its reputation was purely local. For more than 75 years Parsons grew slowly, accepting anyone who wanted to come, primarily local residents, and accumulating little endowment and many deficits.
In 1955, the trustees 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.
Roberts quickly instituted a 15-Year Plan to develop the college. Throughout his 12-year presidency, he attracted both positive and negative attention. Chief among the positive consequences was a huge increase in enrollment, which, in turn, made it possible for the college to inplement other aspects of the Plan, which soon became known as the Parsons Plan.
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[edit] The Parsons Plan
The Parsons Plan took a many-pronged approach to higher education:
- The college would embark on an aggressive student recruitment campaign. This involved drawing students from the East, Mid-West, and West in roughly equal proportions. Likewise, students would be recruited from the upper, middle, and lower thirds of their high school graduating classes. The best students would be offered full scholarships.
- In the belief that all students had a right to be exposed to the best academic minds available, a ranked professor taught a 3-credit course with three hours per week of formal lecture. An academic specialist (usually a masters-degree-holder or instructor) would have a small classroom seminar two days per week to review the lecture notes, encourage discussion and questions, and give weekly quizzes. A tutorial center was available to all students.
- A "Scholar in Residence" program was established to expose students to top academic instructors. This resulted in published authors teaching freshman-level humanities and history courses.
- The professors were to be compensated at a level previously available only to top faculty at major universities like Harvard and Yale. At one time, in the 1960's, they were second in pay only to Harvard. Other perks included loans for real estate purchases and membership in the local country club.
- Based on the idea that the primary function of faculty was to teach, Parsons had was no "publish or perish" ethic. The professors Roberts recruited had already proven their academic mettle in other institutions; at Parsons, their sole responsibility was to teach.
- Because Dr. Roberts felt that everyone deserves a second chance, he recruited from among those who had flunked out of more traditional colleges and universities. Thus, Parsons became known in some circles as "Flunk-Out U."[1] These students were dismissed from Parsons if they did not maintain at least a "C" average after acceptance.
- Finally, believing that a college campus that stood empty for the summer was a waste of money, Roberts changed the term system to one of three trimesters, each four months long. They ran from October through January, February through May, and June through September. A student who could only afford two trimesters a year could drop out at any time, thus avoiding the inevitable competition for summer jobs. Furthermore, to make a summer in Iowa more appealing, the summer trimester offered not only the usual full complement of classes, but also a Fine Arts Festival, for which professional talent was brought in to perform with and for the students and town.
[edit] Faculty
In an attempt to increase enrollment, the Parsons Plan ensured that every student had direct academic access to their full professors, both in the lecture hall and by requiring extensive office hours. All full professors had earned doctoral degrees.
[edit] Enrollment
As a result of these innovations, enrollment skyrocketed, growing from 350 to 5000 in a few years. By 1968, the enrollment topped 5,000 students. At one time, transfers made up 43% of the student body and never dropped lower than 22%. Most of the student body came from the upper Mid-West, the Northeast and the West Coast of the US, with a small number from other countries.
Female students at Parsons were outnumbered 4 to 1. Despite the shortage, students enjoyed a full and active social life, with 12 national fraternities and four national sororities.
[edit] The campus
Roberts instituted a dramatic building plan, creating low-cost housing units, as well as an innovative new library and a student union. He also created the college's own construction company, thus putting money back into the school's own coffers and lowering costs.
[edit] Financial aid
Parsons offered many opportunities for financially stressed students to earn all or part of their way, with work-study grants employing students as kitchen and serving staff, groundsworkers, dorm proctors, and Student Union staff.
[edit] Athletics
The first football game played at Parsons was on September 16, 1893, against Elliot Business College of Burlington, Iowa. Parsons won by a score of 70-0. This monumental win promoted the building of Parsons' own stadium and field for their 1894 season. In 1966, a new 5,000-seat stadium was built on the campus. Iowa Wesleyan College was Parsons' main rival for 70 years. The two teams played each other 60 times. Parsons won 34 of the games, and Iowa Wesleyan won 21 games.
[edit] The aftermath
In the late 1960s, Dr. Roberts attempted to expand the Parsons Plan to other colleges, specifically the College of Emporia, in Kansas; Yankton College in South Dakota; and a new one in New Mexico. However, on June 3, 1966, Life Magazine published an article that was critical of the college and its underlying philosophy.[1] As a result of that article and some growing concerns about the viability of the Parsons Plan and Dr. Roberts' leadership, the ambitious plans for the other three colleges were shelved, and Parsons College began a period of decline from which it never recovered. It was placed on academic probation by the NCA, accreditation was restored, and finally, in 1972, accreditation was revoked. The dramatic decrease in the steady flow of new students that resulted from all this upheaval destabilized the financial underpinnings of the college.
In June 1973, in its 99th year, Parsons College closed for the last time. All records and transcripts were sent to the University of Iowa in Iowa City. The campus was sold to adherents of the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, who established Maharishi International University, now known as Maharishi University of Management. The graceful old tree-shaded campus was bulldozed in the 1990s and new buildings built that more closely align with the philosophical beliefs on which MUM is based.
