Business, School of - History
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The following appeared in a 1928 Hatchet:
Scottish Rite Is Donor Of Large Gift To School
A gift of $1,000,000 from the Supreme Council Scottish Rite Masons of the Southern Jurisdiction to George Washington University for the establishment of a school of government was recently announced by the Supreme Council and Trustees of the University. The school will be in operation upon the opening of the fall semester in 1928.
It is understood that when the new school is organized, the work will have three phases. In the first class will come training for the Government from the standpoint of federal, state and local government. It will undertake not only the accepted type of training but will lead to emphasize the administrative side of government.
The second phase will embrace Foreign Service while the third will include training for social service, public Hygiene, Chamber of Commerce of Secretaries, and Public Safety, Welfare and Works. This fund is to be set aside as an endowment, the income from which will be used to carry on this work. When interviewed yesterday, President Cloyd Heck Marvin stated that “The question on buildings is not paramount at this particular time. The question of personnel is the essence of the problem.” It is thought likely that certain prominent men through out the country will serve as a national board of advisors for the new school.
The money will become available at once and the school will be in operation at the start of the fall semester in 1928, it was announced. The disposition of the fund will be entirely in the hands of the University trustees. Not only is this gift the largest ever received by George Washington but it is among the largest ever made to a local educational institution.
The establishment of the school of government is expected, according to Cloyd H. Marvin, president of George Washington, to bring about a very considerable increase in the University enrollment. A building program is contemplated, but this will not be entered upon immediately and Dr. Marvin was unable to make any definite announcement concerning it today.
Million dollar gifts have been comparatively rare in the history of American Education. Very seldom have they been made entirely without condition, as in the present instance, the givers retaining no jurisdiction. Such a liberally endowed school of government is expected to make Washington the center for students of the science of government. The gift which is in line with the educational policy of the Supreme Council, is in the form of a Memorial to “George Washington, the Mason.”
It was decided on and resolutions drawn up at the meeting of the Supreme council in October and a committee headed by Grand Commander, John H. Cowles was named to work out the details. Other members are Perry W. Weidener of California, Edward C. Day of Montana and Thomas J. Harkins of North Carolina. This committee worked out the resolution under which the donation was made. Final steps were completed at the Scottish Rite Temple here last Tuesday at a conference between President Marvin, Grand Commander Cowles and members of the two committees.
The gift, it was emphasized, comes from the Supreme Council itself and not from wealthy individuals through that body. It is entirely apart from the efforts of the Masonic Body for the establishment in Washington, of a national university, supported by the Government in line with the desire expressed in the will of George Washington and for the fulfillment of which he left some money. With such a sum available, a new era is expected in the history of the local college which has known many years of adversity and small enrollment with financial problems often uppermost in the minds of the trustees and faculty.
George Washington University, now serving a student body of more than 5000 has been almost on a self-supporting basis in the past. The largest single gift has been the Corcoran endowment of $312,000 made in the early 80’s. A large part of the available funds of the institution, however, gave been derived from the tuition payments. The establishment of the School of Government, Dr. Marvin said is only one of the projects which the University hopes to materialize eventually thus becoming one of the major Universities of the country.
Document Information
Images: 1
Photographic Credit: GW University Historical Photographs Collection
Author or Source: Hatchet, January 11, 1928
Document Location: University Archives
Date Added to Encyclopedia: January 16, 2007
Prepared by: Lyle Slovick
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