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Cooperative Religion at 
Cornell University 



! 

Cooperative Religion 

at 

Cornell University 

The Story of United Religious Work 
at Cornell Uniuersity, 1919-1939 



By 
RICHARD HENRY EDWARDS 



With an Introduction by 
Former President Livingston Farrand 



Distributed by 

THE CORNELL COOPERATIVE SOCIETY 
Barnes Hall Ithaca, N. Y. 



3V 



r 



Copyright 1939 

by 
Richard Henry Edwards 

All rights reserved. 




PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 
BY THE VAIL-BALLOU PRESS, INC., BINGHAMTON, N. Y. 



1284906 



In Grateful Memory 

of 
MISS MINNIE WILLIAMS 

for 

Thirty-one Years of 

Devoted Service 

1906-1937 

'Give her of the fruit of her hands; 

And let her own works praise her in the gates.' 



FOREWORD 

In the spring of 1937 the Men's Division of the Board 
of Control of Cornell United Religious Work invited me 
to prepare an account of cooperative religious efforts as 
they had developed at Cornell from the spring _of 1919 
to the end of October 1937, the date of my retirement as 
Executive. Messrs. J. A. G. Moore, L. C. Boochever, and 
Henry Shirey were appointed a Committee on Publica- 
tion. The completion of the work has been unavoidably 
delayed until the present time, and at the suggestion of 
the Committee the record has been brought down to date. 

I am indebted to many persons for aid in preparing 
this record; to those staff members who have given coun- 
sel and written the several statements in Chapter V, to 
Mrs. Ruth Willis Perry for keeping the scrap-books 
which have proven of great assistance, and to Miss Mar- 
ion L. Howe for her careful typing of the manuscript. 

I am indebted above all to Miss Minnie Williams for 
the care she exercised in keeping the minutes of all im- 
portant meetings throughout many years, and for in- 
valuable aid as assistant treasurer and book-keeper and 
as confidential secretary. Her service to Cornell religious 
work extended from 1906 to the time of her death, De- 
cember 19, 1937. 

I cannot adequately express my gratitude to the many 
students, Board, staff, and faculty members, alumni, and 
officers of the University who have together made pos- 
sible whatever has been accomplished. I cannot refrain, 
however, from naming Professor George Lincoln Burr, 
life-long friend of this work, and Professor George W. 
Cavanaugh, the last Board chairman under whom it was 
my privilege to serve, as both have died since 1937. If 

vii 



Vlll FOREWORD 

I were to single out other persons to whom is due a very 
special debt of gratitude, they would be Mr. Paul Liver- 
more '97, Chairman of the Board from 1919 to 1924, 
Professor William M. Sawdon '08, Chairman from 1928 
to 1934, and Professor A. B. Recknagel, Chairman of the 
finance committee for many years and of the Board from 
1934 to 1937. Other appreciations are recorded in Chap- 
ter IX. 

We are all deeply indebted to Mr. Moore and his asso- 
ciates for the important advances made during the last 
two years in a period of transition. They have led the 
way to still fuller developments anticipated under the 
guidance of Mr. W. W. Mendenhall, the Executive-elect. 

For financial assistance in the publication of this 
volume I am indebted to The Men's Division of the 
C.U.R.W. Board of Control, to The Edward W. Hazen 
Foundation through The National Council on Religion 
in Higher Education, and to Mr. Paul S. Livermore '97, 
life-long friend and generous supporter of the C.U.R.W. 

My final word of gratitude is to Mrs. Edwards, with- 
out whose devoted and skillful cooperation through the 
years neither the work nor the writing of the record would 
have been possible. 

Two purposes have been kept in mind in the prepara- 
tion of these pages : that essential facts be preserved for 
Cornell uses, and also that the story be made available 
to those interested in cooperative religious efforts in other 
universities. 

Sole responsibility for the interpretation of cooperative 
religious work at Cornell as presented in this volume rests 
with the author. 



RICHARD HENRY EDWARDS 



Happy Valley 
Lisle, New York 
July 25, 1939 



INTRODUCTION 

By 
FORMER PRESIDENT LIVINGSTON FARRAND 

This record of the United Religious Work at Cornell 
University is an illuminating document. Every univer- 
sity administrator recognizes the practical difficulties 
presented by the problem of providing sound religious 
leadership and instruction as well as opportunity for 
religious expression by the students. Organized on a 
completely non-sectarian basis, Cornell University never 
assumed responsibility for formal religious instruction 
but was always alive to the fundamental part played by 
religious faiths both in the history of civilization and in 
contemporary life. There was, therefore, from the day 
of its founding an officially friendly attitude toward any 
sincere religious belief, but never an acceptance of re- 
sponsibility for the nurture of any particular creed or 
set of beliefs. This attitude created an atmosphere at 
once discouraging and challenging to those members of 
the University and their friends who were adherents of a 
given religious faith. The way in which the situation has 
been met at Cornell is told in the following pages. 

It is fortunate that the account comes from the pen 
of the man chiefly responsible for the conception and its 
development. It was Mr. Edwards' broad grasp of and 
insistence on fundamental truths and his wise and toler- 
ant handling of earnest and sometimes militant differ- 
ences of opinion that finally brought about the successful 
cooperation of the varied groups embraced by the United 

ix 



X INTRODUCTION 

Religious Work. It is the first example in my experience 
in an American university where Protestant and Catho- 
lic, Christian and Jew, and other religionists have been 
brought together in one organization and where they 
work together toward a common end. It is a very cheering 
demonstration in these days of international tension and 
misunderstanding. 

Mr. Edwards would be the last man to claim that he 
has found the solution of the religious problem of our 
American colleges and universities, but any reader of his 
pages will recognize that he and his colleagues have made 
a constructive contribution in an important and difficult 
field. 



CONTENTS 

PAGE 

FOREWORD vii 

INTRODUCTION BY FORMER PRESIDENT LIVINGSTON 

FARRAND ix 

CHAPTER 

I BACKGROUNDS 1 

II BEGINNINGS OF THE "NEW PLAN" 6 

III ORGANIZATION 16 

IV PROPERTIES 24 

V CONSTITUENT CHURCH GROUPS AND THEIR PRO- 
GRAMS 31 

VI JOINT ACTIVITIES 58 

1. WELCOMING NEW STUDENTS 58 
FOSTERING FRIENDSHIPS 62 

2. PERSONAL COUNSEL 64 
STUDENT EMPLOYMENT 66 
OTHER ASSISTANCE TO INDIVIDUAL STUDENTS 67 

3. RELIGIOUS INTEREST GROUPS 67 

4. PUBLIC MEETINGS: 

PUBLIC WORSHIP 70 

RELIGIOUS ADDRESSES 73 

FORUMS, LECTURES, AND DISCUSSIONS OF 

PUBLIC QUESTIONS 75 

RELIGIOUS DRAMA 80 

xi 



Xll CONTENTS 

CHAPTER . PAGE 

5. EXTENSION ACTIVITIES: 

DEPUTATIONS TO NEARBY COMMUNITIES 81 

CONFERENCES AND SUMMER SCHOOLS FOR 

PASTORS AND RELIGIOUS WORKERS 82 

THE RURAL INSTITUTE 83 

6. SOCIAL STUDY AND SERVICE OUTREACH: 

ITHACA SOCIAL SERVICE 85 

SOCIOLOGY TRIPS 86 

SUMMER SERVICE GROUPS 86 

7. INTERCOLLEGIATE CONNECTIONS AND CONFER- 

ENCES 87 

8. WORLD INTERESTS: 

CORNELL-IN-CHINA 90 

WINTER SCHOOL OF MISSIONS 91 

LEAGUE OF NATIONS MODEL ASSEMBLY 92 

9. THE LIBRARY AND PUBLICATIONS 94 
10. SIGNIFICANCE OF ACTIVITIES 96 

VII FINANCES 97 

VIII RELATIONSHIPS AND OUTREACH 103 

IX A SUMMARY LOOK 108 

APPENDIX 117 

A. AN EARLY STATEMENT OF THE "NEW PLAN" 117 

B. PERSONNEL 122 

C. CONSTITUTIONS OF 1939 133 

* 

IN MEMORIAM: Miss MINNIE WILLIAMS 143 



ILLUSTRATIONS 

Coffee House facing page 38 

Getting Together at Cornell following page 38 

Cornell University Freshman Camp 1938 facing page 39 

Student Joint Board, Men's Cabinet, Women's Cabinet 
and Staff/ 1936-37 facing page 102 



Student Board and Staff 1938-39 
Edwards, Mendenhall, Moore 
The New Barnes Hall Library 



following page 102 
facing page 103 
facing page 103 



xiii 



COOPERATIVE RELIGION AT CORNELL 
UNIVERSITY 



CHAPTER I 
BACKGROUNDS 

Fifty years of student religious activity at Cornell 
preceded the period with which this volume deals. The 
beginnings in 1869 were thus described by President 
Charles Kendall Adams at the dedication of Barnes Hall 
in 1889: "Scarcely had the first classes in this university 
been formed when a group of devoted, religious young 
men organized the Christian Association. It may well be 
believed that in the early days of the university the infant 
association met with some discouragements. But no ail- 
ments or discouragements were able to impair its vigor or 
retard its growth. It seemed from the very first to draw 
irresistible strength from the atmosphere of freedom 
which has always surrounded this university. It had the 
sympathy of the trustees, and therefore they gave it what 
has proved to be the most effective of all assistance; they 
gave it a chance, and then left it alone. The association 
was daunted by no obstacles and converted whatever 
encouragement or discouragement it received into the 
bone and tissue of healthy and vigorous growth." The 
object of this Association its early leaders said, "shall be 
the improvement of the spiritual, mental, social, and 
physical condition of young men, by means in harmony 
with the spirit of the Gospel." 



2 COOPERATIVE RELIGION AT CORNELL UNIVERSITY 

During the earliest years the Association was a small 
fellowship in which a few students met for prayer, for 
religious devotions, for the discussion of an essay, for 
Bible study, and to discuss the world mission of Chris- 
tianity. Close friendships were formed on the basis of 
common aspirations. Campus and community activities 
were early made parts of the program such as the 
finding of suitable boarding houses, welcoming lonely 
students, visiting the county jail, and sending out evan- 
gelistic bands. Much might be written of the years down 
to 1887 when in various quarters, chiefly in one of the 
classrooms in White Hall, these successive groups held 
their meetings and sought to discover the vital meanings 
of the Christian faith. 

The ideal of Christian unity as between men and 
women was a controlling one in the early Association to 
which women students, after their admission to the Uni- 
versity in 1872, contributed largely. "Men and women 
worked together in utmost harmony" and made the 
Association the recognized center of student religious 
activity. 

At the very beginning Cornell's freedom from denomi- 
national control had been written into the charter of 
the University. This fact had been widely misinterpreted 
in some circles as implying the elimination of religious 
influences. Such misinterpretations were repeatedly an- 
swered by President White and Mr. Cornell in official 
statements. The erection of Sage Chapel and the creation 
of the Sage Preachership emphasized the positive recogni- 
tion of religious values. This attitude has been maintained 
by the University throughout its history. > 

As a means of supplementing Sage Chapel and the 
Preachership with a stable organization of student re- 
ligious interests the Christian Association was in 1887 
made a membership corporation and called the "Chris- 



BACKGROUNDS ;> 

tian Association of Cornell University." The C.A.C.U. 
with a Board of Trustees composed of nine men and 
women has continued through the years as the basic 
legal organization underlying voluntary religious work 
at Cornell. It has in various periods delegated its powers 
to conduct this work in whole or in part to the Cornell 
University Christian Association (men's work), to the 
Young Women's Christian Association, and since 1934 
the Cornell United Religious Work these being volun- 
tary associations. This Association has throughout its 
history been a recognized though non-official agency of 
the University. 

One of the most outstanding personalities in the history 
of religious activities at Cornell has been John R. Mott 
'88 who became a Christian shortly after his arrival at the 
University in 1885, and as president of the Association 
revealed his powers of leadership which were later to be 
demonstrated on a world-wide scale. The work of the 
Association expanded rapidly under his direction he 
organized a campaign for funds to erect an Association 
building to which students and faculty members sacri- 
ficially contributed $10,000. This spontaneous interest on 
the campus moved Mr. A. S. Barnes of New York City to 
contribute $45,000 for the erection of Barnes Hall, the 
site having been designated by the Trustees of the Uni- 
versity who are the legal owners of the building. Mr. 
Mott's leadership also led to the creation of the general 
secretaryship of the Association, first held by Mr. Rans- 
ford S. Miller '88. Mr. Mott, in speaking at the dedication 
of Barnes Hall in June 1889 after a year of travel in Amer- 
ican colleges as Intercollegiate Secretary of the Y.M.C.A., 
contrasted college Christian Association work of earlier 
years with that of 1889 as follows: 

"Prior to 1877 the work of the association was very 
narrow. In most places it was simply a missionary society. 



4 COOPERATIVE RELIGION AT CORNELL UNIVERSITY 

In some colleges it was nothing more than a Bible class or 
an evangelistic band. Some associations combined two or 
three of these objects. Contrast this with the work of the 
association today. It seeks to bring every man who enters 
the university under Christian influences; to put him 
upon record as standing on the side of the Christian 
forces among the students; to guard and develop him in 
Bible classes, in meetings, in committee work; to put him 
at work among his fellow students, assisting the city 
pastors, helping in the neglected districts in or around the 
city; to bring him in touch with the bands of Christian 
college men in the centres of learning throughout the 
world; to open up before him intelligently the claims 
upon him of the ministry at home and abroad, and of 
other spheres of religious endeavor. Do you wonder that a 
work so varied and so important requires a building like 
this and the constant attention of a trained college grad- 
uate?" 

Mr. Mott then characterized the Cornell Association of 
1889 as the largest and best organized of the college as- 
sociations, as having stimulated other college associations 
of New York State, and as helping to solve the problem 
of religious organizations in state institutions generally. 

The program continued to develop along lines thus 
laid down, calling out through the years a succession of 
strong leaders among whom were Harry Wade Hicks '98, 
Lee F. Hanmer '00, Porter R. Lee '03, A. R. Mann '04, 
Dean Kelsey '08, Horace Rose, S. Edward Rose '98, C. W. 
Whitehair, and many others. 

In 1904 the impetus for a separate women's society had 
taken the women members of the Association into the 
Y.W.C.A. movement with a constitution of their own as 
the Cornell University Y.W.C.A. The men's work con- 
tinued as the C.U.C.A., the two operating on parallel but 
largely independent lines. The ideal of unity was never 



BACKGROUNDS 5 

lost sight of, however, during the period of separation; 
and it led after thirty years, as we shall see, to the resump- 
tion of a single organization in 1933-34. 

During the years 1917-19 the C.U.C.A. shared in the 
general program of the War Work Council of the Na- 
tional Y.M.C.A., raising money for this purpose, re- 
leasing its general secretary, C. W. Whitehair, for work 
overseas, and making Barnes Hall available as a "Y" hut 
for the men of the Cornell Student Army Training Corps. 



CHAPTER II 
BEGINNINGS OF THE "NEW PLAN" 

The college year 1918-19 was a time of sharp transi- 
tion at Cornell as elsewhere. The war psychology quickly 
passed, but not its consequences. The student population 
shifted restlessly. Emotional repercussions flared high. 
Student ideas about life were breaking out in new chan- 
nels. Moral and religious problems were acute. The war 
work program of the Y.M.C.A. no longer suited the cam- 
pus and was being withdrawn. Mr. Whitehair was about 
to undertake new work elsewhere. The situation was ripe 
for change. 

Early in the spring of 1919 the C.U.C.A. Board of Di- 
rectors invited Mr. Edwards, the author of this volume, 
to visit Cornell, to outline a program of organization and 
activities which should recognize existing needs and pro- 
vide for the future on the background of the past. After 
preliminary studies, such a plan was formulated under 
date of April 3, 1919 and transmitted to Paul S. Liver- 
more '97, then chairman of the Board of Directors. Since 
this proposal involved the cooperation of the national 
secretaries of certain Church Boards of Education, and 
of the Intercollegiate Young Men's Christian Association 
together with the Directors of the C.U.C.A., preliminary 
conferences were held in New York City, and at Ithaca 
during the spring of 1919. The first included the following 
national secretaries : Dr. F. W. Padelford of the Baptist 
Board of Education, Dr. Frank M. Sheldon of the Congre- 
gational Board, Rev. Paul Micou of the Episcopal Board, 

6 



BEGINNINGS OF THE "NEW PLAN" 7 

Dr. Abram S. Harris of the Methodist Board, Dr. Richard 

C. Hughes of the Presbyterian Board, and Mr. David R. 
Porter of the Intercollegiate Y.M.C.A. A joint conference 
of church board secretaries and their respective Ithaca 
pastors and the members of the Board of Directors of the 
C.U.C.A. was held at Ithaca on May 5, 1919. Conferences 
were also held during this period with President Schur- 
man and with the men's student Cabinet. (See Appen- 
dix A.) 

Only after the inclusion of suggestions by all parties 
concerned and preliminary approval by them, was the 
plan adopted. Mr. Edwards then accepted the invitation 
of the Board to come to Cornell to help put the plan into 
operation. The new staff arrangements came into effect 
rapidly during the summer and fall of 1919. Rev. John 

D. W. Fetter, who had come to Cornell in 1916 as Baptist 
University Pastor and had served as interim secretary of 
the C.U.C.A. in 1918-19, gave immediate cooperation. 
Rev. Cyril Harris had arrived in the spring of 1919 as 
University Pastor for the Episcopalians and soon allied 
himself. Active cooperation with the Presbyterians 
brought Rev. Hugh A. Moran to Cornell as their Univer- 
sity Pastor in September, Rev. James A. G. Moore came 
at the same time for the Congregationalists, and a few 
weeks later Rev. Evans A. Worthley for the Methodists 
these last two pastorates being then established for the 
first time. Each of these men volunteered his services as a 
guide of undergraduate leaders in one aspect of the 
United Work, Fetter for Friendly Relations, Harris for 
Devotional Service, Moran for Religious Education, 
Moore for Extension Service, and Worthley for Voca- 
tional Counsel. Each acted therefore not only as a repre- 
sentative of his church but also as a member of the 
C.U.C.A. staff and as such was given office space in 
Barnes Hall and listed in the University directory. Mr. 



8 COOPERATIVE RELIGION AT CORNELL UNIVERSITY 

Edwards acted in a correlating relationship as Executive. 
Within a few months, thanks to the War Work Council 
of the Y.M.C.A., Miss May Peabody was added as Host- 
ess and Employment Secretary. Buel Trowbridge '20, the 
student president, and the Cabinet gave able leadership 
for the undergraduates. The Board of Directors gave 
loyal support. This Board in the fall of 1919 consisted of 
Paul S. Livermore '97, Chairman; Prof. H. S. Jacoby, 
Treasurer; R. H. Edwards, Secretary; J. P. Harris '01, 
Prof. A. R. Mann '04, J: T. Newman '75, A. B. Trow- 
bridge '20, and C. W. Whitehair. The personnel of this 
Board represented the historic foundation of the Chris- 
tian Association, dating back to 1869, and upon this 
foundation, unaltered to the present day, the "new plan" 
was built. Before Christmas of 1919, therefore, the new 
regime was well inaugurated. 

(Note: Personnel. In a work of this kind those who 
guide it are a highly important element. Since personal- 
ities vary in student appeal, a variety of persons is impor- 
tant for wide appeal. Throughout these years many and 
varied persons, students, staff and Board members, chair- 
men of committees, and other leaders have shared in the 
direction of the work. Between September 1, 1919 and 
October 31, 1937, the date of Mr. Edwards' retirement, 
those in the various posts of responsibility had changed 
many times, all at least once, except Mr. P. S. Livermore 
on the Board, Miss Williams in the office, and Mr. Fetter, 
Mr. Moore, Mr. Moran, and Mr. Edwards on the Staff. A 
list of those who have served in positions of chief respon- 
sibility throughout these years to July 1939 will be found 
in Appendix B.) 

The most succinct early statement of the "new plan" 
which has sometimes been called the "Cornell Plan" of 
United Religious Work is in the following quotations 
taken directly from a folder of the C.U.C.A. printed in 



BEGINNINGS OF THE "NEW PLAN" 9 

1920 underlined below each followed by comment made 
in the retrospect of twenty years : 

1. "A new plan of united Christian work is being de- 
veloped at Cornell The Christian Church is recognised 
as the fundamental agency for religious service in univer- 
sity life." 

This general plan of unified organization for student 
religious work while new at Cornell in 1919 had been 
tested in principle over a period of years elsewhere, chiefly 
at the University of Pennsylvania. It was in distinct con- 
trast to the then prevalent type of organization in the 
universities, in that church affiliation was made a primary 
consideration and church loyalty so interpreted as to 
include loyalty to the common cause of Christianity. 

The constituent church groups were conceived as basic 
in the new plan, although close affiliation with the Inter- 
collegiate Y.M.C.A. was and always has been maintained. 
The principle involved in this decision was a plain matter 
of the sociology of religion in American student life. Up- 
wards of ninety per cent of Cornell students acknowl- 
edged then and have since acknowledged year by year 
affiliation with some branch of the Christian Church or 
the Jewish faith, whereas a relatively small proportion 
had been related to Y.M.GA/s. It was held, therefore, 
that the early religious experience of Cornell students was 
far more closely related to churches than to Young Men's 
Christian Associations. 

When President Schurman asked Mr. Edwards in an 
early interview whether the plan would be limited to the 
five original groups, whether, for example, the Unitar- 
ians would be included in this plan if they so desired, the 
immediate reply was in the affirmative further, that any 
other organized religious groups which desired to unite 
in the same cooperative spirit and by the fulfillment of the 



10 COOPERATIVE RELIGION AT CORNELL UNIVERSITY 

same broad conditions would be included. Our history has 
validated that statement. 

The United Work has from the beginning included 
"cooperating" or non-constituent groups in addition to 
"constituent" groups, the latter being those which sup- 
ply a staff member to the United Work. It has also in- 
cluded individual students not affiliated with any or- 
ganized religious group. Such unaffiliate students have 
indeed at times been elected to leading offices in the 
organization. The plan as a whole was conceived as a 
means of increasing the number of Cornell men to be 
drawn into active relationship with organized religious 
influences, a means of deepening understandings between 
groups and the development of an inclusive united service 
to the religious needs of the entire community. 

2. "Several of the leading communions are repre- 
sented at Cornell by pastors chosen for special gifts and 
training. 

Each of these men, as pictured in these pages, also 
serves as a responsible guide of undergraduate leaders in 
one branch of the United Work. They, with the Executive 
and the Hostess, constitute the staff in charge." 

The simple conditions for having a church representa- 
tive on the Staff have been that he should be an 
adequately-trained man, duly appointed by his group, 
that he should bring to the work a sense of the needs of all 
Cornell students rather than merely those of his own 
church, and that he should work in this cooperative spirit, 
voluntarily accepting responsibility for the guidance of 
under-graduate leaders in one branch of the United Work. 
These conditions have never been changed and have re- 
sulted in the presence at Cornell of a unified staff of 
trained persons working together throughout this period. 
In the fulfillment of the above conditions, the university 



BEGINNINGS OF THE "NEW PLAN" 11 

pastors have been released from the narrower confines of 
their particular church groups and their services made 
available to all students who desired them. Their staff 
services have been at no cost to the Cornell financial con- 
stituency, their salaries having been supplied throughout 
by their respective church constituencies, national, re- 
gional, and local. By no other plan known to us has there 
been supplied to any other American university as large 
a staff of trained men devoted to the religious interests of 
a whole university as at Cornell. The arrangement stands 
in contrast to the more usual plan by which one, or at most 
three or four Y.M.C.A. secretaries have wrestled with the 
religious problem of university men and in many univer- 
sities have not validated to the same degree nor built upon 
the indigenous experience of students in their early church 
relationships. 

Later developments have shown the ease with which 
other groups which desired to fulfill the same conditions 
were to be received as constituent groups the Jewish 
and Roman Catholic in 1929, and the Friends and Unitar- 
ians in 1933. Groups which could not supply or maintain 
a staff member, and which yet desired to share in the 
United Work, have been received as "cooperating" 
groups and accorded as large a share as they were ready 
to undertake in united plans for common religious ob- 
jectives and broadly common ends. 

3. "This United Work is recognised as the sphere of the 
Cornell University Christian Association, conceived as an 
independent organisation of Cornell men." 

The first part of this statement has already been com- 
mented upon. It is essential to recognize, however, that 
the United Work developed at Cornell both as an inter- 
church enterprise and as the Christian Association, not in 
addition to the Christian Association. This principle of 



12 COOPERATIVE RELIGION AT CORNELL UNIVERSITY 

identification as contrasted with that of addition has per- 
meated the men's work throughout the years with an 
interdenominational or inter-group consciousness, rather 
than with an ^denominational or wow-denominational 
consciousness. 

Stress here is laid upon the words, ". . . conceived as 
an independent organization of Cornell men." We also 
include paragraph 5 at this point, which reads as fol- 
lows: 

"All Cornell men who share its purpose and who par- 
ticipate in its activities or its support are included in 
its membership. Its Board of Directors is chosen from 
alumni, faculty members, and students of the University. 
Control of the United Work is thus retained by Cornell 



men." 



An important point is here involved. While members 
of the Staff were to be chosen on the basis of qualifications 
and training, independent of other connections with Cor- 
nell, the governing Board was to be chosen from alumni, 
faculty members and students of the University. 

Staff members were to recognize two allegiances. In the 
distinctively church aspects of their work for Cornell stu- 
dents, including both men and women, they were to be 
responsible to their denominational officers, but in their 
C.U.C.A. (later C.U.R.W.) work they were to be, and 
have been, responsible solely to the Board of Directors 
(later Board of Control) of the United Work. Each new 
university pastor, when called to his denominational 
work, has received a coordinate appointment by the 
Board of the United Work as a staff member, and to a 
staff portfolio. Confidential consultation in advance of 
staff appointments has ordinarily been held by members 
of church and United Work Boards. The Board of Di- 
rectors of Men's Work from 1919 on has been composed 



BEGINNINGS OF THE "NEW PLAN" 13 

of Gornellians as defined above. The work has been under 
the control of Cornellians throughout. Denominational 
officials as such, while extremely helpful to the work from 
the beginning, have never been in control nor have they 
ever sought directly or indirectly to be so. Faculty mem- 
bers and alumni who informally represent the interests of 
their denominations upon the United Work Board, all be- 
ing Cornellians, have been thought of as representing 
those interests "trustworthily but unofficially." This 
principle of a Cornell Work governed by Cornellians has 
much significance, especially in the light of the attitudes 
of certain denominational leaders in the early history of 
the University. 

Within the Cornell family the principle of inclusiveness 
was intended in 1919 to work, as it has, in two ways : first, 
that all who desired to work together for broadly common 
ends should be welcomed to do so under certain simple 
conditions, in and through this organization; and sec- 
ondly, that no single denominational group nor non- 
church group nor group of pietists or reactionaries or 
extremists of any type should be allowed to dominate the 
organization. Rather has it been intended and effected 
that the central emphases of religious faith arid life, as 
these should be interpreted from time to time by an inclu- 
sive Cornell personnel, should be dominant in the pur- 
poses and control of the Association. In this will be seen 
reflected the spirit of the provision in the charter of the 
University which provides that "at no time shall a major- 
ity of the board (of trustees) be of one religious sect or of 
no religious sect." 

4. "The purpose of this association is the development 
of Christian character and service among its members 
and the advancement of Christian ideals in the life of 
Cornell University, the Nation, and the World." 



14 COOPERATIVE RELIGION AT CORNELL UNIVERSITY 

This statement of purpose couched in the phraseology 
of 1920 is strikingly in line with the statement of Ezra 
Cornell in his address of October 7, 1868: 

"I desire that this shall prove to be the beginning of an 
institution, which shall furnish better means for culture 
of all men of every calling, of every aim; which shall 
make men more truthful, more honest, more virtuous, 
more noble, more manly, which shall give them higher 
purposes, and more lofty aims, qualifying them to serve 
their fellowmen better, preparing them to serve society 
better, training them to be more useful in their relations 
to the state, and to better comprehend their higher and 
holier relations to their families and their God. It shall be 
our aim and our constant effort to make true Christian 
men, without dwarfing or paring them down to fit the 
narrow gauge of any sect." 

The purpose of the United Work has been variously 
phrased at different times during the twenty years now 
under review, but always in line with the inclusive state- 
ment of the Founder of the University. We have, in fact, 
in a number of publications during these years resorted to 
the phraseology of the original constitution "The object 
of this Association shall be the improvement of the spir- 
itual, mental, social, and physical condition of young 
men by means in harmony with the spirit of the Gospel." 

5. "Initiative in activities is in the hands of under- 
graduate leaders from among whom the officers and cab- 
inet of the Association are elected" 

This principle of student initiative, clearly stated at the 
beginning, has been followed throughout our history, but 
it has not been made a fetish. It must be frankly recog- 
nized that the history of student religious enterprises the 
country over has revealed a large number of lively begin- 
nings and many poor finishings. It has been the purpose 



BEGINNINGS OF THE "NEW PLAN" 15 

of the United Work at Cornell to provide both for student 
initiative and also for what we have called "finishiative." 
The combination of these two aspects of religious work 
has been our goal from the beginning, and it has been in 
order to secure "finishiative" that Board and Staff guid- 
ance has supplemented the initiative of students. Guid- 
ance has been supplied in order that the work might be 
efficient and sustained from year to year on a basis worthy 
of the cause of religion in a great University . . . also 
that students with their burden of curricular work should 
not be overloaded with religious enterprises at the expense 
of their studies. Student initiative with a measure of ma- 
ture guidance and this without adult domination have 
been creative partners. 



CHAPTER III 
ORGANIZATION 

The initial features of the United Work organization 
have already been described. Some of these remain unal- 
tered. Others have passed through many changes and 
developments. The process has been kept experimental 
throughout. In the decade 1920-30 the chief changes 
came at the beginning and the end. 

A revised Constitution was adopted April 29, 1920, 
which provided that members of the Board of Directors 
should "be chosen as far as practicable to represent the 
various branches of the Christian church, special alumni 
groups and the different departments of the work of the 
association." 

There was a further revision of the C.U.C.A. Constitu- 
tion under date of January 21, 1921, in which the follow- 
ing item appears: "The Board-of Directors shall hold 
office and exercise their duties under the authority vested 
in them by the Christian Association of Cornell Univer- 
sity (incorporated)." This was in recognition of the legal 
status of the Association which had been carefully re- 
viewed following the inauguration of the "new plan." 
New By-Laws for the C.A.C.U. were adopted by a meet- 
ing of members of the C.A.C.U. held November 1 1, 1920. 
The direct control of the Barnes Hall building has been re- 
tained throughout the period under review by the Trustees 
of the C.A.C.U. during the earlier years the conduct of 
men's activities being delegated by them to the C.U.C.A. 

16 



ORGANIZATION 17 

and of women's activities to the Y.W.C.A. The number 
of C.A.C.U. Trustees remained nine until 1939 when it 
was increased to fifteen. The number of Directors of the 
C.U.C.A., however, was increased to twenty-one in 
1921-22. 

Several significant developments in the structural or- 
ganization of the United Work have followed in the per- 
sistent effort for inclusiveness. 

The list of C.U.C.A. Board members as given in the 
Appendix shows the enlargement of the Board following 
the adoption of the revised Constitution in 1921, agree- 
ment having been made that as far as possible three mem- 
bers be chosen from each constituent church group and 
six as members at large. The C.U.C.A. Board continued on 
this basis without fundamental changes in structure from 
1921 to 1928-29. Then upon the arrival of a representa- 
tive of Jewish interests at Cornell, it became evident that 
a change of name and structure would be desirable. Rabbi 
Isadore B. Hoffman was welcomed to establish his office 
in Barnes Hall in the winter of 1929. During a brief 
period of transition he was made a guest member of the 
Staff without portfolio, but he soon became a regular 
member in charge of the Library. Father J. T. Cronin 
was appointed to the Catholic Chaplaincy in 1929 and 
welcomed to the C.U.R.W. Staff with office in Barnes 
Hall. His acceptance of staff membership and staff re- 
sponsibility for Infirmary Visitation received the ap- 
proval of Bishop J. F. O'Hern of Rochester. 

In December 1929 the name "Cornell United Religious 
Work" was adopted by the Board of Directors of the 
C.U.C.A. (Men's Work) and a new letterhead was au- 
thorized as follows : 

CORNELL UNITED RELIGIOUS WORK 
( Including the C.U.C.A. founded 1 869) 



18 COOPERATIVE RELIGION AT CORNELL UNIVERSITY 

On June 6, 1930 the following C.U.C.A. Board actions 
were taken: First, "Be it resolved that the Board of Di- 
rectors of the C.U.C.A. authorize the expansion of its 
work and personnel into the work of the C.U.R.W. as in- 
dicated in the above letterhead form and conduct its work 
as far as possible under this title." Second, "Be it resolved 
that a Board of Control for the C.U.R.W. be organized to 
consist of the same persons as the Board of Directors of 
the C.U.C.A. plus a suitable number of Jewish representa- 
tives." Roman Catholic members were also added. This 
general set-up of Men's Work prevailed from 1930 to 
1933-34, the name C.U.R.W. gradually transplanting 
C. U.C. A. in popular usage. 

Between 1930 and 1933 there was an increasing interest 
in the closer coordination of men's and women's religious 
work. While the Staff had been officially a men's work 
staff, the Y.W.C.A. secretary had been welcomed as a 
guest member at its meetings and from 1926 till 1934 
regularly sat with the Staff in this capacity. Interchange 
of up-to-date information, mutual planning, and a grad- 
ual uniting of interests all along the line took place. The 
responsibility of University Pastors for the women as well 
as the men of their respective groups made it highly valu- 
able for cooperation to be established between them and 
the leaders of the Y.W.C.A. as an interdenominational 
campus religious agency. 

The interest in closer coordination of men's and wom- 
en's work finally led in 1933 to the appointment of a joint 
committee of men and women to draft a basically new 
arrangement. After prolonged conferences between the 
C.U.C.A.-C.U.R.W. Board and the Y.W.C.A. Board 
which extended throughout the college year of 1933-34, 
a new Constitution and By-Laws for the C.U.R.W. as a 
combined organization of men and women was adopted 
May 16, 1934. After a year of trial, this was revised as of 



ORGANIZATION 19 

May 22, 1935 and governed the United Work until May 
26, 1938. 

The Trustees of the C.A.C.U. under date of April 12, 
1934 withdrew their previous delegation of responsibility 
to the two Boards, the C.U.C.A.-C.U.R.W. and the 
Y.W.C.A. respectively, and delegated responsibility to a 
single Board of Control of C.U.R.W., the term "United" 
now covering coeducational as well as interdenomina- 
tional interests. The merger was not yet complete, how- 
ever, as men's and women's divisions of the Board of 
Contrbl were still maintained. The divisions met sep- 
arately in all months of the academic year except in No- 
vember, February, and May, when meetings of the full 
Board were held. The men's and women's divisions con- 
tinued most of the functions previously exercised by the 
C.U.C.A.-CU.R.W. and Y.W.C.A. Boards. The Board as 
a whole concerned itself chiefly with joint activities and 
a general correlation of the entire work. The trend toward 
increasing unity was registered in a further revision of 
the Constitution (May 26, 1938) resulting in the form 
now governing the United Work. (See Appendix C.) At 
that time the separate men's and women's divisions of the 
Board of Control were given up and one completely 
unified Board created. 

Staff: 

The common interests of the members of the Staff had 
been fostered in the early years by the provision of offices 
for all in Barnes Hall, by weekly Staff meetings, and by 
an annual all-day Staff conference in late spring or early 
fall. These features with minor adaptations have been 
followed since 1919 and have cemented a strong and con- 
tinuing bond between Staff members. In order that the 
duties of each member might be made definite and these 
duties freshly agreed upon each year, the annual Staff 



20 COOPERATIVE RELIGION AT CORNELL UNIVERSITY 

conference has been made the occasion for reviewing all 
the activities of the United Work. Special consideration 
has been given each year to new possibilities of service 
both by the Association as a whole and by each member of 
the Staff. As a result a written "budget of work" specify- 
ing Staff duties has been prepared annually under the 
guidance of the Staff chairman. Free and frank discussion 
of the interests and abilities of individual Staff members 
in relation to the work to be done has been held in these 
annual meetings. The Staff has never considered itself a 
legislative body nor taken votes nor passed resolutions 
but in all decisions has, like the "Friends," followed "the 
sense of the meeting." 

We recognize significant values in Cornell life due to 
the presence of well-trained, carefully-chosen pastors act- 
ing as counselors of student leaders, working in close har- 
mony as a Staff and at the same time maintaining their 
services to their own church groups as university pastors. 

While many of the duties of university pastors have 
been thought of as denominational, these men have be- 
come so deeply interested in the work as a whole that 
most of them do not differentiate sharply between their 
denominational work and their united work. Their major 
concern is for the religious welfare of the student body as 
a whole. Along with their frank and friendly approach to 
the common tasks, there has been complete freedom from 
proselyting. Differences have been recognized but not 
habitually emphasized. They have indeed often been 
treated humorously or forgotten. The cooperative atti- 
tudes of Staff members have been one of their chief con- 
tributions to this common enterprise. They have repre- 
sented the Cornell way of working together for deeper 
religious understandings between all groups, a goal now 
widely recognized throughout the university world as 
highly desirable. 



ORGANIZATION 21 

More than tolerance has been involved in these atti- 
tudes. There has been a basic respect by members of each 
group for other groups and for that which the others 
represent. This basic respect has led to a highly educa- 
tional experience among groups as varied as the Jewish, 
the Unitarian, the Roman Catholic, the Methodist, and 
the rest. And there has been, besides, a persistent concern 
for students who have had no specific church affiliation. 
It is also to be remembered that the personal attention of 
Staff members to individual students, regardless of reli- 
gious affiliations, has provided a volume of personal help 
which the University could ill afford to dispense with. 
The names of all Staff members who have served through- 
out this period are given in Appendix B. 

Cabinet: 

Throughout the period under review until May 1939 
there has been a Men's Cabinet composed of a group of 
student leaders carefully chosen each spring by the elected 
student president of the Association in consultation with 
members of the outgoing Cabinet. Cabinet members have 
been thus chosen on the basis of their personal interest in 
particular aspects of the work and have been aided in the 
development of their projects by various members of the 
Staff. Annual spring planning conferences of the Cabinet 
and Staff have been held, and also weekly or bi-weekly 
meetings of the Cabinet throughout the college year. 
Many new projects have been initiated by successive stu- 
dent cabinets. . 

Until 1933 when the Student Joint Board was formed, 
there were included in the Men's Cabinet representatives 
of each of the constituent and cooperating church groups. 
Whereas the Staff was a consultative body, the Men's 
Cabinet was a legislative body. It represented the student 
opinion and leadership of the Association and had the 



22 COOPERATIVE RELIGION AT CORNELL UNIVERSITY 

general guidance of the Executive or the Associate Execu- 
tive in its deliberations. The elected student presidents 
who have acted as Cabinet chairmen will be found listed 
in Appendix B. 

Student Joint Board: 

The development of inter-church unity which had been 
achieved most fully in the early years in the Staff and 
then in the Board of Control came to be seen as increas- 
ingly important in student activities also. Preliminary 
efforts to this end were made in the formation of an inter- 
group council of men and women students chiefly under 
the guidance of Maynard and Louise Cassady during 
193 1 . This interest took more definite form in the Student 
Joint Board organized in 1933, to have charge of projects 
fostered jointly by the men and women of the constituent 
church groups and the Men's and Women's Cabinets. By 
this arrangement the Men's and Women's Cabinets con- 
tinued to be responsible for those enterprises which affect 
men and women separately and the Student Joint Board 
for joint enterprises which affect all. Flexibility was 
maintained in these relationships, however, through the 
year 1937-38, in order that the actual experience of work- 
ing together jointly should be further tested. The Cab- 
inets and the Student Joint Board were replaced by one 
Student Board in the revision of 1938. 

In May 1938 the trend toward increasing unity was 
registered in further revisions of the Constitution, result- 
ing in the form now governing the United Work. (See Ap- 
pendix C.) It registers the creation of one Student Board 
of men and women made up of representatives of the con- 
stituent church groups, the campus religious groups, and 
chairmen of projects. The entire work was then placed 
under the leadership of one Executive Director respon- 
sible to the Board of Control. This action may be said to 



ORGANIZATION 23 

represent the logical outcome of the process which had 
been developing gradually throughout the twenty years. 
Other organizational factors worthy of note have been 
the helpful suggestions and services by the leaders of 
state and national student religious movements. Espe- 
cially noteworthy contributions have been given by Mr. 
Ray Sweetman and Miss Katharine Duffield of the New 
York State Student Christian Movement. Similarly, the 
national intercollegiate student movement has contrib- 
uted through its conferences and national projects, giving 
a sense of wider fellowship to Cornell students and Staff 
and Board members. 



CHAPTER IV 
PROPERTIES 

Barnes Hall, the "Coffee House" the Residences: 

During the period of the World War Barnes Hall had 
been used as a "Y" hut for the Cornell R.O.T.C. and in 
1919 was sorely in need of repairs. The basement rooms 
were practically useless because of badly warped floors. 
These rooms had in previous years been used for miscel- 
laneous purposes student rooming quarters, club meet- 
ings, and the like. In spite of the building's Scriptural 
basis, it being literally "founded on a rock," seepage from 
the rock had rendered the first floor unfit for use. On the 
main floor the Library in the South Room had been kept 
locked, and the building as a whole had become gloomy 
and unattractive. Could such conditions ever be in a 
building dedicated to religious uses and "founded on a 
rock"? Oh yes easily and often. 

One of the first things to be undertaken in 1919, there- 
fore, was the rehabilitation of Barnes Hall. Buel Trow- 
bridge '20, the president of the C.U.C.A. in 1919-20, con- 
ceived the idea of a Cornell Coffee House to occupy the 
first floor of the building. The campaign to reach all stu- 
dent men of the University was carefully organized by 
Trowbridge and a strong committee of student leaders in 
January 1920. The goal of the student campaign was to 
raise $10,000 $ 6,000 of which was for the rehabilitation 
of Barnes Hall and the Coffee House, while |4,000 was for 
the current budget. Trowbridge's roommate, W. H. Col- 

24 



PROPERTIES 25 

vin '20, interested his aunt, Mrs. J. H. Moore of Santa 
Barbara, California, in the project. She made a contribu- 
tion of $5,000. A total budget for rehabiliation was set at 
$18,000 $12,000 of which was sought from alumni and 
friends. The amount finally expended was approximately 
$22,000, generous contributions being given by Mrs. 
Willard Straight and by the Trustees of the University. 

During the summer of 1920 the work on the building 
was undertaken under the direction of Mr. C. E. Curtis, 
Superintendent, of the University Department of Build- 
ings and Grounds. A deep ditch had to be dug around the 
east and north sides of the building and the basement wall 
water-proofed against seepage. New concrete floors were 
laid, unnecessary partitions torn out, and the entire base- 
ment reconstructed within. Other improvements through- 
out the building were made as rapidly as the collection of 
funds permitted. Permission to use a balance of some 
$2,000 left over from war work funds for this purpose was 
granted by the National War Work Council of the 
Y.M.C.A. The Library was removed to the north rooms 
on the main floor. The south room on the main floor was 
transformed into an attractive tea room for service to 
women and their guests. 

The new Coffee House in the basement was conducted 
as a rendezvous for men. Doors were opened on October 
9, 1920. Miss May Peabody assisted by Miss Mary Castle 
and Mrs. C. W. Southby then began their service of de- 
lectable coffee, toasted ham.and cheese sandwiches, hot 
"ham slams," and the like. The aroma of these viands 
still lingers pleasantly in the memory of those who en- 
joyed them. Patronage grew steadily. Prof. Lane Cooper 
and his friends gathered daily for refreshments. Here the 
"10 o'clock Club" met any time, day or night, for snacks. 
Other groups met freely as the spirit moved. The embryo 
artists of the University decorated the walls with murals 



26 COOPERATIVE RELIGION AT CORNELL UNIVERSITY 

redolent of student atmosphere including the notable 
paraphrase of the "Here comes Atwater" truck advertise- 
ment, reading "Here comes that water," utilizing a wall 
radiator to represent the steaming front of the truck. Oth- 
ers no less vivid decorated the walls. The whole building 
assumed an unprecedented popularity. 

During the five years preceding the erection of Willard 
Straight Hall, the Coffee House was operated by the 
C.U.C.A. on a non-profit seeking basis and served the 
gastronomic and social needs of the University commu- 
nity with general satisfaction. The C.U.C.A. thus early in 
this period shared in the creation of a campus center for 
inclusive democratic friendships and helped to pave the 
way for the coming of the University union opened in 
1925 in Willard Straight Hall. 

In the spring of 1925 when Willard Straight Hall was 
nearing completion, the C.U.C.A. Board of Directors in 
loyalty to the fuller development of the union idea volun- 
tarily disposed of its stocks and equipment and closed the 
Coffee House. The hearty cooperation established be- 
tween Willard Straight Hall and Barnes Hall upon the 
opening of the former has continued unbroken through- 
out the years which have followed. Mr. Foster Coffin, '12, 
the director of Willard Straight Hall, has continued as a 
loyal member of the C.U.C.A.-CU.R.W. Board through- 
out the period under review. The same students have 
sometimes been active on both boards. Many C.U.C.A. 
events have been welcomed at Willard Straight, and over 
a period of years the Christmas parties previously held by 
the C.U.C.A. in Barnes Hall have more recently been held 
in Willard Straight under joint auspices, the Cosmopol- 
itan Club also being included. 

Upon the giving up of the Coffee House in 1925, a 
kitchen for the service of refreshments was arranged on 
the main floor of Barnes Hall. The basement was rented 



PROPERTIES 27 

to the Cornell Cooperative Society (oldest of college 
cooperatives), considerably altered by them to suit their 
needs, and thus made to serve the University community 
in another important capacity. 

The rehabilitation of Barnes Hall which had been car- 
ried as far as funds permitted in 1920-2 1 was further con- 
tinued in the year 1928 by means of an anonymous gift of 
$2,000. This gift made possible the moving of the library 
to the west lounge which was thoroughly renovated. The 
library service was greatly improved with a trained librar- 
ian in charge and is now an exceptionally well-equipped 
religious library of approximately 6,000 volumes. The 
west dome on the third floor was given over to staif offices 
in 1925, so that there, and in the two south rooms and 
two north rooms on the main floor and also in two rooms 
in the tower, the Staff has been provided with adequate 
office space. The secretary for Women's Work has in re- 
cent years occupied the large north room on the main floor 
of the building and the employment secretary the office 
on the south side opposite the main entrance of the build- 
ing. The unifying of office arrangements for Staff mem- 
bers in Barnes Hall has had an important influence in 
developing Staff harmony and interdenominational unity 
through daily association. In 1924 alterations were made 
in the top tower rooms and in 1925 the north side of the 
auditorium was partitioned off so as to accommodate the 
offices of the National Council on Religion in Higher 
Education which was housed in the building until 193 1 . 

A general rearrangement of the auditorium was made 
in 1934 when a new stage suitable for religious drama was 
built in the west end of the room and the seats replaced 
to face the west. Modest but satisfactory provision for 
religious drama has thereby been effected. The audito- 
rium also serves a variety of other uses. One of the most 
important of these is as a Roman Catholic chapel where 



28 COOPERATIVE RELIGION AT CORNELL UNIVERSITY 

largely attended masses are celebrated on Sunday morn- 
ings throughout the college year. 

The building administration of Barnes Hall has been 
directly controlled throughout these years by the Trus- 
tees of the C.A.C.U., who have acted in this capacity on 
behalf of the Trustees of the University. By suitable regu- 
lations meeting rooms in the building have been made 
available to all regularly organized Cornell groups with- 
out charge upon schedule in order of application. A far- 
reaching service to the University community has thus 
been rendered. As many as fifty different groups have 
used the building in a single academic year, many of these 
many times during the year. Hospitable headquarters 
have been provided for all religious groups which desired 
the use of the Barnes Hall facilities. In recognition of its 
wide service to the University community, provisions for 
heat, light, and building repairs have regularly been made 
by the Trustees of the University. These contributions 
and the cooperation of the Department of Buildings and 
Grounds have been greatly appreciated. 

Staff residences : 

The members of the Staff came early to realize the 
need for relative permanence in living provisions for their 
families. One university pastor had to move five times in 
his first five years in Ithaca. Residences suitable for stu- 
dent entertaining were seen to be essential for adequate 
home contacts. The Presbyterians had secured before 
1919 a commodious residence at 221 Eddy Street. This 
house which Mr. and Mrs. Moran furnished upon their 
arrival in Ithaca has been maintained as an attractive cen- 
ter of generous hospitality to students ever since. A con- 
certed emphasis upon the need for such residences was 
made in 1920. One by one they were secured and made 
centers of hospitality in the years following. The Episco- 



PROPERTIES 29 

palians secured the residence for Mr. and Mrs. Harris and 
their successors at 403 Elmwood Avenue in 1921, the 
Baptists for Mr. and Mrs. Fetter at 502 East Seneca 
Street in 1922, the Methodists for Mr. and Mrs. Durham 
at 101 Brandon Place in 1925, and the Congregationalists 
for Mr. and Mrs. Moore at 106 Highland Road in 1926. 
Title to each of these residence vests in one of the official 
boards of the denomination concerned. 

The Board of Directors of the C.U.C.A. with the co- 
operation of personal friends of Mr. and Mrs. Edwards 
secured the residence at 507 East Seneca Street in 1921. 
Title to this residence vests in the Board of Trustees of 
the C.A.C.U. It is held in trust for the Director of the 
United Work. The Roman Catholic priest makes his 
headquarters at the city rectory, 113 North Geneva 
Street, the Unitarian pastor at the parsonage of the city 
parish, 403 East Buffalo Street, while the Jewish rabbi 
and the secretary for Women's Work occupy rented quar- 
ters. 

The residences have served not only to stabilize the 
domestic life of members of the Staff but also to provide 
a base for a continuing volume of student entertaining 
and hospitality to University visitors. They also serve as 
centers for informal discussion groups. Some of these 
groups such as the Cornell Country Community Club, 
and the Sunday Evening Poetry Group conducted by Mr. 
and Mrs. Edwards, maintained an unbroken history over 
a period of many years. 

The Cabin: 

In the spring of 1928 there was a strong desire on the 
part of a group of men students to have a cabin at a dis- 
tance from the campus to which they might go for hikes, 
outdoor conferences, and the like. T. P. Carpenter, Asso- 
ciate Executive in that year, had recently come from 



30 COOPERATIVE RELIGION AT CORNELL UNIVERSITY 

Dartmouth College where he had been been familiar with 
the Dartmouth outing cabin system. Mr. William J. Nor- 
ton '02 offered to donate the free use of an attractive site 
for a cabin on the "Morse Stevens property" on the Lake 
Road above the east bank of Cayuga Lake. A fund of 
some $1,500 was raised and the Twin Glens Cabin built 
in the woods overlooking the lake. Originating as a cabin 
for men, its use has in recent years been extended to wom- 
en's groups and has been made available to various Cor- 
nell organizations under suitable regulations. The main- 
tenance of the Cabin has at times been a serious problem, 
as it has occasionally suffered at the hands of vandals. 
Methods of protecting it have been improved, however, 
and its use may be expected to increase in the future. 

There are in the properties of the cooperating Ithaca 
churches liberal provisions of attractive rooms for stu- 
dent meetings, student suppers, and student participation 
in services of worship and other church events. 

With the Sage Chapel located in the center of the 
campus and available to all for worship services, it is evi- 
dent that properties of all types reasonably adequate for 
the present needs of Cornell religious groups are now 
provided. 



CHAPTER V 

CONSTITUENT CHURCH GROUPS AND THEIR 

PROGRAMS 

The significance of students' church connections fras 
long been recognized in United Religious Work at Cornell 
and made basic in its development. The cooperating 
churches have made special provisions for their Ithaca 
student work. They have appointed university pastors, 
established adequate residences for them, and developed 
group programs which interlock with that of the United 
Religious Work in which they fully share. While thus 
working toward the largest possible common ground of 
spiritual unity with others, each group retains its distinc- 
tive emphasis and student organization. 

The programs of these church groups vary, of course, 
among themselves, but all include close relationships be- 
tween the university pastor, individual students, and fac- 
ulty members. These are developed through varied activ- 
ities, including religious meetings, outdoor sports, and 
social activities, conducted either at the Ithaca church of 
the denomination, at the university pastor's residence, at 
Barnes Hall, or elsewhere. Attendance at public worship 
in the Ithaca churches is actively fostered. Courses in 
religion, participation in young people's societies, speak- 
ing trips to out-of-town churches and schools, training 
for church leadership, religious dramatics, and other ac- 
tivities are conducted. The wives of Staff members have 
been recognized throughout these years as co-partners in 
the development of these activities. Their home entertain- 

31 



32 COOPERATIVE RELIGION AT CORNELL UNIVERSITY 

ing, their personal counsel with students, their leadership 
of religious interest groups, have greatly enriched the 
work. 

Preliminary to the study of activities under united aus- 
pices, a brief resume of the history and program of each 
of the constituent church groups is presented. By "con- 
stituent group" is signified a church group which has in 
charge of its work a trained minister, priest, or rabbi who 
also serves as a member of the Staff of the C.U.R.W. Most 
of these church groups include in their membership stu- 
dents from Ithaca College as well as Cornell. The follow- 
ing descriptions bring out both the similarities and dif- 
ferences in the work of the university pastors and their 
groups. They are listed in the order of their establishment 
at Cornell. 

1. Baptists (by Rev. J. D. W. Fetter) 

In 1916 the Board of Education of the Northern Bap- 
tist Convention sent Rev. John D. W. Fetter to Cornell 
as its university pastor. The work was begun in October 
of that year and has continued under his direction to the 
present time. 

Mr. Fetter came not only as the appointee of the Na- 
tional Board of Education but also of the New York 
State Baptist Convention, the two bodies being jointly 
responsible for the maintenance of the work. The uni- 
versity pastor and his wife, therefore, represent all Bap- 
tist churches which have students in Cornell University 
and Ithaca College. While much of their work is cen- 
tered in the First Baptist Church of Ithaca, their relation 
to that church is one of purely voluntary cooperation. 

It has been the policy of the Baptist Board to send 
its representatives to university centers without any set 
pattern imposed from above but to trust its university 
pastor to work out plans best suited to the local situation. 



CONSTITUENT CHURCH GROUPS 33 

The value of this policy became manifest in the freedom 
given to join in the cooperative enterprise which later 
developed at Cornell as recorded in this volume. 

The purpose of Baptist work at Cornell is to conserve 
and develop the religious life of students and to train 
them in leadership to become eifective in the life of the 
churches to which they go after graduation. It is a double 
bridge from the home parish to the Ithaca church and 
from this to the parish where the graduate makes his 
home. The function of the university pastor is not so 
much to do things for students as to help them plan and 
carry on their own religious activities. To this end he 
has helped to develop the Baptist Student Association 
which functions mainly in the following ways : 

Through church attendance and responsibility: At 
the present time there are three hundred twenty-five 
Baptist students in Cornell University and forty-five in 
Ithaca College. The center of the religious life is in the 
First Baptist Church of which the Rev. Alfred H. Bout- 
well is pastor. In the morning service of worship there 
is an average of one hundrded students in the congrega- 
tion, forty-four of whom sing regularly in the church 
choir. In addition to attendance, the students assume 
such responsibilities as those of ushers, choir members, 
teachers of Sunday School classes, leaders in Scout 
troops, assistants in other activity groups, participants 
in religious drama and musical programs, and as mem- 
bers of the Board of Junior Deacons. This training for 
leadership in the church is considered of prime impor- 
tance. 

The following quotation from a recent annual report 
will indicate the extent of student participation in church 
life: "I find the following responsibilities held either by 
students or those, formerly active in our student work, 
who have graduated and remained in Ithaca. Eleven 



34 COOPERATIVE RELIGION AT CORNELL UNIVERSITY 

Sunday School teachers, four substitutes, three pianists 
for departments, superintendent of the Sunday School, 
superintendent of the beginners and senior departments, 
president of the Town and Gown Class, two assistants 
in the young people's guild, five ushers, six members of 
the Board of Junior Deacons, one of whom is chairman, 
one member of the Board of Senior Deacons, fifteen mem- 
bers of the choir, the choir director, the church organist, 
the Chairman of the Church Board of Education, and the 
Chairman of the Board of Trustees." In addition twenty 
are now holding office in the Baptist Student Association. 

Through the Board of Junior Deacons : This Board is 
made up of six Cornell students, one from Ithaca College, 
one from the high school, and two town boys. Their 
function is first, to sponsor each year a plan of visitation 
of older and active students on those who are new and as 
yet inactive. This is decidedly valuable because of the 
contacts, the stimulus to church attendance, the informa- 
tion which is brought to the university pastor, and the 
results in the way of student membership in the local 
church. Second, to serve communion in the church serv- 
ice occasionally in place of the senior deacons. This they 
plan carefully and carry out well. Third, to carry out 
with the senior deacons other projects they undertake 
together. In carrying out these functions the Junior Dea- 
cons receive training and experience for similar experi- 
ence later. 

Through the Student Class : This group of student men 
and women meets every Sunday at ten o'clock under the 
leadership of the university pastor, for the study and 
discussion of various phases of religion. Such courses as 
the following have been given: "Jesus and His Cause" 
by Dr. A. Bruce Curry; "The Person I Hope to Become" 
by Dr. Robert S. Smith; "The World's Living Religions" 



CONSTITUENT CHURCH GROUPS 35 

by Dr. Robert E. Hume; "The Problem of Right Con- 
duct" by Canon Peter Greene; and discussions on a series 
of sermons by Dr. Harry Emerson Fosdick, "The Power 
to See it Through/' There has been a consistent average 
of twenty-five in this class. 

Through the Baptist Student Forum : This is a gather- 
ing of students who meet at the church every Sunday 
evening for supper at 5:49. After fun and fellowship 
around the tables they meet for the consideration of 
topics of their own choice. The plans and the discussions 
are entirely in the hands of students, with an occasional 
outside speaker. From fifty to eighty are present every 
Sunday night endeavoring to think through together 
some of life's personal and social problems. 

Through deputation teams : From those who volunteer 
for this service teams are made up to visit outlying 
churches and institutions to conduct church services, 
young people's meetings, Sunday School classes, open 
forums, social occasions, and devotional meetings. Teams 
must be able to adapt themselves to a great variety of de- 
mands, for calls come from city churches, rural parishes, 
small colleges, and old folk's homes. One year the teams 
had nine such engagements. After a Sunday evening 
service conducted by the team in a village church the 
minister went home and immediately wrote his appre- 
ciation. . . . "Having such a fine group here does more 
for our church than any other program I can put on." 

Through social occasions : These are planned by the 
student social committees, with the assistance of the uni- 
versity pastor, and are held at the church, at the univer- 
sity pastor's home, at Barnes Hall, and out of doors. They 
vary in nature from the autumn reception attended by 
one hundred fifty students, to camp-fire suppers at the 
C.U.R.W. outing cabin. These occasions fill a special 



36 COOPERATIVE RELIGION AT CORNELL UNIVERSITY 

need in the lives of those who have little provision for 
social life. Many life-long friendships and fine Christian 
homes have their beginning in these social groups. 

Through giving: Every year a financial campaign is 
conducted, the proceeds of which go to four projects: 
1. The Church; 2. Missions; 3. The C.U.R.W.; and 
4. The Baptist Student Association. It is interesting to 
find that the money raised comes largely from those who 
are working for their college expenses and are deeply 
appreciative of the value of the church and student re- 
ligious work. The annual contributions have ranged 
from $300 to $1,000 depending on the general economic 
situation. It is also found that in addition Baptist stu- 
dents give from $800 to $1,200 to their home churches 
annually. 

Working with the students in all of these religious and 
social expressions are the university pastor and his wife. 
They consider it their function to help students to carry 
on their own work. Their interests and efforts are centered 
in the development of personalities rather than programs. 
As much responsibility as possible is left with student 
leaders. It is their training which is uppermost in mind. 
It is true that many students are immature in their efforts 
and that not all plans function smoothly, but it has been 
found that the great majority who hold responsibilities 
carry out their tasks with an efficiency and devotion 
which is highly commendable. 

The university pastor and his wife give themselves to 
maintaining close contacts with the students, to keeping 
in touch with those who are sick, to entertaining small 
and large groups in their home, where there are from eight 
hundred to a thousand student visits in the course of a 
year, to teaching courses and conducting services, and to 
the general guiding of personal and group life. The stu- 
dents appreciate this provision for the development of 



CONSTITUENT CHURCH GROUPS 37 

the spiritual side of life, but such appreciation is perhaps 
even more marked after they have graduated, established 
their own homes, and taken their places in the world. The 
reward of a university pastor comes not only in the re- 
sponse of undergraduates but also in letters from alumni 
who write of these contacts as outstanding in their college 
memories, in visits to homes which were begun in the 
student group, in visits to churches where he finds them 
in positions of responsibility, in the lives of those who 
have gone out to teach with an emphasis on the building 
of character and who are dedicated to Christian service. 
(Mr. Fetter received his B.A. from Bucknell University 
in 1913, and was graduated from Rochester Theological 
Seminary in 1916.) 

2. Presbyterians (by Rev. Hugh A. Moran) 

On our arrival at Cornell in 1919 the pulpit of the First 
Presbyterian Church of Ithaca was vacant. We found 
two empty manses one downtown belonging to the 
church, and one on the hill, held by the Board of Christian 
Education as "the residential headquarters" of the uni- 
versity pastor. Our predecessors, the Rev. and Mrs. Her- 
bert Moore, had gone to the presidency of Lake Forest 
College. They left us an active group of Presbyterian 
students, but no records and little organization. 

The first year there were by count 1,019 Presbyterian 
students in the University. The Presbyterian group has 
remained ever since the largest of the church groups, in- 
cluding the students of the Reformed Church, who are 
classified with the Presbyterians at Cornell. During the 
first seven years our policy was to maintain the distinctly 
Presbyterian work, including pastoral service, church 
Bible classes, and home entertaining, with but slight 
modifications in organization and activity. We also put 
emphasis upon dormitory and fraternity house groups 



38 COOPERATIVE RELIGION AT CORNELL UNIVERSITY 

and other activities of an interdenominational nature 
such as forums, the Saturday Lunch Club, Cornell-in- 
China, and voluntary courses in Biblical Literature and 
Religion. In all this work we had the sympathetic interest 
and heartiest support of Dr. and Mrs. Martin D. Hardin, 
who came to the Presbyterian Manse in 1920, and of the 
officers and people of the church. 

When I returned from Sabbatic leave in 1927, a change 
in policy was made. It was evident that work with the 
Presbyterian group brought larger and more lasting re- 
sults than more scattered effort on a wider front. This was 
due in part to the set-up and structure of Cornell life in 
part to the changing temper of the times. Under the 
changed policy the work was not more narrowly denom- 
inational quite the contrary. It became more inclusive, 
but effort was consciously more centered on the group for 
which I was responsible. We sought to train young people 
in effective religious living, to put responsibility upon 
them, and to show them how to use responsibility, to 
make of them a group of individuals whose relations with 
each other and with the rest of the world were more care- 
fully adjusted to Christian standards. The watchword 
was "efficiency" to do each thing we do the best we 
know how and to end up by knowing better how to do it. 

Our attitude was distinctly experimental. Our work 
was laboratory work. We analyzed the expression of reli- 
gion as it centered in worship and as it should result in 
socialized and abundant living. The central feature of the 
Westminster Student Society, under which the Presby- 
terian work was now organized, was and is a worship 
service, held Sunday evening in the church, conducted by 
students under adequate training and leadership. Before 
this worship service comes a student supper prepared by 
students, a "hotel course" student usually being in 
charge of the menu, orders, and management. Anyone 




COFFEE HOUSE 



38 COOPERATIVE RELIGION AT CORNELL UNIVERSITY 

and other activities of an interdenominational nature 
such as forums, the Saturday Lunch Club, Cornell-in- 
China, and voluntary courses in Biblical Literature and 
Religion. In all this work we had the sympathetic interest 
and heartiest support of Dr. and Mrs. Martin D. Hardin, 
who came to the Presbyterian Manse in 1920, and of the 
officers and people of the church. 

When I returned from Sabbatic leave in 1927, a change 
in policy was made. It was evident that work with the 
Presbyterian group brought larger and more lasting re- 
sults than more scattered effort on a wider front. This was 
due in part to the set-up and structure of Cornell life in 
part to the changing temper of the times. Under the 
changed policy the work was not more narrowly denom- 
inational quite the contrary. It became more inclusive, 
but effort was consciously more centered on the group for 
which I was responsible. We sought to train young people 
in effective religious living, to put responsibility upon 
them, and to show them how to use responsibility, to 
make of them a group of individuals whose relations with 
each other and with the rest of the world were more care- 
fully adjusted to Christian standards. The watchword 
was "efficiency" to do each thing we do the best we 
know how and to end up by knowing better how to do it. 

Our attitude was distinctly experimental. Our work 
was laboratory work. We analyzed the expression of reli- 
gion as it centered in worship and as it should result in 
socialized and abundant living. The central feature of the 
Westminster Student Society, under which the Presby- 
terian work was now organized, was and is a worship 
service, held Sunday evening in the church, conducted by 
students under adequate training and leadership. Before 
this worship service comes a student supper prepared by 
students, a "hotel course" student usually being in 
charge of the menu, orders, and management. Anyone 





COFFEE HOUSE 




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CONSTITUENT CHURCH GROUPS 39 

who works on the kitchen committee learns how to run 
student suppers. Following the worship service we have 
four or five interest groups meeting parallel. The average 
attendance under this system has gradually increased, 
and at times the attendance at one of the interest groups 
is as large as the whole group had previously been at the 
old "Christian Endeavor" type of meeting. 

The interest groups have included worship or leader- 
ship, drama, instrumental music, choral music, Christian 
ethics, psychology of personal living, comparative reli- 
gion, philosophy of religion, and other subjects never 
more than five groups operating at a single time, each with 
major student participation, but under the direction of a 
competent adult leader. I wish particularly to recognize a 
debt of gratitude to the numerous leaders who have given 
freely of their time over the years, especially Dr. Ed- 
ward Amherst Ott, who has with great patience and abil- 
ity developed the Worship Leadership Group to its pres- 
ent state of effectiveness, to Rev. R. H. Edwards, who has 
taught successful classes a number of years with great 
benefit to the students, and to Mrs. Martin D. Hardin, 
who more recently has had remarkable success with 
groups dealing with home and family. 

This changed policy has gradually brought about 
group solidarity with friendship and enthusiasm on the 
part of those who participate. There has been notable 
development of personality and character; and the appeal 
is evidently to a high type of students, including many 
graduate students, and young people with musical and 
other talents. We have sent out a number of student 
deputations to other towns and cities and have welcomed 
to Ithaca several delegations of visiting young people 
from other churches. There has also been a steady increase 
in activity through the week. The students live their reli- 
gion; they are ready to give time and of their limited 



CONSTITUENT CHURCH GROUPS 39 

who works on the kitchen committee learns how to run 
student suppers. Following the worship service we have 
four or five interest groups meeting parallel. The average 
attendance under this system has gradually increased, 
and at times the attendance at one of the interest groups 
is as large as the whole group had previously been at the 
old "Christian Endeavor" type of meeting. 

The interest groups have included worship or leader- 
ship, drama, instrumental music, choral music, Christian 
ethics, psychology of personal living, comparative reli- 
gion, philosophy of religion, and other subjects never 
more than five groups operating at a single time, each with 
major student participation, but under the direction of a 
competent adult leader. I wish particularly to recognize a 
debt of gratitude to the numerous leaders who have given 
freely of their time over the years, especially Dr. Ed- 
ward Amherst Ott, who has with great patience and abil- 
ity developed the Worship Leadership Group to its pres- 
ent state of effectiveness, to Rev. R. H. Edwards, who has 
taught successful classes a number of years with great 
benefit to the students, and to Mrs. Martin D. Hardin, 
who more recently has had remarkable success with 
groups dealing with home and family. 

This changed policy has gradually brought about 
group solidarity with friendship and enthusiasm on the 
part of those who participate. There has been notable 
development of personality and character; and the appeal 
is evidently to a high type of students, including many 
graduate students, and young people with musical and 
other talents. We have sent out a number of student 
deputations to other towns and cities and have welcomed 
to Ithaca several delegations of visiting young people 
from other churches. There has also been a steady increase 
in activity through the week. The students live their reli- 
gion; they are ready to give time and of their limited 



40 COOPERATIVE RELIGION AT CORNELL UNIVERSITY 

funds in service. They are active in all phases of the 
United Work, in deputation and extension work, and in 
their home communities during vacation and after leav- 
ing college. We hear of an increasing number who are 
trying to reproduce desired features of the Westminster 
Society in the home church or home town. This is partic- 
ularly true of the worship services which have stressed 
appreciation of living persons active in religious and so- 
cial work throughout the world. These studies were pub- 
lished in 1935-36 and 1936-37 as worthy of preservation 
and emulation. For several years the annual spring re- 
treat for officers of the Westminster Society has been held 
at Happy Valley, Lisle, N.Y. 

Concentration of activity in the Westminster Society 
has meant some withdrawal from other projects, but ac- 
tivities such as Cornell-in-China, the League of Nations 
Model Assembly, and the Rural Institute have never 
been given up. The ultimate result is an increased impact 
on the life of the University and a considerable improve- 
ment in the quality of the product returned to the stream 
of American life. Mrs. Moran and I have made large use 
of the manse at 221 Eddy Street as a center for student 
entertaining. 

(Mr. Moran received his B.A. from Leland Stanford 
University in 1905, his M.A. from Oxford University in 
1920, and his Ph.D. from Columbia University in 1935. 
For his notable contributions to student religious work 
he received a citation at the General Assembly of the 
Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. in May 1939.) 

3. Episcopalians (by Rev. R. E. Charles) 

The work among students of the Episcopal Church is 
a serious endeavor to provide them with adequate pas- 
toral care during the time in which they are away from 
home. The attempt, therefore, is made to incorporate 



CONSTITUENT CHURCH GROUPS 41 

them as far as possible into the normal life of the local 
parish church. In most places where there are educational 
institutions the responsibility for work among students is 
laid upon the rector of the local parish. This was the sit- 
uation for many years in Ithaca. 

In 1918 the National Council of the Episcopal Church 
made provision for a clergyman to give his whole time to 
the work among students at Cornell University. The Rev. 
Cyril Harris was first appointed. He began his work in the 
spring of 1919 and continued with marked effectiveness 
until 1924. The financial support of the work was trans- 
ferred from the National Council to the Diocese of Cen- 
tral New York after two years. 

A residence for the university pastor was purchased by 
the Diocese the house at 403 Elmwood Avenue. This 
was made a gathering place for students where they were 
the welcome guests of Mr. and Mrs. Harris and of their 
successors. For fifteen years this residence has been the 
center of a splendid hospitality extended to students who 
were away from a normal home life. 

A special service for students was held in St. John's 
Church every Sunday morning at 9 o'clock. After the 
Holy Communion at that hour they went to the Parish 
House where breakfast was served. So long as the univer- 
sity pastor was carrying on the work by himself, this 
service was continued. When a change was made early in 
1937, this service was given up and students were invited 
to share in the regular services of worship. 

The Rev. Mr. Harris left in 1924, and for one year the 
work was carried on by the Rev. Ralph Nanz, a graduate 
student and instructor at Cornell. He was succeeded in 
1925 by the Rev. and Mrs. Frank Lambert, who remained 
until 1936. The Lamberts made a notable contribution 
to Cornell life through student entertaining, widespread 
friendship and personal counseling. Mr. Lambert carried 



42 COOPERATIVE RELIGION AT CORNELL UNIVERSITY 

the Worship portfolio in the United Religious Work. 

In the fall of 1936 it was determined to unite the work 
among students more closely with the work of St. John's 
Church. On the retirement of the Rev. Henry P. Horton 
as Rector of St. John's in March 1937 responsibility for 
the student work was given to the new Rector, the Rev. 
Reginald E. Charles, and provision was made for a curate 
to work under his direction, both the parish and the 
Diocese making provision for the curate's support. The 
Rev. Mr. Charles acted as Student Chaplain from October 
1936 until September 1937, serving also as Rector of St. 
John's from March 1, 1937. In September 1937 the Rev. 
H. Gruber Woolf was appointed curate, but because of ill 
health he resigned in January 1938. He was succeeded in 
1938-39 by Rev. James A. Rockwell. 

Under the new arrangement a closer contact between 
the people of the parish and the students has been fos- 
tered, making the students feel, during the time they live 
in Ithaca, that St. John's is their parish church. They 
attend its regular services of worship, many of them 
serve as crucifers, acolytes, and members of the choir. 
They are encouraged to take as full and active a part in 
the life of the church as they would if they were at home. 

The Seabury Guild for Students was organized in 1937 
to provide an organization to which they could belong 
and through which they could carry on any other activ- 
ities which would meet their particular needs. The Guild 
sponsors a corporate communion for students once a 
month at the regular eight o'clock service. This is fol- 
lowed by a breakfast served by the Daughters of the 
King, one of the parochial societies; a business meeting 
and discussion group follows. From time to time the mem- 
bers of the Guild are entertained at the homes of members 
of the parish, and various social gatherings are also held 
under Guild leadership. 



CONSTITUENT CHURCH GROUPS 43 

The aim of the Church in its work at Cornell is to 
provide a "home parish for students who are away from 
home" and to meet their spiritual needs to the best of its 
ability. 

(Mr. Charles received the degree of B.A. from the Uni- 
versity of Western Ontario, London, Canada, in 1915, 
and the degree of Licentiate on Theology (L.Th.) from 
Huron Theological College, London, in the same year. 
He also received the degree of Master of Sacred Theology 
(S.T.M.) from Western Theological Seminary (now 
known as Seabury-Western Seminary) of Evanston, Illi- 
nois, in 1929.) 

4. Congregationalists (by Rev. James A. G. Moore) 

Prior to 1919 there had been no special work for 
Congregational students at Cornell. The First Congrega- 
tional Church of Ithaca did what it could to serve the 
students, providing a small student class, and opening its 
Christian Endeavor Society to students. 

When Richard H. Edwards, formerly Congregational 
University Pastor at Wisconsin, came to the secretary- 
ship of the Cornell University Christian Association, 
seeking to unite the various religious groups working with 
students, Congregationalists became interested. The Na- 
tional Education Society, the New York State Congrega- 
tional Conference, and the local church united in begin- 
ning work for Congregational students in the fall of 
1919. They called Rev. James A. G. Moore to be their 
university pastor. 

At that time there were about 250 Congregational stu- 
dents at Cornell. The number has slowly but steadily in- 
creased until it is now 350, including Congregational stu- 
dents at Ithaca College. Financial responsibility for the 
work was originally assumed by the three agencies above 
named, the major share being taken by state and national 



44 COOPERATIVE RELIGION AT CORNELL UNIVERSITY 

groups. As the work developed and became integrated 
with the State Youth Program of the denomination, the 
National Society gradually withdrew until today the 
work is supported almost entirely by the state, supple- 
mented by a small grant from the local church. 

From the very beginning of the work the personal ap- 
proach to student life has been central. Through personal 
visitation, home entertaining, and office contacts, stu- 
dents have been helped in their orientation to Cornell life 
and their entire college course enhanced by this personal, 
friendly interest. Through it, the best approach is made 
to the deeper problems of student experience. The genius 
of a university pastor's work will probably always be in 
personal counseling. Letters from former students con- 
firm this judgment. 

The home of the university pastor has been of great 
value in his approach to students. For seven years Mr. 
and Mrs. Moore lived in a rented residence, moving twice 
in that time, and in neither case was the equipment ade- 
quate for the program desired. In 1926 the New York 
Congregational Conference purchased a residence at 106 
Highland Avenue, and it has proved ideal for the work. 
Small enough to be a real home and yet large enough to 
accommodate groups up to 75, it has been the institu- 
tional center of the work. Entertaining, social occasions, 
and group discussions are a regular part of each year's 
program. 

The local church in Ithaca has been the Sunday cen- 
ter of the student program. In the beginning emphasis 
was placed upon student classes which united in a student 
breakfast at 9 A.M. Four such classes were provided. As 
conditions changed and the church abandoned its tradi- 
tional Sunday evening worship service, the Sunday morn- 
ing student classes were also given up and a Sunday eve- 
ning student group was developed. This has grown 



CONSTITUENT CHURCH GROUPS 45 

steadily and is now the organized center of our student 
effort. A supper, a worship service, and a discussion con- 
stitute the usual program, with invited speakers occasion- 
ally present. The morning service of the church has never 
been largely attended by students, as the Sage Ghapel 
service is at the same hour. 

The student organization is known as the Congrega- 
tional Students' Association. It has four officers, six 
standing committees, and two representatives on the 
Student Board of the Cornell United Religious Work. 
The officers, the chairmen of the committees, and the 
C.U.R.W. representatives form the Executive Commit- 
tee. The university pastor acts as counselor for the Asso- 
ciation. In addition to its Sunday evening program it 
carries on social events, deputations to nearby churches, 
and community service projects. 

A special feature of Congregational student work at 
Cornell has been its close association with the Congrega- 
tional state program for young people. Beginning in 1921, 
the university pastor has served on the Staff of the high 
school summer conferences of the New York Congrega- 
tional Conference and during recent years has taken with 
him Cornell students to serve on the Staff also. The last 
four years he has served as counselor for the young peo- 
ple's work of the state. This tie-up has proved to be a 
distinct advantage. It gives a chance to contact high 
school young people before coming to college, follow 
them through the University, and then link them up with 
local churches after they graduate. Student deputations 
from Cornell to churches in the state help to strengthen 
this tie. 

Congregationalists have always been interested in 
interdenominational effort. It is fair to say that their 
work developed at Ithaca because of the effort which was 
made at Cornell in 1919 to unite the various religious 



46 COOPERATIVE RELIGION AT CORNELL UNIVERSITY 

groups in common service to the University. The experi- 
ence of the years seems to indicate that the Congrega- 
tional work is strengthened by this cooperative effort, 
and that religion, in turn, is made more effective on the 
campus because of its united front. 

(Mr. Moore is a graduate of Trinity College, B.A. 
1914, and of Rochester Theological Seminary in 1917.) 

5. Methodists (by Rev. G. Eugene Durham) 

The Rev. Evans A. Worthley was appointed the 
first Methodist University Pastor in 1919. At this time 
the Wesley Foundation was set up at Cornell, and student 
religious work took a distinctive step forward. Prior to 
this time Methodist students were cared for by a pastor 
who gave part time to them and part time to Forest Home 
Chapel. 

M r. Worthley was at Cornell from 1 9 1 9 to 1 92 1 . He was 
followed by the Rev. Henry Bock who also served for two 
years, 1921 to 1923. In the fall of 1923 G. Eugene Durham 
became university pastor and has continued to the pres- 
ent time. 

In 1925 the Wesley Foundation Board purchased a 
Methodist University Parsonage at the corner of College 
Avenue and Mitchell Street. This has been used as a 
"home away from home" for students. In the years since 
1925 there has been an average of more than 1,000 stu- 
dent visits each year to this university parsonage. In 
1928 Mr. and Mrs/ Durham began a policy of "open 
house" each Monday evening. Students drop in for a 
friendly time of fellowship, singing, games, or reading. 
Many students are also invited in for meals each year. 

The "Wesley Foundation" is the name for Methodist 
student work at tax supported institutions and is designed 
to minister to the spiritual needs of Methodist students 



CONSTITUENT CHURCH GROUPS 47 

and all others who come into contact with its members. At 
Cornell the work is done through three centers: the Uni- 
versity Parsonage, the First Methodist Church of Ithaca, 
and the Cornell United Religious Work. 

In the church a large group of students participate in 
both morning and evening services. There is also a stu- 
dent department of the church school. This has consisted 
of from two to four classes taught usually by University 
professors or by Mr. and Mrs. Durham. Each Sunday 
evening after church the Student Wesley League meets 
from 8:30 to 9:30 and varies in attendance from fifty to 
one hundred twenty-five, with an average of about eighty. 
This League is strictly student run and the program is 
participated in by many students. Each Friday evening 
from 7:30 to 10:00 the Friday Night Class meets in the 
church basement. This is a combination social-devotional 
group which has had a long history and which always 
attracts a certain number of students and faculty mem- 
bers, as well as townspeople. Attendance varies from forty 
to one hundred twenty-five, with an average of about 
eighty. 

Barnes Hall has provided a room for the university 
pastor's office on the campus. In addition to sharing in the 
Cornell United Religious Work program many Methodist 
students come to Barnes for personal conferences with the 
university pastor, for committee meetings, for fellowship 
groups, to prepare for deputation teams, for socials, and 
for religious drama practice. The day by day work of the 
university pastor largely centers here. 

During the course of each college year a number of 
student hikes are taken to various points about Ithaca. 
These are well attended. Also during the year a program 
of deputation team work is carried on. From twenty-five 
to forty deputation teams go out from the Wesley Foun- 



48 COOPERATIVE RELIGION AT CORNELL UNIVERSITY 

dation each year. Most of these have Saturday evening 
and all day Sunday programs in both rural and city 
churches within a radius of seventy miles. 

We have also specialized on religious drama, partic- 
ularly with a missionary play called "Ba Thane" written 
by Mrs. Edna Baldwin. Over the space of four years we 
have used more than forty different students in this cast 
of seven characters, and we have given the play over fifty 
times. We have also given Marie Foley's play, "The 
Gift," a number of times. 

Beginning in 1930 the Wesley Foundation has held a 
religious retreat at Happy Valley, Lisle, N.Y., each year 
the second week-end in May. These groups have num- 
bered between fifty and sixty. Each person makes definite 
spiritual preparation for this week-end, and it has proven 
very significant in the lives of many students. 

Cornell Methodist alumni have gathered for reunion 
dinners in New York City for the last few years to renew 
the memories of religious life at Cornell and to support 
each other in the maintenance of Christian living in the 
metropolis. Similar reunions have also been held in 
Schenectady. 

The pastors of the First Methodist Church since 1919 
have been: the Rev. John Richards until 1921, the Rev. 
William H. Powers, now Dean at Hendricks Chapel, 
Syracuse University, from 1921 to 1928, the Rev. Alfred 
P. Coman from 1928 to 1935, and the Rev. Raymond H. 
Huse, the present pastor. 

(Mr. Durham was graduated with the B.S. degree from 
Cornell in 1920 and has done graduate work at Drew 
Theological Seminary, Cornell, and Garret Graduate 
School of Theology.) 



CONSTITUENT CHURCH GROUPS 49 

6. Jewish (by Rabbi Ephraim Fischoff ) 

Until February 1929 the Jewish students at Cornell 
had no permanent organization, although at various times 
previously the Menofah Society and the Intercollegiate 
Zionist Association had established branches in Ithaca. 
Work along distinctly religious lines had also been at- 
tempted by the Union of American Hebrew Congrega- 
tions, which established a student congregation, and by 
the United Synagogue of America, which made possible 
the holding of complete religious celebrations of the Pass- 
over holiday in 1927. The United Synagogue also inter- 
ested itself at one time in raising funds for a synagogue to 
be used by students. However, it was not until 1928 that 
the Jewish community of Ithaca erected a modern, at- 
tractive edifice named Temple Beth-El. 

The B'nai B'rith Hillel Foundation was established at 
Cornell University in February 1929 after the ground 
work laid by the Hon. Alfred M. Cohen, president of the 
International Order B'nai B'rith, and Dr. Lee S. Levinger, 
Hillel Director at Ohio State, who surveyed the situation 
and established contacts in the summer and fall of 1928. 
An arrangement was entered into with the local congrega- 
tion of Temple Beth-El by which the facilities of the 
Temple were to be put at the disposal of the Hillel Foun- 
dation and the Director of the Foundation was to act as 
Rabbi of the Congregation. 

Rabbi Isadore B. Hoffman, a graduate of the Jewish 
Theological Seminary* served in this capacity from 1929 
to 1933, establishing the Jewish work at Cornell and 
serving as a member of the Cornell United Religious 
Work Staff in charge of the Barnes Hall Library. In 1933 
Rabbi Hoffman resigned, and his place was taken by 
Rabbi Maurice Pekarsky, a graduate of the Jewish In- 
stitute of Religion (1933), who occupied the position 



50 COOPERATIVE RELIGION AT CORNELL UNIVERSITY 

until 1937 when he was transferred to the Hillel Founda- 
tion at Northwestern University. His place was taken by 
Rabbi Ephraim Fischoff , formerly rabbi at Pennsylvania 
State College, where he was also an instructor in sociol- 
ogy. 

The activities carried on for and by Jewish students at 
Cornell may be outlined as follows : 

I. Religious: 

1. Both orthodox and liberal services are held every 
Friday evening during the academic year, at Barnes Hall 
and at Temple Beth-El, with the active support of the 
religious committee. The sermon may be delivered by the 
Director or a visitor, either a member of the faculty or a 
cleric. Sometimes discussions follow the services. Attend- 
ance averages about 50. 

2. Services are also held on the festivals and high holy 
days, and arrangements are made for all appropriate cele- 
brations including Passover Seders, etc. 

3. Discussions upon Jewish and ethical problems are 
conducted at dormitory rooms, fraternities, and rooming 
houses. 

II. Cultural: 

1 . Various charitable activities are carried on, such as 
a junior division of the great philanthropic organization, 
the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee. 

2. Non-credit courses in fundamentals of Judaism, 
Palestine, elementary and advanced Hebrew are given. 
Small but interested groups of students have availed 
themselves of these opportunities. 

3. Open forum lectures have been held by such men 
as Maurice Samuel, Dr. Stephen S. Wise, Rabbi Edward 
Israel, Rabbi Nathan Krass, Klaus Mann, Horace Kallen, 
Norman Thomas, and Louis Untermeyer, as well as Harry 



CONSTITUENT CHURCH GROUPS 51 

Elmer Barnes, H. C. Englebrecht, and Prince Hubertus 
zu Lowenstein. 

4. Oratorical contests have been held in which some 
excellent addresses were delivered on Jewish subjects. 
(The winner of this contest was also the winner of the 
National Hillel Oratorical Contest.) 

5. Plays and musicales have been conducted from time 
to time with success. Wherever possible the emphasis is 
on Jewish motifs. 

6. Suppers have been prepared in Barnes Hall by the 
students after which a student reads a paper written by 
himself on some Jewish subject and followed by general 
discussion. In more recent years this activity has been 
supplanted by the Sunday Supper Discussions at Willard 
Straight Hall, at which a member of the faculty leads the 
discussions. 

7. Student debates have been conducted on themes of 
special interest to Jewish students. 

8. There is an active unit of the Avukah, the inter- 
collegiate Zionist society. 

9. A library of Jewish books and magazines has been 
established and serves as a source of enlightenment about 
the Jewish culture complex. Frequently students come for 
help in correlating some academic study with their Jew- 
ish interest. 

III. Social: 

1. A number of dinners, receptions, smokers, and 
dances are held during the course of the year. All of them 
are successful in point of numbers and in the good spirit 
prevailing. At the beginning of the year there are several 
functions for freshmen including a tea for the women, a 
smoker for the men, and a formal dance. There are two 
formal dances during the year and intermittent tea 
dances. 



52 COOPERATIVE RELIGION AT CORNELL UNIVERSITY 

IV. Practical service: 

1. Two questionnaire surveys have been made: (1) re- 
ligious interest and preferences of students, (2) abilities, 
interests, and problems of freshmen. 

2. Assistance has been given to students who desired 
to secure board in private homes where dietary laws were 
observed. 

3. Vocational guidance and other counsel have been 
given to many individual students, and visits are made 
by the rabbi to students in the infirmary. 

The Hillel Foundation, in addition to these activities, 
shares in the Cornell United Religious Work, having its 
offices and many of its student meetings in Barnes Hall. 
The rabbi serves as Staff member in charge of the Barnes 
Hall Library. 

(Rabbi FischofT was graduated with the degree of A.B. 
from The College of the City of New York in 1924 and 
from the Jewish Institute of Religion in 1928 with the 
degree of M.H.L. Master of Hebrew Literature.) 

7. Catholics (by Rev. Donald M. Cleary) 

Although a group of Catholic students founded a 
club called "The Catholic Union" fifty-one years ago 
(May 1888) which continued its existence for several 
years and accomplished much for Catholic students at 
Cornell, it was not until March 1914 that a Newman Club 
was established. Responding to a very definite need for a 
club of their own which would be made up of Catholic 
students and faculty members, a club which would 
sponsor a program in harmony with their own need and 
interests, the Newman Club was formed. In the consti- 
tution adopted at that time the aims of the Club are set 
forth as "an endeavour to promote a spiritual, cultural, 
and social program among the Catholic students." For 



CONSTITUENT CHURCH GROUPS 53 

the next fifteen years this was the work of the Newman 
Club. Various priests from the Immaculate Conception 
Church acted as moderators and chaplains, and the ob- 
jectives of the founders of the Club were carried out as 
far as possible. 

In 1929 a very significant and progressive step was 
taken. The number of Catholics had grown with the years, 
and the new Bishop of Rochester (Bishop J. F. O'Hern) 
felt it imperative that a priest be detailed for the sole pur- 
pose of working among the Catholic students at Cornell. 
For this purpose he appointed Rev. James Cronin. 
Through the splendid cooperation of the Staff and mem- 
bership of the C.U.R.W. the Catholic group became a 
constituent member, provision was made for an office for 
Father Cronin, and the auditorium seating was re- 
arranged so as to make possible the holding of Catholic 
services in Barnes Hall. Father Cronin remained two 
years, 1929-31, and was then appointed Professor at 
Fordham University. He was succeeded by Father Leo 
Smith, 1931-32, he by Father George Fischer, 1932-34, 
and he by Father John Brill, 1934-35. In 1936 Arch- 
bishop Mooney appointed Rev. Donald M. Cleary to 
take charge of the work. 

The activities of the Catholic group follow a definite 
program: Sunday Masses in Barnes Hall, courses in phi- 
losophy and religion by the university pastor, a lecture 
series on current topics, social activities covering events 
such as dances, buffet suppers, roller-skating parties, and 
the like. A bulletin is published each Sunday, and the 
Newman Club publishes a monthly paper called "The 
Sentinel." 

The C.U.R.W. answers a definite need for the Catholics 
of Cornell and answers it most adequately. The spirit of 
harmony among the various Staff members has made for 
a unification of effort which has been productive of much 



54 COOPERATIVE RELIGION AT CORNELL UNIVERSITY 

good to all. Barriers have been broken down, and misun- 
derstandings have been cleared. This result has com- 
municated itself to the student body in such a way that a 
new tolerance, a new spirit of mutual understanding and 
service is evident to anyone who cares enough to observe. 
(Father Cleary is a graduate of St. Andrew's Seminary, 
Rochester, N.Y., 1922, and received his training for the 
Priesthood at St. Bernard's Seminary in Rochester, where 
he was ordained in 1928.) 

8. Unitarians (by Rev. Abbot Peterson, Jr.) 

Organized in 1865, the same year in which the Uni- 
versity was chartered, the First Unitarian Society of 
Ithaca appears to have early recognized the importance 
of affording to students of liberal religious background 
the opportunity for developing their religious life both 
through formal worship and through classes conducted by 
its minister. The church record book of the years 1865- 
1900 tells of student classes for the study of the Bible, 
theology, and philosophy, and of evening services and 
lectures, nearly all conducted by the minister and all 
largely attended by students. In fact, the members of 
student classes tabulated as attending during certain 
periods so far outnumber those in the University who 
could possibly have been Unitarians or Universalists, as 
to make one suspect that many of more orthodox back- 
grounds were sampling the then forbidden fruit of the 
theology of Channing, Emerson, and Parker. 

It was in the years 1924-25 that the student group was 
organized along those lines which have been used by most 
churches in their student work in recent years. Regular 
Sunday evening supper meetings were held, followed by a 
speaker and discussion, or simply a discussion on some 
topic of current concern with religious implication, se- 
lected by the group and led by one or more of its mem- 



CONSTITUENT CHURCH GROUPS 55 

bers. The holding of a brief devotional service conducted 
by students at the opening of the formal meeting was 
soon instituted and has continued with increasing effec- 
tiveness. 

During the ministries of the Rev. Frank S. Gredler, 
1925-31, and the Rev. Leslie L. Pennington, 1932-35, 
great emphasis was put by the group upon the panel and 
forum method of discussion of both social and economic 
problems of the day. It was during the ministry of Mr. 
Pennington that the Unitarian group became a constit- 
uent member of the C.U.R.W. Mr. Pennington, as a 
member of the Staff, became editorial adviser to the 
"Areopagus." 

The Rev. Abbot Peterson, Jr., became pastor of the 
First Unitarian Society succeeding Mr. Pennington on 
January 1, 1936. As a member of the C.U.R.W. Staff he 
became Adviser on Worship, a position which he has 
continued to hold up to the present. The Unitarian stu- 
dent group has now adopted the name, "Student Group of 
the Young People's Religious Union," which emphasizes 
its connection with the national young people's organiza- 
tion of the American Unitarian Association. 

The basic purpose of the Unitarian student work is to 
stimulate students to work out for themselves a religious 
and ethical foundation upon which to build their lives. 
Every effort is made to give the student an opportunity 
to make the Ithaca church his church home during his 
years at Cornell. Students are welcomed in all activities 
of the church. They are active in the choir, as ushers, as 
teachers in the Junior Church (Sunday School), in the 
Adult Discussion Forum, and they comprise the nucleus 
of the amateur dramatic club. The president of the group, 
along with the presidents of the other organizations 
within the church, sits with the Board of Trustees at its 
regular meetings. One Sunday each year is designated as 



56 COOPERATIVE RELIGION AT CORNELL UNIVERSITY 

Young People's Sunday, when the entire service of wor- 
ship is conducted by members of the student group, and 
the sermon is preached by a student. 

Hikes, picnics, game parties, and dances are held by 
the group, and at least once each year a Sunday evening 
reception is given for one of the Unitarian preachers on 
the Sage Chapel list. In all church social occasions the 
members of the student group consider themselves an 
integral part of the life of the church. 

The activity of the Unitarian Student Group in the 
joint undertakings of the C.U.R.W. during the past four 
years has markedly increased, and a greater interest is 
being shown in the United Work than ever before. 

The number of students who register membership in, or 
preference for, the Unitarian Church gives us an average 
constituency in the University of about ninety. To this 
should be added about ten or twelve Universalists who 
usually join with us unofficially. Unlike the other con- 
stituent groups, which are larger numerically, the Amer- 
ican Unitarian Association does not maintain a full-time 
university pastor, but this function is fulfilled by the 
minister of the First Unitarian Church. Thus, Mr. Peter- 
son serves as both minister and Unitarian university 
pastor. 

(Mr. Peterson is a graduate of Harvard University, 
B.A. 1930; Manchester College, Oxford, England, 1930- 
31 ; and the Harvard Divinity School, S.T.B. 1933.) 

Cooperating groups : 

There are other religious groups at Cornell which have 
given cooperation in varying degrees but who do not fur- 
nish a Staff member. The facilities of Barnes Hall are 
made available to them. 

The Society of Friends holds its weekly meetings on 
Sundays in the Barnes Library. One of the ablest of the 



CONSTITUENT CHURCH GROUPS 57 

presidents of the C.U.C.A., Sam Levering '30, was a mem- 
ber of this group and during a year of graduate work at 
Cornell represented the Friends as a recognized member 
of the Staff. Full participation and support are given by 
the Friends to the United Religious Work. 

The Forest Home Community Chapel which is spon- 
sored by the Methodists, maintains a full program of 
services and student activities, contributes to the 
C.U.R.W. activities budget, supplies a representative to 
the Student Board, the chairman of which in 1937-38 was 
Gordon Clack, the representative of this group. 

The Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints 
(Mormon) is represented at Cornell by a small but active 
group of students and faculty members. Meetings of this 
group are held regularly on Sundays in Barnes Hall, and 
financial support is given to the United Religious Work. 

The Christian Science Society of Cornell which is also 
a cooperating group, holds its weekly meetings regularly 
in Barnes Hall and shares in the support of the C.U.R.W. 

Cordial relations have been maintained throughout the 
years between the C.U.R.W. and the Lutheran Church of 
Ithaca, which is the only Ithaca church located on the hill. 
Its membership is constituted chiefly of Lutheran stu- 
dents and faculty members. The student work of this 
church has had the distinctive leadership of Pastor Wil- 
liam Horn from 1919 to 1933, and of his son, Edward W. 
Horn, from 1934 to the present/An effective program of 
student religious services and activities is conducted by 
this church group at its own headquarters. A Lutheran 
representative has served at various times as a member 
of the C.U.C.A. Cabinet and the Student Joint Board. 



CHAPTER VI 
JOINT ACTIVITIES 

The programs of the church groups just described have 
shown a wide variety of approaches to student interest. 
Such variety has long been recognized as advantageous. 
Students respond differently to different religious leaders 
and to different activities, some because of similarity to, 
and others because of difference from those previously 
known. The full acceptance of variety as desirable has 
been essential to the type of unity we have been seeking 
at Cornell. The variety of religious groupings as they exist 
in society has been accepted and an experimental process 
in dealing with them employed throughout. A genuinely 
cooperative spirit having been established at the begin- 
ning, the officing together in one building and having 
unified clerical, stenographic, and telephone service have 
made for efficiency, economy, and mutual understand- 
ings. So with the activities outlined in succeeding pages of 
this chapter. Our efforts in the direction of unity have 
been practical ones. If we had tried to make some sort of 
theoretical or creedal unity a prerequisite to united ac- 
tion, we would doubtless still be searching for a basis of 
agreement instead of telling the story of twenty years of 
united work. 

I . Welcoming new students and fostering friendships. 

A. Welcoming new students: Orienting oneself as a 
freshman in an American university community is a 
major life experience. Earlier personal relationships are 

58 



JOINT ACTIVITIES 59 

attenuated or broken. The old behavior patterns seem out 
of place, the new ones have yet to be formed, loneliness 
is more or less inevitable and is sometimes overwhelm- 
ing. Provisions for a satisfactory orientation are impor- 
tant. The United Religious Work has long shared in 
welcoming new students, in helping them to establish 
acquaintances and enrich their friendships. Fortunately 
there had been from the earliest beginnings at Cornell a 
considerable number of activities carried on by the 
C.U.C.A. on behalf of the churches. So the United Reli- 
gious Work fell heir in 1919 to a heritage of services for 
the churches, and in some instances such as the Freshman 
Handbook on behalf of the University itself. 

The present Freshman Desk Book has evolved from 
a small pocket handbook to a sizable volume of 200 pages. 
During the summer before his entrance, the freshman gets 
from it up-to-date information about the Cornell com- 
munity, so that his orientation may well be said to begin 
with its perusal. It has regularly been accompanied by a 
letter from the United Work Executive inviting the enter- 
ing student to Barnes Hall to talk with him and the uni- 
versity pastor representing his church, and to get ac- 
quainted with students of his own church group and 
with Cabinet members. 

Invitations to Freshman Camp are also sent in the 
summer. The Camp is held the week before the registra- 
tion period, which regularly begins on a Monday. Fresh- 
man Camp was first held in September 1926, at Happy 
Valley, Lisle, N.Y., attended by twenty-two freshmen, 
President Farrand, Dean Mann, other university officials 
and faculty members, Staff, and upperclass Cabinet lead- 
ers. The Camp continued at Lisle for six years, moving in 
1932 to Camp Cory, the Boys' Camp site of the Rochester 
Y.M.C.A., where it has been held ever since, with the 
exception of the summer of 1933 when it was held at 



60 COOPERATIVE RELIGION AT CORNELL UNIVERSITY 

Camp Pioneer on Seneca Lake at the Rochester Boy Scout 
Camp. At first experimental, the camp has steadily grown 
in stability, size, and significance, until in 1937, 199 fresh- 
men were accommodated in a four-day session, and in 
1938, 261 freshmen. 

The management of the Camp has been in the hands of 
a carefully chosen Cabinet committee with Staff and 
advisory members. Presentations have been made and 
discussions held by faculty and student leaders on all 
aspects of Cornell life curricular, social, religious, and 
athletic stressing features of interest to freshmen. Much 
has been made of learning Cornell songs and playing in- 
formal games to further acquaintance. United religious 
services have been held. By the time a freshman camper 
returns to Ithaca for his registration he knows a consider- 
able group of his classmates, a few friendly faculty mem- 
bers, and the members of the C.U.R.W. Staff. The results 
of the Camp are not limited to those who attend. Infor- 
mation received and points of view caught at Camp 
spread by word of mouth pretty much throughout the 
freshman class. The Camp has been widely appreciated 
for its constructive contribution to Cornell community 
life. It has been under the general direction of Mr. Fetter 
through the years. Mr. Tompkins and Mr. Kline gave 
special assistance during their years on the Staff. Mr. 
Moore was in charge in 1938. 

The Red Lions Club, originating after Freshman Camp 
in 1933, has continued to serve as an open club dealing 
with matters of special interest to freshmen throughout 
the year. Reunions of those formerly attending Freshman 
Camps have drawn together each year many upperclass- 
men who have testified to the value of their Camp experi- 
ence. From among such men there have always been vol- 
unteers to give strong upperclass leadership for the next 
year's Camp. 



JOINT ACTIVITIES 61 

In Ithaca during registration week informal stag nights 
for all freshmen have been held at Barnes Hall. Afternoon 
teas have regularly been held by the Y.W.C.A. for 
freshmen women. Some 300 freshmen women have been 
entertained in this way during the first week of the college 
year 1938-39. Staff members devote this and succeeding 
weeks largely to welcoming new students. During this 
week a full page unified announcement of all Ithaca 
churches has been published jointly in the Cornell Daily 
Sun, and similar announcements have been made in the 
Ithaca Journal. 

The church receptions which are dated and arranged 
jointly have usually been held (except the Jewish) on the 
Friday evening of registration week. They have been 
largely attended, often totaling 700 or 800 new students 
who have received welcome to the Ithaca churches of 
their choice, by pastors, university pastors, and upper- 
class men and women. 

The problem of locating the Ithaca addresses of stu- 
dents in the early weeks of the year before the University 
directory appears has been solved by means of a special 
registration card incorporated in the regular registration 
system of the University. These cards, indicating church 
affiliation or preference as well as street addresses, have 
been made available through the C.U.R.W. to all Ithaca 
pastors, the Ithaca Chamber of Commerce, and certain 
other agencies authorized by the University. Each church 
group has followed up its own affiliates by its own meth- 
ods. 

A special C.U.R.W. committee has helped those who 
have expressed no preference or who belong to churches 
not represented in Ithaca to find acceptable religious 
affiliations in the city. The same provisions have been 
made with reference to students coming for the winter 
course in agriculture and to new students coming for the 



62 COOPERATIVE RELIGION AT CORNELL UNIVERSITY 

second semester. Summer course students have similarly 
been welcomed to Barnes Hall, Sage Chapel, and the 
Ithaca churches by announcements sent to them individ- 
ually. The arrangement of general provisions for welcom- 
ing new students recounted above has been made by stu- 
dent committees of the Cabinet especially guided by Mr. 
Fetter. 

While such general provisions for welcoming students 
to the Cornell community have been made available to all 
entering students, special concern has been felt for stu- 
dents coming from other lands. Personal hospitality has 
been extended to many students from abroad by Staff and 
faculty members and by a number of Ithaca church fam- 
ilies. In the churches themselves and upon numerous oc- 
casions at Barnes Hall and in Staff homes there have 
been receptions, recognition services, and dinner meetings 
where various groups have been received. All these groups 
have in turn brought new understanding of world cultures 
to American friends. Individual members of the Staff 
who have had personal connections with any particular 
country have given special attention to students from 
that country: Mr. Moore with the Japanese, Mr. Moran 
with the Chinese, and the Roman Catholic Staff members 
with students from Latin American countries. Special 
cooperation with the Cosmopolitan Club throughout the 
years has been given by Mr. Moran. Mr. Tompkins and 
other Staff members have likewise given cooperation and 
all have watched with appreciation the developments 
made there under the direction of Dean Floyd K. Richt- 
myer, Mr. John L. Mott, Prof. Harry Love, Mr. DonaJd 
Kerr, and others. 

Hospitality to many groups of many types has thus 
characterized the Barnes Hall work through many years. 

B. Fostering friendships: The deepening of fine rela- 
tionships naturally follows the forming of acquaintances. 



JOINT ACTIVITIES 63 

Students are always eager for vivid and meaningful 
friendships. Social life is a basic necessity. Quality in 
relationships is even more significant than volume. Much 
of our United Religious Work finds its meaning at this 
point since religion and fine relationships have so much in 
common. No adequate account can be given of the per- 
sonal friendships sustained by leaders and members of the 
United Work during the period under review. That would 
require a book in itself. Suffice it to say, however, that 
fine friendships in large numbers have been formed and 
sustained. A qualitative stream of influence, essentially 
religious in character, has spread throughout undergrad- 
uate life. The value of these influences has been attested 
by the personal word and letters of a great company of 
students and alumni. The very considerable volume of 
home entertaining by members of the Staff and by coop- 
erating faculty members has contributed greatly to this 
result. Faculty-student relations have been emphasized in 
1938-39, under the guidance of Mr. Edward Miller of the 
Staff. 

Hospitality has been provided in many other ways. 
The Coffee House, during the years 1920-25, and the 
Cabin have been centers for the deepening of friendships. 
During the whole period under review many open house 
gatherings have been held under the auspices of the 
United Religious Work, such as Thanksgiving and 
Christmas parties. These have usually featured the op- 
portunity for closer acquaintance between students from 
other lands and American students and faculty and Staff 
members who were in town over the holiday period. 
Christmas parties with carols, a Santa Glaus, and a festive 
spirit were held annually since the Christmas of 1931 
under auspices shared with Willard Straight Hall and the 
Cosmopolitan Club. There were also held, especially dur- 
ing 1933-35, certain open house nights when students 



64 COOPERATIVE RELIGION AT CORNELL UNIVERSITY 

were welcomed to Barnes Hall for games and social danc- 
ing. Other social parties such as the "Snow Ball" con- 
ducted by the Men's and Women's Cabinets since 1936- 
37 have fostered friendships among men and women 
students related to the Barnes Hall program. 

Contributing somewhat differently, an annual dinner 
or similar gathering of members has been held since 1923, 
the annual dinner custom being resumed in 1939. Upon 
these occasions the members of the United Religious 
Work representing all cooperating groups have met in 
considerable numbers, listened to invited speakers, and 
afterwards engaged in games and social dancing. Notable 
among speakers upon such occasions have been President 
Farrand, Rev. A. Herbert Gray, Prof. H. H. Tweedy, 
President William E. Weld of Wells College, Prof. Erd- 
man Harris, Mr. David R. Porter, and Prof. E. A. Burtt. 
In some years United Work field days were held at 
Taughannock Falls, in place of the more formal dinner 
occasions. Similarly, a large number of social occasions 
have been arranged by Staff members with their student 
committees, hikes, outdoor suppers, wiener roasts, pic- 
nics, sleighing and skating and skiing parties. Such oc- 
casions have added materially to the stream of whole- 
some social life among students. 

2. Personal counsel, student employment, and other 
assistance to individual students. 

A. Personal counsel: Tensions in personal experience 
inevitably arise in a large community of young people 
away from home. These have been foreseen and provided 
for to a high degree by the University through its ad- 
ministrative officers, faculty members acting as advisers, 
and notably by the University department of health. The 
general provisions for orientation described in the pre- 



JOINT ACTIVITIES 65 

ceding section have all made their contribution. Yet these 
tensions often defy mass handling, for they are individ- 
ual, their causes lie deep and often secreted in personal 
experience. Approaches to them through sympathetic 
counseling in a religious spirit have proven to be highly 
effective. Permeating all activities of the United Work, 
therefore, has been personal counseling with students in 
their perplexities. Staff members, certain faculty mem- 
bers, and qualified graduate students have been sought 
out for such service by many students throughout the 
years. It has been the impression of careful observers of 
religious work at Cornell that counseling service on the 
part of Staff members has been one of their largest contri- 
butions to university life. Demanding much time and 
personal responsiveness, the work of personal counselors 
with students can never be adequately reported as to 
either quality or quantity. Every type of student per- 
plexity seems to have been dealt with here, home rela- 
tions, financial embarrassments, anxieties in sickness, love 
affairs, changes in intellectual and vocational outlook, 
bafflements in matters of religious beliefs, confusions in 
moral standards, and the like. Certain members of the 
Staff have worked in close cooperation with the Uni- 
versity department of health and as occasion has arisen, 
with deans and other administrative officers. 

One university pastor, usually the Roman Catholic 
chaplain in later years, has kept in daily touch with the 
University infirmary and the city hospital on behalf 
of all members of the Staff, informing them promptly in 
regard to illnesses of their students. Sick visitation has 
thus been systematized and emergencies in the personal 
lives of many students cared for, through this service of 
the C.U.R.W. 

In the early years of the United Work, vocational 



66 COOPERATIVE RELIGION AT CORNELL UNIVERSITY 

counsel received the special attention of Rev. Evans A. 
Worthley, and Mr. Edwards has throughout this period 
specialized in personal and vocational counseling. 

B. Student employment: The need for part-time stu- 
dent employment to aid in self-support has always been 
an urgent one among many Cornell students. The man- 
agement of the University Bureau of Student Employ- 
ment had been entrusted to the leaders of the C.U.C.A. 
since long before 1919 and continued to be so until 1939. 
Thousands of men students have been aided in earning 
a part of their expenses and in discovering their abilities 
and limitations by the employment secretaries who have 
worked in close cooperation with the Staff. These have 
been Miss M. E. Peabody, 1919-26, Mrs. L. C. Edmond, 
1926-31, and Mrs. Louis Agassiz Fuertes, 1931-39. The 
services of all three have been sympathetic, efficient, and 
greatly appreciated by the students who have benefited 
by their guidance. During the depression a used-clothes 
bureau was established in Barnes Hall and tactfully ad- 
ministered by Mrs. Fuertes with the aid of members of 
the Staff and a committee of wives of faculty members. 

During the depression there was also established at the 
request of President Fairand a revolving student emer- 
gency loan fund. L. A. Tompkins, Jr., Associate Execu- 
tive, took the lead in establishing and administering this 
fund, which continues to provide small loans to students 
for short periods and supplements the regular loan funds 
of the University. This fund was raised in part by solici- 
tation and in part by several "depression balls." Mrs. 
Farrand and a committee of leading Cornell women gave 
large assistance. Generous donations to this fund have 
also been received from time to time from the Cornell 
Committee of the Red Cross, the Student Counci*, and 
interested Ithaca friends. Following Mr. Tompkins' resig- 
nation, this fund was administered by Mr. Kenneth 



JOINT ACTIVITIES 67 

Kline, during 1934-37 and thereafter by Mr. J. A. G. 
Moore. Seventy-six loans to students were made in 1938- 
39, totaling $1,363 or an average of $18 per loan. 

Mention must also be made of services rendered at 
various times to economical cooperative living pro- 
visions, as at Llenroc Lodge, which has provided low cost 
rooms and board for students each year since its organi- 
zation in 1933. Mr. Moran and Mr. Tompkins gave 
special cooperation also in low cost board provisions in 
the cooperative Dining Club located first at the Cosmo- 
politan House in 1933 and later at 209 Dryden Road, 
where Mr. Kline and a student committee cooperated. 

3. Religious interest groups. 

Students naturally discuss their interests in small 
groups. Groups form and re-form freely in relation to 
religion as in athletics and other affairs. Small groups 
are one of the most productive means by which students 
work out their own religious ideas and philosophies of 
life. Such groups, arising from year to year about varied 
themes, have remained informal and on a voluntary basis 
as to attendance and method. While some such groups 
have met throughout a college year, others have con- 
tinued for one semester or for six weeks only or even less. 
Many locations have been utilized for their meetings, 
such as the residences of Staff and faculty members, 
dormitory and fraternity rooms, Barnes Hall, and city 
churches. In 1924-25, for example, twenty-eight such 
groups including the Saturday Lunch Club met regularly 
in various places on the hill and in the city. Through the 
years under review the average number of such groups 
meeting in any one semester for a period of at least six 
weeks has ranged somewhere between twenty and forty. 
In 1925-26 forty-one groups were listed, twenty-six on 
the hill and fifteen in five city churches. 



68 COOPERATIVE RELIGION AT CORNELL UNIVERSITY 

Themes for discussion, chosen by the groups them- 
selves, have included issues in morals and religious liv- 
ing, personality problems, various books of the Bible 
and the use of the Scriptures, the life and teachings of 
Jesus, problems of industrial betterment, race relations, 
war or peace, the world outreach of Christianity, and the 
like. 

The following courses, picked from the lists of differ- 
ent years, will be illustrative of themes and leaders : 

1925-26: Saturday Lunch Club, with elected student 
chairmen presiding, chiefly on selected themes of inter- 
national interest; discussions upon: Christian Life Serv- 
ice, Mr. G. E. Durham; Jesus in the Records, Miss Doris 
Hopkins; The Modern Use of the Bible, Prof. S. N. 
Spring; The Development of the Christian Faith, Mr. 
J. A. G. Moore; Jesus' Life and Teaching, Mr. G. E. Dur- 
ham; Studies in the Old Testament, Prof. R. H. Jordan; 
Modern Social Problems, Prof. R. A. Felton ; The Char- 
acter of Jesus, Mr. J. D. W. Fetter; Cornell Country Com- 
munity Club discussing Rural Community Betterment, 
Mr. and Mrs. R. H. Edwards. 

192&-29: The Origin and Growth of the Bible, Mr. J. 
D. W. Fetter; The Life of Jesus, Mr. J. A. G. Moore; The 
World's Living Religious Systems, Mr. H. A. Moran. 

1931-32: A Search for Meaning in Life, Mrs. Julia 
Gethman Andrews; Modern Jewish History and Palestine 
in the Light of Christian, Jewish, and Moslem Interests, 
Rabbi Isadore Hoffman; Jesus in Modern Thought, Mr. 
L. A. Tompkins; The Social Message of the Gospel, Mr. 
L. A. Tompkins; Building a New World, Mr. H. A. 
Moran; Resources for Effective Living, and What do 
American Students Want, Mr. and Mrs. R. H. Edwards. 

1932-33: Religious Trends in Contemporary Litera- 
ture, conducted by the Barnes Library Committee. 

1933-34: A series of readings and talks upon The 



JOINT ACTIVITIES 69 

Spirit of Peoples, conducted by Mr. and Mrs. R. H. Ed- 
wards: The Irish, Mrs. Ruth Sawyer Durand; The 
English, Rev. Lynn Harold Hough; The Scotch, Dr. 
Hugh Black; The Jewish, Rabbi Edward Israel; The 
French Canadians, Dean Thomas Wearing. 

Topics used between 1934 and 1937: How We Got 
Our Bible, The Old Testament Prophets, The Person I 
Hope to Become, Fundamentals of the Christian Faith, 
Elements of Scholastic Philosophy, Apologies and Chris- 
tian Doctrine, Fundamental Problems of Religion, Un- 
derstanding the Bible, Social Principles of Jesus, The 
Faiths of Mankind. 

1937-38: Principles of Leadership, Dr. E. A. Ott; 
Church and Society, Mr. H. A. Moran; Professional 
Ethics and the Christian Ethic, led by representatives of 
various professions; The Power to See It Through, Mr. 
J. D. W. Fetter; Knowing Our Bible, Mr. Alfred Boi- 
court; What Can We Believe About Prayer and About 
God, Mr. J. A. G. Moore. 

1938-39: Home and the Family, Prof. Mark Entorf ; 
A Philosophy of Life, Mr. H. A. Moran; Freedom of 
Conscience and Required Military Training at Cornell, 
Austin Kiplinger '39, and invited speakers; Seminar on 
the Rural Church, Mr. Ralph L. Williamson. 

Especially profitable discussions with some sixteen 
Sage Chapel preachers were held during 1938-39 on Sun- 
days, immediately following the morning worship service. 
Notable among these were Sunday afternoon and evening 
discussions with Prof. Gregory Vlastos of Queens Col- 
lege, Ontario, Canada, on The Dynamics of Religion, and 
with Prof. Wilhelm Pauck of Chicago Theological Semi- 
nary, on A Personal Philosophy of Life. 

More than discussion has been included in the program 
of these informal groups. A number of them have moved 
beyond discussion to action, to training in public speak- 



70 COOPERATIVE RELIGION AT CORNELL UNIVERSITY 

ing, in the conduct of worship, dramatics, Bible school 
teaching, recreational leadership, religious deputations, 
efforts for social reform, and other expressional activi- 
ties. The training for leadership thus received has, in 
recent years, stimulated a number of students to a deeper 
interest in the ministry, religious education, social work, 
and related vocations. Practicing with success has been 
productive. 

In 1928-29, with the special approval of President 
Farrand, a printed announcement was issued by a faculty 
advisory committee with special cooperation from Mr. 
Moran of the Staif, listing curriculum courses in Reli- 
gion, Ethics, and related fields. These courses were given 
chiefly in the departments of Semitics, History, and Phi- 
losophy. Noncurricular courses were also listed. Similar 
announcements continued to be printed until 1931-32. 

In 1938-39 a series of six seminar meetings upon Com- 
parative Religious Beliefs was held in Barnes Hall as 
follows: General Historical Introduction, Prof. E. A. 
Burtt of the department of Philosophy; Development of 
the Jewish. Religion, Rabbi Ephraim Fischoff ; Develop- 
ment of the Roman Catholic Belief, Father Donald 
Cleary; Development of the Non-Roman Catholic 
Churches such as Anglican, Greek Orthodox, Episcopal, 
and so forth, Rev. R. E. Charles; Development of the 
Protestant Christian Beliefs such as Lutheran, Baptist, 
Methodist, Presbyterian, Disciples of Christ, and Congre- 
gational, Rev. Paul Payne; Development of certain 
other groups such as Quakers, Mormons, and Christian 
Scientists, Mr. Edward Miller. 

4. Public meetings. 

A. Public worship: Opportunities for public worship 
have been amply provided at Cornell during these years. 



JOINT ACTIVITIES 71 

The University, through Sage Chapel and the Sage 
Preachership, has provided Sunday morning worship 
services of high excellence, and also, through 1929-30, 
Sunday afternoon vesper services chiefly musical in char- 
acter. The Sage preachers, including some of the out- 
standing speakers in America and occasionally notable 
figures from abroad, have regularly been chosen by the 
President of the University. He has always welcomed 
suggestions from the Barnes Hall Staff, which at inter- 
vals, at his request, has reviewed the lists of available 
speakers and made special recommendations. The sched- 
ule has often been so arranged that speakers desired by 
the United Work for periods extending into the week 
could be secured and held over. Mr. Edwards has main- 
tained a special relation to the President in this connec- 
tion. Attendance at Sage has always been upon a purely 
voluntary basis. During the last ten years attendance has 
been noticeably large, the Chapel usually being well- 
filled often to its capacity of 850 seats. The congrega- 
tion has been composed of students, faculty members, 
townspeople and visitors. These University services 
have been generally recognized as of the highest value in 
the life of Cornell. 

There are many Cornell students who prefer, however, 
to share, for the most part, in the worship and group life 
of their own church, as Chapter V has revealed. This has 
meant worship services on a high level of excellence in 
city churches conducted by Ithaca pastors. Most of these 
churches have sizable groups of students and faculty 
members in attendance. In these church worship services 
the university pastors frequently participate some of 
them regularly and students share in choirs, in usher- 
ing, and in other duties. Some students attend worship 
services, alternating between Sage Chapel and the church 
of their choice in Ithaca. It must also be recognized that 



72 COOPERATIVE RELIGION AT CORNELL UNIVERSITY 

many students attend only irregularly anywhere and 
still others seldom or never. 

Supplementing these two types of worship services, 
the United Work has supplied certain special series of 
vesper services. Holy Week services have been held an- 
nually since 1928, conducted at times by a single member 
of the Staff, as in 1936 by Rev. Frank Lambert, who 
served throughout his years at Cornell as Stalf Director 
of Devotional Services. In other years several Staff mem- 
bers and students have participated. At other times a 
Sage Chapel speaker has remained for the week or a 
special speaker has been introduced. Among invited 
speakers to conduct such services at Cornell have been 
Rev. H. H. Tweedy, Bishop Charles H. Brent, Dean 
Thomas Graham, Rev. J. T. Stocking, Dr. Gaius Glenn 
Atkins, and Rev. Justin Wroe Nixon. The last named 
speaker in 1937 correlated and led the Holy Week series 
of the University and the city held on the hill at the 
vesper hour and downtown at noon. Easter dawn worship 
services have also been held by leaders of the United 
Work. -, ' ^1 

In the Holy Week services of 1937 the Roman Catholic 
group participated for the first time, with the Catholic 
chaplain, Rev. Donald Cleary, conducting the Good Fri- 
day Service in Sage Chapel. 

An interesting study of representative worship services 
was made in the winter of 1932 under the auspices of the 
United Work, a Jewish synagogue service at the Jew- 
ish Temple, an explanation of the Roman Catholic Mass 
at Barnes Hall with a motion picture, a ritual service at 
the St. John's Episcopal Church, and a non-liturgical 
service of worship at the Presbyterian Church. Members 
of the Staff shared in the leadership of these hours. Simi- 
lar services have been held in other years, as in 1935, 
when the following leaders conducted their services: 



JOINT ACTIVITIES 73 

Dean Thomas W. Graham of Oberlin, Protestant non- 
liturgical; Rabbi Edward L. Israel of Baltimore, Hebrew; 
Father William Byrne of Ithaca, Roman Catholic; Dr. 
Rufus Jones of Haverford, Friends Society; Bishop 
Charles Fiske of Utica, Episcopal. 

B. Religious addresses: Many other religious leaders of 
distinction have spoken to students under United Work 
auspices. Some of these have been Sage Chapel preachers 
who kindly extended the time of their visits for a series of 
addresses. Others have been brought independently for 
special occasions or for subjects of timely interest. Barnes 
Hall, Willard Straight Hall, the larger city churches, and 
Bailey Hall have all been used in these connections. Ar- 
rangements have been made by the Men's or Women's 
Cabinets, by the Student Joint Board, and by church and 
campus groups, independently or in combinations. In 
earlier years inter-church mass meetings three times a 
year were held at 8:30 on Sunday evenings in downtown 
churches. Sometimes union meetings of two or more 
church societies have been arranged on a rotation visiting 
basis. Variety, timeliness of subjects, and the availability 
of speakers have all entered into the arrangements which 
have been kept highly flexible. Audiences have ranged in 
size from a handful to the full capacity of Bailey Hall. 

The following, chosen from a much longer list, will 
give some indication of speakers and themes: 

1919: Dr. Samuel Higginbottom, agricultural mis- 
sionary to India, on The New Agriculture in India. 

1920: Hon. J. Stitt Wilson of California, four addresses 
on Constructive Christian Democracy; Prof. Harry F. 
Ward of Union Theological Seminary on Religious Ele- 
ments in the New Social Order; Rev. A. Ray Petty, Dr. 
Sherwood Eddy, and Bishop T. S. Henderson on The 
Religious Vocations. 

1921: President Henry Sloane Coffin of Union Theo- 



74 COOPERATIVE RELIGION AT CORNELL UNIVERSITY 

logical Seminary, four lectures on Religion and Life; 
Gypsy Smith, the evangelist, on From Gipsy Tent to 
Pulpit; Dean Charles R. Brown on What is Meant by 
Religion? 

1923: Dr. John R. Mott '88 on The Deeper Meaning 
of Christmas. 

1926: Prof. A. Bruce Curry of Union Theological 
Seminary, a round table series of five meetings on A Fresh 
Interpretation of the Life and Personality of Jesus in Re- 
lation to Life, based on the book of Mark. 

1927: A series of seven lectures by professors, chiefly 
from the Cornell faculty, on Science and Life. The speak- 
ers represented fields of astronomy, geology, biology, 
anthropology, history, theology, and physics. On the lat- 
ter subject Prof. Michael Pupin of Columbia University 
spoke. 

1929: Dr. Robert Wilder, one of the founders of the 
Student Volunteer Movement, a series of three meetings 
on Personal Religion in Practice; Prof. H. P. Van Dusen 
of Union Theological Seminary, a series of five lectures 
followed by forum discussions on Modern Thinking 
about Religion. 

193 1 : Rev. Kirby Page, a series of five talks on Crucial 
Tests of International Peace; Prof. Robert Calhoun of 
Yale, four talks on What Can an Intelligent Man Believe? 

1932: Dr. T. Z. Koo of China, on Religion in the Life 
of Students in the Orient. 

1934: Rev. E. Stanley Jones, missionary to India, four 
meetings on Vital Christianity and Its Program; Rev. 
George Stewart of Stamford, Conn., a religious emphasis 
week, with Dr. Charles W. Gilkey, Dean of the Chicago 
University Chapel, on What is an Adequate Philosophy 
of Life; Dean Robert R. Wicks of Princeton, a faculty 
discussion on What Responsibility Have Faculty Mem- 
bers for the Religious Life of Students? 



JOINT ACTIVITIES 75 

1935: Rev. Kirby Page, two lectures on Is America 
Speeding Toward Fascism? and What Shall We Do with 
the Sermon on the Mount? Prof. A. Bruce Curry, a week- 
end conference on Meeting Life's New Demands, New 
Demands arid Religious Resources, The Supreme Contri- 
bution of Jesus, Discovering Genuine Experience; Edwin 
Markham, poet, readings from his poems. 

1936: Toyohiko Kagawa of Japan, on Consumers' 
Cooperatives, Christian and Social Reconstruction; Dean 
Robert R. Wicks of Princeton, on The Conflict between 
Religion and Secularism. 

1937: President J. Edward Park of Wheaton College, 
on Christianity and Our World. 

1938: Rev. Kirby Page, a three-day conference on 
Religion and Life. In 1938-39 the religiously significant 
addresses of Lawrence K. Frank on Education for Mar- 
riage, and of Howard Thurman on Modern Implications 
of Religion, were included in the Campus Forum Series. 

C. Forums, lectures, and discussions of public ques- 
tions : Following the lively interest of students in social 
problems and current events, the United Work has pro- 
vided many opportunities for their discussion. It has 
steadily maintained its right and responsibility to foster 
the open discussion of public issues but has avoided tak- 
ing sides on moot questions. Both sides of such questions 
have often been presented. Among our groups and lead- 
ers wide diversities of opinion have existed, along with 
much good humored tolerance essential to an inclusive 
organization such as ours. We have believed it essential 
for students in their preparation for intelligent citizen- 
ship to listen to various points of view, to analyze and 
discuss the positions taken by public speakers, and to ar- 
rive at mature social judgments of their own. 

A forum open to the public under C.U.C.A. auspices 
was first inaugurated in January of 1920. This series con- 



76 COOPERATIVE RELIGION AT CORNELL UNIVERSITY 

tinued with well-known speakers and often with large 
audiences in attendance until 1923. Among the speakers 
in the early years were: Mr. Thomas Mott Osborn on 
Crime Waves and Criminals, and The Auburn Prison 
Welfare League; Dr. Harry F. Ward of Union Seminary 
on The Open Shop; President James E. Gregg of Hamp- 
ton Institute on Negro Education and Progress; Dr. W. 
M. Leiserson of the Impartial Board for Labor Concilia- 
tion, on Harmonizing Labor and Capital; Prof. W. W. 
Westerman of Cornell, on Mandates or Imperialism; 
Baron Korflf of Russia, on The Russian Revolution; Mr. 
William Carter, president of the Brotherhood of Railway 
Locomotive Engineers, on The Railways, Employees, 
and the Public; Mr. Robert Binkerd, secretary of the 
Association of Railway Executives, on Management, 
Employee, and Public. 

The early forum was transformed into the Saturday 
Lunch Club in October 1923. This met at first in the 
Coffee House in Barnes Hall. On the opening of Willard 
Straight Hall it was accommodated there in Room D. 
For several years it was necessary to limit the mem- 
bership to one hundred, and the room was always 
crowded. 

Speakers during the next five years were many and 
varied. The following list will provide a sampling: Mr. 
Ed. Morrell, Crime and Punishment; Mr. Roger Green, 
Social and Political Problems of China; Dean C. K. Bur- 
dick, The League of Nations; Mr. H. E. Wickenheiser, 
Excursions in Ecuador; Prof. Nathaniel Schmidt, What 
Happened in Morocco and at Damascus; Mr. Norman 
Thomas, Industrial Democracy; Mr. Robert Bagnall, 
The Place of the Negro; Mr. C. D. Edwards, The Engi- 
neers' General Strike; Col. Alden Alley, The New Diplo- 
macy; Mr. Patrick Murphy Malin, Our Money: Of 
Course It's Our Own, but What is It For; Count von 



JOINT ACTIVITIES 77 

Luckner, The Sea Devil; Mr. George Fitch of Shanghai, 
Recent Happenings in China. 

During the early years the Forum and Saturday Lunch 
Club were the only organizations on the campus provid- 
ing a regular current events program. Some three or four 
other organizations then arranged similar programs. 
Owing to this and the great increase in University public 
lectures, the Saturday Lunch Club was given up in 1928 
as having sufficiently fulfilled its mission. 

Lectures and discussions on public issues were con- 
tinued during the next few years, however, with such 
speakers and themes as the following: Prof. G. W. Cun- 
ningham, The Individual versus the Group; Rev. E. C. 
Lobenstine, China Today; Dr. John R. Mott, Outstand- 
ing Issues in the Present World Situation; Mr. Roswell 
Barnes, Compulsory Military Training; Mr. T. C. 
Chang, Chinese and American Student Life; Dr. John 
H. Reisnef, Advances in Chinese Agriculture; Sir Wilfred 
Grenfell, Labrador; Dr. Reinhold Niebuhr, Does Civili- 
zation Need Religion ; Rev. Kirby Page, Must There Be 
Another War; Dr. John L. Elliott, Unemployment In- 
surance; Prof. Walter Horton, Our Present Moral Pre- 
dicament; Prof. Howard Jefferson, Why Try to Under- 
stand the Universe? 

Significant addresses were given in 1934-35 as follows: 
Soft Coal and Other Industrial Problems, by Rev. W. E. 
Brooks of Morgantown, West Virginia, and Bishop 
Francis J. McConnell; The World's Student Christian 
Federation, by Dr. T. Z. Koo of China; Is America Speed- 
ing toward Fascism? by Kirby Page; The New Valley 
of Ten Thousand Smokes, with motion pictures, by Rev. 
Bernard R. Hubbard, S.J., "The Glacier Priest." 

Optional versus compulsory military drill was vigor- 
ously debated in 1930-31 under the general guidance of 
an independent committee of students chaired by Albert 



78 COOPERATIVE RELIGION AT CORNELL UNIVERSITY 

E. Arent '32. Collaboration in the work of this committee 
favoring optional drill was given by several C.U.R.W. 
leaders, especially by C. H. Yarrow, student president, 
and by Maynard Cassady and Hugh Moran of the Staff. 
A carefully prepared report was presented by the com- 
mittee to the faculty of the University, which took action 
favoring the abolition of compulsory drill in line with 
precedents established in a number of other universities, 
colleges, and technical schools. The University Trustees 
voted, however, to continue the compulsory system as 
established, and it has not since been changed. 

A number of C.U.R.W. leaders have also taken active 
interest in the student demonstration meetings against 
war which have been held since 1935. The President and 
Deans granted the eleven o'clock hour on April 12, 1935, 
to give opportunity for an all University meeting held 
in Bailey Hall. Similar meetings of protest against war, 
in which C.U.R.W. groups and leaders have shared, have 
been held in other years in Myron Taylor Hall, in Wil- 
lard Straight Hall, and in downtown churches. 

The life of the American Negro and the improvement 
of race relations have been a special interest of leaders 
in the United Work. In most of the years throughout the 
period under review a special Negro Education Week has 
been arranged with exhibits of books by and about lead- 
ing American Negroes and also works of art by Negroes. 
The Hampton Quartet and other groups of Negro singers 
have visited Cornell under C.U.RiW. auspices. Visiting 
speakers, both colored and white, have also come, includ- 
ing the following: Dr. William E. B. DuBois, noted 
Negro author; Principal James E. Gregg of Hampton 
Institute; President Thomas Elsa Jones of Fiske Uni- 
versity; President David D. Jones of Bennett College; 
President Mordecai Johnson of Howard University; Mr. 



JOINT ACTIVITIES 79 

Walter White, Secretary of the National Association for 
the Advancement of Colored People; Countee Cullen, 
poet; and Prof. Howard Thurm an of Howard University. 

A new lecture forum series, due chiefly to the initiative 
of Edmund Zalinski '31, student president, Kenneth 
Kline, and Rabbi Pekarsky of the Staff, was inaugurated 
in 1935, and notable lecturers were brought to Cornell to 
speak upon public questions. Among these were the fol- 
lowing: Dr. Josef Hanc, Czechoslovakian Consul-General 
in the U.S., on The Central European Situation; Dr. 
Harry F. Ward of Union Seminary, on The Threat of 
Fascism in the United States; President Mordecai John- 
son of Howard University, on The American Negro's 
Great Adventure; Rabbi Stephen S. Wise of New York 
City, on The Challenge to Democracy; Dr. Norman 
Thomas, Socialist leader, on The Constitution: What 
Does It Mean; Toyohiko Kagawa of Japan, on Social 
Reconstruction; Mr. Harper Sibley, president of the 
United States Chamber of Commerce, on Government 
in Business. 

Other forum speakers, 1936-39, have included: U.S. 
Senator Gerald P. Nye, on America Driven to War; Dr. 
Horace M. Kallen, on Democracy and Consumers' Co- 
operatives; Mr. Louis Untermeyer, on What Americans 
Read and Why; Dr. Sherwood Eddy, on Japan and Rus- 
sia Battling for China; Lawrence K. Frank, on Education 
for Marriage; Aubrey W. Williams, on Youth and Un- 
employment; Carl Sandburg, on Poetry and Folk Songs; 
Howard Thurman, on Modern Implications of Religion ; 
Nathaniel Peffer, on The International Scene; Norman 
Thomas, on The National Political Scene. 

In 1938-39 protest against the outrages of the Nazi 
German goverpment upon minority groups was registered 
in a mass meeting held in Willard Straight Memorial 



80 COOPERATIVE RELIGION AT CORNELL UNIVERSITY 

Room, with addresses by Rev. A. H. Boutwell, Father 
Donald Cleary, and Rabbi Stephen S. Wise. 

D. Religious drama : During the early nineteen thirties 
an active student interest in amateur religious drama 
developed. This was due largely to the initiative of Mr. 
Moran, who wrote and staged several original plays, and 
to the leadership of Mr. Durham and Roger Morrison 
'34. One of the most successful of these productions was 
"Oregon" which Mr. Moran wrote to commemorate the 
one hundredth anniversary of the sending out from Ithaca 
of the famous Oregon Mission led by Samuel Parker and 
Marcus Whitman. 

During the period 1932-35, chiefly due to the initiative 
of Mr. L. A. Tompkins, J. J. Senesi, and Mrs. Julia Geth- 
man Andrews, motion pictures were provided on Satur- 
day nights in Barnes Hall. The exhibitions were followed 
by open house social parties in the building. Movies such 
as "Moby Dick/' "Cabin in the Cotton," "Snipers," and 
"I am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang" were shown. 

In the year 1932-33 a pressing need for a central dra- 
matic equipment with suitable stage and properties was 
recognized. In 1933 the auditorium in Barnes Hall was 
remodeled and the west end transformed into a stage 
with the seats turned to face it. A drama workshop was 
established on the north side of the room. Mr. Moran has 
correlated these drama provisions in behalf of the Staff. 
Amateur religious drama of merit has been provided since 
1934 in the remodeled auditorium and continues to en- 
list the interest of considerable numbers of students both 
as actors and audience. Some of the other plays presented 
during this period have been "The Rock," "The Terrible 
Meek," "Why the Chimes Rang," "The Gift," "Mud 
Walls," and "Ba Thane," a missionary play by Mrs. 
Edna Baldwin which has been presented some seventy 
times by Cornellians in Ithaca and vicinity. 



JOINT ACTIVITIES 81 

5. Extension activities: through deputations to nearby 
communities, conferences and summer schools for 
pastors and religious workers, and the Rural Insti- 
tute. 

A. Visits to nearby communities: The outreach of 
Cornell's religious influence has extended far beyond the 
borders of the campus. Since the fall of 1919 many 
churches, clubs, and schools in nearby communities large 
and small have been provided with religious addresses, 
entertainment programs, and recreational leadership. 
This has usually been at no cost to the communities 
visited other than that of entertainment and transporta- 
tion. Students, faculty members, and Staff have partic- 
ipated, and alumni have shared in arranging dates. Mr. 
Durham, Mr. Moore, and Mr. Moran have at various 
periods given special direction to this aspect of the work. 
In 1920-21 a C.U.C.A. announcement of available speak- 
ers chiefly faculty, Staff members, and graduate stu- 
dents was circulated throughout central New York and 
extension trips in considerable numbers arranged. A sig- 
nificant type of deputation to nearby cities developed in 
1937-39 when a staff team composed of Father Cleary, 
Rabbi Fischoff, and Rev. Mr. Boutwell, pastor of the 
First Baptist Church of Ithaca, gave interpretations of 
inter-faith comity based on the Cornell experience. 

In later years deputations on a denominational basis 
were stressed, arrangements being made chiefly by the 
university pastors and training provided in connection 
with the church student groups, such as the Westmin- 
ster Society and the Wesley Foundation. This type of 
religious extension service by church groups continues to 
bulk large. Return visits by community young people's 
groups to the church student societies in Ithaca have 
been frequently arranged. Members of the Staff have co- 



82 COOPERATIVE RELIGION AT CORNELL UNIVERSITY 

operated actively in connection with "Cornell Day" 
when large numbers of high school students visit the 
University. 

In 1936 the plan of a speakers' bureau especially in- 
tended to make student leaders available to high schools, 
Rotary Clubs, and civic organizations was worked out 
upon the initiative of the Men's Cabinet aided by Mr. 
Kline. The cooperation of the University Department 
of Public Speech was secured and effective service on the 
part of men student speakers was increased, especially 
in 1937-38. 

B. Conferences and summer schools for pastors and 
religious workers: Interest in the early religious training 
of students has also increased. A boy's or girl's religious 
contacts preceding his brief years in Ithaca largely shape 
his development there, helping or hindering, as the case 
may be. Since the university pastors maintain direct re- 
lations with the home churches of their constituencies 
and receive their product each autumn, they have a stake 
in the efficiency of the home church, in the adequacy of 
its pastor, and in the effectiveness of its young people's 
program. A fine set of reciprocal relationships has grown 
up between the home churches and Staff members, espe- 
cially with those who have been longest at Cornell. 

The importance of these relationships was early re- 
alized and a first conference of Town and County Min- 
isters was held during Farmers' Week in 1920, the 
C.U.C.A. Staff and the Department of Rural Social Or- 
ganization cooperating. A similar conference was an 
annual feature of Farmers' Week for several years. 

These conferences became a seed bed for the two 

.weeks' Summer School for Rural Ministers which began 

in 1924 and which has continued since as a regular feature 

of the University summer program under the direction 

of the Department of Rural Social Organization of the 



JOINT ACTIVITIES 83 

College of Agriculture. This school brings together an 
average enrolment of sixty ministers from different de- 
nominational groups. Special courses are offered upon 
subjects of agricultural interest to ministers. These are 
supplemented by courses more specifically religious in 
content. Aspects of rural social organization, personal 
counseling, community work for young people, and edu- 
cational methods have been among the popular studies. 
Denominational as well as inter-church interests have 
been provided for, and active cooperation with the Col- 
lege of Agriculture in this enterprise has been given by 
several of the denominations, by the New -York State 
Council of Churches, by the Rural Institute for Religious 
Workers, and by the C.U.R.W. 

The Central New York Summer School of Christian 
Education was brought to the Cornell campus in 1927 and 
housed in Barnes Hall for its annual two weeks' sessions. 
These continued through 1938, being held in July at the 
same time as the pastors' school. The purpose of this 
school is to heighten the efficiency of teachers in local 
church schools. Its average attendance has approximated 
fifty. Its work is a part of the training program of the 
New York State Council of Churches and Christian Edu- 
cation. Active cooperation has been given by several 
members of the C.U.R.W. Staff, especially Mr. Moran, 
Mr. Moore, and Mr. Durham, in teaching or administra- 
tive duties. Prof. E. S. Guthrie of the College of Agricul- 
ture has also given administrative leadership. 

C. The Rural Institute: As an outgrowth of activities 
already undertaken and of the relationships of the Uni- 
versity with rural workers at home and abroad, the 
Rural Institute for Religious Workers was organized in 
1934. The Institute while officially independent of the 
C.U.R.W. has been given leadership by staff members, 
especially Mr. Moran, and has its offices in Barnes Hall. 



84 COOPERATIVE RELIGION AT CORNELL UNIVERSITY 

The Rev. F. E. Dean of Greece, New York, has served 
as chairman of the Institute Board, Mr. Moran as secre- 
tary-treasurer, and Mr. Mark Rich as field representa- 
tive, succeeded in 1938-39 by Rev. Ralph Williamson. 
The Institute Board of Directors includes a group of 
university deans, editors, church board secretaries, and 
others who bring the Institute into contact with state 
and national agencies in this field. An agreement has been 
completed whereby the Directors of the Institute com- 
prise the Rural Committee of the New York State Coun- 
cil of Churches. Mr. Rich and Mr. Williamson have been 
members of its staff as its rural secretaries. In 1938 and 
1939 spring conferences of Town and County Ministers 
were held under the auspices of the Institute at Happy 
Valley, Lisle, New York. 

The Rural Institute counts its most important func- 
tion the study of rural areas and particular fields with 
a view to unified community programs of religion. It 
fosters "larger parishes" wherever possible and aids in 
working out in local areas the same cooperative processes 
which have been set up in the Cornell United Religious 
Work. ' , 

Members of the C.U.R.W. Staff, Board, and alumni 
have shared with local pastors in developing a distinc- 
tive inter-church consciousness in Tompkins and other 
nearby counties. Field visits to the larger parishes of the 
counties have been features of the summer schools men- 
tioned above. 

Careful consideration was given in the years 1934 and 
1935 to arrangements whereby courses in the College of 
Agriculture might be made available as a part of the 
seminary training of theological students preparing for 
the rural ministry. An agreement was reached with Col- 
gate-Rochester Divinity School and Auburn Seminary, 
as well as with other seminaries interested, by which one 



JOINT ACTIVITIES 85 

year of the seminary course could be taken at Cornell 
and credited by the seminary. These and similar arrange- 
ments have helped to open the way for more graduate 
students to specialize in the work of the country church. 

6. Social study and service outreach: Ithaca social serv- 
ice, sociology trips, and summer service groups. 

A. Ithaca social service: Students interested in so- 
ciology and practical social service have found excellent 
laboratory facilities available in Ithaca. Series of talks 
and discussions have been arranged from time to time 
for volunteer workers on aspects of social service work 
and conducted by members of the University faculty and 
professional social workers. 

Special participation in social study and service activ- 
ities in Ithaca has been given by Cornell women under 
the auspices of the Y.W.C.A. and the Women's Work, 
C.U.R.W., whose secretaries, especially Mrs. Andrews, 
Miss Neblett, and Miss Morrison, have supplied initia- 
tive and leadership. Helpful relations were established 
with the Bureau of Associated Charities in the earlier 
days and were continued with the Social Service League, 
the West and North and South Side Community Houses, 
the Children's Home, the Old Ladies' Home, the Family 
Welfare Association, and the Red Cross. The West and 
North and South Side Houses have utilized the assistance 
of voluntary student women workers in the educational 
programs which they have conducted in the three neigh- 
borhoods in which they are located. These programs have 
included the teaching of cooking, sewing, dramatics, 
simple games, and home-making for children and young 
people. Entertainment programs for children have been 
supplied at the Children's Home, the Reconstruction 
Home for Infantile Paralysis, and friendly visits made 
to the Old Ladies' Home. One hundred seventy-five 



86 COOPERATIVE RELIGION AT CORNELL UNIVERSITY 

women students were enlisted in these service activities 
in 1936-37, and approximately the same number in suc- 
ceeding years. 

Cornell men students have cooperated in city churches 
by teaching church school groups : of boys, aiding in Boy 
Scout work, crafts, and informal athletics for boys' 
groups. Such work by men students was considerably 
enlarged in 1938-39 under the direction of Mr. Edward 
Miller of the Staff. Members of the Staff have shared 
each year in the Community Chest Drive of Ithaca. 

B. Sociology trips: Since 1935 the United Work has 
sponsored tours of social agencies in Ithaca and in New 
York City with the special cooperation of Prof. J. L. 
Woodward. Settlement houses, county and city Depart- 
ments of Public Welfare, courts, housing developments, 
and the like have been included in the Ithaca tours. The 
New York City visits have covered a wide range of ex- 
periences, visits to situations of racial conflict typified 
by Chinatown and Harlem attendance at dramas deal- 
ing with social problems, visits to educational institu- 
tions in the field of social work, and city Departments of 
Public Welfare. ^ 

C. Summer service groups : During the early years of 
the United Work special cooperation was given to the 
New York City Summer Service Group, which had been 
founded in 1916 by Mr. Edwards and conducted by him 
through the summer of 1920. A number of Cornell men 
have shared in the work of this group, which has been 
continued by the Intercollegiate Y.M.C.A. of New York 
in connection with religious and social agencies of the 
city. Several Cornell men have also been included in 
student tours to Europe, which were conducted by Mr. 
Trowbridge during the period of his service as Associate 
Executive. 

A considerable number of students have been stim- 



JOINT ACTIVITIES 87 

ulated in various years to take part in summer service 
projects such as those of the American Friends Service 
Committee, the student deputation work among the 
soft coal miners in West Virginia and with the children 
of migrant agricultural laborers in New York State. 

Special cooperation has been given by C.U.R.W. Staff 
members and students to the "Lisle Fellowship," the 
Christian Mission Service Fellowship, which has held 
sessions of six weeks each in 1936, 37, 38, and 39, with 
headquarters at Happy Valley, Lisle, New York. This 
group has been under the direction of Rev. and Mrs. 
DeWitt Baldwin of the Methodist Board of Foreign Mis- 
sions, with the cooperation of other national Mission 
Boards. Christian world-mindedness has been the theme. 
From twenty-five to sixty students, carefully selected 
from colleges and universities throughout the country, 
have been housed at Lisle, and after a preliminary train- 
ing period have gone out four days a week in small groups 
to communities within a radius of a hundred miles to 
speak in church services, to present religious dramas, to 
conduct week-day schools of religious education, and to 
direct indoor and outdoor sports. In all contacts the 
power of Christ to solve world problems has been stressed. 
Mr. Durham, Mr. Moran, Mr. Moore, Mr. Fetter, and 
Mr. Edwards serve on the guiding committee of this 
group. Mr. Mark Rich has been the chairman. Mr. and 
Mrs. Baldwin have brought expert educational leader- 
ship and religious inspiration to the work of this group. 

7. Intercollegiate connections and conferences. 

Intercollegiate relationships in religious work have 
been emphasized throughout the years under review. 
These have been aided by conferences and publications 
of the New York State Student Christian Movement, the 
Student Volunteer Movement for Foreign Missions, the 



COOPERATIVE RELIGION AT CORNELL UNIVERSITY 

Council of the Church Boards of Education (now "The 
University Commission" ), the national Student Chris- 
tian Movement (Y.M.C.A. and Y.W.C.A.), and the 
World's Student Christian Federation. These agencies 
and the personal visits and counsel of their secretaries 
have all contributed to the development of Cornell's 
United Religious Work. 

Our student leaders have found in intercollegiate con- 
ferences one of the most broadening and quickening of 
all influences supplied by these agencies. Special recog- 
nition is given to them because of their integral place in 
our work. Mr. Durham has specialized for many years 
upon securing Cornell delegations to conferences. 

Each year in June Cornell has participated in the sum- 
mer conferences of the national Student Christian Move- 
ment. From 1920 through 1925 the summer conference to 
which our delegates went was held at Silver Bay on Lake 
George, New York. These conferences included in their 
leadership Dr. John R. Mott, Dean Charles R. Brown, 
Dr. Henry Sloane Coffin, Dr. Fletcher S. Brockman, Dr. 
Sherwood Eddy, Dr. Robert E. Speer, Bishop Francis J. 
McConnell, Hon. J. Stitt Wilson, and many other 'na- 
tionally known leaders. The emphases in these confer- 
ences were on the answer of Christianity in both the per- 
sonal and the social areas. Cornell has been represented 
by groups varying from twenty to fifty men. The two 
largest delegations from Cornell were in 1923, forty- 
three, and in 1924, fifty. During this same period the 
women also went to Silver Bay at another date for a 
separate women's conference and continued to do so until 
1936. 

In 1926 Cornell men united with the colleges of the 
Middle Atlantic Region in their conference at Eagles- 
mere, Pennsylvania. In the eastern part of the country 
this conference was significant as the first joint summer 



JOINT ACTIVITIES 89 

conference of men and women. Among the leaders were 
Prof. A. Bruce Curry, Hon. J. Stitt Wilson, Dr. Sam 
Higginbottom, Rev. D. J. Fleming, Miss Grace Loucks, 
Miss Julia Derricott, Dr. Frederick J. Libby, Mr. Powers 
Hapgood, Prof. Howard Thurman, and Mr. Norman 
Thomas. 

The conference continued to meet at Eaglesmere each 
June until 1930 when it moved to Forest Park, Penn- 
sylvania. Cornell sent twenty-seven delegates that year. 
After being away from Eaglesmere for three years, the 
conference returned there in 1933. 

In 1936 the Cornell delegation, along with the rest of 
the New York State colleges, joined the New England 
colleges in the men's conference at Silver Bay. In 1937 
the Silver Bay Student Conference became a joint con- 
ference of men and women, on a two-year trial basis. 
Cornell was represented by twenty students that year, by 
sixteen in 1938, and by twenty in 1939. 

In addition to the regional summer conferences, Cor- 
nell students participated during several years in a mid- 
winter student conference of the Middle Atlantic Region 
and part of New York State. This has usually been held 
at Buckhill Falls Inn between semesters. Beginning in 
1934 emphasis was laid on a New York State-wide con- 
ference, or, in some years, on two or three regional con- 
ferences within the state. In 1935 a state-wide conference 
was held at Rochester with T. Z. Koo, the Chinese 
scholar, and Kirby Page the chief speakers. Similar con- 
ferences have been held at Rochester in 1937 and at 
Schenectady in 1938, with Cornell delegations of eight to 
twelve attending. 

Cornell has also sent sizable delegations to all the 
quadrennial conferences of the Student Volunteer Move- 
ment and has received in return stimulus for its religious 
life. Such conferences were held during the Christmas 



90 COOPERATIVE RELIGION AT CORNELL UNIVERSITY 

holidays of the following years: 1923, Indianapolis; 
1927, Detroit; 1931, Buffalo; 1935, Indianapolis. 

Cornell has been well represented at other national 
student conventions, as at Milwaukee in 1926, at Detroit 
in 1930, and at Oxford, Ohio, in 1937. 

The national and regional conferences of church work- 
ers in universities have been attended by members of 
the Staff throughout the period under review. 

8. World interests: Cornell-in-China, Winter School of 
Missions, and League of Nations Model Assembly. 

From the beginning of its history the Cornell Christian 
Association has been interested in the world outreach of 
Christianity. Points of view have altered, vocabulary 
has changed, but world concern has persisted and in- 
creased. The leadership of Dr. John R. Mott '88 as per- 
haps the leading figure in world Christianity has been 
highly significant. A sense of world responsibility could 
hardly be avoided at Cornell where in recent years the 
number of students from abroad has usually been two 
hundred fifty or more, representing many races and na- 
tionalities. 

The presence of so many nationalities and also of a 
number of returned missionaries at Cornell as graduate 
students has vivified world interests. The notable work 
of certain professors of agriculture has further increased 
this interest, especially that of Professors Love, Myers, 
Wiggans, and Maynard, in devoting Sabbatical years to 
work in China where they have made distinguished con- 
tributions to seed breeding and distribution. 

The United Religious Work has shared in various 
ways in deepening the experience of students in relation 
to world needs, as in the following : 

A. Cornell-in-China : One of the first undertakings in 
1920 was the consideration of a missionary project suit- 



JOINT ACTIVITIES 91 

able for all the purposes and interests involved. In April 
1921 the Staff, chiefly with Mr. Moran's leadership, co- 
operated with the Chinese Students' Club in raising more 
than $3,000 net for famine relief. 

The Cornell-in-China Club was organized in 1922 at the 
Presbyterian manse, 221 Eddy Street. Dr. Leighton Stu- 
art, president of Yen Ching University, Peking, China, 
was the speaker, and C. C. Carter '22 was the first pres- 
ident. At a meeting of the Telluride House on December 
6, 1922, attended by President Farrand and Dean Bailey, 
it was decided to support a work centering at Nanking 
University, dealing with agriculture and engineering and 
looking toward famine prevention. Considerable funds 
were raised during the earlier years : in May 1923, $1,900 
by a China Carnival. On January 20, 1923, the club was 
incorporated. For some years in addition to its social 
activities at Cornell, the club supported the extension 
department of the College of Agriculture of Nanking 
University. In 1930 at the suggestion of Prof. Chiang of 
the Nanking faculty, the club undertook partial support 
of the budget of Prof. Charles H. Riggs, Cornell, M.S. 
'32, in Agricultural Engineering, who was establishing 
the only department of Agricultural Engineering in 
China. The support of Prof. Riggs' work has continued 
to the present. 

The object of the club, as stated in its constitution, is 
to promote the mutual friendly relations of China and 
America, in particular, of Chinese and American stu- 
dents at Cornell, and to establish and foster a Cornell 
educational enterprise in China. In accord with this 
stated objective, a varied social program is carried out 
each year. There is an annual Chinese feast; receptions, 
lectures, and other types of events are arranged. 

B. Winter School of Missions: Members of the 
C.U.R.W. Staff have followed with interest and coopera- 



92 COOPERATIVE RELIGION AT CORNELL UNIVERSITY 

tion the development of the winter school for mission- 
aries, chiefly those interested in agricultural missions, 
which began in 1930 and has been continued each winter 
since by the New York State College of Agriculture 
through the Department of Rural Social Organization. 
Attendance of missionaries has ranged between thirty- 
five and fifty. Cooperation has also been given to the 
development of this school by the Foreign Missions Con- 
ference of North America and the Agricultural Missions 
Foundations, Secretary J. H. Reisner '15, formerly Dean 
of the College of Agriculture and Forestry at Nanking, 
giving special cooperation. Prof. C. A. Taylor has been 
in general charge of the school. Courses of basic signif- 
icance to all missionaries interested in agriculture, such 
as the sociology of rural life, rural education, nutrition, 
and health, have been given. A reception to the visiting 
missionaries has been held each year under C.U.R.W. 
auspices in Barnes Hall and a presentation of cooperative 
religion at Cornell usually made at one of the school 
seminars. 

C. League of Nations Model Assembly: Post-war in- 
terest in better international relationships came quickly 
to the fore at Cornell in 1920-21. One of the first expres- 
sions of it was a model disarmament conference in De- 
cember 1921, held in connection with the Current Events 
Forum. Other expressions of interest followed year by 
year until a League of Nations Model Assembly move- 
ment was organized at Syracuse University as a result of 
a first Assembly held there in 1927. The idea seems to 
have grown out of the Pacific Relations Conference held 
at Honolulu the year previous. A Cornell delegation 
under the leadership of Buel Trowbridge attended the 
Syracuse meeting and agreed to sponsor a meeting at 
Cornell in 1928. In the absence of Mr. Trowbridge from 



JOINT ACTIVITIES 93 

the University that year responsibility fell on Hugh 
Moran and a committee of management of twenty-three 
faculty members and students. 

Sessions were held May 4 and 5, 1928, in the Memorial 
Room at Willard Straight Hall. Delegations from sixteen 
universities and colleges attended, representing twenty- 
three countries, while clubs and societies at Cornell rep- 
resented twenty-one, making forty-four countries in all. 
President Farrand made an address as president of the 
Council, and Sir Herbert Ames, a member of the Secre- 
tariat from Geneva, acted as critic. An entire number of 
the Barnes Hall Bulletin was devoted to this League 
meeting. (Vol. XVIII, June 1928.) A hundred copies of 
this Bulletin were secured by the League of Nations As- 
sociation Inc., to guide in preparing for similar meet- 
ings elsewhere. 

The Assembly gave impetus to the formation of the 
Middle Atlantic Continuation Committee, under which 
Model Assemblies have been held at Vassar, Princeton, 
and other institutions. 

The Assembly was again held at Cornell in 1937, with 
Harvey Wellman '37, Rhodes scholar-elect, as secretary 
general, and Mr. Moran as chairman of the committee. 
Thirty-eight colleges and universities were represented 
by two hundred sixty-five delegates. The sessions were 
held in the ideally suitable Moot Court Room of Myron 
Taylor Hall. The subjects discussed were: peaceful 
change under Article 19, improvement of trade relations 
and collective security. Dr. James G. McDonald, the 
critic, former High Commissioner of the League for 
Refugees, spoke with appreciation of the quality of the 
debates. 

The Assembly was held in 1939 at Rutgers University 
with nine Cornellians attending. 



94 COOPERATIVE RELIGION AT CORNELL UNIVERSITY 

9. The Library and publications. 

A. The Library: Barnes Hall is fortunate in the pos- 
session of a library of upwards of six thousand books in 
religion, ethics, and related fields. The beginnings of the 
several collections, which are now unified, go back to the 
early 1880's and to the initiative of Prof. George Lincoln 
Burr and President Andrew D. White in 1887. In 1888 
General A. S. Barnes, eldest son of the donor of the 
building, gave a substantial gift for the purchase of a list 
of books, chiefly Biblical reference works, and for annual 
additions to the Library. The whole was constituted a 
part of the University Library. Other collections were 
added. The North and South Rooms of the main floor 
were used at various times to house the collection until 
1928, when Mr. A. C. White of the University Library 
staff, who had served as curator for nearly thirty years, 
resigned. 

By this time the Library had outgrown its quarters 
and an anonymous donor made possible the refurnishing 
of the west lounge room on the main floor as an attractive 
library, study, and reading room with new bookcases, 
linoleum, tables, lights, and chairs. These arrangements 
were carried out under the guidance of a committee of 
the Trustees of the C.A.C.U. by Mr. Edwards and T. C. 
Carpenter, Associate Executive, who served as librarian 
with student assistants until the appointment of a trained 
librarian who has since been in attendance, Mrs. Ruth 
Willis Perry. The scope of the Library has widened, keep- 
ing pace with student religious interests. There have been 
added in the last decade special collections of books and 
pamphlets dealing with undergraduate life, vocations, 
marriage and family life, American social problems, and 
international relations. 

The B'nai B'rith Hillel Foundation has added a col- 



JOINT ACTIVITIES 95 

lection relating chiefly to Jewish life and culture; a sim- 
ilar list of Roman Catholic works has also been added, 
There has also been donated a textbook loan library by 
means of which students of limited means are able to 
save on their book costs. Religious periodicals, a few 
newspapers, and general magazines are also made avail- 
able. 

The administration of the Library has in recent years 
been in the hands of a Staff committee, the librarian 
being a member ex-officio. Rabbis Hoffman, Pekarsky, 
and Fischoff have given special leadership for the Staff 
as chairmen of the Library committee which has chosen 
new books available from year to year from the Barnes 
Fund. During term time the Library has been kept open 
throughout the day and evening. Since 1929 it has been 
noted on the campus for its quiet atmosphere and favor- 
able conditions for reading and study. It is now used 
annually by approximately 7,000 persons. 

The Library committee has also sponsored several 
cultural activities such as a series of book reviews on 
religious trends in contemporary literature. In 1933 a 
series of reviews of recent biographies, essays, novels, 
and leading books on religion and ethics was given by 
faculty and Staff members on Thursday evenings in the 
second semester. A similar series was given in the fall of 
that year on "Religion and Social Change/' Mrs. Julia 
Gethman Andrews of the Staff gave special leadership 
in this connection. 

The Library has become increasingly a resource center 
for students searching out the vital meanings of life ex- 
perience, guidance in their plans for social action, and 
the discovery of spiritual realities. 

B. Publications: In April 1924 the Barnes Hall Bulle- 
tin, which had been published from 1886 to 1898, was 
resurrected and published quarterly. It carried news of 



96 COOPERATIVE RELIGION AT CORNELL UNIVERSITY 

the varied activities centering at Barnes Hall. Publica- 
tion was discontinued in 1931 due to the depression. In- 
terested alumni were kept informed of the work by means 
of it, and during succeeding years by attractively printed 
folders sent out in considerable numbers each year. 

In 1929 the Barnacle began to be published for the 
expression of student religious interest. It was "written 
exclusively by students with the avowed aim of express- 
ing student thought on religion, recording events at 
Barnes Hall and the churches, informing interested con- 
stituents, faculty, a few alumni, and friends of plans for 
work that is to be." 

This was in turn succeeded by the Areopagus, first 
published by the C.U.R.W. in 1933-34. This "Journal of 
Opinion" continued with three issues each year under 
C.U.R.W. auspices until 1937, when by mutual consent 
of the editors and the C.U.R.W. Board of Control the 
Areopagus became an entirely independent organ. 

10. Significance of activities. 

The activities described above have been education- 
ally significant as laboratory training for students in 
social relationships, social processes, and spiritual dis- 
cipline. The discovery and exercise of potential powers 
through participation and leadership is essential to their 
intellectual development and to the growth of spiritual 
maturity. Training in hospitality, in the enrichment of 
personal friendships, in methods of organization and 
business management, in creative group thinking and 
action, in public speaking, in the guidance of recreation, 
in the conduct of varied community enterprises and of 
public worship, such training is fundamental in edu- 
cation for social living. 



CHAPTER VII 
FINANCES 

No detailed account of the financing of the United 
Work is possible in this volume. Certain facts as to 
methods and results will be of interest, however. There 
has been throughout this period a general finance com- 
mittee of the Board of Directors of Men's Work in charge 
of annual budgets, solicitation, and all other financial 
operations. Their work has been supplemented by suc- 
cessive undergraduate committees. Audited accounts 
have been presented annually by the treasurers, Prof. 
H. S. Jacoby, Prof. Samuel Spring, Prof. William Saw- 
don, Prof. H. C. Troy, and Mr. Henry Shirey, all of whom 
were assisted by Miss Minnie Williams who kept the 
books. Accounts were audited in succeeding years by 
Mr. Arthur Wellar and Mr. Paul Bradford. Special 
leadership in financial plans among Board members has 
been given by Mr^ Paul S. Livermore '97, Mr. J. P. 
Harris '01, Mr. Richard O. Walter '01, Dean A. R. Mann 
'04, Mr. L. C. Boochever, Mr. Foster Coffin '12, Mr. 
Edwards, and Professors Samuel Spring, A. B. Reck- 
nagel, William Sawdon '08, H. C. Troy '95, G. W. Cava- 
naugh '93, and Henry J. Shirey '25. 

Solicitation of faculty members was carried on jointly 
by the C.U.C.A. and Y.W.C.A. throughout most of the 
period under review, special aid in this respect being 
given in 1936-37 by Mrs. E. E. Merritt and other mem- 
bers of the Board of Control. Financial operations were 
fully unified following adoption of the last revision of 

97 



98 COOPERATIVE RELIGION AT CORNELL UNIVERSITY 

the Constitution in 1938. Helpful cooperation in alumni 
financing was given on behalf of the Cornellian Council 
by Mr. Harold Flack and Mr. Archie Palmer, during 
their secretarial connections with the Council. All the 
Associate Executives gave active leadership in the fund- 
raising work among undergraduates. The work has been 
successfully financed from year to year throughout the 
entire period without deficits, save in the first two years 
of the depression when commitments previously made 
could be fulfilled only by drawing upon a reserve which 
had been invested in the C.U.R.W. residence, as later 
described. 

While accounts have been variously classified in differ- 
ent years, three broad divisions have been generally 
maintained: 1. activities, 2. salaries, and 3. properties, 
in addition to special trust funds. 

Activities: 

The activities have been provided for chiefly from the 
contributions of students and faculty members. 

From 1919 to 1925 the C.U.C.A. developed its activ- 
ities financing on the basis of a well-systematized campus- 
wide appeal, to which students responded in some years 
with as much as $5,000, in others as low as $2,000. 
With the coming of the compulsory tax for Willard 
Straight Hall and other fixed charges collected from stu- 
dents by the University, the possibility of raising volun- 
tary funds by University-wide appeal was sharply cur- 
tailed. 

During the years 1929 to 1932 University Chest ex- 
periments and combined appeals were tried out, the 
C.U.C.A. sharing with other objects such as the Student 
Council, European student relief, Cornell-in-China, and 
student emergency loans. By 1932 these experiments had 
proven to be ineffective and following that year the ar- 



FINANCES 99 

rangement by which primary responsibility for joint 
activities was accepted by the church groups was grad- 
ually developed. This principle had been in partial opera- 
tion since 1926, and the step had therefore been prepared 
for during six years of experimentation. From the activ- 
ities budget have been paid the expenses of all united 
activities, salaries of the stenographers, telephone service, 
a part of the librarian's salary, and the cost of the other 
provisions shared mutually by all the groups. This finan- 
cial sharing has been done on a basis of apportionment 
worked out by the Staff members and student leaders in 
the Student Joint Board. This acceptance of responsibil- 
ity by the church groups for financing the joint activities 
budget has been a significant demonstration of the reality 
of our program as a joint affair. The joint activities 
budget for 1936-37, for example, was contributed to by 
the constituent and cooperating church groups and fac- 
ulty members in the sum of $3,200. In 1 938-39 the budget 
was no longer divided into sections as in previous years. 
The books have been closed without deficits in the 
activities account throughout the twenty years under 
review. The Student Emergency Loan Fund has been 
described in Chapter VI, Section 2. 

Salaries: 

The salaries of the Executive Director and office secre- 
tary were first raised by means of alumni contributions, 
special arrangements covering the allocation of desig- 
nated gifts having been worked out with the Cornellian 
Council. Contributions received directly and through the 
Cornellian Council from alumni in the years from 1919 
to 1927 amounted in annual sums from a few hundred 
dollars to approximately $5,000 as a result of a sys- 
tematic canvass. A careful review of the entire C.U.C.A. 
and Y.W.C.A. financial needs was made in the spring of 



100 COOPERATIVE RELIGION AT CORNELL UNIVERSITY 

1924 by a committee composed of Dean A. R. Mann, 
Mr. J. T. Newman, Professors A. B. Recknagel and L. P. 
Wilson, and Mr. Paul Livermore. A committee of the 
Board of Trustees of the University was appointed at the 
same time. As a result of their mutual deliberation, the 
salaries of the executives of Men's and Women's Work 
respectively, plus an annual allotment for the upkeep of 
Barnes Hall, have been provided by the University since 
1927-28. The University has also, since 1919, provided 
approximately $1,500 for the salary and expenses of the 
Student Employment Service, and a small sum has also 
been made available toward the Barnes Hall librarian's 
salary, the Barnes Library being maintained as a branch 
of the University Library. 

A further review of the financial relation of the Univer- 
sity to the C.U.R.W. was made by a special committee of 
the Cornellian Council, Mr. Waldemar H. Fries '11, 
chairman, in 1935-36, and both the work of the Asso- 
ciation and the continued solicitation of a group of 
alumni known to be interested in C.U.R.W. with pro- 
vision for the special designation of the contributions of 
such contributors through the Cornellian Council to this 
work were approved. 

President Day again reviewed the relationship of the 
University to the C.U.R.W. in 1937-38, and the previous 
financial arrangements have been continued to date with 
his approval. 

In 1923-24, under the initiative of Buel Trowbridge 
and Mr. Edwards, beginnings were made toward an en- 
dowment fund for the Men's Work, and the total sum of 
$37,000 was raised by 1925 and turned over to the Trus- 
tees of the University. Annual income from this fund has 
been returned each year to the treasurer of the Men's 
Work and used chiefly for the salary of the Associate 
Executive. Special cooperation in securing the endow- 



FINANCES 101 

ment fund was given by Mr. R. H. Treman and Mr. 
Jared T. Newman. 

Let it be clear that the salaries of the university pastors, 
as well as all the current expense budgets of the church 
groups, have been provided from their own resources. 
The university pastors' salaries have been contributed 
from national, state, regional, and local church funds, so 
that in the aggregate, not less than $25,000 yearly has 
been made available for religious work at Cornell through 
the service of these trained ministers, independent of 
University financing. (That sum is the equivalent of the 
annual income of $500,000 at 5%.) This has obtained 
throughout the twenty-year period. The services of the 
university pastors who are Staff members have been per- 
sonally donated by them to the United Religious Work. 

The salary of the office secretary has been financed 
chiefly from rentals received from the Cooperative So- 
ciety for the use of the first floor of Barnes Hall. 

Properties: 

The residence for the director of Men's Work at 507 
East Seneca Street was purchased under mortgage in 
1921 and rented from that time until the summer of 1937 
to the family of the Director. By 1929 the mortgage had 
been reduced to the sum of $2,000, but during the early 
depression years, when the work of the Association was 
gradually curtailed, our equity in the residence was 
drawn upon by increasing the amount of the mortgage 
again to $5,500. The Association was able in this way to 
meet all its commitments and to continue services greatly 
needed in helping to mitigate the effects of the depression. 
During 1937-38 and 193&-39, the years of Mr. Moore's 
Acting Directorship, the residence has been rented. 

The residences of the university pastors, Baptist, Con- 
gregational, Episcopal, Methodist, and Presbyterian, 



102 COOPERATIVE RELIGION AT CORNELL UNIVERSITY 

have been purchased at a cost of approximately $100,000 
and are maintained entirely from church sources. They 
have been used for widespread student entertaining, as 
well as for residential purposes. 

The special financing of the Barnes Hall rehabilitation 
has already been described under Properties, Chapter IV. 



102 COOPERATIVE RELIGION AT CORNELL UNIVERSITY 

have been purchased at a cost of approximately $100,000 
and are maintained entirely from church sources. They 
have been used for widespread student entertaining, as 
well as for residential purposes. 

The special financing of the Barnes Hall rehabilitation 
has already been described under Properties, Chapter IV. 




STUDENT BOARD AND S r 




RD AND STAFF 1938-39 




EDWARDS, MENDENHALL, MOORE 




THE NEW BARNES HALL LIBRARY 



CHAPTER VIII 
RELATIONSHIPS AND OUTREACH 

It is obvious from the foregoing that the principle of 
inclusiveness has been followed in this work as far as 
possible throughout the period here described. Interested 
students, faculty members, alumni, and friends have all 
been included. Denominational groups and those not 
affiliated with any one group have cooperated. Large 
contributions to the total result have been made by every 
participating element. 

1. Relationships with the University administration 
have been those of harmonious and loyal cooperation on 
both sides. We have been glad to be a "recognized" 
rather than an "official" agency. The major portion of 
this period has fallen within the administration of Pres- 
ident Farrand, whose grasp of the difficult problem of 
organized religion in the immediately post-war period 
and since has been penetrating and constructive. A single 
quotation from his speech at the C.U.R.W. banquet of 
1930 will illustrate: 

"To me the most interesting and valuable thing in re- 
cent religious history at Cornell is the addition of Jewish 
and Catholic representatives to the Staff of the C.U.R.W. 
Life here would be incomplete without the presence of 
representatives of all these religious groups. I have not 
known elsewhere a conception that compares in breadth 
and value to that which we find on the Cornell campus 
today, and therefore it is to be supported. 

"I quite agree that we are turning toward broader 

103 




EDWARDS, MENDENHALL, MOORE 




THE NEW BARNES HALL LIBRARY 



CHAPTER VIII 
RELATIONSHIPS AND OUTREACH 

It is obvious from the foregoing that the principle of 
inclusiveness has been followed in this work as far as 
possible throughout the period here described. Interested 
students, faculty members, alumni, and friends have all 
been included. Denominational groups and those not 
affiliated with any one group have cooperated. Large 
contributions to the total result have been made by every 
participating element. 

1. Relationships with the University administration 
have been those of harmonious and loyal cooperation on 
both sides. We have been glad to be a "recognized" 
rather than an "official" agency. The major portion of 
this period has fallen within the administration of Pres- 
ident Farrand, whose grasp of the difficult problem of 
organized religion in the immediately post-war period 
and since has been penetrating and constructive. A single 
quotation from his speech at the C.U.R.W. banquet of 
1930 will illustrate: 

"To me the most interesting and valuable thing in re- 
cent religious history at Cornell is the addition of Jewish 
and Catholic representatives to the Staff of the C.U.R.W. 
Life here would be incomplete without the presence of 
representatives of all these religious groups. I have not 
known elsewhere a conception that compares in breadth 
and value to that which we find on the Cornell campus 
today, and therefore it is to be supported. 

"I quite agree that we are turning toward broader 

103 



104 COOPERATIVE RELIGION AT CORNELL UNIVERSITY 

conceptions of religion. More and more a universal view 
and effort must be expressed. That is what the Univer- 
sity is now concerned with. Officially it does not care 
whether you are Jew or Christian if you are sincere and 
seeking the true values of life. Any sincere search for 
truth or thought that is based on the search for truth is 
welcome here. 

"Religious work at Cornell is one of the most encour- 
aging things in American education today. More I can- 
not say." 

2. Close relationships with state and national leaders 
of the constituent church groups, Baptists, Catholic, 
Congregational, Episcopal, Jewish, Methodist, Presby- 
terian, Unitarian, and other cooperating groups, have 
been maintained upon an informal basis. Such leaders, 
making common emphases upon the life of the spirit as 
against secularism and materialism, testify that they 
have found at Cornell suggestions for inter-faith work. 

3. Many letters of inquiry about the so-called "Cornell 
Plan" from other universities and colleges have been con- 
sistently answered with a statement of United Work 
principles, but without propaganda for the adoption else- 
where of any uniform plan, for the leaders of the Cornell 
work have recognized the necessity for indigenous de- 
velopments in each university center. These principles 
are known, however, to have been influential in many 
colleges and universities where they have been developed 
in accordance with their own needs and possibilities. 
Harmonious understandings between religious groups 
and greater unity in religious efforts have resulted in 
many instances. 

4. The influence of the Cornell work in and through 
the national Student Christian Movement, in its confer- 
ences and general program, has been actively maintained 
throughout these years. Cornell has shared with steady 



RELATIONSHIPS AND OUTREACH 105 

participation in the strong New York State Student 
Christian Movement under the devoted leadership of 
Mr. Ray Sweetman and Miss Katharine Duffield. 

Another outreach has been in the work of the National 
Council on Religion in Higher Education, to which a 
portion of Mr. Edwards' time as its Executive Director 
was loaned by the C.U.C.A. from 1924 to 1931. This 
Council maintained its national offices in Barnes Hall 
during that period. By means of its program some one 
hundred and eighty-six college graduates, men and 
women, have been carefully selected as Fellows of the 
Council aided to secure their training in the best graduate 
schools, and placed in religious teaching and administra- 
tive posts, chiefly in American colleges and universities. 
Some twenty Cornellians have been directly connected 
with this Council, President Farrand and Mr. Roger H. 
Williams '97 heading the list as members of its Board of 
Directors during many years. Mr. Edwards has also 
served since 1929 as Chairman of the Advisory Commit- 
tee of the Edward W. Hazen Foundation's Agency Grant 
System by which assistance has been given to selected 
religious workers and faculty members in some one hun- 
dred and fifty American colleges and universities to aid 
them in increasing the effectiveness of their religious re- 
lationships with students. 

Mr. Moore (1925-28) and Mr. Durham (1934-37) 
both served as presidents of the National Conference of 
Church Workers in Colleges and Universities, thereby 
extending the influence of Cornell's emphasis upon inter- 
church work. Mr. Durham has been widely useful in 
inter-collegiate conferences, east and west, as recreational 
director, song leader, and speaker. Mr. Moore's continued 
service as director of Congregational Young People's 
Work in New York State, and Mr. Fetter's leadership in 
the Baptist summer schools of the state have influenced 



106 COOPERATIVE RELIGION AT CORNELL UNIVERSITY 

large numbers of high school young people before their 
entrance to college. Mr. Edwards taught courses in stu- 
dent counseling and in student religious work in the 
Graduate Divinity School, University of Chicago, in 
summer quarters from 1928 to 1933 inclusive, and in 
Union Theological Seminary in the summer of 1935. He 
also taught in Southern Methodist Pastors' Schools in 
North Carolina, Arkansas, and Texas in the summers of 
1936 and 1937. Religious workers in southern colleges 
and universities were included among his students. 

Through books and other publications, the outreach 
of the Cornell work has also been extended. Among these 
are Mr. Moran's "Makers of America/' "A Creed for 
College Men," and Mr. Edwards' collaboration in the 
authorship of the books, "Undergraduates," and "Stu- 
dent Counseling." They have also both written courses 
for study published by the Presbyterian Board of Edu- 
cation. These have been widely used in college and church 
groups. They include Mr. Moran's "Shareholders in the 
Kingdom Enterprise" and "Finding my Place in the 
New Society," and Mr. Edwards' "Organizing Myself." 
Cornell Presbyterian students have also published, under 
Mr. Moran's direction, two series of vesper service pro- 
grams featuring the biographies of living leaders in reli- 
gious work throughout the world. 

Other extensions of influence have already been men- 
tioned, such as friendships with students from other 
lands, participation in the Cornell-in-China enterprise, 
the League of Nations Model Assembly, the Winter 
School of Missions, the Student Volunteer Movement, 
the World's Student Christian Federation, European 
student relief, the New York Summer Service Group, the 
Christian Mission Service Fellowship, the larger parish 
movement, the Red Cross, and help for German refugees. 

The most significant outreach of this Work, however, 



RELATIONSHIPS AND OUTREACH 107 

is not primarily through organizations denominational 
or interdenominational. It is through the quickening of 
vital religious experience in the lives of individual stu- 
dents and alumni, their deepened faith in God and man, 
their richer understanding of the values in all religious 
groups, and their commitment to the best in life and 
society as they conceive it. Back into thousands of homes 
from which Cornell students have come, and out into 
new homes the world around, created in whole or in part 
by Cornellians, the influence of this work has extended. 
These have been the outreaches most sought and prized 
by the leaders of this Work. 



CHAPTER IX 
A SUMMARY LOOK 

By way of summary, there is included here at the re- 
quest of the Committee on Publication a portion of the 
remarks made at a testimonial dinner given to Mr. and 
Mrs. Edwards in Willard Straight Hall on May 23, 1938, 
Prof. George Cavanaugh presiding. Mr. Edwards said: 

"Anything which may have been accomplished here 
in these years is due chiefly to one fact : the determination 
of students, Staff and Board members, alumni, and many 
friends to understand one another, to work together as 
men and women of religious purpose, to share in a com- 
mon enterprise for the best interests of Cornell. What- 
ever has been achieved is due chiefly to our inclusive co- 
operation, to mutual respect and the validation each of 
the other's point of view, to our basic recognition of the 
place of the church groups and also of those who do not 
have immediate church connections. We have made full 
use of student initiative and also of mature counsel. We 
have incorporated new insights without relinquishing 
that which is sound and usable in the old. Our basic re- 
liance has been upon Almighty God. We have sought to 
do together all those things we have found could best be 
done together, and continued to do separately those 
things which we have found could best so be done. 

"Our friend Tom Evans, formerly of the University of 
Pennsylvania, now of the University of California at 
Los Angeles, to whose initiative at Pennsylvania years 
ago we owe much, has epitomized the values we all have 

108 



A SUMMARY LOOK 109 

in mind in these words : 'When religions cooperate, in- 
tolerance disappears, historic values are conserved, inter- 
faith appreciation begins, effective community service 
develops, true religion flourishes/ May I bear testimony 
to the spiritual enrichment which has come to all of us 
through fidelity to the inclusive and cooperative basis 
upon which we are organized. 

"The prophetic insights of the founder of this Univer- 
sity have guided us. I have always been interested in that 
statement of Mr. Cornell, when he said, 'I desire that this 
shall prove to be the beginning of an institution which 
shall furnish better means for culture of all men of every 
calling, of every aim, which shall make men more truth- 
ful, more honest, more virtuous, more noble, more manly, 
which shall give them higher purposes and more lofty 
aims, qualifying them to serve their fellow-men better, 
preparing them to serve society better, training them to 
be more useful in their relation to the state, and to better 
comprehend their higher and holier relations to their 
families and their God. It shall be our aim and constant 
effort to make true Christian men, without dwarfing or 
paring them down to fit the narrow gauge of any sect/ 
How times have changed since he wrote that final phrase! 
We dare to believe that we who have represented the 
churches at Cornell in these later years have helped to 
change them. We dare to believe that if Ezra Cornell 
could know of the breadth and generous sharing of the 
various church groups in our United Work, and their 
services to Cornell, this work would have his blessing. 

"We have rejoiced in the catholicity, the friendly in- 
clusiveness of Cornell University. We have loved the di- 
versity and the freedom of this place, its liberation from 
every bit of that compulsoriness in religion which has 
afflicted so many denominational colleges and universi- 
ties. The true alternative to compulsion in religious mat- 



110 COOPERATIVE RELIGION AT CORNELL UNIVERSITY 

ters is a real and effective freedom of choice based upon 
the student's own religious backgrounds as they are 
brought into a living foreground of personal interest and 
in living personal aspirations. It is still possible in some 
institutions to regiment students into external conform- 
ity to compulsory religious exercises, although it is never 
easy any more, thank God, to keep them there. On the 
other hand, it is a work of infinite patience in the modern 
university world to quicken the inner choices of free- 
minded young men and women and to develop those 
choices into a synthesis of effective religious effort. Not 
without mistakes, of course, yet freely cooperating, we 
have done our best to bring together independent and 
diverse groups. We are far from having achieved the 
ideal, but the wonder is that we have gotten as far as we 
have and found such a steadily widening area of common 
ground, mutual trust, and mutuality of effort. 

"1 am glad that we have not taken ourselves as seri- 
ously as some religious people are prone to do. Prayer 
and humor mix pretty well anywhere. I never forget 
three quick flashes in Staff meeting some years ago. May- 
nard Cassady, Associate Executive, with an Irish sound- 
ing name, said, 'I got a letter yesterday addressed to the 
Rev. Father Maynard Cassidy/ and handed it with a 
laugh to Father Cronin. Thereupon the Rabbi broke in: 
That's nothing, I got one addressed to Rabbi Isadore 
Hoffman, Secretary Cornell Young Men's Christian 
Association/ and then Father Cronin put in this one. 
'You're neither of you so hot. I have just had an invita- 
tion to a fraternity reception addressed to the Rev. and 
Mrs. Father J. T. Cronin.' After that, as I remember it, 
we all turned to and razzed the Methodists for a while, 
not omitting him who once had the bright red hair one 
of our favorite indoor sports. 

"The constituent and cooperating religious groups rep- 



A SUMMARY LOOK 111 

resenting various churches are basic in our type of or- 
ganization. Affiliation with some church or religious 
group has been acknowledged by upwards of ninety per 
cent of entering Cornell students for years. Our basis 
recognizes this fact and moves upon it. The basis is so- 
ciological rather than theological or philosophical, 
rightly so, as we see it. Far more than mere tolerance is 
involved in these relationships. There is required a per- 
sistent determination on the part of each of us to under- 
stand with sympathetic appreciation the point of view 
of other groups and to respect these differences even 
when we cannot individually agree with them, one 
might say especially when one can not agree with them. 
This attitude supplies both a discipline and a liberalizing 
power, a cultural richness which is essential in polyglot 
America today. It requires an achieved catholicity which 
alone can make one broad enough to welcome as citizen- 
friend every fellow traveler on life's road who has high 
convictions of his own and seeks to live by them. In union 
among men and women of high purpose there is strength. 
Mind fructifies mind. Spirits light up by contact with 
kindred spirits. Aspiration quickens aspiration. In the 
love of man and the love of God, in dedication to human 
need, and in commitment to the Eternal, however the 
Eternal be interpreted, there is discovered common 
ground for worthy beliefs about life, and for beautiful 
living. 

"Despite all false reports to the contrary, there are 
widely prevalent among undergraduates today deep de- 
sires for Tightness of life, high aspirations that reach 
away out beyond the superficial, the commercial, and the 
temporary, to the enduring values. In these high desires 
we all find common ground. It is a great thing in the be- 
wilderments of any modern university to help one an- 
other to choose the best we know, to love honor, to seek 



112 COOPERATIVE RELIGION AT CORNELL UNIVERSITY 

for goodness, beauty, and truth, to work for justice and 
the spirit of love in human affairs. For each, after the 
order of his own insights; for each, in his own tongue; 
to commit his life to these high ends, along with other 
fellow travelers this seems to some of us to be essen- 
tially religious. 

"Personally, I have been a New England Congrega- 
tionalist for some 300 years, and I rejoice in that heritage. 
I yield no whit of my allegiance to Jesus Christ My Lord, 
to the liberty, the beauty, and the life-giving power that 
are in Him. But if I did not respect and honor the age- 
old insights of my Jewish friends, their history, and their 
sacred writings and learn from them, as I sincerely do, I 
would be a meager Christian and a poor citizen of the 
Great Republic. If I did not respect and honor my Ro- 
man Catholic friends and the contributions the great 
mother church has made in human history, as I sincerely 
do, I would be a meager Christian and a poor citizen of 
the Great Republic. Furthermore, if I did not respect and 
honor the independence of my friends who feel they can- 
not in good conscience affiliate with any church, as I sin- 
cerely do, my faith in men would be less ample and my 
spirit of brotherhood less wide. I pray that the great 
tradition of inclusiveness shall characterize this work of 
ours to the very end. By it, in mutual confidence Catho- 
lics, Jews, Protestants, and Independents work together 
here and without challenge hold such positions of leader- 
ship as they personally merit at the hands of their fel- 
lows. This, as we interpret it, has come to be the Cornell 
spirit in religion, and it is gratifying in these later years 
to find this ecumenical spirit spreading throughout this 
nation, although the precise reverse of that spirit has 
smitten great nations in Europe and whole areas in the 
world's life. 

"We have been sharply criticized at times because 



A SUMMARY LOOK 113 

some of the more restless spirits among us have taken 
more radical social positions than others of us have 
taken or can hold. There was a moment when a powerful 
alumnus of the University wrote our treasurer in effect: 
'Get rid of that man or you get no contribution from 
me.' But our Board continued to back 'that man' and 
has backed other young men who were genuinely trying 
to work out their message for society in the mysterious 
puzzle of modern social problems. They accepted the loss 
of the contribution and others like it, but 'that man' came 
through to a powerful message in the Christian ministry. 
We think that was a Cornellian thing to do and essen- 
tially religious too. We would be meager Christians and 
poor Cornellians if we did not accord full civil liberties 
here. To counsel with and to stand by young men of 
courageous social idealism, to learn from them and to 
share with them, but especially to stand by them as men, 
whether or not we can agree with their conclusions, 
that is a function of high religion in university life. Only 
so shall we achieve the catholicity of spirit which char- 
acterized the founder of this University. Only so shall we 
meet the challenge of the new day in America and the 
world. Only so shall we understand the social courage of 
Jesus in His day and validate His courage in ourselves 
in our day. 

"During eighteen years it has been my privilege to 
serve under three presidents of this University and under 
my revered friend, Albert W. Smith, in his acting pres- 
idency. By far the longer service was under President 
Livingston Farrand. May I pay tribute to him for his 
great patience, for his wise counsel which we often 
needed, and for his unfailing support. Never once did he 
lay upon us the hand of authority nor deal with us re- 
pressively. This was true even when, in the processes by 
which young men were discovering themselves and their 



114 COOPERATIVE RELIGION AT CORNELL UNIVERSITY 

messages to modern life, statements were made by them 
with which he could not agree. But more than this, our 
work is profoundly obligated to him and through him 
to the Trustees of the University for generous support. 
We acknowledge that debt with gratitude, and we gladly 
acknowledge the debt we owe to the many loyal friends 
who have contributed to this work. 

"Only recently in New York City it was gratifying to 
learn that the national Student Christian Movement is 
beginning now a process of reorganization along lines 
essentially similar to those which we have been following 
here at Cornell. We dare to believe that our Cornell prec- 
edents may have been helpful in forwarding these na- 
tional developments. We dare to hope for the widespread 
adoption throughout the university world of the prin- 
ciples we have worked upon here. 

"We are deeply grateful for certain friends unable to 
be with us tonight. President Farrand, Prof. Burr, Prof. 
Jacoby, Bert Mann, Sam Spring, Bernard Recknagel, 
Paul Livermore, Roger H. Williams, Webb York, Dex- 
ter S. Kimball, John R. Mott, and many another much 
loved man, and remember with gratitude visiting speak- 
ers and Sage Chapel preachers, who have given great 
gifts to religion at Cornell. And there are many, many 
others, students, alumni, faculty, and friends, who have 
shared in this enterprise, to whom our thanks are due and 
given. Nor could I fail to express our undying gratitude 
to Martin Hardin, to Jared Newman, to Robert H. Tre- 
man, to C. E. Treman, and to many another wise coun- 
selor who has now gone to his reward. Yet perhaps most 
of all, we bring our gratitude to Minnie Williams, who 
for thirty-five years as our office secretary, gave her very 
life to this work and always in self-effacing ways did her 
best to keep the sometimes cantankerous Barnes Hall 
family in order. I could not overemphasize the devotion 



A SUMMARY LOOK 115 

to our common cause of the members of the Staff and 
their wives, and of the secretaries of the Women's Work, 
with whom it has been our privilege to be associated 
through these years. We leave the future with glad con- 
fidence under God to the succession of Cornell men and 
women who, in the days to come, shall carry on. May they 
maintain here that liberty which is so essential in univer- 
sity life liberty to think out freely their own convictions 
and messages for their own successive times. May it be 
given to them to maintain here essential spiritual unity 
as well as liberty. May there always be present here the 
laboratory spirit wherein seekers for truth follow the 
truth as they find it with fearless devotion and persistent 
openmindedness. And so may this work continue to be 
a seed bed of vital religion, not only in university life, 
but in the vaster common life of this nation and the 
world." 



APPENDIX 

Continuing the records of the years before 1919, careful 
minutes of the meetings of the Boards of Directors, Cabinets, 
and Student Joint Boards have been kept throughout the 
twenty years here reviewed. These have been supplemented 
by scrap-books of printed and mimeographed materials. Since 
1932 confidential minutes of the weekly Staff meetings have 
also been recorded and distributed immediately to all mem- 
bers, subject to revision at the following meeting. Many pos- 
sible misunderstandings have thereby been avoided. From 
these records the following Appendices have been selected. 
Other source materials can be seen at Barnes Hall by those 
interested in them for research purposes. 

A. An Early Statement of the "New Plan" 

The original statement of the proposed plan of united work, 
as submitted by Mr. Edwards to Mr. Livermore under date 
of April 3, 1919, was carefully discussed and its implications 
faced in the preliminary meetings referred to in the text. The 
following statement which incorporates the results of these 
discussions was then prepared under date of May 23 and 
became the initial written basis of the "New Plan/' 

May 23, 1919 
Mr. P. S. Livermore 
Ithaca, N.Y. 
My dear Paul: 

In response to your request I am happy to indicate in 
abbreviated form what appear to be the main points in the 
development of thought in connection with the future of 
the Cornell University Christian Association as shown in the 

117 



118 COOPERATIVE RELIGION AT CORNELL UNIVERSITY 

recent discussions by members of the Board and at the special 
conference with church leaders held at Ithaca on May 3rd. 
I can, of course, give you only a personal interpretation, sub- 
ject to further revision and adoption by the Board. 

In regard to the scope of the proposed activities, there is an 
unusual opportunity in Cornell for united Christian work so 
conceived and planned as to permeate university life as a 
whole. Significant opportunities here are recognized in con- 
nection with religious education in view of there being, aside 
from the Sage endowment, no large provision for religious 
education in the University curriculum; the presence of large 
numbers of foreign students; the opportunity of making 
Barnes Hall a social centre in view of the fact that there is 
no social union on the campus; special opportunities in ex- 
tension work in cooperation with the program of the College 
of Agriculture. In addition to these, there is the general 
opportunity for reaching large numbers of students with 
friendly counsel. The scope of the work should include, there- 
fore, comprehensive plans for meeting these and similar 
opportunities in the life of the University. 

It is felt that the goal of the united Christian forces here 
should be "such an adequate interpretation of the Christian 
religion before students and faculty members as to lead to a 
thoughtful realization of what Christianity requires in per- 
sonal and social life in America and throughout the world." 

The factors already helpfully at work upon the task are: 
the University chapel, the Men's and Women's Christian 
Associations, the Ithaca pastors, the special pastors for stu- 
dents. 

Essentials in an adequate program of Christian work would 
include the fullest possible development of personal friend- 
ship on the part of faculty members, students, and members 
of the staff, which staff will be later described. This effort 
would include the winning of men to the Christian life, the 
enrichment of their Christian experience, aid in self-support, 
in overcoming handicaps in their studies, in counsel upon 
moral problems, and guidance in their life work choices. 

It should include, second, voluntary study courses both in 



APPENDIX 119 

relation to the nature of the Christion religion itself and as 
applied to the problem of personal, campus, and community 
life both at home and abroad. 

It should include, third, a program of lively social activities 
in Barnes Hall, which should be developed as a University 
social centre, and provide attractive provisions for college 
singing, motion pictures, social parties, and a student canteen. 
This would require the remodeling and re-equipment of the 
building, especially the unused basement floor. These social 
activities should be conducted not merely to provide enter- 
tainment for students, but primarily to provide leadership for 
the development of their own social life. 

Fourth, to provide for an increase of extension activities 
both in connection with Ithaca churches and enterprises and 
in sending out of deputations of men to neighboring com- 
munities. Full cooperation would be given to the extension 
activities of the College of Agriculture, and especial attention 
to cooperation with churches in neighboring communities. 
Country pastors should be brought to Ithaca for Farmers' 
Week and on similar occasions. 

There would be required for this united work a staff of five 
or six men, all of whom would devote a considerable propor- 
tion of their time to personal relationships with students, and 
in this work each would care chiefly for the students of his 
denomination, working in close touch with the appropriate 
Ithaca church. In addition to this pastoral relationship each 
member of the staff would specialize upon one phase of the 
united program as indicated above. That is, upon first, the 
friendship relation; second, voluntary study; third, social 
activities; fourth, extension work. The fifth member of the 
staff, all of whose work would be interdenominational, to be 
an Executive with an assistant when needed. The staff as 
described above would include, so far as present negotiations 
have gone, the Methodist, Congregational, Presbyterian, and 
Baptist. The work as outlined above would not be upon an 
exclusive basis and the representatives of other communions 
would be encouraged to come in upon the full unified plan as 
indicated below. 



120 COOPERATIVE RELIGION AT CORNELL UNIVERSITY 

The supporting organizations for the united Christian work 
as described above has been conceived as follows: 

"There should be a Board of Directors of which the present 
Board of the Cornell University Christian Association should 
be the nucleus. This Board should be elected by student and 
faculty members of the reconstituted Cornell University 
Christian Association. This Board should be selected from 
students, alumni, friends, and faculty members of the Chris- 
tian Communions concerned. Those selected from the different 
Communions should be nominated only after personal con- 
sultation with the church leaders concerned, so as to represent 
unofficially but trustworthily the Christian Communions 
which may desire to enter into such a unified plan. The Chair- 
man of the Board and the Executive secretary should be the 
chief centralizing officers. Nominations for the staff as above 
described should be received from all sources by the Chairman 
of the Board of Directors. The final selection of the staff 
members rests with the Board of Directors, but it shall be 
the policy of the Board to consult fully before such election 

with the leaders of the Communions involved and, for the 
work which relates particularly to any Communion, to choose 
only such men as are acceptable to the leaders of that Com- 
munion. 

"The united work and program, including the pastoral care 
of students, is the joint enterprise of the Board of Directors 
and of the entire staff and this joint enterprise should be 
considered as representing each of the cooperating Commun- 
ions and should be so reported in the records of the work of 
each at Cornell University. 

"All salaries should be determined after consultation with 
the church leaders concerned; paid through the treasurer of 
the Board of Directors and be subject to determination by 
the Board." 

Other customary functions of the Board of Directors should 
be fulfilled by this Board. 

In discussions upon the above it has been generally under- 
stood that while the final election of the members of the staff 
rests with the Board of Directors the Board will not act in- 



APPENDIX 121 

dependency of denominational leaders in such choices, nor 
would denominational initiative be taken without full agree- 
ment and approval by the Board of Directors as described. 
In the openness of the plan to the representatives of other 
Communions than those indicated above, it has been the 
mood of the discussions thus far held that the fundamental 
Christian emphasis in the work should be in all respects 
thoroughly vigorous and fully loyal to the central verities of 
the Christian faith. 

The financial plans as developed thus far are indicated in 
the following: There should be a special Finance Committee 
of the Board of Directors, which should be responsible for 
securing the salaries of the members of the staff. These salary 
accounts should be confidential as between the Chairman of 
the Board, the Finance Committee, and the Executive Secre- 
tary. The salary budget should be raised among the alumni 
and friends of the University outside the students and faculty. 
The whole or parts of salaries should be contributed by the 
cooperating Communions. 

"At least four main types of accounts should be maintained: 

(1) Those of the Board of Directors relating to salaries; 

(2) Those relating to endowment or other special funds; 

(3) Those relating to the expenses of maintenance of the active 
operations involved in the work; (4) Benevolent funds of 
students and faculty given for such special enterprises as may 
be determined upon." 

Certain questions arise out of the above as urgent if these 
plans be approved. Among these are: the enlargement of the 
Board of Directors; aggressive plans on the part of the Board 
to seek out the necessary men for the staff; putting the staff 
to work at the earliest possible date; a finance campaign for 
the raising of necessary money, not only for salaries, but also 
for the proposed alterations in Barnes Hall. 

Faithfully yours, 
(Signed) Dick Edwards 



122 COOPERATIVE RELIGION AT CORNELL UNIVERSITY 

B. Personnel 1919-1939 

1. Student Presidents of C.U.C.A.-C.U.R.W. : 

1919-1920 Alexander B. Trowbridge, Jr. '20 

1920-1921 Rollin H. McCarthy '21 

1921-1922 Louis W. Voight '22 

1922-1923 Robert S. Millar '23 

1923-1924 Henry Chase Stone '24 

1924-1925 Whitney M. Trousdale '25 

1925-1926 K. W. Greenawalt '26 

and James D. Nobel '26 

1926-1927 Victor L Butterfield '27 

1927-1928 Samuel P. Mason '28 

1928-1929 Philip J. Stone '29 

1929-1930 J. H. Way '29 

and Samuel H. Levering '30 

1930-1931 Clarence H. Yarrow '31 

1931-1932 Jacob N. Blinkoff, Grad 

1932-1933 J. D. Porter '32 

1933-1934 L. N. Burbank '34 

1934-1935 J. J. Senesi '36 

1935-1936 Ward J. Fellows '36 

1936-1937 Edmund L. G. Zalinski '37 

1937-1938 Austin H. Kiplinger '39 

1938-1939 Benjamin R. Andrews, Jr. '40 

2. Chairmen of Student Joint Board C.U.R.W.: 

1933-1934 Mina Bellinger '34 

Edward MacVittie '36 

1934 (until November) Sally Weisbrodt '35 
1934-1936 George Davis, Grad. 
1936-1937 Marion Stevens '37 
1937-1938 Gordon Clack, Grad. 
1938-1939 Benjamin R, Andrews, Jr. '40 

3. Members of Board of Directors, C.U.C.A.-C.U.R.W. : 

1919-1920 P. S. Livermore, '97, Chairman; Prof. H. S. 
Jacoby, Treasurer; Dean A. R. Mann '04; 



APPENDIX 



123 



Hon. J. T. Newman '75; J. P. Harris '06; 
C. W. Whitehair; R. H. Edwards, Gen- 
eral Secretary, ex-officio. 

1920-1921 New: R. H. McCarthy '21, ex-officio; A. B. 
Trowbridge, Jr. '20. 

1921-1922 New: Rev. George R. Baker '95; R M. 
Coffin '12; Chief Judge Frank H. His- 
cock 75; Prof. O. L. McCaskill; Prof. 
E. E. Merritt '86; Dean V. A. Moore; 
Prof. A. B. Recknagel; Prof. R. P. Sib- 
ley; Prof. S. N. Spring; Thomas Tree; 
C. E. Treman '89; A. B. Trowbridge '90; 
L. W. Voight '22, ex-officio; R. 0. Walter 
'01; Prof. G. A. Works. 
Retired; McCarthy, A. B. Trowbridge, Jr., 
and Whitehair. 

1922-1923 New: R. S. Millar '23, ex-officio; E. T. 

Turner. 
Retired: Voight 

1923-1924 New: Prof. John Bentley, Jr.; Prof. R. H. 
Jordan; Prof. S. N. Spring, Treasurer; 
H. C. Stone '24, ex-officio. 
Retired: Jacoby, Tree, and Millar. 

1924-1925 New: J. T. Newman, Chairman; W. M. 

Trousdale '25, ex-officio. 
Retired: Moore and Stone. 

1925-1926 New: K. W. Greenawalt '26, ex-officio; J. D. 
Nobel '26, ex-officio. 
Retired: Trousdale. 

1926-1927 New: V. L. Butterfield '27. 

Retired : Greenawalt, McCaskill, and Nobel. 

1927-1928 New: S. P. Mason '28, ex-officio; Prof. W. 

M. Sawdon; Prof. L. P. Wilson. 
Retired: Butterfield. 

1928-1929 New: Prof. W. M. Sawdon '08, Chairman; 
Prof. R. P. Sibley, Vice-Chairman; Prof. 
E. G. Mead and P. J. Stone '29, ex- 
officio. 



124 COOPERATIVE RELIGION AT CORNELL UNIVERSITY 

Retired : Mason and Works. 

1929-1930 New: S. R. Levering '30, ex-officio; Prof. 

H. C. Troy; W. C. Geer; J. H. Way '29. 

Retired: Edwards, Harris, Mann, Mead, 

Stone, and Turner. 

(called the Board of Control, C.U.R.W.) 
1930-1931 New: L. C. Boochever '12; Prof. G. W. 
Cavanaugh '93; Prof. M. G. Fincher; 
C. H. Yarrow '31, ex-officio. 
Retired: Levering, Walter, and Way. 
1931-1932 New: J. N. Blinkoff '33, ex-officio. 

Retired: Treman and Yarrow. 
1932-1933 New: J. D. Porter '32, ex-officio. 

Retired: Blinkoff and Spring, 
(beginning of Joint Board of Control) 
1933-1934 Prof. W. M. Sawdon and Mrs. E. E. Mer- 

ritt, Co-Chairmen. 

New: Mrs. F. C. Biggs; Miss Ruth Buck- 
land '34, ex-officio; L. M. Burbank '34, 
ex-officio; Mrs. C. K. Burdick; Miss El- 
len Canfield; Dean R. Louise Fitch; Miss 
Ellen Fitchen; Mrs. O. G. Guerlac; Mrs. 
F. B. Morrison; Mrs. Carl Stephenson. 
Retired: E. E. Merritt, Porter. 
1934-1935 Prof. A. B. Recknagel, Chairman; Prof. R. 

H. Jordan, Vice-Chairman. 
New: Prof. Lincoln D. Kelsey; Prof. L. H. 
MacDaniels; Mrs. L. A. Maynard; J. J. 
Senesi '36, ex-officio; H. J. Shirey; Miss 
Woodward. 

Edith Trappe '35, ex-officio; Prof. J. L. 
Retired: Baker, Bentley, Buckland, Bur- 
bank, Fincher, Hiscock, Morrison, Sib- 
ley, A. B. Trowbridge. 

1935-1936 New: Prof. E. A. Burtt; George Davis, 
Grad, ex-officio; Ward Fellows '36, ex- 



APPENDIX 



125 



officio; Mrs. Charles Newman; Miss 
Grace Seely; Miss Catherine Stainken 
'36, ex-officio; Mr. A. B. Wray; Dr. 
Webb York. Prof. G. W. Cavanaugh, 
Vice-Chairman. 

Retired: Biggs, Canfield, Merritt, Senesi, 

Trappe, Wilson. 

1936-1937 New: Prof. L. S. Cottrell, Jr.; Mrs. E. R. 
Paige, Miss Eleanor Raynor '31, ex- 
officio; Miss Marion Stevens '37, ex- 
officio; E. L. Zalinski '37, ex-officio. 

Retired: Jordan, Davis, Fellows, Stainken, 
Sawdon, Newman, Troy, Fitch, May- 
nard, Stephenson. 

1937-1938 Prof. G. W. Cavanaugh, Chairman; Mrs. 
C. K. Burdick, Vice-Chairman; Mr. H. J. 
Shirey, Vice-Chairman. 

New: E. D. Button; Gordon Clack, Grad, 
ex-officio; Prof. G. E. Grantham; Prof. 
P. G. Johnson; A. H. Kiplinger '39, ex- 
officio; Miss Elizabeth Page '38, ex- 
officio; Mrs. L. D. Rockwood; Prof. H. E. 
Ross; Prof. E. S. Savage; Dr. D. F. 
Smiley, Mrs A. S. Wells; Mrs. G. J. 
Thompson. 

Retired: Cottrell, J. T. Newman, Raynor, 
MacDaniels, Stevens, Recknagel, York, 
Zalinski. 
1938-1939 Prof. Lincoln D. Kelsey, Chairman. 

New: Prof. Whiton Powell; Prof. J. W. 
MacDonald; Mrs. Dorothy Riddle; Ben- 
jamin R. Andrews, Jr., '40, ex-officio; 
Herman Hegyi '39, ex-officio; Janet 
Peters '39, ex-officio; Rose Quackenbush 
'39, ex-officio; Frank Seixas '39, ex- 
officio. 

Retired: Button, Cavanaugh, Clack, Cof- 



126 COOPERATIVE RELIGION AT CORNELL UNIVERSITY 

fin, Grantham, Johnson, Kiplinger, Liver- 
more, Page, Paige, Rockwood, Seely, 
Wray, Woodward. 
The Board of Control for the academic year 1938-39 was 

as follows: 

Prof. Lincoln D. Kelsey, Chairman; Benjamin R. Andrews, 
Jr. '40, ex-officio; L. C. Boochever; Mrs. C. K. Bur- 
dick; Prof. E. A. Burtt; Mrs. O. G. Guerlac; Herman 
Hegyi '39; Prof. J. W. MacDonald; Rev. J. A. G. 
Moore; Janet Peters '39; Prof. Whiton Powell; Rose 
Quackenbush '39; Mrs. Dorothy L. Riddle; Prof. H. 
E. Ross; Prof. E. S. Savage; Frank Seixas '39; H. J. 
Shirey; Dr. Dean F. Smiley; Mrs. G. J. Thompson; 
Mrs. A. S. Wells. 



4. Staff: 

1919-1920 



1920-1921 
1921-1922 



1922-1923 
1923-1924 



1924-1925 
1925-1926 



1926-1927 
1927-1928 

1928-1929 



R. H. Edwards, Executive; J. D. W. Fetter, 

Baptist; J. A. G. Moore, Congregational; 

H. A. Moran, Presbyterian; Miss M. E. 

Peabody, Coffee House and Employment; 

Evans A. Worthley, Methodist. 
New: Cyril Harris, Episcopal. 
New: E. P. Tuttle, Business Secretary part 

time; Henry W. Bock, Methodist. 
Retired: Worthley. 

no change 

New: G. E. Durham, Methodist; A. B. 

Trowbridge, Jr., Associate. 
Retired: Bock and Tuttle. 
New: R. S. Nanz, Episcopal. 
Retired: Harris. 
New: M. L. Entorf, Acting Presbyterian; 

Frank Lambert, Episcopal. 
Retired: Nanz. 

Retired: Entorf and Peabody. 
New: T. P. Carpenter, Associate. 
Retired: Trowbridge. 
no change. 



APPENDIX 



127 



1929-1930 New: M. L. Cassady, Associate; Isadore 
Hoffman, Jewish; J. T. Cronin, Roman 
Catholic. 
Retired: Carpenter. 

1930-1931 no change 

193 1-1932 New : L. A. Tompkins, Jr. '25, Associate; Leo 
Smith, Roman Catholic, Mrs. Julia Geth- 
man Andrews, Y.W.C.A. 
Retired: Cassady and Cronin. 
1932-1933 New: G. B. Fischer, Roman Catholic 

Retired: Smith. 
1933-1934 New: S. R. Levering, Friends; L. T. Pen- 

nington, Unitarian. 

1934-1935 New: Sarah Neblett, Women's Work; Ken- 
neth Kline, Associate; Maurice Pekarsky, 
Jewish; J. W. Brill, Roman Catholic. 
Retired: Andrews, Tompkins, Levering, 
Hoffman, and Fischer. 

1935-1936 no change. 

1936-1937 New: D. M. Cleary, Roman Catholic; R. 
E. Charles, Episcopal; Abbot Peterson, 
Jr., Unitarian. 

Retired: Brill, Pennington, and Lambert 
1937-1938 New: J. A. G. Moore, Acting Executive 
after November 1 ; Miss Ruth Morrison, 
Women's Work; R. L. James, Acting Con- 
gregational; Ephraim Fischoff, Jewish. 
Retired: Edwards (November 1), Neblett, 

Kline, and Pekarsky. 
1938-1939 New: E. R. Miller, Men's Work; Judson 

Stent, Acting Congregational. 
Retired: James. 
Associate Executives: 

1921-1923 Elbert P. Turtle (part time) 
1926-1927 A. B. Trowbridge, Jr. 
1927-1929 T. P. Carpenter 
1929-1931 Maynard L. Cassady. 



128 COOPERATIVE RELIGION AT CORNELL UNIVERSITY 

1931-1934 L. A. Tompkins, Jr., '25 

1934-1937 Kenneth S. Kline 

1937-1939 Ruth M. Morrison 

1938-1939 Edward R. Miller 

5. C.U.C.A. Secretaries previous to 1919: 
1888-1889 R. S. Miller, Jr., '88 
1889-1890 

L. H. Galbreath '90 

Henry Floy '91 

J. M. Gorham '92 



1890-1891 

1891-1892 

1892-1893 

1893-1894 

1894-1895 

1895-1896 

1896-1897 

1897-1898 

1898-1899 

1899-1900 

1900-1901 

1901-1902 

1902-1903 

1903-1904 

1904-1905 

1905-1906 

1906-1907 

1907-1908 

1908-1909 

1909-1910 

1910-1911 

1911-1912 

1912-1913 

1913-1914 



F.N.Loveland'94 

Henry Wade Hicks 




Lee F. Hanmer 
it 

Horace W. Rose 
B. R. Andrews '01 
S. Edward Rose '98 
Ralph Sherlock Kent * 
Graham Creighton Patterson '04 

Arthur L. Thayer 


Earl Hewes Kelsey '05 
Dean Lewis Kelsey '08 



Austin Patterson Evans '10 
Charles Price Davis 

McRea Parker (Acting Gen. Sec.) Was also 
student president. 



* S. Edward Rose served for a few months in fall of 
1902. Then Paul Blakeslee Mann was appointed, 
but resigned in March of 1903 because of ill health. 
Ralph Kent served the rest of 1903-04. 



1914-1915 
1915-1916 
1916-1917 
1917-1918 



APPENDIX 

Charles W. Whitehair 



129 



" (During war, absent on leave. 

J. D. W. Fetter, Acting Sec.) 
Associate Secretaries before 1919: 

1911-1912 I rvin Torrence Francis 
1915-1916 Joseph Kissam Inness 
1916-1917 DanE.Welty 

6. Supplementary Staff: 

Employment: Miss M. E. Peabody 1919-1926, Mrs. 

L. C. Edmond 1926-1931, Mrs. L. A. 

Fuertes 1931-1939. 

Library: Mrs. Walter D. Perry 1929-1939. 

Office: Miss M. E. Williams 1906-1937, assisted 

by: Miss Anne Ryan (Mrs. Donald 

Exner), Miss Mary Ryan (Mrs. 

Harry Higgins), Mrs. Charles Quaint- 

ance, and others. 

7. Y.W.C.A. Presidents: 

1919-1920 Helen Huie '20 

1920-1921 Agnes Hall '21 

1921-1922 Evelyn N. Davis '22 

1922-1923 Helen Gsand '23 

1923-1924 Hannal Lyons '24 

1924-1925 Ernestine Marksbury '25 

1925-1926 Katharine Jacobs '26 

1926-1927 Alexandra Hobart '27 

1927-1928 Helen Worden '28 

1928-1929 Ruth E. Uetz '29 

1929-1930 Jean E. Randall '30 

1930-1931 H. Delight McAlpine '31 

1931-1932 Alice Avery '32 

1932-1933 Harriet Davidson '33 

1933-1934 Hannah Wray '34 

1934-1935 Edith Trappe '35 



130 COOPERATIVE RELIGION AT CORNELL UNIVERSITY 

1935-1936 Catharine H. Stainken '36 

1936-1937 Eleanor Raynor '37 

1937-1938 Elizabeth Page '38 

1938-1939 Virginia Bennett '39 

8. General Secretaries, Y.W.C.A.: 

1919-1923 Lois Curtis Osborn '16 

1924-1926 Doris Hopkins '24 

1926-1927 Virginia Franke 

1927-1928 Mary Edda Coy 

1928-1930 Mary E. Rail 

1930-1931 Louise S. Cassady 

1932-1934 Mrs. Julia Gethman Andrews 

1934-1937 Sarah Neblett 

1937-1939 Ruth M. Morrison 

9. Advisory Boards, Y.W.C.A.: 

1920-1921 Mrs. Frank Thilly, Chairman 

Miss Mary Hull, Secretary 

Miss Ellen Canfield, Treasurer 

Dr. Georgia White 

Miss Blanche Hazard 

Miss Cecilia Law 

Mrs. A. R. Mann 

Mrs. W. L. Williams 

Mrs. A. Wright 

Mrs. Raymond Ware 

Miss Lois C. Osborn, ex-officio 
1921-1922 Mrs. Frank Thilly, Chairman 

Miss Mary Hull, Secretary 

Miss Ellen Canfield, Treasurer 

Dr. Georgia White 

Miss Blanche Hazard 

Miss Cecilia Law 

Mrs. A. R. Mann 

Miss Grace Seely 

Mrs. A. Wright 



APPENDIX 

Mrs. Raymond Ware 

Miss Lois C. Osborn, ex-officio 
1923-1924 Mrs. Frank Thilly, Chairman 

Miss Mary Hull, Secretary 

Miss Ellen Canfield, Treasurer 

Dr. Georgia White 

Miss Cecilia Law 

Mrs. A. R. Mann 

Miss Grace Seely 

Mrs. A. Wright 

Mrs. Raymond Ware 

Mrs. W. F. Williams 

Miss Claribelle Nye 
1924-1925 Mrs. Raymond Ware, Chairman 

Miss Grace Seely, Vice-Chairman 

Miss Elizabeth Neely, Secretary 

Miss Ellen Canfield, Treasurer 

Mrs. Frank Thilly 

Mrs. W. F. Willcox 

Miss Mary Hull 

Mrs. Buel Trowbridge 

Mrs. M. G. Fincher 
1925-1926 Miss Grace Seely, Chairman 

Miss Elizabeth Neely, Secretary 

Miss Ellen Canfield, Treasurer 

Mrs. Frank Thilly 

Mrs. W. F. Willcox 

Miss Mary Hull 

Mrs. Buel Trowbridge 

Mrs. M. G. Fincher 
1926-1927 Miss Grace Seely, Chairman 

Miss Elizabeth Neely, Secretary 

Miss Ellen Canfield, Treasurer 

Mrs. Frank Thilly 

Mrs. W. F. Willcox 

Miss Mary Hull 

Mrs. Buel Trowbridge 



131 



132 COOPERATIVE RELIGION AT CORNELL UNIVERSITY 

Mrs. M. G. Fincher 
1927-1928 Miss Anna Whitwell, Chairman 

Mrs. A. R. Mann, Secretary 

Miss Ellen Canfield, Treasurer 

Mrs. Charles H. Blood 

Mrs. R. H. Edwards 

Mrs. Martin D. Hardin 

Miss Grace Seely 

Mrs. A. B. Trowbridge, Jr. 

Dean R. Louise Fitch, ex-officio 
1928-1929 Miss Anna Whitwell, Chairman 

Miss Ruth Davis, Secretary 

Miss Ellen Canfield, Treasurer 

Mrs. Charles H. Blood 

Mrs. T. R. Carpenter 

Mrs. R. H. Edwards 

Mrs. Martin D. Hardin 

Miss Grace Seely 

Mrs. M. G. Fincher 

Dean R. Louise Fitch, ex-officio 
1929-1930 Miss Anna Whitwell, Chairman 

Miss Ruth Davis, Secretary 

Miss Ellen Canfield, Treasurer 

Mrs. Charles H. Blood 

Mrs. R. H. Edwards 

Mrs. Martin D. Hardin 

Miss Grace Seely 

Mrs. J. L. Woodward 

Mrs. Webb York 

Dean R. Louise Fitch, ex-officio 
1930-1931 Miss Anna Whitwell, Chairman 

Miss Ruth Davis, Secretary 

Miss Ellen Canfield, Treasurer 

Mrs. Charles H. Blood 

Mrs. F. M. Coffin 

Mrs. Martin D. Hardin 

Miss Grace Seely 



APPENDIX 133 

Mrs. J. L. Woodward 

Dean R. Louise Fitch, ex-officio 
1931-1932 Mrs. J. L. Woodward, Chairman 

Miss Ruth Davis, Secretary 

Miss Ellen Canfield, Treasurer 

Mrs. Charles H. Blood 

Mrs. C. K. Burdick 

Mrs. F. M. Coffin 

Mrs. Martin D. Hardin 

Miss Grace Seely 

Miss Anna Whitwell 

Dean R. Louise Fitch, ex-officio 
1932-1933 Miss Anna Whitwell, Chairman 

Mrs. F. M. Coffin, Vice-Chairman 

Mrs. C. K. Burdick, Secretary 

Miss Ellen Canfield, Treasurer 

Miss Ellen Fitchen 

Mrs. O. F. Guerlac 

Mrs. Ernest Merritt 

Mrs. W. H. Morrison 

Miss Grace Seely 

Dean R. Louise Fitch, ex-officio 

Following 1933 through 1937-38 the Women's Division of 
the C.U.R.W. Board of Control became successor of the 
Y.W.C.A. Board. The names of members are given in the list 
of C.U.RW. Directors. 

C 1. CONSTITUTION OF THE CORNELL UNITED 

RELIGIOUS WORK 

(Revision of May 26, 1938) 
PREAMBLE 

The C.U.R.W. derives its power to conduct religious work 
at Cornell under this constitution from the Board of Trustees 
of the Christian Association of Cornell University, a member- 
ship corporation incorporated January 17, 1887. 



134 COOPERATIVE RELIGION AT CORNELL UNIVERSITY 

ARTICLE I NAME AND PURPOSE 

Section 1 Name 

The name of this voluntary organization shall be the 
Cornell United Religious Work. 
Section 2 Purpose 

The purpose of this organization shall be to promote and 
strengthen the religious, intellectual, social, and moral life of 
the students of the University. 

ARTICLE II MEMBERSHIP 

Section 1 Membership in the C.U.R.W. is open to any 
member of the Cornell University Community. 

Section 2 Any eligible person who participates in the 
activities of the C.U.R.W., either through the Constituent 
Church Groups, the Non-Constituent Church Groups, or the 
Campus Religious Groups, or otherwise supports the work 
may be considered a member of the C.U.R.W. 

Section 3 Any eligible person who participates in the pro- 
gram of the C.U.R.W. and indicates the desire for membership 
by signing a membership card or who supports the program 
of the C.U.R.W. by making a voluntary financial contribu- 
tion, either directly or through a group represented on the 
Student Board, is entitled to vote. A list of such contributors 
and signatures must be compiled at least four weeks prior to 
the Annual Meeting of the C.U.R.W. 

Section 4 Any question arising as to membership or eligi- 
bility thereto shall be decided by the Board of Control. 

ARTICLE III DEFINITIONS 

A Constituent Church Group shall be any religious group 
which supplies a member of the Staff of the C.U.R.W; 

A Non-Constituent Church Group shall be a church group 
which desires representation on the Student Board, but does 
not furnish a member of the Staff. 

A Campus Religious Group shall be an organized religious 
group of students participating in and promoting the purpose 
and program of the C.U.R.W. 



APPENDIX 135 

The Cornell University Community shall be defined as that 
body of persons associated with the University and its or- 
ganizations at any time. 

ARTICLE IV BOARD OF CONTROL 

Section I Composition 

Supervision of the Cornell United Religious Work shall be 
vested in a Board of Control composed as follows: four stu- 
dent members from the Student Board, two of whom shall be 
women and two, men; fifteen non-student members, one from 
each Constituent Church Group and the rest at large, at least 
five of whom shall be women and at least five of whom shall 
be men; the Executive Director, ex-officio, with vote, and the 
Chairman of the Student Board, ex-officio, with vote. 
Section 2 Organisation 

The Board of Control shall elect a Chairman, a Vice-Chair- 
man, a Secretary, and a Treasurer. These officers, who shall 
also be the officers of the C.U.R.W., together with the Execu- 
tive Director, shall constitute the Executive Commitee of the 
Board of Control. 

Standing committees of the Board of Control shall include 
a Finance Committee and a Nominating Committee. 
Section 3 'Nomination and Election 

Nominations for the student members of the Board of Con- 
trol shall be made by the Student Board. Nominations for 
members at large shall be made by the Nominating Committee 
of the Board of Control. Nominations may also be made for 
student members and members at large by petition signed by 
ten members of the C.U.R.W. and submitted to the Nomi- 
nating Committee. Nominations for members representing the 
Constituent Church Groups shall be made by each such group 
after consultation with the Nominating Committee of the 
Board of Control. Each Constituent Church Group may sub- 
mit a slate of one or more nominees, only one of which shall 
be elected. 

All nominations shall be posted on the official bulletin board 
in Barnes Hall at least three days before the elections. 

Election of members to the Board of Control shall be by 



136 COOPERATIVE RELIGION AT CORNELL UNIVERSITY 

the membership of the C.U.R.W. at the Annual Meeting. The 
method of election shall be as described in the By-laws. 

Non-student members shall be elected for terms of three 
years, the terms of one third of the members expiring each 
year. Non-student members shall not serve for more than 
two consecutive terms. Student members shall be elected for 
a term of one year. Members of the Board of Control shall 
take office immediately upon election. 

ARTICLE V STUDENT BOARD 

Section 1 Composition 

There shall be a Student Board composed of the following 
persons : two representatives, one man and one woman, from 
each Constituent Church Group, and from each Non-Con- 
stituent Church Group which desires such representation; the 
chairman and one other representative of each Campus Re- 
ligious Group; such chairmen of projects as shall be deter- 
mined by the Executive Committee of the Student Board; 
two members of the Board of Control, elected by the Student 
Board, sitting without vote; and the Staff ex-officio, without 
vote. 

Eligibility of any group to representation on the Student 
Board shall be determined by the Student Board, subject to 
review by the Board of Control. 
Section 2 Organisation 

The Student Board shall elect a Chairman and a Secretary 
and such other officers as it deems necessary. The Chairman, 
the Secretary, the Executive Director of the C.U.R.W., and 
one man and one woman elected from the Student Board 
shall constitute the Executive Committee of the Student 
Board. 
Section 3 Election 

Members of the Student Board shall be elected by their 
constituencies, except as otherwise stated above, and shall 
take office upon election. Elections shall take place not later 
than the third week in April. The term of office of each mem- 
ber shall be one year. 



APPENDIX 137 

ARTICLE VI STAFF 

There shall be an Executive Director of the C.U.R.W. who 
shall be responsible for the general direction of the work of 
the C.U.R.W., who shall maintain relations with the Univer- 
sity, administer Barnes Hall, and act as Chairman of the Staff. 
This person shall be nominated and elected by the Board of 
Control of C.U.R.W. 

There shall be two members of the Staff, a man and a 
woman, who shall be primarily responsible for the program 
relating to men and to women respectively, and shall also 
direct a phase of the United Work. These members shall be 
nominated and elected by the Board of Control. 

There shall also be a member of the Staff for each Con- 
stituent Church Group who shall direct a phase of the United 
Work. Such members shall be nominated to the Board of Con- 
trol by that member of the Board of Control who represents 
that Constituent Church Group, and elected by the Board of 
Control. 

ARTICLE VII FINANCE 

Supervision of the finances of the C.U.R.W. shall be vested 
in the Finance Committee of the Board of Control. It shall 
prepare and submit to the Board of Control for approval the 
annual budget of the C.U.R.W.; it shall supervise the securing 
of funds for the work; and it shall provide for the annual 
auditing of the books. 

Each group participating in the C.U.R.W. program shall 
contribute financially to the C.U.R.W. according to the meas- 
ure of the ability of the group. In the preparation of the bud- 
get each group shall be consulted as to the amount for which 
they assume responsibility. All matters relating to such con- 
tribution shall be within the jurisdiction of the Finance Com- 
mittee. 

ARTICLE VIII ANNUAL MEETING 

There shall be an Annual Meeting of the members of the 
C.U.R.W. within the first two weeks in May. Notice of such 



138 COOPERATIVE RELIGION AT CORNELL UNIVERSITY 

meeting must be transmitted to the Cornell Daily Sun for 
publication one week in advance, and posted on the official 
bulletin board in Barnes Hall. 

ARTICLE IX AMENDMENTS 

This Constitution may be amended by a two-thirds vote of 
those present at the Annual Meeting of the C.U.R.W., or by 
a two-thirds vote of the members present at a special meeting 
of the C.U.R.W. One week's notice of such meeting, including 
proposed amendments, shall be posted on the official bulletin 
board in Barnes Hall, and notice of such meeting transmitted 
to the Cornell Daily Sun for publication. 

ENACTMENT CLAUSE 

This constitution shall be in effect on October 1, 1938, after 
its ratification by two-thirds of the members of the C.U.R.W. 
present at the Annual Meeting. 

2. Constitution of the Christian Association of Cornell Uni- 
versity (Revision adopted May 25, 1939) 

ARTICLE I 

Section IName 

The name of this Association shall be "The Christian Asso- 
ciation of Cornell University," in accordance with the certifi- 
cate of incorporation of this Association, dated January 17, 
1887. 
Section 2 Purpose 

The object of this Association shall be to promote and 
strengthen the religious, intellectual, social, and moral life of 
the students of the University. 
Section 3 Membership 

Membership in this Association shall include any person 
who fulfills the condition of membership as specified in Article 
II, Sections 1, 2, and 3 of the Constitution of the Cornell 
United Religious Work as adopted May 21, 1938. 

Any questions arising as to membership or eligibility 



APPENDIX 139 

thereto shall be decided by the Board of Trustees of the 
C.A.C.U. 

ARTICLE II OFFICERS 

Section 1 Trustees 

The governing body of this Association shall be a Board of 
Trustees composed of fifteen members. These fifteen members 
shall be the same as the non-student members of the Board 
of Control of the Cornell United Religious Work, and shall 
be elected in accordance with the provisions of Article IV, 
Section 3, of the Constitution of the C.U.R.W. adopted May 
21, 1938. 
Section 2 

The annual meeting for the election of Trustees shall be 
held at the same time and place as the annual meeting of the 
members of the Cornell United Religious Work, at the call 
of the chairman of the Board. Vacancies in the Board shall be 
filled by the Board until the next annual meeting of the Asso- 
ciation; Trustees for the remainder of any unexpired term 
shall be elected by the members of the Association at the 
annual meeting. 
Section 3 

The officers of the Board of Trustees shall consist of a 
chairman, a vice-chairman, a secretary, and a treasurer who 
shall be the same as the corresponding officers of the Board 
of Control of the C.U.R.W. The officers of the Board of 
Trustees shall be the officers of the C.A.C.U. 
Section 4 

The Board of Trustees of this Association has been author- 
ized by the Trustees of Cornell University to conduct re- 
ligious work at Cornell as carried on through Barnes Hall in 
accordance with the resolutions adopted by the Trustees of 
Cornell University, dated October 26, 1887, and May 23, 1889. 

The Board of Trustees of this Association may in turn 
delegate in whole or in part the conduct of religious work at 
Cornell to the Board of Control of the C.U.R.W., which shall 
carry respectively the responsibilities hitherto borne by the 
Board of Directors of the Y.W.C.A. of Cornell University and 



140 COOPERATIVE RELIGION AT CORNELL UNIVERSITY 

the Board of Directors (for men's work) of the Cornell Uni- 
versity Christian Association. 

Title to Barnes Hall is vested in Cornell University, but 
its use and occupancy have been delegated by the Board of 
Trustees of Cornell University to the Trustees of this Asso- 
ciation by resolution, dated May 23, 1889; such use and oc- 
cupancy, however, are subject to the approval of the Trustees 
of Cornell University. 

The Board of Trustees of this Association is and shall be 
hereafter vested with the legal title to all property now be- 
longing to the Association or that may hereafter be acquired. 

It also may delegate portions of the management and con- 
trol of property and funds to the Board of Control of the 
C.U.R.W. The powers so delegated may be revoked at any 
time by the Trustees of this Association. 

ARTICLE III 

Section 1 Amendments 

This Constitution may be amended by a % vote of those 
present at the annual meeting of this Association, or by a % 
vote of the members present at any special meeting of this 
Association called for that purpose. One week's notice of such 
meeting including the proposed amendment shall be posted 
in Barnes Hall. 

3. Organization Chart, (See opposite page) 




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IN MEMORIAM: MISS MINNIE WILLIAMS 

Office Secretary C.U.C.A.-C.U.R.W. 
1906-1937 

/ know a point on a country road, a point at which the 
eye of the traveller rises from the nearer view, follows 
down a fair valley to the slopes of the hills at the end of 
it, then up to the heights of the higher hills and on be- 
yond the horizon line to the limitless reaches of the sky. 
Now and again in the journey we come to a point like 
that when the haste of the nearby days gives way and 
we see far out beyond them. Perspective comes as we 
glimpse the whole of the valley, the shining river, the 
nearer hills, the farther hills, and the infinite spaces of the 
sky. Such a point is this brief hour when the sense of the 
Eternal lays its hand upon the present and bids us pause. 
With dramatic suddenness, we have been brought face to 
face with the Eternal once again in the presence of the 
holy dignity of death. 

Some of us who have been moving along through many 
years together in Cornell's United Religious Work are 
now doubly faced with a day of transition. For thirty- 
one years Minnie Williams has been at the very center 
of our work. For eighteen years it has been my privilege 
to share in that work with her. Eighteen years is a long 
enough time to come to a fairly clear understanding of 
another person, especially if you spend some part of 
every working day in the confidential relationship which 
is possible only with one who transcribes and communi- 
cates your messages and hopes as well as business mat- 



ters. In all the years, Minnie Williams never once by 
word or sign broke that confidence, nor so far as I know, 
any other confidence ever entrusted to her. She knew 
how to keep silence in more than one language. The 
word my mind has been turning to all these last days as 
the word for her is probity, provenness, absolute probity, 
that's the word. Loyal, courageous and cheerful, even in 
the midst of suffering, she and her work were so struc- 
turally sound, so utterly honest that probity is the one 
most satisfying word I find for her. So pervasive was the 
influence of the quality of her life that some of us who 
have worked with her wonder, as we refiect upon it, how 
much of whatever stability we may have is hers rather 
than our own. 

I have recently been in process of writing a report 
upon these eighteen years of development in united reli- 
gious efforts and understandings at Cornell. Being deeply 
aware of Miss Williams' manifold contributions to our 
work, I wrote for it sometime ago, never dreaming of 
such a day as this, an inscription: "This report is in- 
scribed to Miss Minnie Williams who through thirty-one 
years of devoted service as office secretary has supplied 
a stabilising continuity to the work of the C.U.C.A.- 
C.U.R.W." I had planned to keep this inscription secret 
as a surprise for her until the report should finally ap- 
pear, but last Thursday when I returned to the city, went 
to her home and found her so much more ill than we had 
realised, I could not refrain from telling it to her. With 
a smile and with her characteristic modesty she said, 
"You mustn't do that!" "Why not?" I replied, "You are 
the one person in the world for us to inscribe it to for you 
have been at the heart of this work all these years." I am 
sure we shall all be glad to remember that she had this 
fresh assurance of the gratitude, esteem and love we have 
all felt for her, before the coming of the end the end 
which came so suddenly. 



My memory has been running back to some lines in the 
German language I found years ago inscribed to a woman 
who had gone to her reward. These are the words as I 
remember them: 

"Ihr schones thathenreiches Leben 
Ihr treues gutes Mutterhert% 
War uns ein Gluck von Gott gegeben 
Er %og es wieder himmelwarts" 

"Thathenreiches" rich in deeds that word also epito- 
mi^es Minnie Williams' life and when you stop to catch 
perspective on eternal values, you sense the high, stern 
featured beauty of her devotedness to duty. 

When in the years to come we think of her, we shall 
hear her say very quietly and by her deeds rather than 
in words "go right on with your work, do your duty, do 
your duty." Very modestly but bravely and beautifully 
she will be saying to us, whenever wayward moods are 
upon us, or dark clouds gather over us, "go right straight 
on and do your duty." In the midst of a whirling, shifting 
world; in the midst of so much shiftiness in people, that 
is a word the world needs more perhaps than any other 
word. 

Where lie the sources of power in such a life? Well we 
have learned through the inclusiveness of our work on 
the hill that sources of power for noble living are more 
varied than we had realised. We who come to pay our 
tribute here today acknowledge many and varied sources 
of sustenance for the life of the spirit within our inmost 
souls. We have learned to say to one another, "To each 
his own faith and order" and to pray that for every human 
soul a light shall burn through the dark, a beckoning far 
light on the hills, a light that leads on through the valley; 
light to walk by when the little days are thick about our 
feet. We know where Minnie Williams found the sources 



of power that sustained her in loneliness and suffering 
and the steady fulfillment of her duty. We know she 
found them largely in this Church in which she worked 
and worshipped with such loyalty. She found them in 
the ancient wellsprings of the Christian faith, in the 
Scriptures which have quickened so many human hearts 
through all the history of Christendom. There was no 
vagueness about her sources of vitality. She believed in 
Jesus. He was to her Lord of Life and Saviour. She was 
as stable in faith as in life and wavered not by day nor 
night in either. Yet the message of her faith to us is filled 
with tolerance and a deep understanding. "Whatever your 
faith or order, do not let yourself live superficially," she 
says, "do not let yourself be trapped in the hurry of the 
little days." 

"Live deep down and high up spaciously so that you 
may be at home with all those who suffer in the deep 
valleys and at home with all those who walk upon radiant 
heights." 

We bring our tribute here today with unspeakable 
gratitude to her whom we both mourn and honor. Her 
years of influence upon us have been like this moment 
in which, at a point in the story of our life, we pause in 
reverent silence to look far down the valley, and see the 
glistening, living water that flows through it, the nearer 
and the farther hills and then beyond all earthly things 
the infinite reaches of the sky. 

Richard Henry Edwards 
State Street Methodist Church 
11 o'clock 

Wednesday morning 
December 22 
1937 



2- 8557 



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