St. Augustine's College
Diocesan Press Service. November 7, 1966 [48-4]
One does not have to remain long on the campus of the 99-year old St. Augustine's College, Raleigh, N. C., to realize that something important is going on.
Arthur Ben Chitty, president of the Association of Episcopal Colleges, describes the scene: "There is the quality of singing in the air without audible tunes. The students and teachers are friendly -- a big family. There is an atmosphere of striving, of trying to do a lot with a little. The buildings, a score of them, look rather good, but not like Princeton's.
"Queries fail to reveal statistical confirmation of what one senses is true, namely that this institution wages a battle -- slowly being won -- against neatly all the handicaps that education is heir to."
This small college, which has an enrollment of 900 for the 1966-1967 academic year, was made possible by the legacy of a Methodist minister, and became the principal thrust of the Episcopal Church for work among Negroes in the South following the Civil War. Chartered at Raleigh in July, 1867, St. Augustine's College received its first four students Jan. 13, 1868.
As it celebrates its 100th anniversary this academic year with a series of outstanding lectures, seminars and concerts, and a formal convocation on Feb. 5, 1967, the college can look back on a history of struggle and strength and to a future of excellence.
In 1866 the General Convention of the Episcopal Church named the Rev. J. Brinton Smith, then rector of St. Matthew's Church, Jersey City, N. J., and head of an industrial school for children of the poor, as executive director of the Freedmen's Commission of the Episcopal Church. With limited funds at hand, Mr. Smith concluded that education of former slaves, then perhaps 95 per cent illiterate, was of first importance and to this end Negro teachers would be necessary. The church could best concentrate its efforts, he felt, on teacher education of Negro men and women because the supply of white teachers would not be sufficient.
The Commission incorporated his ideas with its own and the next decade saw not only the establishing of St. Augustine's but also the sending into southern dioceses of about 60 teachers who taught as many as 4, 000 Negro students at one time. Progress continued and in 1925 the first class of six graduated from the newly opened junior college. Enrollment at St. Augustine's exceeded 500 and the President, the Rev. Edgar Henry Goold, announced plans for a four-year college. That same year the Bishop Tuttle School for religious and social workers was opened. Although it closed in 1941, the Bishop Tuttle School made an important contribution to the life of the institution, awarding 60 diplomas in 16 years, most of them to students who had entered as college graduates.
By 1928 "College" was formally added to St. Augustine's name; in 1930 it received a Class I rating from the American Medical Association for the premedicine course; in 1931 the first 12 bachelor of arts degrees were given; and finally in 1934 came accreditation from the Southern Association of Schools and Colleges.
The first Negro president of St. Augustine's, Dr. Harold L. Trigg, was elected in 1947. The Trigg administration saw vast changes at the College with funds coming from the United Negro College Fund; the General Education Board; Episcopal Advance Fund; National Council; Danforth Foundation and National Science Foundation.
"Today," Dr. James A. Boyer, son of the first dean, teacher, dean and now recently retired as president of St. Augustine's, said, "the majority of our graduates (48 men and 109 women in 1965) go into teaching. North Carolina now produces more Negro teachers than it can use. We want to increase the percentage of our graduates going into other fields so that, as supervisory-level opportunities open for them in industry, St. Augustine's alumni will be ready. Dr. Boyer attributes the high ratio of women to men graduates to the fact that the Negro has had a matriarchal society since slavery days.
About 65 per cent of the college's graduates enter the teaching profession; 20 per cent go into government service, industry, public and private social service; and the remaining 15 per cent directly to graduate and professional schools on graduation. It is significant that more than 33 per cent of all Negro priests in the Episcopal Church are graduates of or attended St. Augustine's and the institution has provided preprofessional training to a large number of physicians, dentists, lawyers and social workers.
St. Augustine's is, statistically, one of the lesser Episcopal colleges. Of the $65 million endowment held by all of the eight, St. Augustine's owns but $500,000.
The years following World War II have brought a period of both self-examination and growth to St. Augustine's. Within the last year the liberal arts curriculum has been vastly strengthened and the teacher-education curricula revised to conform to the program approved by the North Carolina State Department of Public Instruction. As a result, content courses for teachers are being given greater emphasis than methods courses. In addition, course work in the humanities has been added and foreign languages are being promoted.
A two-year secretarial science program, designed to meet the needs of those students wanting to prepare for positions as clerk-typists, stenographers and book-keepers has been inaugurated by the business department.
These changes, and many others, are designed to further the aims of St. Augustine's: to develop within each student the attitude and aptitude which makes compromise unnecessary in the pursuit of truth and excellence by challenging him to think critically, to act responsibly and to adopt a philosophy of life within the context of Christian principles.
A feeling of community responsibility has long been engendered by St. Augustine's. In its high school scholars program 50 able students from the Raleigh area meet once a week at the college to hear lectures by outstanding teachers. Plans for expansion of this activity are underway. The evening adult education program is being reorganized and enlarged to provide a greater variety of vocational training.
On the school's calendar for the current academic year are a science institute for 35 elementary teachers and nuclear science and mathematics institutes for high school science and mathematics teachers, supported by grants from the National Science Foundation.
An honors program for 15 outstanding college-level students allows them to pursue an enriched program of study in addition to the regular curriculum.
Areas of concentration, or "majors", open to St. Augustine's students include biology, business, chemistry, education, English, health and physical education, mathematics, modern languages, music, and social sciences as well as the recently added courses in secretarial science and social welfare. Both bachelor of arts and bachelor of science degrees are awarded by the college. Candidates for a degree must complete 126 semester hours of prescribed and elective work with a minimum grade average of "C".
New educational programs are being instituted by St. Augustine's to meet the needs of the people it serves. The first of these is a new cooperative arrangement with North Carolina State University which will enable students from the college to take classes at North Carolina State and its students to take selected courses at St. Augustine's. In addition, faculty from the college will have opportunity to use university laboratories for research activities.
Growing enrollments and expanded educational programs must be housed and St. Augustine's is keeping up with this need, through renovation and building, as well as planning for the future. A new Health and Fine Arts Center, college chaplain's residence, several small faculty apartment buildings, and two new dormitories, have all recently been constructed. The renovation of the library, already underway, will provide additional study and class space and stacks for 60, 000 volumes. Finally, an addition to the science building is projected for the near future.
As St. Augustine's stands on the threshold of its second century it is headed by Dr. Prezell R. Robinson, executive dean and professor of sociology, who was named acting president on May 24, 1966 by the Rt. Rev. Thomas A. Fraser, Bishop of North Carolina and chairman of the board of trustees.
The college has taken stock of its present resources and the needs of the people and the community it serves and has committed itself to the principles that it will always be more interested in quality than in number; that the idea of excellence in teaching be uppermost; that every effort be made to increase the basic resources of the college paying particular attention to faculty, buildings, friends and financial support.
Before his retirement, Dr. Boyer candidly outlined the problems faced by this college. "Upward surging faculty salaries in North Carolina state colleges have out- stripped our budget limitations. Good people are leaving us, many reluctantly, for 50 per cent increases. Similarly we are outbid for top students. Once we got our share of the very bright Negro high school graduates, the ones whose presence changes the chemistry of the undergraduate body, but now all of these are lured away to big universities by scholarships we cannot match. Finally we need to dispel the idea -- kill it for good -- that the formerly Negro or the predominantly Negro college has outlived its usefulness. For the foreseeable future we will provide a haven for the disadvantaged student, and by the time lower schools have smoothed out inequities we will have improved sufficiently to compete on even terms with the pacemakers. Today we can say with both modesty and assurance that we are among the top 25 per cent of formerly Negro colleges. Tomorrow we can be among the top 25 per cent of all colleges. With effort, prayer, dedication, and the help of our Church and our sister Episcopal colleges, we can do this. "
No. 4 in a series of nine articles about the Episcopal colleges.
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