Cuttington College to Join Association of Episcopal Colleges
Diocesan Press Service. May 5, 1967 [54-6]
Cuttington College, an Episcopal-related missionary venture in higher education in Liberia, will become a number of the Association of Episcopal Colleges July 1. Admission of the 15-year-old institution came after extended consultations on curriculum standards and on possible avenues of cooperation between it and the eight charter members.
According to Arthur Ben Chitty, Association president, Cuttington is one of the most remarkable educational experiments in Africa. It is not only the first four year college in its country, and the owner of the largest library (60, 000 volumes); but it is the only liberal arts college in tropical Africa. With less that two dozen institutions of higher learning on the entire continent, Cuttington is one of a minority following the American pattern. Already its students come from 17 nations and it has more applicants that it can accept.
Cuttington is also supported by the Ford Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation, the Lutheran Church, the Methodist Church and the Liberian Government. Three year ago it entered into affiliation with the Associated Colleges of the Midwest (a group of ten colleges in Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin). Professors from these colleges, and graduate students have come to Cuttington.
As a new member of the Association, Cuttington will participate in gifts from individual Episcopalians, foundations and parishes. In the later category, called by Mr. Chitty "the backbone of the whole program", Episcopal churches all over the country are being asked to budget $1 per member per year for support of the colleges. Cuttington's share of this income, if it could be attained immediately, would be approximately equal to the present total gift income of the institution from all sources.
It is also anticipated that fellow members of the Association may aid Cuttington by enabling several of its students to spend their junior year abroad at one or the other of the Association's member colleges, and that these members may recruit recent graduates to teach at Cuttington for a year or two. Also possible are faculty exchanges.