Franklin & Marshall College

The class of 1963 witnessed some of the most significant changes in the history of Franklin and Marshall College. These were events that changed the course of learning,  living and thinking at Franklin and Marshall College.  Many of us were spectators, some of us were participants, but only a very few  of us realized that these changes would shape the future of the College. Most of the accounts that follow came from the pages of the Student Weekly (September 1959 through June 1963); if there are any errors or omissions they are solely the responsible of the staff of the Student Weekly and are not the responsibility of the historian. For the most part, the descriptions of these events are considered to be accurate.

September 1959 started out the same as all other freshmen orientations with 400 freshmen being herded around the campus by upperclassmen.  On Thursday, September 10, the young men began what the Student Weekly called "a new way of life, a college way of life."  President Bolman gave his convocation address, but this year it had a different twist. No more "write home" and "study hard" pep talks. The subject of this convocation addressed the impact of uninterceptible ballistic missiles.  Obviously, Sputnik was on his mind.

This topic was really not on the minds of the freshmen or the upperclassman.  They had more important things to do than watch the skies for ballistic missiles. The Student Weekly noted that the Student Union Board (SUB) was working feverishly to arrange for the visit of the Wilson College girls. This was to be the mixer of all MIXERS. SUB was wrestling with one very serious problem.  The girls would be spending Saturday night in Lancaster and there was no housing available for 100 young ladies.  Some fraternity brothers were making their rooms available and would sleep in cars, while others would break out sleeping bags to sleep on the floor. Geology majors loved this idea since it’s understood that they slept on the floor even when there weren't any girls on campus. The Lancaster newspaper ran pages of ads in search of weekend rooms to rent. Other young men had their own ideas about sharing accommodations.  It would take more than an uninterceptible missile to torpedo this weekend.

The SUB had another serious problem related to entertaining young women visiting the campus.  The Friday night dances were to be held on campus but they were designated for upperclassmen only. There weren't enough girls in Lancaster to equal the whole student body of Franklin and Marshall.  The SUB encouraged upperclassmen to bring their own dates for the "available supply of girls is limited."  It was anticipated that all the girls from town, and from visiting colleges would be attending the fraternity parties. The SUB parties sounded very much like BYOG rather than BYOB. The solution was obviously to get the men off the campus to even up the odds.  On September 26th   F&M men rode buses to Wilson College in Chambersburg. But where would Wilson College find accommodations for 250 young men?  The girls from Chambersburg had the solution.  They sent the buses back to Lancaster on Saturday evening.  This arrangement continued to be an unsatisfactory solution for the College and remained that way until   F& M went coed.

Two new buildings were dedicated in September 1959:  Schnader Hall and Appel infirmary.  Mr. Schnader, F&M class of 1908 and an Attorney General of Pennsylvania, was chairman of the Board of Trustees; and Mr. Anthony R. Appel, F &M class of 1935 was also a board member with three generations of F&M College Presidents in his genes.   The financial support from these two gentlemen was significant.  However; many people asked “why did the college build an infirmary on campus when there were two major hospitals within walking distance of the college?" There seemed to be a greater need for an activity center where Maynard Ferguson and his band could entertain at the 1959 homecoming dance.  The event was held off campus at the Moose Lodge. Can you imagine the invitation?  "Return to Homecoming and dance at the Moose”. The college also bought Baker Field, which is located a mile off campus.  The college attempted to trade Baker field for Buchanan Park.  This deal never materialized. Mr. Schnader and Mr. Appel, the two trustee benefactors, could not convince the city to make the trade However; these two individuals weave their way back into the school's history prior to our graduation. They would have been heroes if they had converted the 45-acre Baker field into a weekend tent city.

Everyone seemed to have advice for the new freshman.  The September 16, 1959 Student Weekly advised "if studying is hard for you, force yourself.  In college, no one suffers except you and your parents. Should you fail, a year at college costs $1900 plus what you would have made if you had been working.  If you waste $1900, because studying is too hard for you, it's your loss, no one else's.”  The same article recommends “ Set aside a part of each day for study and force yourself to do it.  Remember college is not one big weekend, although it may seem so to some.  It fools you. “The editor obviously had not heard about the two mixers with the Wilson girls, the SUB dances, and the fraternity parties.

Freshmen weren't the only ones that were getting advice.  The Board of Trustees set out on the first ever three-day seminar held at the Princeton Inn. (Obviously, Hildy’s was a step down and too close to the campus.) The trustees focused on the subject "The Future of F&M."  President Bolman engaged Dr. Harold W. Dodds and Land Bell, a prominent Chicago attorney, to guide the deliberations. Dodds was Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the University of Chicago (1919 to 1955) and a member of the Board of Overseers of Harvard University. Dodds was studying the American College and University presidency. Dodds must have had a lot to write about with a panel of three high-powered attorneys, two high powered trustees, and a mild-mannered academic president. I could not find minutes of the meeting; however, in all likelihood the participants came up with a template that would have been more appropriate for the Hogwarts School than for Franklin and Marshall. Even the Hogwarts School recognized the importance of coeds, the need for a new curriculum, and a large main hall for entertainers such as Maynard Ferguson.

A new liberal arts curriculum was introduced in 1959 and become effective in 1960. The two best parts of the new curriculum were: 1) the elimination of Saturday classes, which enables students to return home Friday afternoon and 2) the requirement that all students should receive a liberal arts education.  This provided a safety net for anyone that flunked out of pre-med. Both programs started in September 1960.  In the meantime, the Fine Arts Club was introducing culture to the young men that didn't catch the bus to Chambersburg.  They were busy selling tickets to the fine arts film "A Night at the Opera“starring Groucho, Chico and Harpo Marx. The tickets were being sold at the the same price as the bus trip to Chambersburg. Now we really needed a lesson in decision-making. $2.00 would buy you all six of the fine arts club's productions and you didn’t have to ride in a bus for 5 hours. If you missed the 5:20 p.m. bus to Chambersburg and missed the last showing of "A Night At The Opera” you still had an option to compete with studying.  Take a bus to downtown Lancaster, were the top movies showing included.  "For the First Time", "The FBI Story" and "The Man Who Understood Women."  If you had a car you could drive to the drive-in theater to see "Mr. Corey” and "The Incredible Shrinking Man”. Remember that freshmen were not permitted to have cars on campus. The best show in town was at the Green Room, but the theatre didn’t start its production until mid-November.

If you didn't like buses, couldn't afford movies, didn't get an invitation to go to Princeton, then the newly arrived freshman might relax and read the Student Weekly. The story line in one article might have been taken from the annals of "The FBI Story". The finances of the 1959 yearbook were being investigated.  The former business manager of the yearbook had been expected to appear to explain the situation but a reported military assignment prevented his coming to Lancaster.  This investigation took up a good deal of time from the other important matters that the Student Council had to consider.

Finally culture arrived in the form of  F& M’s radio station FM 680.  The station had been off the air for several months, while the electrical engineers moved the station to Schnader hall.  FM 680 played a lot of folk music, which apparently didn't require paying royalties.  4 student folk singers filled in when records were not available.  The station ended the day with the results of the sports car races

There were many other highlights in 1959-60 including the performance of the football team, who started the year with only 30 players showing up for practice. The F &M freshman team defeated Baltimore Junior College by a score of

14 to 0. The varsity team wasn't expected to win a game, but they beat Washington and Lee by a score of 41-0 and ended up with a 4-3-1-record.  The 1960 track and field team was undefeated and the wrestling team had a 7-4 combined meet record.  The swimming team had a 5-4 record.  The basketball team, which was building for the future, had  a 3-16 record.  By the time we graduated the team had a winning record of 10-9-0. The swimming team was undefeated in 1962 and 1963. Unfortunately the football team had a losing record of 0-8-0,

The argument that the faculty doesn’t respect the athletes prevailed in 1959-1963  This argument continued throughout our four years at F&M and 45 years since graduation.  The Student Weekly noted that "all athletics and especially football have become a part of the culture and life here at F&M.  To have poor athletics means destroying a segment of college life, so well represented by Saturday's football game.  Many professors say to heck with athletics.  They are not important!  These professors, however, do not share college life with the students.  The faculty members have their wives and families and teaching as their important consideration.  Naturally, what is important to students is not as important to them."

Someone else had a winning record.  The 1960 Oriflamme was dedicated to Dr. Bolman.  With the notation "it is quite fitting that one who is dedicated and who bestows honors upon others, is himself honored, in some small but meaningful way".  This dedication was made in May 1960. This endorsement came back to haunt the trustees in 1962.

If you were not on the bus, and didn't follow the results of sports car races, didn’t attend dances, and you didn’t date or play on athletic teams, then advertisements in the Student Weekly had the answer for you. SMOKE.  That is smoke cigarettes.  The cigarette companies were paying big bucks to reach the college student and the Student Weekly certainly captured that market.  The ads read as follows, "still young and beautiful at 75!  They said it couldn't be done but America's most famous lady (the Statue of Liberty) doesn't smoke a cigarette that's low in tar and more taste to it!  Live modern with L&M, or how about "new cigarette paper! “Air softens every puff!" “ Now even the paper adds to Salem's springtime freshness!!! Salem refreshes your taste.” Or "a jug of wine, loaf of bread and Winston's Bolder-Blend."  It sounds like a class-action lawsuit,

In 1959, no one was shielded from the probing reporters of the Student Weekly. On October 21, 1959, the Student Weekly attacked the business office.  The reporter complains that the business office hours were 10 a.m. to 1:45 p.m. and 3 p.m. to 4:30p.m.  This was just not enough time to cash a check and return to your next class. And certainly not enough time to buy a bus ticket to Chambersburg.  The probing reporter also noted that a check to be credited to an association's account was stamped by the business office for deposit to the College’s account.  (Could this be the reason to lower the tuition for 1960?)   Last year mismanagement resulted in a case where the senior class treasurer discovered a deficit of $200, listed to the class of 1960, when he knew the class should have a $700 credit. Was this a case for the FBI or one of the big eight CPA firms that were holding interviews on campus?

Ah. Yes, the new curriculum started in the 174th year of Franklin Marshall College.  President Bolman gave the rationale for the new curriculum... He explained that “We learned that an alumnus of the class of 1915 complained that a student had too much science and not enough work in the humanities or social sciences.  The 1915 graduate noted that he "now felt impoverished intellectually and blamed the college for creating his present impoverishment". President Bolman noted that "The new curriculum creates "the equality of exposure to the disciplines that constitute human knowledge."  The 1915 graduate was 45 years ahead of his time.  But he was not going to get a tuition refund.

The importance of the sciences became obvious when a Gettysburg College student defiled F&M’s side walks by painting “G-burg”.on every slab of concrete. The brightest man in the janitorial and maintenance department could not find a solvent to remove the letters.  A $10 reward was offered to anyone who could come up with a solution (no pun intended).  The Student Weekly reported that "No one found a workable solution". The chemistry department was flooded with requests for a solvent which would remove an apparently permanent non removable paint. Dr. Fred Snaveley was pestered by students in the quest for the $10 reward.  His response was this "the chemist is defined as a technologist.  Yet when asked how to remove paint from a sidewalk (he) is unable to give a solution.  Why?  The chemist is not a technologist. he is a part of the liberal arts.  Science is nothing but technology.  ". Dr. Snaveley finally did cross the line. He worked with a freshman by the name of Peter Buck to develop a solvent to remove the paint.  The student did receive a $10 reward and was reported to have switched his major to organic chemistry.  If you are faced with the same problem the solution can be found in the Student Weekly of October 7, 1959 on page 3.

This history doesn't give sufficient recognition to the fraternities.  This is because we've taken the position that "What happens in fraternities, stays in the fraternities”. I can tell you that the 11 fraternities were a very important part of life at Franklin and Marshall College. The fraternities operated as freestanding social organizations with national affiliations. Code of ethics was governed by the interfraternity council and the national headquarters. Often these two bodies were in conflict. The fraternities were the glue that held the nonacademic aspects of the college life together. Over 50% of the class were members of a fraternity. The fraternity system meant more than "friends for life". The fraternity system was the venue for academic, social and athletic contests.  Each fraternity was challenged to meet academic standards and pledge " brothers" who were leaders in organizations such as the Fraternity Council. Membership and officer rank were important to a fraternities standing within the college community. Other competition included building homecoming displays and escorting the homecoming queen to the football game and dance.  Achievements in intramural and NCAA sanctioned sports also were criteria for judging status of a fraternity. The 1963 Oriflamme does an excellent job in describing the goals of each fraternity. The life and character of a fraternity was different for respective houses, but the enthusiasm was consistent and the lessons learned in the “house” often exceeded the lessons learned in the classroom. Phi Sigma Kappa is an example of both lessons coming together. The fraternity held its annual car smash demolition by which young men could relieve their frustrations (of academic life) by slamming a John Henry sized sledgehammer against an old automobile. The event was a fund raiser, but was almost stopped in its tracks when one of the brothers remembered that they had not siphoned off the gasoline tank   Lesson learned.

The Conestoga wagon, which was pulled around the track by pledges from the various fraternities, learned another lesson at the 1962 homecoming. The ritual was discontinued in 1958, and the class of 1963 elected to reintroduce the practice. No one could quite remember why the practice was discontinued.  But ever since the wagon stopped going around the track  the football team had an 0-12 record.  It was only when the wagon was in motion that the freshmen realized that they were pulling a three ton wagon that was rolling forward without breaks. The wagon is now housed at the Alumnia Sports and Fitness Center. Brakes engaged.

Calm seemed to blanket the campus during our sophomore and junior years.  Those of us who signed up for Air Force ROTC in order to boost our Grade-Point Average found ourselves sitting on a bus headed to  the  Air Force Base in Middletown, PA  where we receive a physical examination that would forever determine our future. The following week I was on a bus with my fellow Geology classmates. We were on our way to Crystal Cave where we were tested on the structure of stalagmites and stalactites. “Rocks for Jocks" also helped the GPA. There were no more paint raids,  the scandal over the 1959 Oriflamme seemed to subside,  many of us were in love and no longer needed to caravan to mixers and best of al, recruiters were knocking on F& M's door, and professional schools were ready to place the healing arts graduates of 1963. It would take a major catastrophe to upset the world of Franklin and Marshall. And that's exactly what happened following the "resignation"  “firing" of President Bolman.

The authority of the Chairman of the Board of the Trustees was being tested and it impacted all of us, including the Trustees of the College, the President of the College, the Faculty, and the student body.  The relationships were being redrawn and redefined for years to come.  The Bolman resignation will probably go down in the academic history as the perfect example of what to do wrong when changing the president of a college. The story has its own hard driving characters.

According to accounts in the Student Weekly, on September 5, 1962, President Bolman was asked to submit his resignation or to "be fired.”  He elected to resign. That resignation triggered an uproar in the academic world.  President Bolman's resignation had all the elements of a John Grisham novel. The main characters were the very popular President of the College, Frederik deWolfe Bolman Jr, (whom you'll recall had the 1960 Oriflamme dedicated to him); William A. Schnader III, Chairman of the Board of Trustees, F&M class of 1908 (whom  Schnader Hall was dedicated to in 1959); Anthony R. Appel, F& M class of 1935, a Lancaster attorney and member of the Board of Trustees (the infirmary was dedicated to the Appel family in September 1959); A. Douglas Oliver, a"retired Philadelphia banker” who had been appointed to the post of vice president in charge of College development (Oliver would be reporting to Schnader, rather than to Bolman) based on public reports, this seems to have been  the major bone of contention);  the faculty who were members of the American Association of University Professors;  Dr. Luther Binkley who was President of F& M's chapter of the AAUP; and The Middle States Association of College and Secondary Schools, who have the authority to remove the official accreditation of the college; 1500 students including 400 seniors, who expected to graduate in June 1963; and thousands of alumni and friends of the College.

Immediately following the resignation of Bolman, Attorney Appel was appointed President of Franklin and Marshall. He was the third Appel to hold that position. The faculty were outraged that they had not been consulted before naming a new president. Dr. Darlington presented a resolution promising active support of Appel.  This resolution passed 23 Yes  11 nay and 35 abstaining. Was this waffling or lack of support for Apple?  Six days later, President Appel submitted his resignation effective October 27,1962.  A search for a new president began immediately. Dr. G Wayne Glick was appointed acting president. The search was concluded in March 1963 with the appointment of Dr. Keith Spalding, former Secretary of Johns Hopkins University. Dr. Bolman got a new job within two weeks of his resignation. The faculty participated in the search, the college maintained its accreditation, Tony Appel returned to his law practice, William Schnader remained chairman of the trustees and we graduated with full accreditation.

The senior class of 1963 worked with four Franklin and Marshall Presidents. This is a record that still stands today.

The job description of the president changed over the past 45 years because of the Bolman "firing" The Student Weekly of September 17,1962 explains that Dr. Bolman was fired because: 1) he refused to make friends for the community and to make the college a part of the community;  2) he did not try to develop a strong college spirit;  3) he was cold and unfriendly on-campus; 4) he failed to develop a strong alumni body.”

In fairness, Dr. Bolman made numerous positive contributions to Franklin and Marshall College. But most important, he defined the characteristics that the trustees would be looking for in selecting future presidents. The college had 16 presidents between1787 and 1963 and 4 of these presidents were responsible for the education of the men who became the class of 1963.

June 6, 2008

My compliments to Robert J. Kafin, who was editor-in-chief of the Student Weekly during our senior year and to  William Ferry, Jr. who was editor in chief of the 1963 Oriflamme. You and your staff had front row seats to the history of the class of 1963.  You were excellent scribes of our history.

Anyone interested in the details behind the stories should refer to the Franklin and Marshall library archives for 1959 to 1963 located on the internet and to the 1963 Oriflamme. 

Jeff Maddow, The Historian