Seventy Years Of The Worcester Polytechnic Institute: Page 267

Consternation and deep sorrow fell upon the Institute October 11, 1916. Dr. Conant, beloved as a teacher and highly respected as former Acting President, was dead. In hurrying to catch an electric car near his Salisbury Street home, he was struck by a truck that had been concealed from his view by the oncoming car, and died within a few minutes. It was a tragic end of a brilliant career as mathematician, instructor, and administrator. Institute exercises were suspended and an impressive memorial service was held, which was attended by scores of his former students and colleagues.

The faculty as a body was chiefly concerned with records of students and with actions to be taken in special cases. Only a few changes were made in the curriculum. One was an increase in time devoted to freshman English and a corresponding reduction in other language time. Also, after Mr. Joslin arrived, a course in Spanish was offered. The major problem was how to find time for the new course in Physical Education. A committee headed by Professor Long brought in an exhaustive report, which was considerably mangled in subsequent sessions. The faculty refused to consider closing afternoon exercises at four o'clock, but did agree to a threehour course for freshmen and a two-hour course for sophomores. On the matter of gymnasium fee, the faculty proposed that seven dollars be charged, with an additional voluntary fee of four dollars for student activities. The Trustees settled this by establishing a compulsory fee of ten dollars, frowning on any fee for student activities.

That war was definitely in the air by the spring of 1916, was attested by a vote of the faculty that it would be desirable to introduce military training into the curriculum. This was

precipitated partly by an act of Congress providing for such instruction, partly by opinions expressed on questionnaires sent to graduates by Dr. Hollis.

In 1914, Dr. Hollis proposed to the faculty that a summer tutoring school be established for the purpose of assisting students to make up conditions. This plan met stiff faculty

267

webmaster@wpi.edu

Last Modified: Fri Jul 30 11:15:25 EDT 1999