Seventy Years Of The Worcester Polytechnic Institute: Page 72

Worcester. Refreshments were served, and the class was privileged to hear an informal talk by the Governor, which another engagement had prevented him from delivering at the afternoon session.

It was the original intent of the trustees to confer degrees on all students who completed the course satisfactorily. The State Legislature had given them special authority to do so. Before the first class was graduated a novel alternative had been devised. Each graduate was to receive a diploma which bore witness that he had faithfully completed the full course of study, with special proficiency in the branch that he had elected, and testified that the faculty and trustees were satisfied concerning his fitness to engage in practical service in that branch. The graduate was then given an incentive to prove himself by four years of honorable and successful application in his profession. Having done so to the satisfaction of the trustees, who would continue to display an interest in his welfare, he would be granted a bachelor's degree.

It was a masterly plan, and if it could have been maintained, would undoubtedly have added greatly to the Institute's prestige. Tradition was too strong, however. Graduates found themselves handicapped in competition with men from other schools, particularly when they sought advanced degrees. Armsby, '71, informed Principal Thompson that he could have received a doctor's degree from Yale if he had held a bachelor's degree from Worcester, and Cleaves, '73, found that he had no standing on the Cornell faculty without a conventional degree. It was also soon apparent that many young men who might have entered the Worcester Institute were attracted elsewhere by the prospect of a degree.

The first four classes received diplomas based on the original plan. In 1874, the newly organized alumni association submitted a petition to the trustees asking that degrees be awarded. This petition was carefully considered and was granted nearly a year later. The first degrees of bachelor of

webmaster@wpi.edu

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