Difference between revisions of "Brown University"
(→History: adding date back in) |
|||
| Line 4: | Line 4: | ||
Brown was founded by Ezra Stiles, a Congregationalist Minister, and James Manning, a Baptist Minister; it was originally known as Rhode Island College. It charter was granted on March 3, 1764; among the sixty-odd signatories were the wealthy brothers John and Nicholas Brown, and the College was located in Warren, Rhode Island. The charter specified that "into this liberal and catholic institution shall never be admitted any religious tests, but on the contrary, all the members hereof shall forever enjoy full, free, absolute, and uninterrupted liberty of conscience", and as such was considered liberal and nonsectarian. Brown and Penn both have claims to be considered the first nonsectarian institution of higher learning in the United States | Brown was founded by Ezra Stiles, a Congregationalist Minister, and James Manning, a Baptist Minister; it was originally known as Rhode Island College. It charter was granted on March 3, 1764; among the sixty-odd signatories were the wealthy brothers John and Nicholas Brown, and the College was located in Warren, Rhode Island. The charter specified that "into this liberal and catholic institution shall never be admitted any religious tests, but on the contrary, all the members hereof shall forever enjoy full, free, absolute, and uninterrupted liberty of conscience", and as such was considered liberal and nonsectarian. Brown and Penn both have claims to be considered the first nonsectarian institution of higher learning in the United States | ||
| − | The College moved to Providence in 1770, and was renamed Brown University in honor of Nicholas Brown, a nephew of John Brown, who had given a bequest of $5,000. | + | The College moved to Providence in 1770, and in 1804 was renamed Brown University in honor of Nicholas Brown, a nephew of John Brown, who had given a bequest of $5,000. |
According to the university, the Brown family participated in the slave trade and the proceeds contributed to the funding of the university during its early days.<ref>[http://www.brown.edu/Research/Slavery_Justice/report/index.html Slavery and Justice Report], Brown University Steering Committee on Slavery and Justice</ref> | According to the university, the Brown family participated in the slave trade and the proceeds contributed to the funding of the university during its early days.<ref>[http://www.brown.edu/Research/Slavery_Justice/report/index.html Slavery and Justice Report], Brown University Steering Committee on Slavery and Justice</ref> | ||
Revision as of 13:23, March 27, 2007
Brown University is an American university located in Providence, Rhode Island. It is a member of the Ivy League, and was rated as the 15th best U.S. college in 2007 by U.S. News and World Report [1]. Brown was founded in 1764; the University motto is In Deo Speramus, which means "In God We Hope" or "In God is our Hope". The current President of Brown is Ruth J. Simmons; it has 628 full-time faculty members and 7,595 students.
History
Brown was founded by Ezra Stiles, a Congregationalist Minister, and James Manning, a Baptist Minister; it was originally known as Rhode Island College. It charter was granted on March 3, 1764; among the sixty-odd signatories were the wealthy brothers John and Nicholas Brown, and the College was located in Warren, Rhode Island. The charter specified that "into this liberal and catholic institution shall never be admitted any religious tests, but on the contrary, all the members hereof shall forever enjoy full, free, absolute, and uninterrupted liberty of conscience", and as such was considered liberal and nonsectarian. Brown and Penn both have claims to be considered the first nonsectarian institution of higher learning in the United States
The College moved to Providence in 1770, and in 1804 was renamed Brown University in honor of Nicholas Brown, a nephew of John Brown, who had given a bequest of $5,000.
According to the university, the Brown family participated in the slave trade and the proceeds contributed to the funding of the university during its early days.[1]
The 1833 Brown catalog—or "catalogue," as it was spelled—lists the names of the entire student body: 43 freshman, 60 sophomores, 45 juniors, and 41 seniors. Candidates for admission were required, among other things, to
- bring satisfactory evidence of unexceptionable moral character, and be thoroughly acquainted with the Grammar of the Latin and Greek languages, be able to construe and parse... the Historical Books of the New Testament, or three Books of Xenophon's Cyropædia, and translate English into Latin correctly.[2]
Brown did not admit women until 1891, when a women's college named Pembroke College was founded. Brown became coedicational in 1971 when the undergraduate school merged with Pembroke College.
Brown had "compulsory chapel"—a requirement that students attend Sunday services—from its founding until 1872.[3] After 1872 services were, of course, still conducted and students encouraged to attend them. At some point, services again became mandatory (although not strictly enforced) until the requirement was finally abolished in 1959. A 1904 book of student verse includes a lament by one C. S. Mitchell entitled "Chapel Bell:"
- Hark! the bell—brazen bell
- What a world of agony its clanging notes foretell
- To the slumbrous sleepy student
- As he bids his rest farewell...[4]
Hypertext
Brown University has been a pioneer in the development of hypertext. This technology was championed by Andries van Dam, who founded Brown's computer science department and chaired it from 1975 to 1989[5]. The first hypertext editing system, HES, was developed at Brown in 1967 by Ted Nelson (coiner of the word hypertext) working under van Dam's direction.[6], short summary by George P. Landow, professor of English and Art History]. Brown's Iris Intermedia project was important and influential; several significant bodies of hypertext developed in that system have since been ported to the Web, notably The Victorian Web, an encyclopedic collection of information and source texts about the Victorian era.
The New Curriculum
Brown prides itself on its "New Curriculum," first established in 1969, which allows students to take virtually any course they want, with no general distribution requirements. Traditional letter grades are optional. [2] However, the current undergraduate curriculum is currently under review, with recommendations set to be made in the spring of 2008. [3]
Recent events
In 2005, Brown University's "Queer Alliance" threw a raucous and drunken party in a university building. The event was covered by disguised reporters for The O'Reilly Factor, causing bad publicity for the university.[4]
Notes and references
- ↑ Slavery and Justice Report, Brown University Steering Committee on Slavery and Justice
- ↑ The Catalogue of Brown University, 1833
- ↑ Chapel, from Encyclopedia Brunoniana.
- ↑ Boone, Ilsley (1904), College Hill Verse: Being Selections from Student Publications of Brown University, 1894-1904, p. 4
- ↑ Andries van Dam]'s home page
- ↑ Hypertext at Brown
External links
- Encyclopedia Brunoniana, good source of information of Brown's history, customs