p. 27 | Union College by C. C. Lewis

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D.C. · Nov 7, 1907

Union College

By C. C. Lewis

THROUGHOUT the summer, at camp-meetings and by correspondence, we had been rallying the forces with the cry, “Five hundred students and the wiping out of the college debt.”

We really meant it—that is, the enrolment of five hundred students during the school year; but we did not expect to reach so nearly the number at the very beginning, nor did we appreciate the burden of preparation and responsibility their coming would bring.

Three weeks before the opening we began to write to applicants that our rooms for ladies in the college Home were all engaged, and if they came, they would have to be placed in rooms which the college would rent from residents of the village. But the correspondence did not then indicate an overflow of gentlemen. By the time of the Hastings camp-meeting we knew that we must provide for about thirty ladies outside the college homes, and hastened to secure rooms. We succeeded in finding good accommodations for about thirty ladies on the streets bordering upon the campus, and at the close of the first week twenty-seven ladies are comfortably located in them.

The situation in regard to the gentlemen did not appear until the opening day, since they are not so thoughtful to engage rooms as are the ladies. On the opening day, however, the preceptor took account of those who had engaged rooms, and of those who were present without giving notice, and found that while we could accommodate in the homes only about eighty young men, he had one hundred twenty to provide for. It was a busy time during the first few days. To secure rooms, see that they were in readiness, and locate this unexpected overflow of students taxed the strength, the wisdom, and the patience of the workers to the utmost. It was trying for the students also. But the Lord has wonderfully sustained and blessed us all in this experience. A good spirit is manifested among the students. There is no complaining, although there would naturally be ground for complaint. Everybody seems to be trying to meet the emergency with a courageous, self-denying heart. Many of the old students have given up the rooms they engaged in the summer to new students who have never enjoyed the privileges of the Home.

A few comparisons will illustrate the extent of the increased attendance. Last year the enrolment on Friday, the third day after the opening, was 225. This year it was 295. Brother Joseph Sutherland, from his observation as business manager thirteen years, says that the enrolment for a year about doubles that of the first three days. Thus, last year the enrolment was 448, or only two short of twice the number of the first three days. If this rule should prove true the present year, the enrolment will reach nearly 600. The school’s largest enrolment was 608—that of the second year. On Friday, September 27, 370 students had registered.

Three years ago there were no more than eighteen tables in the dining-room for several weeks, and last year the highest number was twenty-eight. This year we have thirty-two tables, or two hundred fifty-six boarders. The partition which was made three years ago, cutting off a portion of the dining-room for a sewing-room, has been removed to give space for more tables. Last year we had room enough during the fall and spring terms, but had to place about six students outside during the winter term. We now have about sixty Home students rooming outside and boarding at the Home. C. C. LEWIS.