Roosevelt University

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The Roosevelt University is a coeducational private university with locations in Chicago and Schaumburg (Illinois) . Today's university was founded in 1945 as a spin-off from Chicago's Central YMCA College, also as a college, in order to counteract the planned tendencies towards discrimination there. Both when it was founded and in the course of further development, the Roosevelt College was able to rely on the cooperation of numerous emigrants from German-speaking countries, who found a new academic home here. Gerhard Probst therefore counts Roosevelt University, along with the University in Exile , Black Mountain College , the Institute for Advanced Study and the Institute for Social Research, among the American higher education institutions that were most strongly influenced by emigrants.

Roosevelt University logo

Founding history

The conflict at Chicago's Central YMCA College

Separation according to “race” (ancestry), religion or gender was a common practice at American colleges or universities in the 1940s. White Christian men made up the majority of the students. The Central YMCA College in Chicago , founded in 1919, was an institution at which a more liberal spirit prevailed and at which members of social minority groups could also study . But there, of all places, a conservative trend reversal threatened at the beginning of the 1940s.

“By the early 1940s, however, the 16-member board of directors of Y [MCA], composed mostly of local businessmen and bankers, had become concerned about the increasing numbers of 'undesirable' Black and Jewish students in the classrooms and hallways. He feared these students would drive out white Protestant applicants. In addition, despite the school's 'liberal spirit', there were strict racial restrictions. For example, black students were charged sports fees but were not allowed to use the swimming pool operated by the YMCA. "

The college president since 1936 was the psychologist Edward J. Sparling (1896–1981), according to Gerhard Probst, “a German-American from humble backgrounds who had worked with underprivileged minorities throughout his life”. His tenure was marked by increasing conflicts with the Board of Directors, with the main conflict issues revolving around admission rates, discrimination and academic freedom. The situation came to a head when Sparling was asked to register the student body by skin color and denomination. When Sparling refused to do so, he was ordered to resign as president in February 1945.

The split

Sparling, who was able to rely on numerous supporters of his colleges in the conflict with the board of directors, including many emigrants of German origin such as the philosopher Lionel Ruby (1899–1972) or the economist Walter Albert Weisskopf , immediately tried to found a new college which should be open to all students and grant equal rights. At first he apparently hoped for the support of the YMCA , but when these hopes were not fulfilled, he officially resigned from his office as president of the Central YMCA College on April 17, 1945 . It was joined by 62 faculty members who made the following declaration on April 24, 1945:

“WE, THE SIGNING MEMBERS OF THE FACULTY OF THE CENTRAL YMCA COLLEGE OF CHICAGO, submitted our resignation on April 24, 1945, which is to take effect at the end of the current school year. We step back on principle because, in our opinion, the measures and strategies of the YMCA are based on an inadequate understanding of education and the present day. We have no confidence in the Central YMCA College Board of Directors for ignoring the generally excellent administrative performance of President EJ Sparling and dismissing him after speaking out against his illiberal and anti-criminal intentions. We do not have confidence in the Central YMCA College Board of Directors because they have never adequately assumed their responsibility for the development of the college. Believing in the need for educational opportunities in Chicago's Loop , we offer our support to Thomas Jefferson College and our services to the extent that they can be used. "

According to Lynn Weiner, this unique event in American higher education received immediate support from a resolution passed with 448 to 2 votes, with which the students put themselves behind the path taken by Sparling. But this new college could not have succeeded with idealism alone. She received financial support from the "Chicago wholesaler Marshall Field and the Rosenwald Foundation, which promoted Negro emancipation" and, according to Lynn Weiner, also "from unions and from progressive Chicagoans".

Shortly before the foundation of the new Thomas Jefferson College died on April 12, 1945 Chairman Franklin D. Roosevelt , and the college renamed itself with the consent of Eleanor Roosevelt , the very lobbied for the new facility, in Roosevelt College to. Karl-Heinz Füssl writes about his founding idea:

“Committed to radically liberal principles, humanitarian objectives should be able to develop in a democratic environment and serve international understanding. The teaching staff included a large number of German emigrants, among them the Jewish philosopher and Neo-Kantian SIEGFRIED MARCK , who had previously taught philosophy and education at the University of Breslau and who had also participated in the uprising within the YMCA College. The group of German emigrants was joined by the Jewish historian HELMUT HIRSCH , who had managed to escape to the USA as an intern in the south of France, the Austrian economist WALTER WEISSKOPF and ROLF A. WEIL , who emigrated from Stuttgart to the USA, from Served as President from 1964 to 1988. "

The college's first advisory board, the Advisory Board , also included two emigrants, Albert Einstein and Thomas Mann . There were also other prominent members such as Marian Anderson , Ralph Bunche , Pearl S. Buck , Gunnar Myrdal and Albert Schweitzer .

The first years of Roosevelt College

On September 24, 1945, teaching started with around 1,200 students in an old office building. The students sat down for a newspaper article in the former parlance composed of "Chinese, Japanese, Negroes, Levantines, Jews, Catholics and Downeast Yankees" At the official opening ceremony spoke before about 1,000 supporters of the new facility also Eleanor Roosevelt and explained that the new School "would provide educational opportunities for people of both sexes and races on an equal footing". Lynn Weiner thinks that was a radical statement for the time. Füssl reports that the college still had the stigma of the little red schoolhouse until the 1950s . The reasons for this are probably to be found in the close relationships that Roosevelt University had with the unions and unions had already supported their establishment. How close these relationships were can be seen in Laura Mills and Lynn Y. Weiner, who point out that in 1946 Roosevelt College offered union members courses for future works councils and employee representatives. More than 10,000 union members from more than 50 unions took part in these “non-credit courses”, courses that would not have led to an official academic degree or to a specific diploma. The employees of Roosevelt College were also among the first in 1947 to organize in the Chicago area in the Office Employees International Union . The Roosevelt Library was named the Murray-Green Library in 1963 in honor of union leaders Philip Murray, longtime president of the Congress of Industrial Organizations CIO , and William Green, former president of the American Federation of Labor .

View of the Murray-Green Library on the 10th floor of the Auditorium Building

While Central YMCA College had to close soon after Roosevelt College was founded , the Roosevelt College site proved too small just a year after it opened . This was not so much because of the trade union courses mentioned above, but because of a changing foreign policy situation:

“This whole development was significantly promoted - and perhaps made possible in the first place - by a historical event and its consequences: the end of the Second World War and the law for the advancement of former soldiers, commonly referred to as the GI Bill . Over the next few years this meant a sharp increase in the number of students whose tuition fees were covered by the state. So Roosevelt College hardly had to worry about recruiting students, but could take care of developing its curriculum. "

Like Gerhard Probst, Rolf A. Weil saw the GI Bill as the most important support for the college in its early years.

In order to cope with the increasing number of students, the Auditorium Building was acquired in 1947 , which is still the headquarters of Roosevelt University today. Five thousand students, from military veterans to fresh high school graduates, enrolled in college in the fall of 1947. Rolf A. Weil , who came to college as a teacher in the fall of 1946 , himself just 25 years old, describes the average age of the students at the time as "roughly in their late twenties"; he was younger than half of his students.

A year after Weil, another emigrant from Germany came to Roosevelt College : the political scientist Ludwig Freund . He stayed until his retirement in 1959. In 1948 the sociologist Franz Adler also came to the college as a visiting professor for a year . After the annexation of Austria, he had emigrated to the USA in 1938, which he took citizenship in 1944.

The 1950s

In 1950, Fritz C. Neumann, another teacher with a German past and a history of emigration, came to Roosevelt College . He taught European history here until his retirement in 1964. Probably in the 1950s, Adolf Sturmthal , who emigrated from Austria, also taught at Roosevelt University as Professor of International Labor Affairs . From 1960 he was Professor of Work and Industrial Sociology at the University of Illinois . The musicologist Paul Nettl der Roosevelt , who had fled from occupied Czechoslovakia and who taught at Indiana University Bloomington from 1946 until his retirement in 1959, was also connected through teaching assignments .

The 1950s presented some problems for the college. On the one hand it was the outbreak of the Korean War , which led to a sharp decline in the number of students with a corresponding loss of income, on the other hand the question arose whether the college should develop into a university. The takeover of the Chicago Musical College headed by Rudolph Ganz played an important part in this . This college, largely shaped by Florenz Ziegfeld junior in the last years of the 19th century and at the beginning of the 20th century , had an excellent reputation, but it was "an institution that lost so much money that it was on the verge of going under" . The supporters of the takeover of the Chicago Musical College prevailed: the gain in prestige for their own institution was rated higher than the financial risk associated with the takeover. According to Füssl, Roosevelt College was able to secure the status of a university by incorporating the Chicago Musical College , which happened in 1954. Rolf A. Weil judged this act in 1981: “I think that our music school is indeed the unit that probably, if not the best, at least one of the best reputations of all our departments or departments in the whole country. "

In 1959 Eleanor Roosevelt was 75 years old. The university gave a dinner in her honor and announced a rededication of her name: Roosevelt University will henceforth be dedicated to the work of Franklin D. and Eleanor Roosevelt.

The end of the sparling era

1963 ended the presidency of Edward J. Sparling , founding president of Roosevelt College . Rolf A. Weil describes Sparling's replacement as a difficult process that was not free from intrigue, during which Robert Pitchell was initially appointed as his successor. “Pitchell received his PhD from the University of California, Berkeley , and was a political scientist and tax expert from Indiana University . He was hired as Roosevelt's second president after an 18-month national search, but his tenure only lasted a year. Sometimes called 'the forgotten president', he failed in raising funds or understanding the strong culture of collegial leadership at Roosevelt and thus failed to win the support of the deans and curators. ”In Rolf A. Weil's remarks, the“ or ”is used. in the above quotation to a strict "and". According to him, Pitchell failed because of his authoritarian leadership style and his failure to raise funds. At the beginning of 1965 he was appointed to succeed Pitchell as "executive president" before he was elected president in 1967 after lengthy internal clarification processes. He served until 1988.

Previously there had been arguments at Roosevelt University over an article about Robert Pitchell. A story of his resignation led to the suspension of Judi Halprin and other staff at the student campus newspaper The Torch in November 1964 . They then founded the alternative organization Roosevelt Free Press . On December 18, 1964 , the New York Times reported on the background to this conflict : “The student newspaper The Torch caused a stir last month when its editor reported that Dr. Pitchell had been 'unofficially released'. The editor Judi Halprin and her staff were welcomed by Dr. Pitchell fired on recommendation by the school's Student Activities Board . ”The Times article appeared as an immediate consequence of Pitchell's resignation the day before. It is not known whether Harpin was allowed to work for The Torch again after Pitchell's resignation , nor how long the Roosevelt Free Press , which she founded, existed. There she published an article on January 18, 1965 under the title “Spencer, Weil are aimed at the alumni”, in which she summarizes a speech by the Chairman of the Board of Trustees Lyle Spencer and quotes from it: Spencer named the last year and a half as the beginning of Roosevelt's second generation, commenting that they 'started off pretty badly'. He added that while the appointment of the second Roosevelt president was not the time we were moving forward as it should be, 'things are now settled'.

By Edward J. Sparling is Edward J. Sparling Alumni Award named, which is awarded to alumni, "who have contributed to society by who selflessly put time and resources for civic and cultural activities available" .; The Rolf A. Weil Distinguished Service Award commemorates Rolf A. Weil “for a person who has made an outstanding voluntary contribution to the benefit of the university and / or the alumni association”.

In 1967 Milton Weber , an émigré from Austria, was appointed professor of conducting at the College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University . However, he died a year later at the age of 58.

On the current situation at Roosevelt University

In the fall of 2017, 4,457 students were enrolled at Roosevelt University , 2,578 of them in undergraduate studies and 1,879 in graduate studies. There were 208 full-time faculty members and 366 part-time staff, supplemented by 72 research assistants. The cost of tuition and other fees for the 2018/19 academic year was $ 29,832.

The university offers bachelor's and master's degrees at six schools:

  • Chicago College of Performing Arts
  • College of Arts and Sciences
  • College of Education
  • Evelyn T. Stone College of Professional Studies (formerly known as Evelyn T. Stone University College)
  • College of Pharmacy
  • Walter E. Heller College of Business.

In addition, the university operates a large number of centers and institutes, so that students can choose between more than 125 courses, including around 40 master’s programs in areas such as pedagogy and psychology. It is important that the students not only receive technical training, but also develop into socially committed people. The students have the opportunity to get involved in everyday campus life, for example with the campus radio, the student newspaper The Torch or the university sports program.

The locations

The Roosevelt University has several locations in Chicago and Schaumburg (Illinois).

The Auditorium Building , the historic main building of Roosevelt University
The new Wabash Building , in front of it the Auditorium Building

Chicago

The Auditorium Building is the historic headquarters of Roosevelt University , where classes are still held today. The university's Auditorium Theater and numerous university administrative offices are also located here .

A second campus building in the center is the Gage Building , which also houses the Gage Gallery and the administrative offices of the Manfred Steinfeld School of Hospitality and Tourism Management, which is associated with Roosevelt University and founded in 1984 by the German émigré Manfred Steinfeld . A School of Communication is also housed here.

In spring 2010, construction of a new inner city building for the university began. The spring 2012 completed Wabash Building , a replacement for the Herman Crown Center of Roosevelt University , is a 32-story skyscraper, the second tallest university building in the United States and the sixth highest in the world. It serves as a multi-purpose building and houses service facilities for the students, classrooms, modern science laboratories and administrative offices. From the 15th to the 31st floors, the building houses dormitory rooms for students and a communal lounge.

Opened on December 1, 2012, the Lillian and Larry Goodman Center is the youngest addition to Roosevelt University . It is the first stand-alone college sports facility in downtown Chicago and is home to the Roosevelt Lakers , the university's sports club.

The Schaumburg campus

At the suggestion of Rolf A. Weil, a branch of Roosevelt University was established in Arlington Heights (Illinois) in 1978 . This dependence was the forerunner of the later Albert A. Robin Campus in Schaumburg, named after a Chicago building contractor and patron. The Schaumburg campus offers 225,000 square meters of usable space on its 27 hectares: large, ultra-modern premises for the College of Pharmacy , more than 70 classrooms, a library, state-of-the-art computer and science laboratories, a multimedia room, a fitness room and a kindergarten.

The campus is located in the former main office building of the Pure Oil Company . It was converted into a spacious campus in 1996. The Doctor of Pharmacy program started here in July 2011 , and in July 2014 it received full accreditation for studying to become a Doctor of Pharmacy.

Under Moody's and Fitch watch

Financially, however, the university seems to be under pressure, as the Higher Learning Commission reveals: “Significant declines in enrollment (250 students from FY [fiscal year] 2012 to FY 2015) combined with long-term debt, which in the last ten years has risen from $ 33 million to $ 226 million, reflecting a grave financial situation that caused Moody's and Fitch to downgrade the quality of Roosevelt's bonds. The role of the board of trustees in the financial debt situation of the institute was unclear and the concerns of lecturers, students and staff were ignored by the BOT [Board of Trustees = board of trustees]. The seriousness of the situation justifies a targeted visit in autumn 2017. "

German-born teachers of the founding generation

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  • Lynn Weiner: The Equality Experiment . The June 10, 2015 article also includes some images from the founding history of Roosevelt University .
  • Memoirs of Rolf Weil (as of 1981) , President of Roosevelt University, 1964-1987. It is the 128-page transcript of an interview with Rolf A. Weil as part of the Oral History Project at Roosevelt University .
  • Laura Mills and Lynn Y. Weiner: Roosevelt University , Arcadia Publishing, Charleston (South Carolina), 2014, ISBN 978-1-4671-1247-5 . The richly illustrated book can be viewed in large parts via Google Books .

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Gerhard Probst: Universities as places of activity for exiles , p. 1446
  2. ↑ a b Lynn Weiner: The Equality Experiment
  3. ^ Lynn Weiner: The Equality Experiment . "By the early 1940s, however, the Y's 16-member Board of Directors comprised mostly of local businessmen and bankers had grown uneasy with the rising numbers of" undesirable "black and Jewish students in the classrooms and hallways. They feared these students would drive away white Protestant applicants. In addition, despite the “liberal spirit” of the school, there were rigid racial restrictions in place. Black students, for instance, were expected to pay athletic fees but were not permitted to use the swimming pool, which was operated by the YMCA. "
  4. ^ Gerhard Probst: Universities as places of activity for exiles , p. 1459
  5. ^ Karl-Heinz Füssl: Fritz C. Neumann (1897-1976) , p. 239. For Lionel Ruby see also: The works of Lionel Ruby in the WorldCat .
  6. ↑ Printed in facsimile by Lynn Weiner: The Equality Experiment . "WE, THE UNDERSIGNED MEMBERS OF THE FACULTY OF CENTRAL YMCA COLLEGE OF CHICAGO, have submitted our resignations on this twenty-fourth day of April, 1945, the resignations to be effective at the end of the current school year. We are resigning on principle, because of YMCA actions and policies, which are, in our opinion, predicated upon an imperfect understanding of education and of the times. We have no confidence in the Board of Directors of Central YMCA College, because they have disregarded the generally excellent adminsitrative record of President EJ Sparling and dismissed him after he had opposed their illiberal and dsicriminatory purposes. We have no confidence in the Board of Directors of Central YMCA College, because they have never adequately shouldered their responsibility for the development of the College. Believing in the need for educational opportunities in Chicago's Loop, we offer our endorsment to Thomas Jefferson College and our services to the extent to which they can be used. "
  7. ^ Gerhard Probst: Universities as places of work for exiles , pp. 1460–1461. For Field, who was also a major publisher, see: Short biography on Find A Grave: Marshall Field . The Rosenwald Foundation, founded in 1917, goes back to Julius Rosenwld, the long-time CEO of Sears, Roebuck and Company ; about the foundation: What is the Julius Rosenwald Foundation?
  8. ^ Karl-Heinz Füssl: Fritz C. Neumann (1897-1976) , p. 239
  9. ^ Laura Mills and Lynn Y. Weiner: Roosevelt University , p. 8
  10. ↑ Quoted from Lynn Weiner: The Equality Experiment . The term Down East Yankees refers to the inhabitants of the eastern coastal area of New England and Canada , especially the US state of Maine .
  11. ↑ Quoted from Lynn Weiner: The Equality Experiment
  12. ^ Karl-Heinz Füssl: Fritz C. Neumann (1897-1976) , p. 240
  13. ↑ For the history of the organization now called Office and Professional Employees International Union (OPEIU) see: OPEIU: Our History
  14. ^ Laura Mills and Lynn Y. Weiner: Roosevelt University , p. 44
  15. ^ Gerhard Probst: Universities as places of activity for exiles , p. 1460
  16. ↑ Memoirs of Rolf Weil , p. 49
  17. ↑ Memoirs of Rolf Weil , p. 32
  18. ^ Adolf Sturmthal Papers
  19. ↑ Memoirs of Rolf Weil , p. 49
  20. ↑ Memoirs of Rolf Weil , p. 48. "[..] at the time but an institution which was losing so much money that it was on the verge of going under".
  21. ^ Karl-Heinz Füssl: Fritz C. Neumann (1897-1976) , p. 240
  22. ^ A b Laura Mills and Lynn Y. Weiner: Roosevelt University , p. 64
  23. ↑ Memoirs of Rolf Weil , p. 48. “I think that our music school is, indeed, the unit that has probably, if not the best, one of the best reputations of any of our departments or divisions in the country at large. "
  24. ↑ ALFRED E. CLARK: EDWARD J. SPARLING; EDUCATOR FOUNDED ROOSEVELT UNIVERSITY , The New York Times, September 25, 1981. The UK WIKIPEDIA incorrectly mentions 1967 as the year of retirement. Weil's representations are also based on 1963.
  25. ↑ Memoirs of Rolf Weil ; on pages 61 ff. Weil gives a detailed account of the time between Sparling's resignation and his own appointment as President of Roosevelt University in 1967.
  26. ↑ Laura Mills and Lynn Y. Weiner: Roosevelt University , p. 66. “Pitchell held a doctorate from the University of California, Berkeley, and was an Indiana University political scientist and tax expert. He was hired as Roosvelts second president after an 18-month national search, but his tenure only lasted for one year. Sometimes called 'the forgotten president', he failed in raise money or understand the strong culture of shared governance at Roosevelt and so did not gain the support of the deans and trustees. "
  27. ^ Social Justice Across Generations - A Conversation . The page serves to reflect on the civil engagement in the aftermath of 1968 and highlights some of the conflicts at Roosevelt University in this context .
  28. ↑ Pitchell, Head of Roosevelt U., Quits in Administrative Conflict; In Letter of Resignation, He Asks to Be Relieved of Duties by Aug. 31 , New York Times, December 18, 1964. "The student newspaper, The Torch, caused a furor last month when its editor reported that Dr. Pitchell had been "unofficially fired." The editor, Judi Halprin, and her staff were dismissed Dec. 2 by Dr. Pitchell on the recommendation of the school's Student Activities Board. "
  29. ^ Social Justice Across Generations - A Conversation . "Spencer called the last year and a half the beginning of Roosevelt's second generation and commented that" that it has started off rather badly ". He added that, although the installation of Roosevelt's second president didn't mark the time when we moved forward, as it should have, "the decks are now cleared". "
  30. ↑ CALLING ALL ROOSEVELT UNIVERSITY ALUMNI
  31. ↑ All information: [College Navigator of the National Center for Education Statistics : Roosevelt University]
  32. ↑ a b U.S. NEWS: Roosevelt University
  33. ↑ For the history of the building see: Auditorium Building, Roosevelt University }
  34. ^ The life and work of Manfred Steinfeld
  35. ^ Roosevelt University - Steinfeld School of Hospitality & Tourism Management - Chicago
  36. ↑ a b Maureen O'Donnell: Rolf Weil, Roosevelt U's longest-serving president, dies at 95 , Chicago Sun-Times, December 20, 2018
  37. ^ Marie Balice Ward: Roosevelt expanding their South Loop facilities , Gazette Chicago, July 3, 2009
  38. ↑ The Wabash Building website provides an insight into the single or double rooms with floor-to-ceiling windows
  39. ↑ See also: The Residence Halls of the Roosevelt University
  40. ^ The Lillian and Larry Goodman Center
  41. ↑ The Roosevelt Lakers
  42. ^ Roosevelt's College of Pharmacy
  43. ^ Roosevelt's Albert A. Robin Campus in suburban Schaumburg
  44. ^ Higher Learning Commission : Statement of Accreditation Status as of December 17, 2018