September 19,
2005
Inauguration: In a long tradition . . .
President Seligman joins the list of other past presidents whose names are engraved on the University mace. Introduced at President Valentine's inauguration in 1935 and made of mahogany and hand-wrought silver, it has been used at the University's academic ceremonies ever since. |
ast inaugural ceremonies at the University, like the presidents they have honored, have had their own distinct character and flair. Here's a glance back at a few memorable moments.
"Training, discipline, learning have been undervalued," declared Martin B. Anderson, the University's first president in his inaugural address in July 1854. The address was given in Corinthian Hall, a place for meetings in downtown Rochester. Editor of a Baptist periodical, Anderson believed strongly in the classic elements of a liberal arts education—mathematics, philosophy, logic, chemistry, botany, political economy, astronomy, Greek, and Latin.
The University's second president, David Jayne Hill, was not present for his inauguration in June 1889. He was in Europe caring for his wife after she fell ill during a trip abroad. Hill forwarded his inaugural remarks to Rochester, where they were read at an alumni dinner in Anderson Hall.
Rush Rhees was the University's third president and the first to be installed on campus, then on Prince Street. During the ceremony held in October 1900, the College Glee Club sang the alma mater, The Genesee, which was composed by Thomas Swinburne, Class of 1892. It was during Rhees's first year in office that women—thanks to the insistent urging of suffragist Susan B. Anthony—were admitted to the all-male institution.
"There are many standards of success in life," said the University's fourth president Alan Valentine in his inaugural address in November 1935, "but only one for a university: the extent to which it contributes to the progress of thought and character." The inauguration of the 34-year-old Yale professor—one of the youngest men ever named chief executive officer of a major institution of higher learning—has been described as one of the most lavish celebrations the University had ever staged. Among the 3,000 guests who witnessed Valentine's installation were six New York State Supreme Court Justices, 41 college presidents, and 160 representatives from other institutions.
In contrast, the installation of Cornelis W. de Kiewiet in June 1951 was rather informal. At his request, the inauguration was a "family" affair, held as part of Commencement and limited to University faculty, students, alumni, and staff as well as Rochester-area residents.
At his inaugural ceremony, W. Allen Wallis performed his first official act as president and conferred honorary degrees in May 1963 to seven men, including Dwight D. Eisenhower. It was the first time the University had so honored a former United States president.
Like de Kiewiet's inauguration, the festivities surrounding the investiture of Robert Sproull as the University's seventh president were deliberately modest. In his inaugural speech given in February 1975, Sproull struck a proud note, vowing that the University would "compete with the best for faculty who are concerned and effective teachers and, at the same time, outstanding and productive scholars."
"As academic pageants go, this one is definitely high church," a Rochester Democrat and Chronicle reporter wrote on the eve of Dennis O'Brien's inauguration in October 1984. "Not since Dwight D. Eisenhower received an honorary degree at the inauguration of W. Allen Wallis in 1963 has the University of Rochester staged such an elaborate spectacle." More than 700 scholars, politicians, business leaders, and other guests marched in procession in the Eastman Theatre ceremony.
Thomas H. Jackson's inaugural ceremony was held in October 1994 in Eastman Theatre and was broadcast live on WXXI-TV, the local public broadcasting station. The program featured a world premiere of The Sacred Harp, a work by David Liptak, professor of composition at the Eastman School of Music.
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