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chapter 11 eclectic in the 1930s T he decade was one of more consistent and remarkably successful attention to the Society’s scholastic status, as reflected in the Jackson Cup competition. For the first time in twelve years, Eclectic placed first in 1930, and then, after two years of falling to second and third place, regained first place for three successive years (1933, 1934, and 1935), thereby retaining possession of the cup. Moreover, Eclectic won the Cup again in 1936, 1937, and 1938, making six successive wins. The undergraduates were extremely proud of their record, and the Socrats were ecstatic, especially Professor Morris B. Crawford (1874) and Professor Burton H. Camp (1901), whose stint as chairman of the Board of Directors started in 1932–33. There was not universal joy, however, at the scholastic triumph of Phi Nu Theta. According to Kenneth R. Andrews (1936) in an interview with David Potts on July 2, 2002, Wesleyan President McConaughy ‘‘lectured’’ him during the course of a meeting in the presidential office on Eclectic’s strategy of targeting Olin scholars during fall rushes. In rather ‘‘stern’’ words McConaughy opined to Brother Andrews that this was a too one-dimensional approach to selecting members and also a strategy potentially harmful to the healthy distribution of top students among all fraternities.1 At the Socrats’ Annual Meeting of June 17, 1930, a rather strange incident occurred in view of subsequent events. The college Class of 1890 asked permission to install a marker on the front lawn at 200 High Street to commemorate the fact that Woodrow Wilson, twenty-eighth president of the United States, lived in a house on that spot while he was a professor at Wesleyan (1888–90). The motion to permit the installation of the marker was ‘‘lost’’ (i.e., not approved). Such a marker, a brass plaque on a stone, was eventually installed, for it was certainly there in the late 1950s.2 It disappeared at some point after that time. The year 1931 involved much activity associated with the celebration of the Centennial of Wesleyan, which took place October 10–12 of 82 that year. Many Eclectics, both Socrats and undergraduates, contributed to planning and carrying out the festivities. Chief among these were Professor Karl S. Van Dyke (1916), who served as executive secretary of committee, and the Hon. Frederick M. Davenport, Member of Congress (1889), who delivered the principal address at the formal ceremony . In the House, a new Songs of Phi NuTheta was published in honor of the Centennial.3 It was to serve as the definitive song book for the duration of the existence of the Fraternity in its traditional form.4 Carl Price wrote his Wesleyan’s First Century (published in 1932), which evidently stirred thoughts of a similar effort to mark the Centennial of the Fraternity six years in the future. A graduating senior, John A. Kouwenhoven (1931), later an author of books on American history, first raised the subject at the June 12, 1931, Annual Meeting of the Socrats. During a fraternity meeting held in conjunction with the University’s Centennial weekend, October 10–12, 1931, Eric M. North (1909) presented a tentative outline of the proposed history of Eclectic. The undergraduates recommended to the Socrats that they authorize up to $200 for ‘‘stenographic help.’’5 During the course of 1931–32,William W. Martin (1874) offered a bequest to the Socratic Literary Society to establish a Martin Prize, which was accepted by the Annual Meeting of the Socrats of June 17, 1932. The prize, consisting of the interest income from the bequest of $1000, was to be awarded annually to the freshman with the highest record of achievement at midyear. The recipient each year would be obligated to read several historical documents relating to the Fraternity, including an address of the donor. According to the terms of the bequest, the corpus would revert with no restrictions to the general funds of the Socratic Literary Society twenty-one years after the death of the last member of the Delegations of 1928 through 1932. The first prize was presented by Professor Crawford, a delegation mate of the donor, to cowinners Clarence K. Aldrich and Horace K. Burr of the Delegation of 1935 at the regular fraternity meeting held on March 9, 1932. A listing of all recorded Martin Prize recipients is included in appendix C. Indications of a changing attitude toward the consumption of alcoholic beverages began to appear...

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