 | This article needs additional citations for verification .(June 2008) |
| Sage Hall | |
|---|---|
 Sage Hall in 2013 | |
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| General information | |
| Town or city | Ithaca, New York |
| Country | United States |
| Coordinates | 42°26′45″N76°29′00″W / 42.4459°N 76.4834°W |
| Year(s) built | 1875 |
Sage Hall was built in 1875 at Cornell University's Ithaca, New York campus. Originally designed as a residential building, it currently houses the Johnson Graduate School of Management.
Although women had previously enrolled in Cornell as early as 1870, the absence of a women's dormitory was problematic in attracting and retaining female students. Sage Hall was built in 1875, financed by Ithaca businessman Henry W. Sage, to fill this need. "When you are ready to carry out the idea of educating young women as thoroughly as young men," Sage told his friend Ezra Cornell in 1868, "I will provide the endowment to enable you to do so." [1] Sage and Andrew Dickson White toured Oberlin College to study facilities being used there to successfully undertake coeducation. [2]
With Sage's $250,000 donation, construction started in 1872 under the guidance of professor of architecture Charles Babcock. In 1875, Sage College welcomed 25 female students, making the university a pioneer in coeducation and attracting many applications. Early graduates included two college presidents, Julia Josephine Thomas Irvine (Wellesley) and Martha Carey Thomas (Bryn Mawr); a prominent women's suffragist, Harriet May Mills; a publisher and author, Ruth Putnam; and the noted Cornell professor and scientist, Anna Botsford Comstock.
Sage Hall was not equally accessible to all female students, however. In 1929, two Black female students, Pauline Davis and Ruth Peyton, were denied residency at Sage by the Dean of Women, R. Louise Fitch. The decision was upheld by Cornell President Livingston Farrand, who wrote in a letter to Ruth Peyton's mother that "... unfortunate as it may be, the placing of a colored student in one of the dormitories inevitably causes more embarrassment than satisfaction for such a student." [3] His predecessor, Jacob Gould Schurman, did involve himself in a similar controversy in 1911, when he had ruled in favor of admitting two Black female students to Sage College after 269 of their white peers had petitioned against it, declaring, “University doors must be open to all students irrespective of race or color or creed ...” By the time the decision was made, however, the two students had already left Cornell. [4]
When the building opened, it offered some of the most luxurious accommodations of any college dormitory in the United States. Residents had access to a swimming pool, gym, botanical conservatory, indoor plumbing, and elegant furnishings. The building contained features that defined it as a residential college (as opposed to a traditional dormitory) such as a dining hall, classrooms, a library, and professorial offices. It could house up to 120 students.
In the 1930s, Sage became a graduate student dormitory.[ citation needed ] As most University-run student housing was consolidated into the West and North Campus areas, Sage became something of an anomaly: it was the only student living facility in the central campus area, and the only building that combined living and classroom space. It also housed the Cornell Career Center in its eastern wing. While Sage rooms were spacious compared to other dorms, by the 1990s the facility was significantly run down, as the University, which planned to transform the entire building into classroom space, did little more than basic maintenance. The 1994–1995 school year was the last in which Sage housed students.
Between April 1996 and August 1998, the university undertook a renovation, at the cost of $38 million, to convert the building into the new home for the Johnson Graduate School of Management. The top segment of the building's iconic spire that had been removed years before was rebuilt. [5] A glass ceiling was constructed over the inner courtyard, changing it into an atrium, using a design inspired by the main exhibition hall at the Oxford University Museum. Babcock's original design of Sage Hall had been influenced by that same museum's design.
Ezra Cornell was a birthright Quaker. He was later disowned by the Society of Friends for marrying outside of the faith to a Methodist by the name of Mary Ann Wood. Ezra and Mary Ann were married March 19, 1831, in Dryden, New York.
On February 24, 1832, a disheartened Ezra Cornell wrote the following response to his expulsion from The Society of Friends due to his marriage to Mary Ann Wood:
"I have always considered that choosing a companion for life was a very important affair and that my happiness or misery in this life depended on the choice ..."
He remarked that the nation was founded on the principle of separation of Church and State. [6] Cornell felt the same way about the university; religious conservatives described the university in its early years as "Godless Cornell."
In 1873, when the cornerstone of Sage Hall was laid, [7] Ezra Cornell wrote a letter for posterity—dated May 15, 1873—and sealed it into the cornerstone. No copies of the letter were made, and Cornell kept its contents a secret. However, he hinted at the theme of the letter during his speech at the dedication of Sage Hall, stating that "the letter deposited in the cornerstone addressed to the future man and woman, of which I have kept no copy, will relate to future generations the cause of the failure of this experiment, if it ever does fail, as I trust in God it never will." [7]
Cornell historians largely assumed that the "experiment" to which Cornell referred was that of coeducation, given that Sage Hall was to be a women's dormitory and that coeducation was still a controversial issue. [7] However, when the letter was finally unearthed in 1997, its focus was revealed to be the university's nonsectarian status—a principle that had invited controversy in the 19th century, given that most universities of the time had religious affiliations. Cornell wrote:
On the occasion of laying the corner stone of the Sage College for women of Cornell University, I desire to say that the principle[ sic ] danger, and I say almost the only danger I see in the future to be encountered by the friends of education, and by all lovers of true liberty is that which may arise from sectarian strife.
From these halls, sectarianism must be forever excluded, all students must be left free to worship God, as their concience[ sic ] shall dictate, and allpersons of any creed or all creeds must find free and easy access, and a hearty and equal welcome, to the educational facilities possessed by the Cornell University.
Coeducation of the sexes and entire freedom from sectarian or political preferences is the only proper and safe way for providing an education that shall meet the wants of the future and carry out the founders[ sic ] idea of an Institution where "any person can find instruction in any study." I herewith commit this great trust to your care. [8]
The New York State College of Human Ecologyat Cornell University (HumEc) is a statutory college and one of four New York State contract colleges located on the Cornell University campus in Ithaca, New York. The College of Human Ecology is compilation of study areas such as design, design thinking, consumer science, nutrition, health economics, public policy, human development and textiles, each through the perspective of human ecology.
The New York State College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Cornell University is a statutory college and one of the four New York State contract colleges on the Cornell University campus in Ithaca, New York. With enrollment of approximately 3,100 undergraduate and 1,000 graduate students, CALS is the third-largest college of its kind in the United States and the second-largest undergraduate college on the Cornell campus.
Anna Botsford Comstock was an acclaimed author, illustrator, and educator of natural studies. The first female professor at Cornell University, her over 900-page work, The Handbook of Nature Study (1911), is now in its 24th edition. Comstock was an American artist and wood engraver known for illustrating entomological text books with her husband, John Henry Comstock including their first joint effort, The Manual for the Study of Insects (1885). Comstock worked with Liberty Hyde Bailey, John Walton Spencer, Alice McCloskey, Julia Rogers, and Ada Georgia as part of the department of Nature Study at Cornell University. Together they wrote nature study curricula to develop a curiosity for, and education about, the surrounding natural world. Comstock also was a proponent for conservationism by instilling a love and appreciation of the natural world around us.
John Henry Comstock was an eminent researcher in entomology and arachnology and a leading educator. His work provided the basis for classification of butterflies, moths, and scale insects.
Henry Williams Sage was a wealthy New York State businessman, philanthropist, and early benefactor and trustee of Cornell University.
Balch Hall is the only remaining all-female dormitory on the North Campus of Cornell University. Technically, Balch Hall consists of four eighty-student halls, hence the more accurate name the Balch Halls, which has fallen out of use. Balch Hall is open only to female freshman and is divided into sections, known as units, each with a Residential Advisor who helps the new students acclimate themselves with the campus. This dorm is unique due to its old fashioned design as each room has a personal sink, or shares a sink with one other room. The dorm also houses the Carol Tatkon Center in which the residents can borrow movies, games, baking pans and other similar objects.
The history of Cornell University begins when its two founders, Andrew Dickson White of Syracuse and Ezra Cornell of Ithaca, met in the New York State Senate in January 1864. Together, they established Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, in 1865. The university was initially funded by Ezra Cornell's $400,000 endowment and by New York's 989,920-acre (4,006.1 km2) allotment of the Morrill Land Grant Act of 1862
The nature study movement was a popular education movement that originated in the United States and spread throughout the English-speaking world in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Nature study attempted to reconcile scientific investigation with spiritual, personal experiences gained from interaction with the natural world. Led by progressive educators and naturalists such as Anna Botsford Comstock, Liberty Hyde Bailey, Louis Agassiz, William Gould Vinal, and Wilbur S. Jackman, nature study changed the way science was taught in schools by emphasizing learning from tangible objects, something that was embodied by the movement's mantra: "study nature, not books". The movement popularized scientific study outside of the classroom as well, and has proven highly influential for figures involved in the modern environmental movement, such as Aldo Leopold and Rachel Carson.
West Campus is a residential section of Cornell University's Ithaca, New York campus located west of Libe Slope and between the Fall Creek gorge and the Cascadilla gorge. It now primarily houses transfer students, second year students, and upperclassmen.
North Campus is a residential section of Cornell University's Ithaca, New York, campus located north of Fall Creek. It primarily houses freshmen. North Campus offers programs which ease the transition into college life for incoming freshmen. The campus offers interactions with faculty and other programs designed to increase interaction among members of the freshman class. North Campus is part of Cornell's residential initiative.
Willard Straight Hall is the student union building on the central campus of Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. It is located on Campus Road, adjacent to the Ho Plaza and Cornell Health.
Llenroc is a Gothic revival villa built for Ezra Cornell, the founder of Cornell University. It is located at 100 Cornell Avenue in Ithaca, New York, United States, just below the Cornell University campus. Since 1911, it has been the home of the Pi Chapter of the Delta Phi fraternity. The house was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.
Sage Chapel is the non-denominational chapel on the campus of Cornell University in Ithaca, New York State which serves as the burial ground for many contributors to Cornell's history, including the founders of the university: Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White as well as their wives. The building was gifted to the university by Henry William Sage and his wife. The chapel opened in 1875 and is located on Ho Plaza, across from Willard Straight Hall and next to John M. Olin Library, John McGraw Tower, and Barnes Hall.
Prudence Risley Residential College for the Creative and Performing Arts, commonly known as Risley Residential College, Risley Hall, or just Risley, is a program house at Cornell University. Unlike most other dormitories on campus, Risley is a residential college; house members, or "Risleyites," have some say in the administration of the residence hall, can continue to reside there as long as they are enrolled at Cornell, are encouraged to eat together at the in-house dining hall, and participate in educational activities such as guest lectures within the dormitory.
Central Campus is the primary academic and administrative section of Cornell University's Ithaca, New York campus. It is bounded by Libe Slope on the west, Fall Creek on the north, and Cascadilla Creek on the South.
Simon Henry Gage was a professor of anatomy, Histology, and Embryology at Cornell University and an important figure in the history of American microscopy. His book, The Microscope, appeared in seventeen editions. In 1931, a volume of the American Journal of Anatomy was dedicated to Gage on the occasion of his eightieth birthday.
Martha Van Rensselaer was a founding co-director of the College of Home Economics, which led to the establishment of the New York State College of Human Ecology in Ithaca, New York. Van Rensselaer served as an educator and proponent of the application of knowledge to improved quality of life in the home. She called the field of study “domestic science” and focused on key aspects of homemaking.
The Computing and Communications Center is a building of Cornell University, located in Ithaca, New York. It was built in 1911 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984. It was designed by Green & Wicks.
Ruby Green Smith (1878-1960) was an American entomologist, peace campaigner and home economics educator. She is known for having authored The Home Bureau Creed.