Books or Bullets

The rising bell still rings at 5 every morning, and the daily routine of prayer, recitation and study continues uninterrupted. But as news of the Continental Congress trickles in from Philadelphia, the scholarly discipline of the 150 young men at the College of New Jersey in Princeton increasingly gives way to patriotic enthusiasm.

A ceremonial reading of the Declaration of Independence this week was accompanied by a triple volley of musketry and ended with a loud chorus of student cheers. All three stories of Nassau Hall were grandly illuminated for the occasion, with tallow dips in every window casting a glow that could be seen for miles around. The students' pride in the occasion was undoubtedly enhanced by the knowledge that their own president, the Reverend John Witherspoon, took part in the congressional deliberations last week. He forcefully told wavering delegates that the country is, in his words, "not only ripe for the measure [independence] but in danger of becoming rotten for the want of it."

A native Scotsman who came to this country in 1768--despite his wife's fear that America "would be as a sentence of death to her"--Witherspoon might have been expected to cast his sympathies with the mother country. But from the day he first stepped ashore in Philadelphia, he has been an outspoken admirer of things American--particularly of the invigorating climate, the high standard of living available even to small farmers and laborers, and the freedom to travel without molestation by highway men and beggars. Presbyterian church policy discourages ministers from participating in politics, however, so despite his immediate enthusiasm for the Colonies, he did not become actively involved in the dispute with England until 1774.

By deciding to join rather than oppose the tide of revolution, Dr. Witherspoon spared the College of New Jersey from the chaos that has recently enveloped campuses with less enlightened administrators. King's College in New York is still splitting its president's salary between two men--the president pro tempore, the Reverend Benjamin Moore, and the president de jure, the Reverend Myles Cooper. An ardent Loyalist, Cooper has been residing in England since he escaped from an angry mob of Patriots last year by climbing over the college fence and fleeing half-dressed to the Hudson's River bank, where he hid until taken aboard a British manofwar.

Dartmouth College was similarly embroiled last winter when its president, the Reverend Eleazar Wheelock, was charged with speaking disrespectfully of the Congress and Colonies. After a thorough investigation, however, the Hanover and Lebanon Committees of Safety not only cleared Wheelock of the charges but praised him for his efforts to convert the neighboring Indians to the cause of the Colonies.

Aside from his patriotism, Dr. Witherspoon has proved himself an outstanding educator. During his eight years in Princeton, both college enrollment and endowment have steadily increased. In April 1769, the college was on the verge of bankruptcy, with total assets of only -L-2,535. Knowing that his reputation as one of Scotland's leading theologians would make him welcome in Presbyterian congregations throughout the Colonies, the indefatigable Dr. Witherspoon began traversing the country to raise funds.* He preached in pulpits from Williamsburg to Boston, always stressing the needs of the college.

So effective were his appeals that by September 1770, the college owned bonds and securities totaling .-L-5,115. When added to the income from student fees (-L-23, 13 shillings for room, board, tuition, firewood, candles and sundries), the interest from the endowment is now enough to meet operating expenses. Under Witherspoon, combined enrollment in the college and grammar school has risen from about 100 students in 1768 to 150 today.

The quality of education offered by the college has also greatly improved. To the traditional curriculum of Latin, Greek, theology, mathematics and natural and moral philosophy, Witherspoon has added studies in history, geography and the French and English languages. Bringing several hundred books of his own from Scotland, he has increased the college library to some 2,000 volumes. He has also enlarged the college's stock of scientific apparatus, most notably by persuading the celebrated astronomer David Rittenhouse to sell the college his famous orrery for -L-417. Ever since the orrery was installed in Nassau Hall in 1771, students have gathered to observe the movements of the planets, represented by small brass and ivory balls, as they rotate about the gilded sun.

The eight-year period of steady growth that the College of New Jersey has enjoyed under Witherspoon's direction may, however, be nearing an end. Several of the Colonies' nine colleges have already been seriously disrupted by the war. King's College has been closed since April, when the Committee of Safety ordered the trustees to prepare the college building for use as a military hospital. Yale College remains open, but may have to close before winter if shortages of food and firewood develop as expected. Because of a tight budget due to the war, the Connecticut General Assembly has refused to grant the college its usual funds.

When the students of Harvard College returned to Cambridge last month after more than a year's forced exile in Concord, they found that the Yard had been significantly altered during the American soldiers' occupation. Most of the brass doorknobs and locks as well as much of the interior woodwork had disappeared from the older buildings, and almost half a ton of lead had been removed from the roof of Harvard Hall to mold bullets.

The greatest transformation of college life is likely to come from the students themselves. Until recently, it often seemed that college boys preferred to behave more like wanton children than responsible young adults. College of New Jersey Alumnus Philip Fitinan (class of '72) recalls how they formed a club "for inventing and practising several new kinds of miscinef--parading bad women, darting sunbeams upon the townpeople, reconoitering houses in town, ogling women with the telescope." Today the students are disciplining themselves to meet the burdens of war. Units of student militia have been formed at Yale, King's, William and Mary and at the College of New Jersey. For many of the young men who heard the Declaration read at tins week's ceremony in Princeton, the sound of musketry may soon be considerably more than a sound of celebration.

*Each of the nine colonial colleges admits students regardless of creed, but with the exception of the College of Philadelphia, all have strong sectarian affiliations and consider the training of ministers to be one of their primary goals. The College of New Jersey was founded in 1746 by Presbyterians who wanted to provide an alternative to the Congregational emphasis of Harvard and Yale and the Anglicanism of the College of William and Mary.

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