Remembering the good old days at Newcomb
Well now that a federal judge ruled on Thursday against Newcomb students and alumnae trying to keep Tulane President Scott Cowen from closing the 120-year old women's college, Newcomb might want to forego the "Getting to Know Newcomb Skit" scheduled for next week, and instead focus on the "Newcomb Student/Alumnae Tea," where stories will be shared about what Newcomb and Tulane were like in the past -- back in the good old days before Herr Cowen appointed himself chancellor.
posted by Schroeder @ 3:31 PM
3 comments
3 Comments:
This has been hard to watch. I know Cowen has had to make some difficult decisions and am filled with pride by what these universities, all of them, have done since the storm and flood. I honestly believe that the Us opening in January was one of the most important events in the recovery, to date.
I am assuming that Newcomb will be absorbed by Tulane, curricula and endowment. It will be a loss, but it seems to me it will be one primarily of identification rather than actuality. I could be wrong about this, and if I'm not, it's no less sad.
The rest of the world knows Newcomb for the fabulous American art pottery that was produced there.
*sigh*
Pay attention to the_velvet_rut.blogspot.com for the inside track on Newcomb news.
DON'T GIVE UP ON NEWCOMB!! Read about progress in the lawsuit and go to www.newcomblives.com for more.
NEW ORLEANS—June 13, 2006—A letter submitted in the New Orleans Civil District Court case Howard v. Tulane offers a new glimpse into the circumstances surrounding the creation and maintenance of Newcomb College. The letter, from Josephine Newcomb’s lawyer James McConnell to the Tulane Educational Fund, describes McConnell’s efforts to ensure Mrs. Newcomb’s gifts went toward creating and maintaining Newcomb as a separate, all-women’s college.
“The letter outlines Mrs. Newcomb’s explicit demand that her gifts be used to establish and maintain Newcomb College,” said attorney Shawn Holahan, who is representing the plaintiffs. “In abolishing Newcomb College, Tulane is deliberately ignoring that demand.”
McConnell, a member of the Tulane Board of Administrators for more than 32 years, served as Mrs. Newcomb’s lawyer in New Orleans, helping her prepare her will and representing her estate after her death. He had also served as counsel to Paul Tulane, and was the father of a 1900 graduate of Newcomb College. His letter describes his attempts after Mrs. Newcomb’s death to ensure her gifts were used only for the funding of Newcomb College and provides insight into Mrs. Newcomb’s dedication to the college she founded.
“…assuring her as I did, that the Board of Administrators of the Tulane Educational Fund would devote the property bequeathed by her to them entirely to the benefit and development of the H. Sophie Newcomb Memorial College as a Department of Tulane University of Louisiana and that she could rely upon my assurance in that respect: and I now and here repeat to this Board this statement and emphasize the assurance so given by me to Mrs. Newcomb, in order that hereafter it may not be forgotten,” McConnell said in his letter.
The letter is part of evidence presented in the lawsuit Howard v. Tulane, filed by the heirs of Josephine Louise Newcomb in Louisiana state court against Tulane University to retain H. Sophie Newcomb Memorial College as a separate degree-granting college for women. The petition was filed in response to Tulane University’s Renewal Plan that outlined the Tulane Education Fund Board of Administrators’ intention to eliminate Newcomb College as a separate undergraduate college and create a co-educational undergraduate college. The elimination of Newcomb College is not financially necessary for the survival of Tulane University, as Newcomb is financially strong.
History of H. Sophie Newcomb Memorial College
Beginning in 1886, Josephine Newcomb made several donations to the Tulane University Board of Administrators for the clear and explicit purpose of establishing and maintaining a separate college for women, the nation’s first degree-granting college for women within a university in the United States. She bequeathed $2 million—her entire fortune—to the Tulane Board to maintain Newcomb College as a separate and coordinated college in Tulane University for the education and benefit of young women. Since November 9, 1886, for more than 119 years, the Tulane Board has operated Newcomb College under the restrictions of Mrs. Newcomb’s donations.
About The Future of Newcomb College, Inc.
The Future of Newcomb College, Inc. (TFoNC) is a coalition of Newcomb College alumnae, supporters, students and faculty spanning multiple generations and six decades of women’s education. TFoNC was formed March 17, 2006 as a non-profit corporation to protect Josephine L. Newcomb’s mission and endowment in establishing and maintaining Newcomb College and promote the continued existence of H. Sophie Newcomb Memorial College as a degree-granting college for women. TFoNC joins various other advocates who already have petitioned the Tulane Educational Fund Board to amend its Renewal Plan to include two undergraduate colleges for Tulane University: Newcomb College for undergraduate women and Tulane College, or another chosen name, for men.
The TFoNC Board of Directors comprises Newcomb alumnae from across the United States and includes representatives who have served on the Dean's Advisory Council, the Newcomb Alumnae Association and Newcomb in New York. Renee Seblatnigg serves as president, Christina Jacobs is vice president and Wendy Delery Hills is secretary-treasurer. Board members include Marla Custard, Lena Juarez, Margaret Kelly, Linda Muir, Paige Gold and Ellen Lindsay.
Additional information on The Future of Newcomb College, Inc. is available online at www.newcomblives.com.
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