Lafayette College
Encyclopedia
Lafayette College is a private
coeducation
al liberal arts and engineering college
located in Easton
, Pennsylvania
, USA
. The school, founded in 1826 by James Madison Porter,son of General Andrew Porter of Norristown and citizens of Easton, first began holding classes in 1832. The founders voted to name the school after General Lafayette, who famously toured the country in 1824–25
, as "a testimony of respect for [his] talents, virtues, and signal services...the great cause of freedom".
The student body, consisting entirely of undergraduates, comes from 37 U.S. state
s and 57 countries. In its 2012 edition, U.S. News & World Report
ranked Lafayette 40th out of all liberal arts colleges in the nation, while Barron's
ranked it among the top 65 "Most Competitive" colleges and universities. Lafayette is ranked 4th on Payscale
's list of Top Liberal Arts Colleges by Salary Potential. Lafayette is ranked 33rd out of 650 undergraduate schools in the 2011 Forbes
list of "America's Top Colleges." Its 23 Division I sports teams participate in the Patriot League
, with its football team claiming the league championship from 2004–2006 and the national championship in 1896, 1921, and 1926.
met on December 27, 1824 at White's Tavern to explore the possibility of opening a college. The recent visit of the General Lafayette to New York
during his grand tour of the US in 1824 and 1825
prompted the founders to name the school after the French
military officer. The group also established the 35-member Board of Trustees, a system of governance that has remained at the College since its inception. In need of an education plan, the meeting gave the responsibility to Porter, lawyer Jacob Wagener, and Yale
educated lawyer Joel Jones. The charter gained approval and on March 9, 1826, Pennsylvania Governor John Andrew Shulze
's signature made the college official.
The school did not open until six years later when the Rev. George Junkin
, a Presbyterian minister, took up the charter and moved the all-male Manual Labor Academy of Pennsylvania from Germantown to Easton. Classes began on May 9, 1832, with the instruction of 43 students on the south bank of the Lehigh River
in a rented farmhouse. Students had to earn money to support the program by laboring in the fields and workshops. Later that year, Lafayette purchased what is now known as "College Hill" – nine acre
s of elevated land across Bushkill Creek
. The College's first building was constructed two years later on the current site of South College.
in 1854, although recently the ending of this official relationship has been discussed.
became the first professor of English
at an American college when Lafayette became the first college to implement the program of study. His sons, Francis A. March Jr, was mayor of Easton and wrote Athletics at Lafayette College, while Peyton C. March
, was the Chief of Staff of the United States Army
following World War I
.
.
s and 57 countries. For the class of 2012, the acceptance rate was 42%, with 59% of those accepted ranking in the top 10% of their high school classes. The middle 50% of accepted students have SAT
scores ranging from 570 - 670 Critical Reading and 600 - 710 Math, and ACT
scores ranging from 26–30. The college has 199 full-time faculty members, giving it an 11:1 student to faculty ratio. This ratio will decrease to 9:1 after the hiring of 35 new faculty members as part of the College's Strategic Planning Initiative.
Lafayette students have been honored in recent years with national and international scholarships, including the most Goldwater Scholarships obtained by a liberal arts college over the past six years. For the class of 2012, Lafayette gave financial aid to 66% of the students, with the average package amounting to $26,850 for all students. The college also offers a merit-based academic scholarship – the Marquis Scholarship, which provides $16,000 per year. Lafayette's endowment
is more than $580 million, with total assets amounting to more than $1 billion.
In its 2010 edition, U.S. News & World Report ranked Lafayette 35th out of all liberal arts colleges in the nation, with its engineering program ranked 12th out of non-doctoral schools. In Kiplinger's Personal Finance
magazine, a study of the best valued schools ranked Lafayette 14th among liberal arts colleges. The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education has ranked Lafayette as fifth among the nation’s 50 leading liberal arts colleges and universities in the percentage of full-time African American faculty members, and twelfth for first year black enrollment.
The College offers 45 different Majors across four academic divisions: natural sciences, humanities, engineering, and social sciences. Most departments offer minors, and twelve interdisciplinary minors are also available. A.B. requirements allow students to double major or create a coordinate major in two departments. Students declare their major during the second semester of their sophomore year.
The Policy Studies program, established in 2006, is an interdisciplinary major that allows students to better understand the design, management, and evaluation of policies and institutions. The Policy Studies Program sponsors student events such as the Election Night Broadcast, where students reported the events of the 2006 mid-term election to the College, and also brings guest speakers to campus. Also new to the College is a Chinese language program which will offer classes on Chinese language and culture. Lafayette's Strategic Planning Initiative is also considering the possibility of introducing additional non-European language programs over time, including Arabic, Hindi, and Swahili.
, created a petition calling for a boycott of the reputational survey as well as a refusal to use the rankings to promote a college or to indicate its quality. 63 college and university presidents have signed the letter. Predictably, Lafayette College's ranking fell from #30 in 2007 to #34 in 2008.
in Phillipsburg, New Jersey
. Although Pardee Hall is truly oriented southward, with the gently sloping hill leading to its front entrance, the students refer to this as the "back" of Pardee because the other side (the true back) faces the Quad. During the winter, or after a drenching spring rain, sledding is popular on the hill "behind" Pardee Hall.
Kirby Hall of Civil Rights, the interior of which is constructed of travertine
marble, was rumored to have been the most expensive collegiate building, per square foot, built at its time. The building was designed by the same architectural firm that designed New York City
's Grand Central Terminal
.
Farinon College Center, the student union, was architecturally inspired by the McKelvy House, a college-owned mansion just off campus. It is located in the original location of the Delta Upsilon fraternity, and the fireplace in the lobby is the original fireplace from the fraternity. While the top floor of Farinon is an "all-you-can-eat" style buffet paid for in blocks from a meal plan, the downstairs is a station-based food court in which students pay itemized fees for food. The dining area for the downstairs area also serves as the stage for comedy acts brought in by the Lafayette Activities Forum, the College's student-run activities committee.
Markle Hall, now the main administrative building, housing the Offices of Admissions and Financial Aid, originally was designated the Hall of Mining Engineering. An online historical survey of campus buildings is maintained by the College's Special Collections.
Gilbert's Cafe, a coffeehouse located on the ground floor of Kirby House, was opened in 1999 to provide a late-night hangout for students. Its name was the subject of a contest, and the winning student selected one of General Lafayette's middle names: Gilbert. In the fall of 2006, a sinkhole was discovered underneath Kirby House, and the much-beloved coffeehouse had to be closed during the spring semester. However, it was reopened for the subsequent fall semester. Gilbert's Cafe is the site of many open mic nights where student bands can perform for their fellow classmates.
Skillman Library underwent an extensive renovation from 2003 to 2005, and the building has won several awards, including the 2006 national honor award for interior architecture from the American Institute of Architects
.
Also in the fall of 2006, Lafayette signed a deal with MTV
to designate the campus as an MTVu campus. As a result, Lafayette hosted an MTVu
concert in the spring of 2006, as opposed to the regular concert chosen by the student government. This was led by the Student Activities Planning Board, called the Lafayette Activities Forum (LAF), the organization that continues to plan and produce Lafayette's major Spring Concerts. In the spring of 2007, Third Eye Blind
was selected to perform in Kirby Gymnasium, followed by the musical artist Ben Folds
in the spring of 2008 and a triple feature with headliner Girl Talk in 2009. The show in 2010 featured Kid Cudi
with RJD2 and Chiddy Bang. The Spring Concert in 2011 featured rappers K'Naan
, Wale
and Sam Adams.
in his book, The Last Amateurs
.
. Since 1884, the two football teams have met 147 times, making it the most played rivalry in the history of college football. It is also the longest running rivalry in college football, with the teams playing at least once every year since 1897. The Rivalry is considered one of the best in all of college athletics, and ESPNU recently ranked it #8 among the Top Ten College Football Rivalries. The game is sold out long before gameday each year.
Lafayette leads the all-time series 76–66–5. In the latest contest, Lafayette lost to Lehigh on Saturday, November 19, 2011 by a score of 37–13 at Lehigh in Bethlehem. Lafayette has lost the last four games.
, Delta Kappa Epsilon
, Phi Kappa Psi
, and Zeta Psi
. They also have six sororities including Alpha Phi
, Pi Beta Phi
, Kappa Kappa Gamma
, Delta Delta Delta
, Delta Gamma
, and Alpha Gamma Delta
. All but two of those Greek organizations are located on campus. Approximately 25% of students participate in Greek Life at Lafayette, making it a viable living option. Members of each house commit themselves to various philanthropic ventures throughout the academic year.
Alpha Phi Omega
National Service Fraternity was founded in 1925 at Lafayette College by Frank Reed Horton
in Hogg Hall (formerly Brainerd Hall). The organization still exists and continues what Frank Reed Horton started.
The Rho Chapter of the Delta Kappa Epsilon
fraternity is the oldest fraternity and the oldest student organization at Lafayette College, having been chartered on October 15, 1855. Among the chapter's alumni are Peyton C. March
, U.S. Army Chief of Staff during World War I, and William E. Simon
, former U.S. Secretary of the Treasury.
The Phi Kappa Psi
fraternity house was in Guinness World Records
for a number of years as the largest free standing structure to undergo transportation. The "Old Grey Barn", as it is often called, is now located along March Field. It underwent a major interior renovation during the 2006–2007 academic year.
The Zeta Psi Fraternity House
was added to the National Register of Historic Places
in 2001.
region of Honduras
. EWB's mission is to design and implement projects in these villages that help promote better life. The club has focused its efforts on water treatment systems.
El Convento, which is located in the Yoro district of central Honduras, will be the third sustainable water project EWB-LC students have worked on in the country since 2003 when the club was founded. The group has implemented gravity-fed water systems in neighboring Lagunitas and La Fortuna. In La Fortuna, the group utilized a slow sand filter
in its system. The group’s previous work garnered national media exposure for being one of six national institutions to receive a $75,000 grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
104.9FM, first established licensure with the Federal Communications Commission
(FCC) in 1946, broadcasting under a Class D educational license on 90.5 FM. As FM
frequencies grew in demand, the FCC mandated that stations operating in the frequency range currently provided to WJRH increase their power to serve larger audiences. Since WJRH was only to serve the Lafayette community, it was decided to give the frequency to another facility and relocate to its current home frequency, 104.9.
The station is regularly being upgraded with the latest broadcasting technology. Several additions have included the relaunch of WJRH Broadband (a live Windows Media Player
stream available to Lafayette students) and WJRH PC (an online database of MP3 Podcasts of select shows as part of an overall website renovation). WJRH has been housed for over 30 years in its current location, Hogg Hall.
Lafayette has produced many prominent businessmen, engineers, politicians, and other notable individuals including Kevin Bloomfield, the first psychology professor, Vineyard Vines founder Ian Murray, and Secretary of the Treasury William E. Simon
. David K. McDonogh, of the Class of 1844, is argued by the College to be the first "legalized" slave ever to receive a college degree. In addition, the founders of the 1960s pop
group The Cyrkle
, guitarists Don Danneman and Tom Dawes, were graduates of Lafayette. F. Wilbur Gingrich
, Class of 1923, became a well known Greek scholar, and is noted for translating and adapting the work of Walter Bauer
’s Greek-German lexicon (Bauer lexicon
) in collaboration with William F. Arndt. Leonard Jeffries
, a professor at CCNY, was president of a traditionally Jewish fraternity while he was a student at Lafayette College. Jim Rosenhaus
, broadcaster for the Cleveland Indians
, also graduated from Lafayette College. The College has approximately 28,000 registered alumni.
Private school
Private schools, also known as independent schools or nonstate schools, are not administered by local, state or national governments; thus, they retain the right to select their students and are funded in whole or in part by charging their students' tuition, rather than relying on mandatory...
coeducation
Coeducation
Mixed-sex education, also known as coeducation or co-education, is the integrated education of male and female persons in the same institution. It is the opposite of single-sex education...
al liberal arts and engineering college
Liberal arts colleges in the United States
Liberal arts colleges in the United States are certain undergraduate institutions of higher education in the United States. The Encyclopædia Britannica Concise offers a definition of the liberal arts as a "college or university curriculum aimed at imparting general knowledge and developing general...
located in Easton
Easton, Pennsylvania
Easton is a city in Northampton County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 26,800 as of the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Northampton County....
, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
, USA
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. The school, founded in 1826 by James Madison Porter,son of General Andrew Porter of Norristown and citizens of Easton, first began holding classes in 1832. The founders voted to name the school after General Lafayette, who famously toured the country in 1824–25
Visit of the Marquis de Lafayette to the United States (1824-25)
From July 1824 to September 1825, the last surviving French General of the Revolutionary War, the Marquis de Lafayette, made a famous tour of the 24 states in the United States...
, as "a testimony of respect for [his] talents, virtues, and signal services...the great cause of freedom".
The student body, consisting entirely of undergraduates, comes from 37 U.S. state
U.S. state
A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...
s and 57 countries. In its 2012 edition, U.S. News & World Report
U.S. News & World Report
U.S. News & World Report is an American news magazine published from Washington, D.C. Along with Time and Newsweek it was for many years a leading news weekly, focusing more than its counterparts on political, economic, health and education stories...
ranked Lafayette 40th out of all liberal arts colleges in the nation, while Barron's
Barron's Educational Series
Barron's Educational Series, Inc. is an American test preparation company, founded in 1941 as a publisher of materials to help students to prepare for college entrance examinations, and that offers online college entrance exam preparation classes...
ranked it among the top 65 "Most Competitive" colleges and universities. Lafayette is ranked 4th on Payscale
PayScale
PayScale, Inc. or payscale.com is an online salary, benefits and compensation information company, which launched its service on January 1, 2002. It was founded by Joe Giordano, a former Microsoft and drugstore.com manager, and John Gaffney....
's list of Top Liberal Arts Colleges by Salary Potential. Lafayette is ranked 33rd out of 650 undergraduate schools in the 2011 Forbes
Forbes
Forbes is an American publishing and media company. Its flagship publication, the Forbes magazine, is published biweekly. Its primary competitors in the national business magazine category are Fortune, which is also published biweekly, and Business Week...
list of "America's Top Colleges." Its 23 Division I sports teams participate in the Patriot League
Patriot League
The Patriot League is a college athletic conference which operates in the northeastern United States. It participates in the NCAA's Division I) for a number of sports; in football, it participates in the Football Championship Subdivision...
, with its football team claiming the league championship from 2004–2006 and the national championship in 1896, 1921, and 1926.
History
A group of Easton citizens led by James Madison PorterJames Madison Porter
James Madison Porter , a Pennsylvanian, was the 18th United States Secretary of War and a founder of Lafayette College....
met on December 27, 1824 at White's Tavern to explore the possibility of opening a college. The recent visit of the General Lafayette to New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
during his grand tour of the US in 1824 and 1825
Visit of the Marquis de Lafayette to the United States (1824-25)
From July 1824 to September 1825, the last surviving French General of the Revolutionary War, the Marquis de Lafayette, made a famous tour of the 24 states in the United States...
prompted the founders to name the school after the French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
military officer. The group also established the 35-member Board of Trustees, a system of governance that has remained at the College since its inception. In need of an education plan, the meeting gave the responsibility to Porter, lawyer Jacob Wagener, and Yale
YALE
RapidMiner, formerly YALE , is an environment for machine learning, data mining, text mining, predictive analytics, and business analytics. It is used for research, education, training, rapid prototyping, application development, and industrial applications...
educated lawyer Joel Jones. The charter gained approval and on March 9, 1826, Pennsylvania Governor John Andrew Shulze
John Andrew Shulze
John Andrew Shulze was a Pennsylvania political leader and the sixth Governor of Pennsylvania. He was a member of the Muhlenberg family political dynasty....
's signature made the college official.
The school did not open until six years later when the Rev. George Junkin
George Junkin
Rev. George Junkin, D. D., LL. D. was an American educator and Presbyterian minister who served as the first president of Lafayette College and later as president of Miami University and Washington College .-Biography:He was the son of Joseph Junkin, and the sixth of fourteen children born in...
, a Presbyterian minister, took up the charter and moved the all-male Manual Labor Academy of Pennsylvania from Germantown to Easton. Classes began on May 9, 1832, with the instruction of 43 students on the south bank of the Lehigh River
Lehigh River
The Lehigh River, a tributary of the Delaware River, is a river located in eastern Pennsylvania, in the United States. Part of the Lehigh, along with a number of its tributaries, is designated a Pennsylvania Scenic River by the state's Department of Conservation and Natural Resources...
in a rented farmhouse. Students had to earn money to support the program by laboring in the fields and workshops. Later that year, Lafayette purchased what is now known as "College Hill" – nine acre
Acre
The acre is a unit of area in a number of different systems, including the imperial and U.S. customary systems. The most commonly used acres today are the international acre and, in the United States, the survey acre. The most common use of the acre is to measure tracts of land.The acre is related...
s of elevated land across Bushkill Creek
Bushkill Creek
Bushkill Creek is a tributary of the Delaware River in eastern Pennsylvania in the United States.A portion of Bushkill Creek passes through Jacobsburg Environmental Education Center. The confluence with the Delaware River is in Easton.-References:*Gertler, Edward. Keystone Canoeing, Seneca...
. The College's first building was constructed two years later on the current site of South College.
Church affiliation
Lafayette became affiliated with the Presbyterian ChurchUnited Presbyterian Church in the United States of America
The United Presbyterian Church in the United States of America was the largest branch of Presbyterianism in the United States from May 28, 1958 to 1983...
in 1854, although recently the ending of this official relationship has been discussed.
Francis March
In 1857, Francis MarchFrancis March
Francis Andrew March was an American polymath, academic, philologist, and lexicographer...
became the first professor of English
English studies
English studies is an academic discipline that includes the study of literatures written in the English language , English linguistics English studies is an academic discipline that includes the study of literatures written in the English language (including literatures from the U.K., U.S.,...
at an American college when Lafayette became the first college to implement the program of study. His sons, Francis A. March Jr, was mayor of Easton and wrote Athletics at Lafayette College, while Peyton C. March
Peyton C. March
Peyton Conway March was an American soldier and Army Chief of Staff.March was the son of Francis Andrew March, considered the principal founder of modern comparative linguistics in Anglo-Saxon and one of the first professors to advocate and teach English in colleges and universities...
, was the Chief of Staff of the United States Army
Chief of Staff of the United States Army
The Chief of Staff of the Army is a statutory office held by a four-star general in the United States Army, and is the most senior uniformed officer assigned to serve in the Department of the Army, and as such is the principal military advisor and a deputy to the Secretary of the Army; and is in...
following World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
.
Newspaper
The Lafayette, Lafayette's weekly student newspaper, was founded in 1870 and is the oldest college newspaper in Pennsylvania. It is available in both print and online form.Coeducational institution
In 1970, the college increased total enrollment after changing from an all-male school to a coeducational institution.Commemoration
In 2007, the college commemorated the 250th birthday of General Lafayette through a series of lectures and campus dedications. Major festivities were held on September 6, 2007, Lafayette's birthday, and were kicked off the night before with a lecture by renowned historian David McCulloughDavid McCullough
David Gaub McCullough is an American author, narrator, historian, and lecturer. He is a two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award and a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the United States' highest civilian award....
.
Academics
Lafayette's student body consists of 2,382 undergraduate students hailing from 37 U.S. StateU.S. state
A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...
s and 57 countries. For the class of 2012, the acceptance rate was 42%, with 59% of those accepted ranking in the top 10% of their high school classes. The middle 50% of accepted students have SAT
SAT
The SAT Reasoning Test is a standardized test for college admissions in the United States. The SAT is owned, published, and developed by the College Board, a nonprofit organization in the United States. It was formerly developed, published, and scored by the Educational Testing Service which still...
scores ranging from 570 - 670 Critical Reading and 600 - 710 Math, and ACT
ACT (examination)
The ACT is a standardized test for high school achievement and college admissions in the United States produced by ACT, Inc. It was first administered in November 1959 by Everett Franklin Lindquist as a competitor to the College Board's Scholastic Aptitude Test, now the SAT Reasoning Test...
scores ranging from 26–30. The college has 199 full-time faculty members, giving it an 11:1 student to faculty ratio. This ratio will decrease to 9:1 after the hiring of 35 new faculty members as part of the College's Strategic Planning Initiative.
Lafayette students have been honored in recent years with national and international scholarships, including the most Goldwater Scholarships obtained by a liberal arts college over the past six years. For the class of 2012, Lafayette gave financial aid to 66% of the students, with the average package amounting to $26,850 for all students. The college also offers a merit-based academic scholarship – the Marquis Scholarship, which provides $16,000 per year. Lafayette's endowment
Financial endowment
A financial endowment is a transfer of money or property donated to an institution. The total value of an institution's investments is often referred to as the institution's endowment and is typically organized as a public charity, private foundation, or trust....
is more than $580 million, with total assets amounting to more than $1 billion.
In its 2010 edition, U.S. News & World Report ranked Lafayette 35th out of all liberal arts colleges in the nation, with its engineering program ranked 12th out of non-doctoral schools. In Kiplinger's Personal Finance
Kiplinger's Personal Finance
Kiplinger's Personal Finance is a magazine that has been continuously published, on a monthly basis, from 1947 to the present day. It was the nation's first personal finance magazine, and claims to deliver "sound, unbiased advice in clear, concise language"...
magazine, a study of the best valued schools ranked Lafayette 14th among liberal arts colleges. The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education has ranked Lafayette as fifth among the nation’s 50 leading liberal arts colleges and universities in the percentage of full-time African American faculty members, and twelfth for first year black enrollment.
The College offers 45 different Majors across four academic divisions: natural sciences, humanities, engineering, and social sciences. Most departments offer minors, and twelve interdisciplinary minors are also available. A.B. requirements allow students to double major or create a coordinate major in two departments. Students declare their major during the second semester of their sophomore year.
The Policy Studies program, established in 2006, is an interdisciplinary major that allows students to better understand the design, management, and evaluation of policies and institutions. The Policy Studies Program sponsors student events such as the Election Night Broadcast, where students reported the events of the 2006 mid-term election to the College, and also brings guest speakers to campus. Also new to the College is a Chinese language program which will offer classes on Chinese language and culture. Lafayette's Strategic Planning Initiative is also considering the possibility of introducing additional non-European language programs over time, including Arabic, Hindi, and Swahili.
Participation in U.S. News rankings
Starting in the 2006–2007 academic year, President Daniel Weiss agreed to boycott the controversial Peer Assessment in the U.S. News & World Report rankings, which accounts for 25% of a school's overall ranking. Lafayette and eleven other colleges, working with Lloyd Thacker of the Education ConservancyEducation Conservancy
The Education Conservancy is an American educational non-profit organization headed by director Lloyd Thacker. It describes its goal as being "committed to improving college admission processes for students, colleges and high schools."...
, created a petition calling for a boycott of the reputational survey as well as a refusal to use the rankings to promote a college or to indicate its quality. 63 college and university presidents have signed the letter. Predictably, Lafayette College's ranking fell from #30 in 2007 to #34 in 2008.
Campus overview
Pardee Hall, the largest academic building on campus, was devastated by fire twice in the 19th century. One fire began when a science experiment was carelessly left in a lab drawer. The other fire was arson, deliberately set by a professor of moral philosophy and ethics, who reportedly enjoyed watching the building burn from across the Delaware RiverDelaware River
The Delaware River is a major river on the Atlantic coast of the United States.A Dutch expedition led by Henry Hudson in 1609 first mapped the river. The river was christened the South River in the New Netherland colony that followed, in contrast to the North River, as the Hudson River was then...
in Phillipsburg, New Jersey
Phillipsburg, New Jersey
Phillipsburg, known locally as P'burg, is a town in Warren County, New Jersey, in the United States. As of 2010 United States Census, the town's population was 14,950....
. Although Pardee Hall is truly oriented southward, with the gently sloping hill leading to its front entrance, the students refer to this as the "back" of Pardee because the other side (the true back) faces the Quad. During the winter, or after a drenching spring rain, sledding is popular on the hill "behind" Pardee Hall.
Kirby Hall of Civil Rights, the interior of which is constructed of travertine
Travertine
Travertine is a form of limestone deposited by mineral springs, especially hot springs. Travertine often has a fibrous or concentric appearance and exists in white, tan, and cream-colored varieties. It is formed by a process of rapid precipitation of calcium carbonate, often at the mouth of a hot...
marble, was rumored to have been the most expensive collegiate building, per square foot, built at its time. The building was designed by the same architectural firm that designed New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
's Grand Central Terminal
Grand Central Terminal
Grand Central Terminal —often incorrectly called Grand Central Station, or shortened to simply Grand Central—is a terminal station at 42nd Street and Park Avenue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States...
.
Markle Hall, now the main administrative building, housing the Offices of Admissions and Financial Aid, originally was designated the Hall of Mining Engineering. An online historical survey of campus buildings is maintained by the College's Special Collections.
Gilbert's Cafe, a coffeehouse located on the ground floor of Kirby House, was opened in 1999 to provide a late-night hangout for students. Its name was the subject of a contest, and the winning student selected one of General Lafayette's middle names: Gilbert. In the fall of 2006, a sinkhole was discovered underneath Kirby House, and the much-beloved coffeehouse had to be closed during the spring semester. However, it was reopened for the subsequent fall semester. Gilbert's Cafe is the site of many open mic nights where student bands can perform for their fellow classmates.
Skillman Library underwent an extensive renovation from 2003 to 2005, and the building has won several awards, including the 2006 national honor award for interior architecture from the American Institute of Architects
American Institute of Architects
The American Institute of Architects is a professional organization for architects in the United States. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the AIA offers education, government advocacy, community redevelopment, and public outreach to support the architecture profession and improve its public image...
.
Also in the fall of 2006, Lafayette signed a deal with MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
to designate the campus as an MTVu campus. As a result, Lafayette hosted an MTVu
MtvU
mtvU is a division of Viacom's MTV Networks which produces a 24-hour television channel that is available on more than 750 college and university campuses across the United States, as well as several digital cable packages...
concert in the spring of 2006, as opposed to the regular concert chosen by the student government. This was led by the Student Activities Planning Board, called the Lafayette Activities Forum (LAF), the organization that continues to plan and produce Lafayette's major Spring Concerts. In the spring of 2007, Third Eye Blind
Third Eye Blind
Third Eye Blind is an American alternative rock band formed in the early 1990s in San Francisco. The songwriting duo of Kevin Cadogan and Stephan Jenkins signed the band's first major label recording contract with Elektra records in 1996 resulting in two multi platinum albums. The band's lineup...
was selected to perform in Kirby Gymnasium, followed by the musical artist Ben Folds
Ben Folds
Benjamin Scott "Ben" Folds is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, and television personality. From 1995-2000, Folds was the frontman and pianist of the alternative rock band Ben Folds Five. Since the group disbanded, Folds has performed as a solo artist and has toured all over the world...
in the spring of 2008 and a triple feature with headliner Girl Talk in 2009. The show in 2010 featured Kid Cudi
Kid Cudi
Scott Ramon Seguro Mescudi , better known by his stage name Kid Cudi , sometimes stylized KiD CuDi, is an American rapper, singer and actor. He first gained major attention after the release of his debut mixtape A Kid Named Cudi. In 2009, his single "Day 'n' Nite" reached the top five of the...
with RJD2 and Chiddy Bang. The Spring Concert in 2011 featured rappers K'Naan
K'naan
K'naan , born Keinan Abdi Warsame in 1978, is a Somali Canadian poet, rapper, singer, songwriter and instrumentalist.-Biography:Born in Somalia, K'naan spent his childhood in Mogadishu and lived there during the Somali Civil War, which began in 1991. His aunt, Magool, was one of Somalia's most...
, Wale
Wale (rapper)
Wale Victor Folarin , better known by his stage name Wale , is an American rapper from Washington, D.C. Wale was born to Nigerian parents. He rose to prominence in 2006, when his song "Dig Dug " became popular in his hometown. Wale became locally recognized and continued recording music for the...
and Sam Adams.
Athletics
Lafayette offers students an array of athletic opportunities, which includes 23 Division I sports, 18 club sports, and over 30 intramural sports. The football team has made three consecutive appearances in the NCAA Division I-AA football tournament. American football innovations at Lafayette include the first use of the huddle and the invention of the head harness, precursor to the football helmet. The men's basketball program also has a long history, peaking in the late nineties under the leadership of Fran O'Hanlon, who led the Leopards to back-to-back Patriot League championships and NCAA Tournament appearances in 1999 and 2000. These seasons were documented by John FeinsteinJohn Feinstein
John Feinstein is an American sportswriter, author and sports commentator who wrote the top two best-selling non-fiction sports books in history, A Good Walk Spoiled and A Season on the Brink.-Early life:...
in his book, The Last Amateurs
The Last Amateurs
The Last Amateurs is a book by John Feinstein. First published in 2000, the book chronicles the 1999–2000 Patriot League basketball season....
.
- Affiliation: NCAANational Collegiate Athletic AssociationThe National Collegiate Athletic Association is a semi-voluntary association of 1,281 institutions, conferences, organizations and individuals that organizes the athletic programs of many colleges and universities in the United States...
Division I, Football: Football Championship Subdivision - Conference: Patriot LeaguePatriot LeagueThe Patriot League is a college athletic conference which operates in the northeastern United States. It participates in the NCAA's Division I) for a number of sports; in football, it participates in the Football Championship Subdivision...
- Team name: Leopards
- Team colors: Maroon and white
- Arch rival: Lehigh UniversityLehigh UniversityLehigh University is a private, co-educational university located in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, in the Lehigh Valley region of the United States. It was established in 1865 by Asa Packer as a four-year technical school, but has grown to include studies in a wide variety of disciplines...
- Other rivals: Bucknell UniversityBucknell UniversityBucknell University is a private liberal arts university located alongside the West Branch Susquehanna River in the rolling countryside of Central Pennsylvania in the town of Lewisburg, 30 miles southeast of Williamsport and 60 miles north of Harrisburg. The university consists of the College of...
, Colgate UniversityColgate UniversityColgate University is a private liberal arts college in Hamilton, New York, USA. The school was founded in 1819 as a Baptist seminary and later became non-denominational. It is named for the Colgate family who greatly contributed to the university's endowment in the 19th century.Colgate has 52...
, Princeton UniversityPrinceton UniversityPrinceton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
, University of PennsylvaniaUniversity of PennsylvaniaThe University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution... - Dormant rival: Rutgers UniversityRutgers UniversityRutgers, The State University of New Jersey , is the largest institution for higher education in New Jersey, United States. It was originally chartered as Queen's College in 1766. It is the eighth-oldest college in the United States and one of the nine Colonial colleges founded before the American...
- Facilities: Fisher Field at Fisher Stadium (Football), Kirby Sports CenterKirby Sports CenterKirby Sports Center is a 3,500-seat multi-purpose arena in Easton, Pennsylvania. It was built in 1973 and is home to the Lafayette College Leopards basketball team. It hosted the 2000 Patriot League men's basketball tournament....
(Basketball), Metzgar Fields Athletic Complex - National Football Championships:
- Football: 1896 (National Championship Foundation, Parke H. DavisParke H. DavisParke Hill Davis was an American football player, coach and historian who retroactively named the national championship teams in American college football from the 1869 through the 1932 seasons. He also named co-national champions at the conclusion of the 1933 season...
) - Football: 1921 (BoandBoand SystemThe Boand System was a system for determining the college football national championship. It was also known as the Azzi Ratem system. The system was developed by developed by William Boand. The rankings were based on mathematical formula...
, Parke H. Davis) - Football: 1926 (Parke H. Davis)
- Football: 1896 (National Championship Foundation, Parke H. Davis
- Patriot League Championships:
- Softball: 1982
- Field Hockey: 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1995, 1999, 2002, 2011; ECC Champions 1987, 1989
- NCAA Tournament Berths: 1999, 2002
- Baseball: 2007; ECC Champions 1990
- College World SeriesCollege World SeriesThe College World Series or CWS is an annual baseball tournament held in Omaha, Nebraska that is the culmination of the NCAA Division I Baseball Championship, which determines the NCAA Division I college baseball champion. The eight teams are split into two, four-team, double-elimination brackets,...
participant: 1953, 1954, 1958, 1965 - NCAA Regionals participant: 1990, 2007
- College World Series
- Men's Soccer: 1994, 1995, 1998, 1999, 2003, 2005; ECC Champions 1984, 1986, 1987
- NCAA Tournament Berths (non-play-in games): 1995, 1998, 2003, 2005
- Football: 1992, 1994, 2004, 2005, 2006
- NCAA Tournament Berths: 2004, 2005, 2006
- Men's Basketball: 1999, 2000
- NCAA TournamentNCAA Men's Division I Basketball ChampionshipThe NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship is a single-elimination tournament held each spring in the United States, featuring 68 college basketball teams, to determine the national championship in the top tier of college basketball...
Berths: 1957, 1999, 2000 - NIT Tournament Berths: 1955, 1956, 1972, 1975, 1980
- NCAA Tournament
- Women's Lacrosse: 1991, 1992, 1993, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2002; ECC Champions 1988, 1989
- NCAA Tournament Berths: 1988, 1989, 1991, 2002
- National Championship:
- College BowlCollege BowlCollege Bowl was a format of college-level quizbowl run and operated by College Bowl Company, Incorporated. It had a format similar to the current NAQT format. College Bowl first aired on US radio stations in 1953, and aired on US television from 1959 to 1970...
: Undefeated Champions, 1962 - Women's Lacrosse: 1980 Division II USWLA
- College Bowl
The Rivalry
Lafayette College's athletic program is notable for The Rivalry with nearby Lehigh UniversityLehigh University
Lehigh University is a private, co-educational university located in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, in the Lehigh Valley region of the United States. It was established in 1865 by Asa Packer as a four-year technical school, but has grown to include studies in a wide variety of disciplines...
. Since 1884, the two football teams have met 147 times, making it the most played rivalry in the history of college football. It is also the longest running rivalry in college football, with the teams playing at least once every year since 1897. The Rivalry is considered one of the best in all of college athletics, and ESPNU recently ranked it #8 among the Top Ten College Football Rivalries. The game is sold out long before gameday each year.
Lafayette leads the all-time series 76–66–5. In the latest contest, Lafayette lost to Lehigh on Saturday, November 19, 2011 by a score of 37–13 at Lehigh in Bethlehem. Lafayette has lost the last four games.
Fraternities and sororities
Lafayette has four fraternities including chapters of Delta UpsilonDelta Upsilon
Delta Upsilon is the sixth oldest international, all-male, college Greek-letter organization, and is the oldest non-secret fraternity in North America...
, Delta Kappa Epsilon
Delta Kappa Epsilon
Delta Kappa Epsilon is a fraternity founded at Yale College in 1844 by 15 men of the sophomore class who had not been invited to join the two existing societies...
, Phi Kappa Psi
Phi Kappa Psi
Phi Kappa Psi is an American collegiate social fraternity founded at Jefferson College in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania on February 19, 1852. There are over a hundred chapters and colonies at accredited four year colleges and universities throughout the United States. More than 112,000 men have been...
, and Zeta Psi
Zeta Psi
The Zeta Psi Fraternity of North America was founded June 1, 1847 as a social college fraternity. The organization now comprises about fifty active chapters and twenty-five inactive chapters, encompassing roughly fifty thousand brothers, and is a founding member of the North-American...
. They also have six sororities including Alpha Phi
Alpha Phi
Alpha Phi International Women's Fraternity was founded at Syracuse University on September 18, 1872. Alpha Phi currently has 152 active chapters and over 200,000 initiated members. Its celebrated Founders' Day is October 10. It was the third Greek-letter organization founded for women. In Alpha...
, Pi Beta Phi
Pi Beta Phi
Pi Beta Phi is an international fraternity for women founded as I.C. Sorosis on April 28, 1867, at Monmouth College in Monmouth, Illinois. Its headquarters are located in Town and Country, Missouri, and there are 134 active chapters and over 330 alumnae organizations across the United States and...
, Kappa Kappa Gamma
Kappa Kappa Gamma
Kappa Kappa Gamma is a collegiate women's fraternity, founded at Monmouth College, in Monmouth, Illinois, USA. Although the groundwork of the organization was developed as early as 1869, the 1876 Convention voted that October 13, 1870 should be recognized at the official Founders Day, because no...
, Delta Delta Delta
Delta Delta Delta
Delta Delta Delta , also known as Tri Delta, is an international sorority founded on November 27, 1888, the eve of Thanksgiving Day. With over 200,000 initiates, Tri Delta is one of the world's largest NPC sororities.-History:...
, Delta Gamma
Delta Gamma
Delta Gamma is one of the oldest and largest women's fraternities in the United States and Canada, with its Executive Offices based in Columbus, Ohio.-History:...
, and Alpha Gamma Delta
Alpha Gamma Delta
Alpha Gamma Delta is an international women's fraternity, who are mainly sluts, founded in 1904 at Syracuse University. The Fraternity promotes academic excellence, philanthropic giving, ongoing leadership and personal development, and a spirit of loving sisterhood. Also known as "Alpha Gam" and...
. All but two of those Greek organizations are located on campus. Approximately 25% of students participate in Greek Life at Lafayette, making it a viable living option. Members of each house commit themselves to various philanthropic ventures throughout the academic year.
Alpha Phi Omega
Alpha Phi Omega
Alpha Phi Omega is the largest collegiate fraternity in the United States, with chapters at over 350 campuses, an active membership of approximately 17,000 students, and over 350,000 alumni members...
National Service Fraternity was founded in 1925 at Lafayette College by Frank Reed Horton
Frank Reed Horton
Frank Reed Horton , was a United States educator. He is best known as the founder and first national president of Alpha Phi Omega, an international service fraternity....
in Hogg Hall (formerly Brainerd Hall). The organization still exists and continues what Frank Reed Horton started.
The Rho Chapter of the Delta Kappa Epsilon
Delta Kappa Epsilon
Delta Kappa Epsilon is a fraternity founded at Yale College in 1844 by 15 men of the sophomore class who had not been invited to join the two existing societies...
fraternity is the oldest fraternity and the oldest student organization at Lafayette College, having been chartered on October 15, 1855. Among the chapter's alumni are Peyton C. March
Peyton C. March
Peyton Conway March was an American soldier and Army Chief of Staff.March was the son of Francis Andrew March, considered the principal founder of modern comparative linguistics in Anglo-Saxon and one of the first professors to advocate and teach English in colleges and universities...
, U.S. Army Chief of Staff during World War I, and William E. Simon
William E. Simon
William Edward Simon was a businessman, a Secretary of Treasury of the U.S. for three years, and a philanthropist. He became the 63rd Secretary of the Treasury on May 8, 1974, during the Nixon administration. He was reappointed by President Ford and served until 1977. Outside of government, he was...
, former U.S. Secretary of the Treasury.
The Phi Kappa Psi
Phi Kappa Psi
Phi Kappa Psi is an American collegiate social fraternity founded at Jefferson College in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania on February 19, 1852. There are over a hundred chapters and colonies at accredited four year colleges and universities throughout the United States. More than 112,000 men have been...
fraternity house was in Guinness World Records
Guinness World Records
Guinness World Records, known until 2000 as The Guinness Book of Records , is a reference book published annually, containing a collection of world records, both human achievements and the extremes of the natural world...
for a number of years as the largest free standing structure to undergo transportation. The "Old Grey Barn", as it is often called, is now located along March Field. It underwent a major interior renovation during the 2006–2007 academic year.
The Zeta Psi Fraternity House
Zeta Psi Fraternity House
Zeta Psi Fraternity House is a historic fraternity house located at Easton, Northampton County, Pennsylvania. The house was built by the Tau Chapter, Zeta Psi fraternity associated with Lafayette College. It was built in 1909-1910, and is a 2 1/2 story, nine bay wide, rock-faced granite building...
was added to the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
in 2001.
Engineers Without Borders
The club was founded in 2003 and is a member of EWB-USA. Members of the club represent many disciplines in engineering and the liberal arts. The club is linked with rural villages in the YoroYoro
Yoro is the capital city of the Yoro department of Honduras....
region of Honduras
Honduras
Honduras is a republic in Central America. It was previously known as Spanish Honduras to differentiate it from British Honduras, which became the modern-day state of Belize...
. EWB's mission is to design and implement projects in these villages that help promote better life. The club has focused its efforts on water treatment systems.
El Convento, which is located in the Yoro district of central Honduras, will be the third sustainable water project EWB-LC students have worked on in the country since 2003 when the club was founded. The group has implemented gravity-fed water systems in neighboring Lagunitas and La Fortuna. In La Fortuna, the group utilized a slow sand filter
Slow sand filter
Slow sand filters are used in water purification for treating raw water to produce a potable product. They are typically 1 to 2 metres deep, can be rectangular or cylindrical in cross section and are used primarily to treat surface water...
in its system. The group’s previous work garnered national media exposure for being one of six national institutions to receive a $75,000 grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
WJRH 104.9FM
The campus radio station, WJRHWJRH
WJRH is a college radio station licensed to Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania, in the Lehigh Valley region of the United States...
104.9FM, first established licensure with the Federal Communications Commission
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, created, Congressional statute , and with the majority of its commissioners appointed by the current President. The FCC works towards six goals in the areas of broadband, competition, the spectrum, the...
(FCC) in 1946, broadcasting under a Class D educational license on 90.5 FM. As FM
FM broadcasting
FM broadcasting is a broadcasting technology pioneered by Edwin Howard Armstrong which uses frequency modulation to provide high-fidelity sound over broadcast radio. The term "FM band" describes the "frequency band in which FM is used for broadcasting"...
frequencies grew in demand, the FCC mandated that stations operating in the frequency range currently provided to WJRH increase their power to serve larger audiences. Since WJRH was only to serve the Lafayette community, it was decided to give the frequency to another facility and relocate to its current home frequency, 104.9.
The station is regularly being upgraded with the latest broadcasting technology. Several additions have included the relaunch of WJRH Broadband (a live Windows Media Player
Windows Media Player
Windows Media Player is a media player and media library application developed by Microsoft that is used for playing audio, video and viewing images on personal computers running the Microsoft Windows operating system, as well as on Pocket PC and Windows Mobile-based devices...
stream available to Lafayette students) and WJRH PC (an online database of MP3 Podcasts of select shows as part of an overall website renovation). WJRH has been housed for over 30 years in its current location, Hogg Hall.
Notable alumni
William E. Simon
William Edward Simon was a businessman, a Secretary of Treasury of the U.S. for three years, and a philanthropist. He became the 63rd Secretary of the Treasury on May 8, 1974, during the Nixon administration. He was reappointed by President Ford and served until 1977. Outside of government, he was...
. David K. McDonogh, of the Class of 1844, is argued by the College to be the first "legalized" slave ever to receive a college degree. In addition, the founders of the 1960s pop
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
group The Cyrkle
The Cyrkle
The Cyrkle was a short-lived American rock and roll band active in the mid-1960s. The group charted two Top 40 hits, "Red Rubber Ball," and "Turn Down Day"...
, guitarists Don Danneman and Tom Dawes, were graduates of Lafayette. F. Wilbur Gingrich
F. Wilbur Gingrich
F. Wilbur Gingrich was an educator, scholar of Biblical Greek and Christian layman who spent his entire career working with students at Schuylkill and Albright Colleges. He published many books and articles in his lifetime including the definitive translation of a Greek-English lexicon of the New...
, Class of 1923, became a well known Greek scholar, and is noted for translating and adapting the work of Walter Bauer
Walter Bauer
Walter Bauer was a German theologian and scholar of the development of the early Christian churches.-Life:...
’s Greek-German lexicon (Bauer lexicon
Bauer lexicon
The Bauer-Danker Lexicon is among the most highly respected dictionaries of Biblical Greek. The author of the German original is Walter Bauer...
) in collaboration with William F. Arndt. Leonard Jeffries
Leonard Jeffries
Leonard Jeffries Jr. is an American professor of black studies at the City College of New York, part of the City University of New York. He achieved national prominence in the early 1990s for his controversial statements about Jews and other white people...
, a professor at CCNY, was president of a traditionally Jewish fraternity while he was a student at Lafayette College. Jim Rosenhaus
Jim Rosenhaus (broadcaster)
Jim Rosenhaus is the engineer/producer and third broadcaster for the Cleveland Indians Major League Baseball team. Rosenhaus also hosts Indians Warm Up and TribeTalk on the Indians Radio Network....
, broadcaster for the Cleveland Indians
Cleveland Indians
The Cleveland Indians are a professional baseball team based in Cleveland, Ohio. They are in the Central Division of Major League Baseball's American League. Since , they have played in Progressive Field. The team's spring training facility is in Goodyear, Arizona...
, also graduated from Lafayette College. The College has approximately 28,000 registered alumni.
External links
- Lafayette College – official web site
- Lafayette College Leopards – official athletics web site
- The Lafayette – online version of Lafayette's student newspaper