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Defiance College

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Defiance College is a independent co-educational 4-year liberal-arts college located on a 150 acre campus in a beautiful residential area of small town Defiance, Ohio, United States. The campus includes eighteen buildings and access to the 200 acre Thoreau Wildlife Sanctuary.

The college is a study in paradoxes. Although a quiet small-town midwestern campus, the student body has historically drawn many students from the east coast, and internationally. Although it is related to the United Church of Christ, and key administrative positions have historically been filled by trained clergy, the college does not prosetlyize, preferring to teach Christianity by example. Although the college has been very conservative in most matters, they have been quick to adopt innovative educational trends that promise to do a better job of education.

In 1971, Rev. Gerald Mallott, Dean of Students, responded to an editorial in the student newspaper, the Defender, that Defiance College was a place "where good students start out and bad students end up" by suggesting Defiance is both "enabling and ennobling". Defiance, he said, quickly empowers good students to teach themselves, and helps those students that other schools have failed to teach.

Early History

The schol was founded as Defiance Female Seminary in 1850 by the United Church of Christ to provide schooling for young women. William Curtis Holgate, a local businessman, donated most of the Defiance College campus. In 1903, the Defiance Female Seminary formally became Defiance College, making it one of only two religious-affiliated colleges to begin operation in Ohio during the twentieth century.

Today, Defiance College continues to be affiliated with the United Church of Christ. Both men and women of all religious backgrounds are welcomed at the institution. Defiance College emphasizes service learning and requires all of its students to participate in community service activities in order to graduate. In 2005, the college boasted an enrollment of just over 1000 students with 41 undergraduate majors and masters degrees in education and in business.

Defiance College has struggled financially since it was founded. It has a per-student endowment of only $1,112,[1] compared to an average $32,668 in the bottom quartile of all US colleges. In the top quartile, colleges average $376,980 per student. [2] Still, the college is conservative in financial affairs, and with an excellent relationships with both the United Church of Christ and the local community, can reasonably expect benefactors to appear in times of need.

The McCann Years

In the years following World War II, veterans attended Defiance College on the GI Bill of Rights, swelling college admissions, but once that bulge was over, the wolf was once again at the door. A committee seeking a new president wrote Dwight D. Eisenhower, asking him to lead the college, and he declined, instead recommending advisor Kevin C. McCann. McCann not only drew indirect financial support, but many in-kind contributions from corporations.

McCann, who joined the army in 1942 and joined Eisenhower's staff in 1946, became president of Defiance College in 1951. In 1952, when Eisenhower was running for president, McCann's biography of Eisenhower did reluctant candidate Ike no harm, and thrust McCann's name as author into the spotlight. McCann served as Special Assistant to the President from 1955 to 1957 before returning to Defiance College as president.

Eisenhower paid two visits to Defiance College. On October 15, 1953, he laid the cornerstone for Anthony Wayne Library[3] (more properly, the "Anthony Wayne Library of American Study". When he revisited the campus on May 26, 1963 to deliver the commencement addressaddress, the college announced that one room in the library had been designated "the Eisenhower room", honoring the friendship between Eisenhower and McCann. At that time, Eisenhower gave the college a candy-pink beaded ball gown worn by Mamie in 1960 at a State Dinner at the White House for President and Madame de Gaulle of France. The gown had been designed by Arnold Scaasi, who has since designed for every American First Lady up to the present. Because of its historical significance, the college donated that gown to the National First Ladies Library in Canton, Ohio in 2005.

The Vietnam Years

In the mid-1960s, the college adopted a novel 4-1-4 academic schedule, whereby students took 4 courses for 4 months, with a one-month "Winter Term" in which students were totally immersed in one subject, full time, for the month of January. Some students went on an expedition to the Northwest to find the Yeti. Some students spent the month learning German by speaking nothing else, all day long, for a month. Two professors held a class in which students learned hot air ballooning and became licensed aeronauts. Other students conducted an archaeological dig. The emphasis was on alternative learning, and students were encouraged to invent their own Winter Term program. Mature students grasped the opportunity to learn in ways no traditional college education could offer; other students viewed Winter Term as a month-long vacation.

Enrollment swelled again during the late 1960s, with a record 1200 students enrolled for the 1970-1971 school year. When student deferments to the draft ended in 1971, enrollment dropped again, more at Defiance than at other colleges, as many students from the east coast had apparently chosen Defiance as their second choice to an Ivy League college.

Recent History

Because Defiance has been a courageous leader in education, it has earned the respect of other institutions, and to a certain degree, that has helped Defiance survive. The [[Schauffler College of Religious and Social Work in Cleveland had 4-year students from more countries than any other, but they failed, and were merged into the graduate school of theology at Oberlin College. When Oberlin closed that school, the Schauffler endowment was moved to Defiance College who created the Schauffler Center, and later built Schauffler Hall.

The latest thing in education is service learning, and once again, Defiance has boldly grasped the concept and run with it. DC is now recognized nationally as a model for service learning, by such organizations as The Princeton Review, Templeton Foundation, and U.S. News and World Report's "Best Colleges in America".

Mysteries and Losses

Defiance College lost a number of buildings in the 1950s and 1960s to mysterious fires. The fire at Weston Hall was particularly devastating, as it contained many treasures.

In 1963, when professor Edwin Urtch failed to show up for classes, Dean Kurtz investigated to see if he was OK, as Urtch lived alone. Urtch was missing, as was his car and his car keys. The other objects one would normally find in a man's pockets - penknife, wallet, change - were lying openly on the table, and no signs of misadventure were present. His family was not close, and he had no known enemies. His courses were not "snap courses" but neither did he grade particularly harshly. He did not communicate regularly with his family, and they claimed not to have heard from him. No withdrawals had been made from his bank savings. He was declared dead by the courts in 1970, but neither he, nor his car, were ever spotted again.

When enrollments bloomed in the mid-1960s, Defiance constructed five inexpensive one-story slab-construction dormitories called the Pilgrim Halls as honors housing. The buildings were built near a slope, and the ground underneath eroded, making the original use of the buildings unwise.

Mission statement

"We seek to inspire within our students a search for truth, a sensitivity to our world and the diverse cultures within it, the ability to lead in their chosen professions, and a spirit of service. We want them To Know, To Lead, To Serve, and To Understand."

Enrollment

Just over 1000 total students are enrolled. Over 50% of all traditional students live on campus, although many Defiance students are older, with families and/or jobs.

Faculty

  • 86 members
  • Student to Faculty Ration: 13:1
  • Average class size is 15 students.

Accreditation

Defiance College Yellow Jackets
Defiance College Yellow Jackets

Athletics

Financials

  • Tuition: $18,470 per year
  • Room and board: $5,860 per year
  • Student Activity fee: $200 per year
  • Technology fee is $260 per semester.
  • Undergraduates receiving need-based financial aid: 84%
  • Average indebtedness upon graduation: $17359
  • Acceptance rate: 72% of all applications
  • 89% of DC students find employment or enter graduate school within six months of graduation.

Noted Alumni

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