William B. Rochester

Transcription

Just some images of Sibley Hall. I put this one in here because we don't build buildings like this anymore. I mean, look at that. Look at the wood paneling and the marble flooring. It's really quite wonderful and I think, "How could we tear something like that down?" But we did. It was the 1960s. We weren't interested in preservation as we are today. Here is this mineralogical and geological room on the second floor that was Professor Fairchild's. He was a professor of geology here. I don't know what's happened with all this stuff. I mean what in the world do they do with all that? Student: In Todd Union there is a dinosaur like that. Do we have that in Todd? Where in Todd? Student: In the theatre. Burgett: In Todd Theatre, yeah. I don't think that's the same. Is it? Well that's a good question. Oh was that given to us recently? It's been there for a while. I doubt that it's the original. So this is a building that went up for Professor Lattimore, A chemistry building, I'm moving right along. Now, here is David Jane Hill. [He] was our second President. It was he who allowed football to come. David Jane Hill came in 1889 and had the shortest term of any of our Presidents. He had been the President at Bucknell University, he was appointed in 1888, came in 1889. By the way, President Anderson died in 1889, But what was important about David Jane Hill was Imagine trying to follow in the heels of someone who had served for 35 years. David Jane Hill's responsibility was to usher in the new century, And that's really what he did. He was responsible for helping modernize the curriculum, and to do that, in part, by offering students greater choice. By offering students greater opportunity to make intellectual and academic decisions for themselves. He also, was a fan of co-education. He was not opposed to it. And there's this anecdote about him in which he is alleged to have said, While he was here, his wife gave birth to twins, a boy and a girl, and he is alleged to have said, if the male and female can coexist in the womb for 9 months peacefully, they ought to be able to do it in the classroom as well. I don't know if he really said that, or not, but it's sort of an amusing anecdote. So he was here until 1896. He left and became a very distinguished and important diplomat. He was a scholar and an intellectual and he went off into the diplomatic service for the United States. This is our first African-American graduate. Charles Agustus Thompson who graduated in 1892, and after graduation he went to Washington D.C. where he was a Presbyterian Minister, and he went to Howard University for two years to get a certification to be a chiropractor, and that's where he lived out his life. Now, I don't have a whole lot of time, but I want to spend a few minutes talking about what I think was the most astonishing period in our history. When you talk about the feasible and rigorous pursuit of quality in the highest order, and the identification and cultivation of inspiring effective leadership, it doesn't get any better than what happened with the arrival of, does anybody know who this is? This is Rush Rhees, our third president. With him, he served for 35 years, Arthur May in his history tells us that the first third were terrible, the second third things improved a little bit, and the final third, things really started to happen. And I just want to tell you what some of those things were, because even to this day, as familiar as I have become with history, I am in awe, of what this man, this woman, and a third individual, George Eastman, did on behalf of the University, because these people really made us who we are today, and it is on their shoulders, that we here stand. Susan B. Anthony. Now what is Susan B. Anthony famous for? As far as we're concerned? The admission of women. Now, she argued vociferously, that the University of Rochester it was the place of highest quality, where opportunities for higher education for women should be pursued. The board of trustees listened to her arguments and said, oh by the way, let me just back up a minute. I told you in 1852 about Barleywood Female University, another attempt was made in 1873, to create a University for women, it failed as well. But in the late 1890s, Ms. Anthony made the argument to the trustees that women should be admitted, in 1898. And the trustees heard her argument and said to her, "We will consider the admission of women." But resources matter, and in order to do that, you and your friends are going to have to raise $100,000. Now $100,000 in 1898, adjusted for inflation it's like saying a billion dollars, it's a lot of money. Ms. Anthony declared victory before she had raised her first dollar, and she and her friends went out into the community to raise $100,000. And the trustees gave them two years to do it. They wanted it done by 1900. In June of 1900, the women had raised but $40,000. They went back to the trustees and said, "We've only been able to raise $40,000," "are you willing to re-negotiate the goal?" The trustees were willing to do it, and made the goal $50,000. Raising that additional $10,000 was twice as hard as raising the first $40,000, Why? Because they tapped so many people out. However, there were a few people who were willing to co-operate, including, Ms. Anthony's sister, a very important Unitarian Minister and his wife by the name of Ganet. Right? In Susan B. Anthony, Ganet? Not the newspaper publisher, but Ganet the Unitarian Minister, and you'll notice Ganet is in Susan B. Anthony, isn't it. All of those halls, what are the four halls in Susan B. Anthony? What are they named? Morgan, named for Lewis Henry Morgan. Ganet, the wife of the Unitarian Minister who contributed to this, Gates, who was a Professor. And Hollister. But they were able to raise it, but one of the gifts, a $2,000 gift, the trustees, of the ten that they had left to raise, $2,000 of it the trustees disallowed because they thought it was uncollectable. Ms. Anthony, putting her money where her mouth was, surrendered the cash value of her life insurance policy, which was valued at $2,000, which took us to the total $50,000 and the trustees voted to admit women. By the way, the campaign for women continued beyond 1900 and the trustees, I'm so pleased to be able to report, the trustees returned Ms. Anthony's life insurance to her. However, there's some intrigue here, because there were plans to have a woman secretively enrolled as a matriculated student, and it was this woman, Helen Wilkinson. Susan B. Anthony worked a deal, where Helen Wilkinson was going to enroll as a student in 1893. She spent two years preparing to enroll as a student but it was to be kept quiet, it was not going to be broadcast. She was a brilliant student, and Susan B. Anthony was providing the support for her. So the plan was, she would spend two years, 1893 to 1895, doing preliminary work to get herself ready to matriculate as a full time student, but quietly, out from under the watchful eyes of people who were opposed. She then did matriculate and she would have graduated in 1897, the plan was for her to graduate in 1897, but sadly, she died that year. So Helen Wilkinson was not our first graduate. The first women student to enroll at the University of Rochester in 1900 was Julia Frederika Seligman. When Joel and Frederika Seligman came to the University of Rochester, he is our 10th President and she is his spouse, you can imagine our jaws just hit the floor when we saw this. And so we put our eager beavers in Rare Books and Special Collections to the task, who is this woman and is there any relationship to Joel Seligman? Well there isn't as a matter of fact. But there's a great story, Julia came, sat on the steps of Anderson Hall, and whoever was in the office at that time came out and said, "Young lady, what are you doing here?" And she said, "Women have been admitted to the University, and I'm here to register." And register she did in 1900, and she graduated in 1904. So she's not our first graduate, but this woman is. This is Ella S. Wilcoxen, she came in 1900 also, but she came with a lot of college credit, and so she was able to graduate in 1901. She was a schoolteacher, she was from Macedon, New York, a town near here. She became a schoolteacher. Her brother graduated in 1892, so she was our first graduate, and she lived until the 1950s, I believe. This was our first, this is the class of '04, but this is the first woman, admitted to Phi Beta Kappa, Ruth Hogarth Dennis, and in that first class there were, I think, four women. And here is a piece of a letter from Susan B. Anthony, in which, she's writing to someone, I like this, I didn't put the whole letter here but Susan B. Anthony says, "Tell Mr. Dennis that his niece", Ruth Hogarth Dennis that I just showed you, "Stood ahead of all the class and above the 200 boys in the college!!", double exclamation point, "Graduated this year. I heard that Miss Dennis was up to Rochester in the spring, but she did not come to see me. I hope she won't fail to call if she comes here again, I liked her very much. Give my best love to your neighbors on your right, and to those on your left," I'm not sure if that's a political statement or not, "and if you have any in front of you, to them, and believe me ever and always yours affectionately, Susan B. Anthony. This is our first African-American female graduate, Beatrice A. Howard, was from Rochester, graduated from East High School, and as you can see, she was a scholar athlete as well. An English major and she was a teacher. And then just a couple of pictures of the classes. This is, imagine having to wear that, right? You're just as happy you're in, what class are you in? Student: 2014 Burgett: You'll take 2014 over 1906, right? Yeah, OK. So this is the class of '06. This is our first woman faculty member. This is Elisabeth Denneo. She taught Art and Art History. She did a PHD at the age of 52 at the University of Heidelberg. She was from Orleans County here, from a very wealthy family. Now, check this out, she first taught at the University of Rochester in 1902, but without benefit of salary or faculty rank. Her students actually had to go out and raise money to fund her compensation. Finally in 1910, president Rush Rhees gave her a faculty appointment, and a salary. She taught for the next seven years until 1917, at which point she retired and then in 1922 she died. Interestingly enough, and sadly enough she was struck by an automobile at the corner of East Ave. and Mag St., right where Third Presbyterian church is. Sadly she did not survive. This is our first woman Dean, Edna Gardner Munroe. Do we have something named for her? Absolutely. Now the trustees did something really weird. Women were admitted in 1900, and we were a co-ed institution. There weren't many, as you can see, but we were a co-ed institution. But the idea of co-education did not exist at this time. The idea of the co-ordinate colleges did. Hobart and William Smith. Harvard and Radcliffe. Duke and Trinity. Columbia and Barnard. So the Trustees in 1912 at the University of Rochester decided to create separate colleges for men and women. And this was the first building, it opened in 1914, for women, over on the Prince St. Campus. Housing for men was really a very difficult problem. They lived in boarding houses, or they lived in fraternity houses. Now here's the DU house. This house doesn't exist anymore, I went over to check. But this was at the corner of Strathallen and University Ave, directly across the street from the Memorial Art Gallery. And so guys in fraternities lived in houses. When we came into existence in 1850, there were five fraternities that were established in those first years of our founding. Anybody want to guess what they were? DU, obviously, was one. Student: Alpha Delta Phi Burgett: Alpha Delta Phi was the first. Our Alpha Delt chapter existed before the university was founded, because our first Alpha Delt members were students at Madison University. And they wanted to become members of Alpha Delt, but Madison didn't have fraternities. So they went to Hamilton College to be initiated and then transferred to the University of Rochester. The Alpha Delt brothers will tell you, we were here before the University of Rochester, so put that in your pipe and smoke it. So Delta Upsilon, Alpha Delta Phi, DEKE, Psi U, and then Delta Psi which is no longer here. But they were founded in the 1850s. The Memorial Art Gallery. George Eastman. Astonishing. George Eastman and his relationship with Rush Rhees, was unlike any relationship ever. George Eastman was not an educated man. He dropped out of high school. He was born in Waterville, NY. He dropped out of high school because his father died and he had to support the family. He made his way to Rochester and the rest is sort of history. He founded the Eastman Dry Plate Company; it was a film company, that became Eastman Kodak. But George Eastman was not particularly a fan of higher education. He was not a product of higher education, and he didn't understand what the relationship between the industrial-commercial world and higher education was. His first gift to the University was in 1899. It was a camera. When Rush Rhees came as our president, he recognized that the future in this community, the future of the University of Rochester, and quite frankly, of the Eastman Kodak Company, lay in the relationship that the two of them forged. I have read the correspondence between Rush Rhees and George Eastman, all of that. Thanks to Eileen, who has provided me with that, I have been able to read the correspondence, and it's an astonishing story. President Rhees went to George Eastman in the early 1900s to say, "We need, on the Prince St. Campus, a physics and biology building." And so he asked Mr. Eastman to fund this physics and biology building. Well this building, which still stands, it's still there. In fact, our Center for Community Health, the medical center, has its offices here. It's behind the Memorial Art Gallery. Are you familiar with the School of the Arts? It's across the street. So we wanted to build this building. The cost of constructing and outfitting this physics and biology building was $77,000. And Rush was hoping against hope that Mr. Eastman would provide that. Eastman gave him a check for $10,000. And it's interesting, because, George Eastman recognized that President Rhees was a little disappointed. And he said to him, "I sense that you are disappointed by my gift". Well, you don't look a gift horse in the mouth, right? And so President Rhees finessed his response, and took his leave, happy to have anything at all, even if it was less than what he had hoped for. Within a few days, President Rhees received on his desk a check for $67,000 in full payment for what the anticipated cost of the building was. And George Eastman is alleged to have said, "I gave him the balance of the construction and outfitting of the building because he didn't ask for it." Which is, really kind of interesting. The building ended up costing $15,000 more, than the original $77,000 and George Eastman covered the cost of that as well. And the next time you're over in that neck of the woods, if you go over there, you can drive in the driveway, and over the building is the word, Eastman, and it's the first building that we named for George Eastman. It still stands. This is the second building. It's called the Carnegie Building. This was our first engineering building. Primarily Mechanical and Electrical Engineering. That building is still there and if you're familiar with Village Gate Next time you visit Village Gate and you're on Goodman Street, just look up. It's right there. It's largely unoccupied. Cooper Union was built in 1932 as the student union for the college for women I'll just move on, but that's how it looks today. So, in 1918, George Eastman says to Rush Rhees, "How would you like a music school?" Well Rush Rhees knew by that point to say yes to whatever Mr. Eastman was interested in. So he said sure. Now this is in the days before mergers and acquisitions existed with any force. What did George Eastman do? He went out and bought a music school. There was a music school that already existed in Rochester. It was called the DKG Institute of Musical Art. which stood for the names of its founders, Hermann Dossenbach, Alf Klingenberg, and Oscar Gareisson, DKG. He bought it for $28,000 and he gave it to the University for a buck. And it was housed at 47 Prince St. which is right where the School of the Arts is, so it was right part of the campus. What's really interesting is, the original Eastman School of Music was part of, or close to the University from its founding. It actually was founded in 1921, even though Eastman bought it in 1918. From 1921 until the women from the College for Women moved to the River Campus in 1955, there was a period of time when Eastman was a much more vibrant part of the University community. At any rate, he bought it, gave it to the University, and the Eastman School of Music has always been a part of the University of Rochester. And then George Eastman acquired the land where we know the Eastman School is now, and began the construction of the school building itself, and the Eastman Theatre, which was to be a theatre not only for music, but largely for silent films. As you can see here, the date is 1921. It was completed in September of 1922, and it opened as one of the most ornate and glorious movie theatres and music houses in the United States. A funny story. This building here, George Eastman wanted to acquire that property as well and the guy who owned it was willing to sell it to him as part of the complex, but George Eastman thought that what they guy was asking was exorbitant, so he said, "The hell with you, I'll just build my school and theatre around you", which is precisely, as you can see, what he did. Eventually this building came into the possession of the University, and we tore it down in the 1950s, and you can see that horrible little building there. It was apartments and commercial properties on the first floor. Here's the Eastman Theatre, the Kodak Hall as you now know it. And here is, this is that block. I'd like to think that what we did when we opened up the East Wing, we dedicated it last year, that we finally completed what Mr. Eastman's original vision was. This is what he intended and it now, in 21st century architectural sensibilities is what it looks like and I'd like to think that Mr. Eastman, wherever his spirit is, is probably looking down now and saying, "Well it sure took you long enough, to complete my vision, to complete my dream." By the way, Mr. Eastman was a very severe person. He was a pleasant enough man, but he was very formal. President Rhees and Mr. Eastman always referred to each other formally. And, reading through their letters it's always, "Dear Doctor Rhees" and "Dear Mr. Eastman". But it's interesting because in 1925, they've known each other for 25 years, had been involved in the creation of the Eastman School, the creation of the Medical Center, the creation of the River Campus, it's after they've done all that, the correspondence changes. And it's "Dear Rush" and "Dear George". So 25 years before they would begin to address each other by their first names. The Medical Center was created in 1924 and 1925. And it was George Eastman, I won't go into the whole story because we're running out of time, but George Eastman was the prime mover by making an original gift of $5,000,000. In 1925 for the creation of a Medical School and Hospital, which was supported also by external funding of a comparable amount, and it was just an astonishing accomplishment. This is the founding Dean of the Medical School. Talk about inspired and effective leadership, George Whipple, who went on to win the Nobel Prize in Medicine. I call these, the four Horsemen of the Medical Apocalypse. This is President Rhees, this is Abraham Flexner, I don't have time to go into how important he was, this is Mr. Eastman, and this is Dr. Whipple. This is the first Dean of the Nursing School, Helen Wood, for whom we have a building named over in the Nursing School. Now, I'm going to conclude here. Does anybody know what this is? Well you see a body of water here, what's this body of water? It's the Genesee River, so, three guesses what that is. This land that we now know as the River Campus, had originally been Native American land. It had been land that the Iroqouis and Senecas had inhabited and before that, the Algonquians. In 1901 it became the home of the Oak Hill Country Club. And it was the Oak Hill Country Club from 1901 until 1920, when through a series of swaps, the University acquired the land with the intention of relocating the Prince St. Campus, at least at a minimum, the College for Men, to the River Campus. By then we had the Strong Memorial Hospital and the School of Medicine and Dentistry, and so in a kind of gender decision, which is kind of ironic, given our diversity efforts, moved the College for Men to the River Campus where it could be next to medicine and guy stuff and leaving the College for Women downtown with music and art. As I've reflected on our history, there is a gender dimension to it, for sure. But we acquired this land, Oak Hill, through a series of swaps, and the 1920s was a period in which the grand master plan for the creation of the River Campus was made, and in the late 1920s the construction took place. And you can see images of the construction of the River Campus in the tunnel passage between Wilson Commons and the library. Y'know those big pictures that are on the wall there? You can see, sort of, what it looked like. So the next time you're walking through there, you can get some sense of what an enormous project it was. All these hills! The land had to be graded to make space to create it. In 1930, the College for Men was moved to the River Campus, and the historical, architectural trust of that move include the Eastman Quadrangle and the buildings on the Quadrangle, Burton and Crosby residence halls, Rush Rhees Library, and our Athletic Facilities. Those were the foundational buildings when we moved to the River Campus. In the 1920s, the Institute of Optics was founded, in the 1920s we awarded our first PHD, in 1925 in Art and Biochemistry. We awarded our second and third PHDs in 1927, one recipient of whom, Vincent Duvienoeo, in Biochemistry in 1927 went on to win the Nobel Prize. All of which, I think, established and enunciated to the higher education world. Rochester was going to be a major player in research higher education in the United States. Which is, indeed, what has happened. In 1932, George Eastman, in declining health, decided, being a man of great propriety and control, decided that the quality of his life was much more important than extending his life. and so after lengthy discussions with ethicists, and with medical people without making clear his plan, decided to take his own life. But before he did that, he called his attorneys to his mansion on East Avenue and he added a codicil to his will. And the codicil to his will left his estate to the University of Rochester. That estate, at the time of his death, was valued at 17 million dollars. But when you add all of his gifts, going back to that physics and biology building, all of his gifts, exceed 51 million dollars, in 1932 dollars. If you adjust that for inflation, I think that George Eastman arguably can be identified as the single most generous individual contributor to American higher education. And then on a cold day in March, about midday, noon or so, he went up to his bedroom, which faces East Ave, to the left as you look at the building, he bid his housekeeper good day, went into his bedroom, smoked a final cigarette, wrote a note which read, "My work is done, why wait?", sat up in bed, placed a handkerchief over his heart; he had researched the location of his heart with great precision, and with a single shot, ended his life. What he and Rush Rhees accomplished in that period, set the stage for what we were to become. There are many more stories that I could tell, but I'm not going to, because I said I'd leave, well, maybe two minutes, at any rate, for questions that you guys might have. But the stories continue, because the leadership through our subsequent presidents, Alan Valentine, succeeded Rush Rhees, Alan Valentine was our fourth president and he shepherded us through two major difficult eras, the Great Depression, and World War Two. He was succeeded by Cornelius DeKewiet. We have a building named for DeKewiet. We have a building named for Valentine. DeKewiet saw to the move of the College for Women to the River Campus. DeKeweit was followed by Alan Wallis, for whom Wallis Hall is named. And Alan Wallis really capitalized on the post-World War Two availability of external funding for research. And so we became an even greater research University thanks to the faculty that Alan Wallis brought to us. He was succeeded by Robert Sprow, we have him to thank for the Laboratory of Laser Energetics. Do you know what that is? Oh you've got to find it. Just Google it. It is the second most powerful laser in the world. It's over off of East River Rd. Sprow was followed by Dennis O'Brian, who hired me as the Dean of Students And followed by Tom Jackson, and now with Joel Seligman. I am ever convinced, even more strongly today, now that I know something about the history, now that I know something about generations of students who are now alums, who I've had the privilege of being part of their lives,and as I associate with the current generation of students, both in the classroom and outside of the classroom, that the University is in really good hands. So with that, let me put a pause on this and I've got about five minutes in which I can answer any questions that you might have. Student: I have two questions actually. One, I heard there used to be a tunnel to Sue B. Burgett: Ah, the famous tunnel story. Student: and I wondered why it wasn't there anymore. And also, I heard that during the Manhattan Project they did human experimentation with uranium at the hospital and I wondered if that was true. Burgett: Ok, yeah. There are tunnels all over the place, right? There are tunnels hither and yon. Some of them are pedestrian tunnels, and some are what I call, pipes and wires tunnels. So there are tunnels which are available to traverse, which, you do, and then there are tunnels which are really utility tunnels. So they're there. A tunnel, for example between the Medical Center and the River Campus - there is a tunnel, but it's a pipes and wires tunnel. It's a utilities tunnel. So the truth is, there are more tunnels than you have access to, but they weren't designed for pedestrian traffic, they were designed for utilities. As far as the Manhattan Project, Yes, the University did participate in the research on the Manhattan Project. I do not know of human subject experimentation, I do know of rat experimentation, and so, Eileen may know. Eilleen: I don't know for sure. I did come across some articles from the 70s that there was some human experimentation alleged, but I don't know if it's true or not. I can look into it more. Burgett: Yeah if you would, that'd be great. And you can check with Eileen, she's over in Rare Books. There has been controversy over the years about the rats. And that's because of what happened to the rats. Where are they? What was done to dispose of the rats? So there's been some controversy associated with all that. But I've not heard that human experimentation was a central piece of our research effort with the Manhattan Project. Student: Who started, well I guess, when did the rumor start that if you walk under the clock tower, you won't graduate. Burgett: Which clock? Student: Dandelion Square. Burgett: That's great. These are called campus myths. I have no idea how they get started. I remember when that clock went up. And it's only been there for a short period of time. I mean, that clock has been there maybe 15 years. But no more than that. And actually, I hadn't heard that particular myth. But it's as good as any of the others, right? It's like there's the myth about the statue of Martin Brewer Anderson. That he has to be able to see the tower of Rush Rhees Library. Or that the Interfaith Chapel is on the other side of Joseph C. Wilson Bvld., because George Eastman's Will specifically prohibited any religious buildings being on the River Campus. No, that's not true. But those myths, they continue. Which is just fine. But that one's new to me. I hadn't heard that if you walk under the clock, you won't graduate. See, they do that to scare you half to death, right? Student: It's the Meridians. They perpetuate the myths. That's where all the myths come from. Burgett: But y'know what? Why not? I mean, like, I would say, that's cool. It makes things kind of interesting, y'know? And if you're brand new, you tend to believe it. See by the time you get to where you are, you know to believe only half of what you see, and none of what you hear. Right? But when you're brand new, it's like, man, maybe I better believe it, cause you never know, right? Student: I heard from President Seligman that Eastman asked Rush Rhees, "Do you want a music school or a law school?", and he picked the music school. Is there any truth to that? Burgett: Not to my knowledge. George Eastman's interest in the music school was driven powerfully by his own interest in music. He referred to himself as a musical moron, George Eastman did, but he was a great lover of music. He wanted to extend the love of music that he had, to the community. Over the Eastman Theatre, embedded in the top of the Eastman Theatre, it says, "For the Enrichment of the Community". So the interest in creating the music school, that was entirely George Eastman's interest. And discussions about a law school have come up over time, but in every instance that I've seen it in the literature, it's been... Rush Rhees talked about it and said No. We're not going down that road, this is after Eastman was established, because the resources, this baby that we have created is so expensive. In fact, George Eastman actually refers to, "the baby that was left on our doorstep" which is the Eastman School and the Medical School. So I have not seen anything in the literature to suggest that a law school was actively contemplated. Now, President Wallis, this is much later of course, he very much wanted a law school. In fact, a fundraising campaign was initiated to raise money to establish a law school. That fundraising campaign was unsuccessful. So the Wallis Institute and Political Science Department, the resources that were raised to start a law school, unsuccessfully, went to the Wallis Institute and Political Science Department. Student: I heard that Eastman didn't want his name on corporate stuff, and that there was a statue in Rush Rhees which originally had a camera in the hand, but Eastman flipped out and they had to change it. Is that true? Burgett: I don't believe so. There used to be a myth that he didn't want the Eastman School named for him. Untrue. What's really interesting is when you read the correspondence, that was Mr. Eastman's School. And I'm telling you, he watched over that school, and was involved in its management, Well. Here's a great story. The first director of the Eastman School was Alf Klingenberg, the "K" of D.K.G. Institute of Musical Art. And he had a five year contract from 1918 to 1923. Mr. Eastman was displeased. He ran afoul of George Eastman. Mr. Eastman was displeased with Klingenberg's administration. Now, Mr. Eastman was not a University Trustee, he was not a Dean, he had no academic credentials, but he fired Alf Klingenberg. And I've seen the letter. A letter like that would curdle my blood. So he was perfectly happy to have his music school named for him. And when it came to the River Campus, the Trustees passed a resolution naming the quadrangle for him, and in the correspondence that I've seen, between Eastman and Rhees about the naming, I don't see Mr. Eastman at any point objecting to that. I think that he recognized that all of this was, in no small measure, to his far-sightedness and his generosity. And what is kind of interesting too, one thing that I'll say about the resources he gave to the University. At some level, in 1932, he must have know that the future was in the creation of knowledge, not in the production of film. He must have known that, and indeed, that is the case. I came across a letter in the correspondence, where we had our first major capital campaign in 1924, and he was involved in that. It was a ten million dollar campaign. And he wrote to a colleague seeking subscription to the campaign, asking for a donation, from a businessman here in town. The businessman wrote to him and said, "My Dear George, I got your letter asking for a pledge for the campaign." "I am not going to accede to your request because you know that we don't look to collegemen for our talent, in the business world." Eastman wrote back to him and said, "I used to think the way you did, but I don't think that way anymore. And now, when we are looking for talent for the Eastman-Kodak company, the first place we go to are colleges." And so when he took his life in 1932, at some point, he must have been prescient, because he knew, that the future lay in the production of knowledge and not in the production of film. Eastman-Kodak company in 1981 employed 62,000 people in Rochester. I've heard 60-62 thousand people, but about 60,000 people, in 1981 In 2011, it employs fewer than 7,000 people, and the University of Rochester is the largest employer. So it's really kind of interesting to look back and see the premonition he must have had about what the future was going to be. Student: So when did Mt. Hope Cemetery come about? Burgett: Mt. Hope Cemetery, it's not part of the University, and I'm not sure when it was established, except, I will tell you, it's the oldest urban cemetery in the United States. And so that's a subject that awaits me. Y'know who will know that though? Professor Homerin. Anybody here taking Speaking Stones? That's a place you might look. In fact, what I would suggest you do, is go to his Speaking Stones website because it's fabulous. He's got all these student papers. You can also go to the Mt. Hope Cemetery website and they'll give you the history of when it started. I don't really know. I will tell you there are many people associated with the University, throughout its history, who are buried there. I periodically go and just wander through the cemetery because I really enjoy seeing where the remains of some of these important people are. Well gang, thanks for putting up with me. Thanks for letting me tell these stories, because I love telling stories, and now you know, and when you are the President of the University of Rochester, y'know what your responsibility is? To tell this story. Because I will have taken up residence just on the other side of Intercampus Drive, where the apartments go down, not up. So I'm counting on you, to come over to my apartment, the rent will be paid, you don't have to worry about that. and say, "Hey Dean Burgett. Y'know what? You were right." "I am the President of the University of Rochester." Thanks gang.