SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 79 



was when she permitted Cornell to swoop down and rob us of 

 the invaluable services of Professor A. N. Prentiss. 



PRESIDENT EDWIN WILLETS 



Many of you knew Edwin Willets as well as did I ; but I am 

 sure that none of you loved him more. He was a man of broad 

 outlook. He had a great heart and every student knew that 

 President Willets was a friend that could be counted on. We 

 all had reason for sadness, when it was announced that President 

 Willets had been called higher, and had accepted. With Presi- 

 dent Willets came a change in the management of the College. 

 I think it was a sad mistake, not to say a disastrous one. Before 

 this, changes in internal management were suggested and all 

 new appointments to the faculty were nominated by the presi- 

 dent, but only after fullest conference with and approval of the 

 faculty. The board only confirmed. No college board ought 

 ever to do more. With President Willets came a lamentable 

 change ; I feel sure without his desire. Additions to the faculty 

 and startling changes in the internal management were made, 

 with no consultation at all with the faculty, and at times, I 

 think, without the knowledge of the president. I know not if 

 this plan still prevails, but if it does, the College is laboring under 

 a serious handicap, and one that the alumni should undertake 

 at once to remove. 



PRESIDENT OSCAR CLUTE 



President Clute was the other of the first two alumni that 

 served on the faculty. He was also a loved classmate. He 

 was scholarly in his habits, and clean and true in his life. I need 

 not speak to you of his quick response to duty's call. I must, 

 however, give a page or two from the last chapter of his life. 

 He lived near me, and I saw him often. He suffered great pain, 

 and led a lonely life. At the last, he was in a great room at the 

 Soldier's Home, and so knew no privacy or retirement. To one 



