In August 1926, John Preston Davis sent a letter to Louis Costello, a �ֲ���ý alumnus and former debater who was now a college trustee and Lewiston newspaper executive.

Davis himself had graduated that spring, leaving an impressive legacy as a debater. President of the Debating Council and editor of The �ֲ���ý Student, he competed internationally and was part of a team that defeated debaters from Oxford. After graduation, Davis moved to New York City, to put his written and oratorical talents to practice in the flourishing Harlem Renaissance.

“Delta Sigma Rho should not be allowed to continue as a �ֲ���ý organization.”

In New York, Davis decided to escalate his efforts to correct an injustice that he felt the college had not done enough to address. At the time, the highest honor a �ֲ���ý debater could achieve was induction into Delta Sigma Rho, the national debating honor society. Davis met every requirement except one: The society did not admit black members.

In 1926, recent graduate John P. Davis protested �ֲ���ý‘ membership in Delta Sigma Rho, a debating honor society that at the time excluded black debaters. Here, he is pictured, second from left, with H.H. Walker ’26, debate coach A. Craig Baird, Erwin Canham ’25, and Fred Googins ’27. (Muskie Archives and Special Collections)

In his letter to Costello — himself a Delta Sigma Rho member of the Class of 1898 — Davis said that “either Negro students should be frankly told before being mis-led into coming to �ֲ���ý that privileges which are open to other students are in their case to be abridged; or else, Delta Sigma Rho should not be allowed to continue as a �ֲ���ý organization.”

Davis’ letter was the latest to point out this stark conflict between �ֲ���ý’ ideals and the reality in which it operated. Correspondence, articles, and meeting minutes in �ֲ���ý’ Muskie Archives and Special Collections Library tell the story of the fraught and frustrating effort the college and its debaters made to get Delta Sigma Rho to admit black members.

Ultimately, it took two decades and a change in the national organization’s leadership before the society reversed its exclusion of black debaters.

Founded in 1906, Delta Sigma Rho’s central goal was to promote excellence in debating and raise the prestige of its members. The �ֲ���ý Student trumpeted the creation of a chapter at �ֲ���ý in 1915, even as it assured its readers that despite the Greek letters, it wasn’t that kind of fraternity.

“This is an honor reserved for colleges that have made their mark in intercollegiate debating contests, and is an honor that all �ֲ���ý people will prize,” said the Student.

When �ֲ���ý joined, Delta Sigma Rho did not have a formal rule excluding black debaters. But when �ֲ���ý advanced the nomination of one of its star debaters, Arthur Dyer, who was black, the team quickly found out that the national organization enforced an unwritten policy of segregation.

“This provision must be adhered to by all chapters,” wrote national secretary-treasurer Stanley B. Houck in 1916 to Harry Rowe, �ֲ���ý Class of 1912.

Rowe, the chapter’s secretary, was just beginning his long tenure as a �ֲ���ý administrator, and Houck, his correspondent, would be a fixture in the national organization for decades to come. To prevent integration Houck would, at least on paper, appeal to the cohesion of the organization.

Arthur Dyer (left), Class of 1917, was the initial African American debater from �ֲ���ý to be excluded from Delta Sigma Rho. He poses with fellow 1916–17 debaters Mervin Ames, Charles Mayoh, and Brooks Quimby. As �ֲ���ý’ director of debate, Quimby would later take up the fight to integrate Delta Sigma Rho. (Muskie Archives and Special Collections Library)

“The possible injury done to a few negroes by excluding them from membership would be offset by the good which the society could do in the South,” he wrote. “The welfare of the society required that there be no split between the Northern and Southern chapters on this issue.”

The �ֲ���ý debate council went ahead with solidifying its Delta Sigma Rho chapter and inducting members, but at its first annual meeting in 1916, Rowe was told to write again to Houck “concerning �ֲ���ý’ feeling in the matter of exclusion of negroes from membership,” according to the meeting minutes.

Rowe also sought other colleges’ support for a petition ahead of a National Council meeting in 1917, asking the University of Chicago for “your moral and active support in presenting a re-opening and re-consideration of the matter.”

“It seems to me,” Rowe wrote, “that if Phi Beta Kappa, an old and long established honor society makes no reservation as to race, color, creed, or sex, that Delta Sigma Rho might well follow this good example.”

Other Northern colleges seemed to be on the same page — Williams College asked �ֲ���ý to support its own measure at the national meeting. Their efforts failed. “I personally appeared before the National Council at New Haven and remonstrated on their ruling, and was told that Chapters were not admitting colored men,” Rowe wrote in 1920 to Arthur Dyer, who had graduated three years earlier.

In 1920, Rowe wrote to the national conference, again asking it to change the rule. That year, Benjamin E. Mays, the future civil rights leader who served as president of the Debating Council and would have been eligible for Delta Sigma Rho membership, had graduated.

As a longtime �ֲ���ý administrator, 1912 graduate Harry Rowe (left), a Delta Sigma Rho member, was the �ֲ���ý point person in efforts to change the honor society’s racist membership rules. He’s shown in 1912 with fellow debaters Wade Grindle and Gordon Cave. (Muskie Archives and Special Collections Library)

Not only were those efforts unsuccessful, but the society doubled down, officially changing its constitution to prohibit black members. Delta Sigma Rho held another national council in 1922, but since it was in Iowa, �ֲ���ý could not send a representative. The chapter did, however, submit a petition to strike the phrase “not a negro” from the national constitution’s list of membership requirements.

The petition was less about taking a moral stand against racism and more about appeasing the chapters that did want to exclude black members; it emphasized that local chapters should have as much autonomy as possible. “The policy of local autonomy is very definitely limited by inability to elect negroes to membership,” the petition said. That petition, too, failed.

Meanwhile, �ֲ���ý enjoyed the prestige and the networking opportunities that the society afforded its white members. �ֲ���ý’ debating victories and its methods were covered extensively in Delta Sigma Rho’s publication, and debate faculty contributed articles. Around Commencement each year, The �ֲ���ý Student published the names of new inductees, along with those inducted into Phi Beta Kappa.

In 1926, John P. Davis became eligible for membership in every way except his race. Meeting minutes in June of that year record that Marion J. Crosby, the chapter secretary-treasurer, was instructed to write to the national secretary, asking permission to induct Davis.

Houck, now the president of Delta Sigma Rho, replied with a firm, racist no. “Several negroes had been elected to membership with exactly the same result in each case, namely, the wrecking of the chapter and its practical non-existence as a functioning organization until the negro passed out of college and the memory of the members of the chapter,” he wrote.

(The society did not, as it happened, have a problem with women and with members of other minority groups becoming members).

“The �ֲ���ý College chapter of Delta Sigma Rho can officially bestow upon and accord Mr. John Davis any distinct and special recognition for his ability as a debater which it considers desirable or appropriate,” Houck wrote, “so long as the recognition does not take the form of membership.”

Three weeks later, Davis wrote his letter to Costello, prompting Rowe, debate coach and professor J. Murray Carroll, and �ֲ���ý professor and Delta Sigma Rho member Oliver F. Cutts to submit a statement to the college trustees.

“Some feel that �ֲ���ý should no longer retain her charter,” they wrote.

“Others believe that altho the attitude of the national organization is regrettable, it is not the fault of �ֲ���ý, but rather a part of the general disability under which negroes labor, and if �ֲ���ý takes this course it will only deny her students the advantages of affiliation with this honor society without in any degree furthering the rights of the negro.”

The question of racism “stirred us up a bit,” wrote Brooks Quimby, the 1918 graduate who would later become a college legend as director of debate.

In 1920, Benjamin Mays (standing at center, with members of the 1919 �ֲ���ý debate team) became the second �ֲ���ý debater to be excluded from Delta Sigma Rho. (Muskie Archives and Special Collections Library)

Getting the segregation rule changed, however, only became more difficult. During the 1920s, Delta Sigma Rho changed two key procedural rules: Not only did meetings now take place every five years, but any constitutional changes required the approval of four-fifths of the local chapters.

So the �ֲ���ý chapter began, again, to gather support for a rule change ahead of the 1931 national council. Case Western Reserve University mounted its own campaign on behalf of one of its debaters, and the Wisconsin Legislature even passed a resolution urging Delta Sigma Rho to integrate so that a star University of Wisconsin debater could join.

“I see no credit in such logicians in a society like ours.”

Before the conference, Quimby wrote to Houck to let him know that �ֲ���ý’ delegate would again try to get the chapters to vote to change the rule. Houck replied that he himself would put the matter to a vote — but he didn’t do so.

“Our delegate felt that both Houck and [vice president Gilbert] Hall did all they could to prevent the vote,” Quimby later wrote. “Mrs. Hall made the most remarkable argument to our delegate; that the reason that negroes wanted to get into D.S.R. was so that they could marry white women!”

�ֲ���ý had not asked for full integration of Delta Sigma Rho, but that each chapter be allowed to make its own decision. “We shall be sorry if this causes any chapters to leave,” Quimby continued, “but, personally, I see no credit in such logicians in a society like ours.”

In the end, the 1931 national council did vote on whether to admit black members, and a strong majority voted yes — but not the four-fifths required for the measure to pass.

Delta Sigma Rho therefore remained segregated, but the damage to its leadership was done. Houck was re-elected president but, sensing a loss of support, resigned a couple months later. The new president was H.L. Ewbank of the University of Wisconsin, with Quimby joining the national leadership as vice president.

The groundswell of support for integration and the leadership shakeup did not translate into a sense of urgency — or perhaps procedural rules prohibited swift action. It was another four years before the prohibition against black members was finally lifted. Dyer, Mays, and Davis became eligible for Delta Sigma Rho membership.

By then, Davis had earned a law degree and was deep into a fight to ensure that African Americans were included in New Deal programs. In 1935, he helped found the National Negro Congress, an important civil rights organization, and became its executive director.

It seems Davis did not join Delta Sigma Rho. Over the next several decades, the organization would merge with a rival debating society. �ֲ���ý is no longer a member.

Likely taken in Washington, D.C., in April 1940, this photo shows �ֲ���ý alumnus John P. Davis (left), then executive secretary of the National Negro Congress, with Max Yergan (center) and U. Simpson Tate, congress president and treasurer, respectively. (Photo by Scurlock Studios/ Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of American History Archives Center)

Mays sent Brooks Quimby $17 for his membership dues. Soon to become the president of Morehouse College and earn the title “schoolmaster of the Civil Rights Movement,” he would be featured prominently as a distinguished Delta Sigma Rho member.

“It was my impression when I was in college that �ֲ���ý had tried to make it possible for Negroes to become members of the National Forensic society of Delta Sigma Rho,” Mays wrote. “It is gratifying to know that �ֲ���ý has kept on the job, and that after many years of effort she has won.”

Sources

For his senior honors thesis, Tom Connolly ’79 chronicled the history of �ֲ���ý debate, including an entire chapter on the Delta Sigma Rho controversy. The thesis includes materials and personal conversations that are not available elsewhere, and is an invaluable source for future histories. It is available in the �ֲ���ý archives.

The late Professor of Rhetoric and Director of Debate Robert Branham contributed a chapter about Benjamin Mays’ experience with debate, including the Delta Sigma Rho controversy, to Walking Integrity, a Mays biography. Branham, who died in 1999, also produced several documentaries, including one on John Davis ().

The Delta Sigma Rho issue is also addressed in the college history �ֲ���ý Through the Years, by the late Charles Clark ’51.

Jared Golden ’11, Ben Cline ’94, and Bob Goodlatte ’74

Two alumni take their seats in Congress, and a third retires

Three �ֲ���ý alumni — Bob Goodlatte ’74, Ben Cline ’94, and Jared Golden ’11 — were part of the comings and goings in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 3 as newly elected congressional representatives took their seats and others left office.

Amy Friedenberger of The Roanoke Times wrote a long profile of Goodlatte, a Republican who represented Virginia’s 6th Congressional District for 26 years before retiring this year.

In July 1999, Ben Cline ’94 (left) confers with Rep. Bob Goodlatte ’74, R-Va., in Goodlatte’s office in the Rayburn House Office Building. Goodlatte’s legislative director at the time, Cline now has succeeded Goodlatte as Virginia’s 6th District representative. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

“There’s plenty of good work that has been done, and I’ve been honored to be a part of it, and there’s plenty of good work that can still be done,” Goodlatte said as he prepared to leave his digs (with a view of the Capitol) in the Rayburn House Office Building.

Friedenberger also covered the swearing-in of Goodlatte’s successor, Republican Ben Cline ’94. Cline spoke of working with Democrats to reopen the government.

“I do believe we can chart a new course working together on issues where we have common ground,” he said.

Meanwhile, Steve Collins of the Lewiston Sun Journal covered Golden’s arrival at the U.S. capital, noting that the 2nd District Democrat’s first days on the job were marked by a vote for Speaker of the House (for Cheri Bustos, D-Illinois); “House”-warming gifts from two fellow Maine lawmakers, independent Sen. Angus King and Democratic Rep. Chellie Pingree; and a near-car crash on the way from the airport.

Jared Golden ’11 greets his supporters at the Gendron Franco Center in Lewiston on Nov. 6. On his right is his wife Isobel Golden ’11. (Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal)

“He said he’s going to play his part in a team effort to address issues ranging from health care to campaign finance reform,” Collins wrote.

• Read: “’,” The Roanoke Times, Dec. 22, 2019
• Read: “,” The Roanoke Times, Jan. 3, 2019
• Read:  “,” Sun Journal, Jan. 3, 2019

Lucy Brennan ’14

Town seeks to eliminate all greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 — York Weekly

The Bangor Daily News reported that the town of York, Maine, now knows it’s mostly on track to eliminate municipal greenhouse gas emissions, thanks to research conducted by AmeriCorps volunteer Lucy Brennan ’14.

Brennan, who is also the sustainability program coordinator for the city of South Portland, started out by organizing data from York’s municipal power bills. Overall, her research has shown that emissions from heating fuel, electricity, and streetlights have all gone down in recent years, but the town’s vehicle fleet remains a significant source of emissions.

The fire department has done a particularly good job — thanks in part to a solar array on its rooftop — with reducing emissions, Brennan told reporter Deborah McDermott. “There’s a really exciting story to tell here,” she said.

• Read the story: “,” York Weekly, Jan. 8, 2019

Richard A. Johnson ’78

Black Sox scandal: SF native Thom Ross paints fresh perspective of 1919 team — San Francisco Chronicle

For a review of a new art exhibit on the infamous “Black Sox” scandal of the 1919 World Series, San Francisco Chronicle reporter John Shea spoke with Richard Johnson ’78, curator of the Sports Museum in Boston and a friend of the artist, Thom Ross.

“He gets into a subject and researches it assiduously and has a real attraction to the quintessential American stories that almost morphed into fables,” Johnson told Shea. “The Black Sox seem to fit into that mold.”

• Read the story: “,” San Francisco Chronicle, Jan. 1, 2019

Chuck Radis ’75

Peaks Island doctor brings practice to pages in new book — The Forecaster

David Harry of The Forecaster talked to Chuck Radis ’75, an osteopath who practiced on the islands of Casco Bay for more than 30 years and has now written a book about his experiences.

Radis worked out of the Peaks Island Health Center, often reaching patients by police boat. He hopes the book will “provide historical background for some people who looked at the islands as upscale and homogeneous,” Radis told Harry.

Radis, who now practices rheumatology in Portland and has founded a nonprofit that works in a refugee camp in Uganda, still lives on Peaks Island.

• Read the story: “,” The Forecaster, Dec. 31, 2018

Tom Lopez ’69

After 41 seasons — and 303 wins — Tom Lopez retires as Lincoln-Sudbury football coach — The Boston Globe

After 40 years, 303 career wins, and three Massachusetts high school football Super Bowl titles, Tom Lopez ’69 is retiring as head football coach at Lincoln-Sudbury High School.

Showing that he still has football moves, head coach Tom Lopez ’69 dodges players trying to dump water on him after his 300th career victory on Oct. 19, 2018. (MetroWest Daily News and Wicked Local Staff Photo/John Walker]

Lopez started as an assistant coach at the school in 1971 and became head coach in 1978.

“I told the kids, to coach 48 years at one place, I’ve had the best job in America,” Lopez told Boston Globe reporter Brendan Hall. “I’m leaving with a lot of smiles on my face. It’s a great place to coach, a great school, great kids.”

Lopez, who won his 300th game last October, was an outstanding end for �ֲ���ý football as a student.

• Read the story: “,” The Boston Globe, Dec. 19, 2019
• Related: “,” The Milford Daily News, Dec. 30, 2019

Kelli Armstrong ’86

Salve Regina names Boston College administrator as next president — The Boston Globe

The Boston Globe and other media outlets reported that Kelli Armstrong ’86 will become president of Salve Regina University in 2019.

Armstrong, currently vice president for planning and assessment at Boston College, will be the first lay president of Salve Regina, which is affiliated with the Religious Sisters of Mercy.

The university has “created a wonderful educational environment that is unique in its preparation of students for lifelong learning with a moral compass,” Armstrong said in a statement. “Salve Regina has a bright, exciting future, and I look forward to working with the entire University community to advance its mission.”

• Read the story: “,” The Boston Globe, Dec. 14, 2018
• Related: “,” SALVEToday, Dec. 12, 2018

Brooks Quimby, Class of 1918, and Edmund Muskie ’36

How a �ֲ���ý professor forged Edmund Muskie’s career — Sun Journal

After a �ֲ���ý panel on the legacy of Edmund Muskie ’36, Steve Collins of the Lewiston Sun Journal dived into the college’s Edmund S. Muskie Archives to explore the relationship between the statesman and his �ֲ���ý mentor: legendary rhetoric and speech professor Brooks Quimby, Class of 1918.

Rhetoric and speech professor Brooks Quimby, Class of 1918, reads The �ֲ���ý Student in February 1955. (Muskie Archives and Special Collections Library)

Muskie said in a 1957 speech that Quimby, who debated at �ֲ���ý as a student and returned as a coach and professor for 40 years, helped him transform from a “shy boy” into a confident, articulate speaker able to take on the 20th century’s most pressing challenges.

“Above all, (Quimby) taught us to seek fulfillment for ourselves by developing our capacity to make a contribution to the world about us,” Muskie said. “He inspired us to do so, as he still does, by his own example.”

• Read the story: “,” Sun Journal, Jan. 12, 2019

�ֲ���ý College Museum of Art

Artists interpret human impact on the Earth at �ֲ���ý — Portland Press Herald

Arts reporter Bob Keyes covered the �ֲ���ý College Museum of Art exhibit Anthropocenic: Art About the Natural World in the Human Era.

“Watering Hole (Social Species in the Late Anthropocene),” a 2017 oil painting by Laurie Hogin, appears in the Museum of Art exhibition Anthropocenic.

“Some scientists believe we have moved past the Holocene epoch and into a new one known as the Anthropocene, an epoch defined by significant human impact on the Earth’s geology and ecosystems, including climate change,” Keyes wrote.

• Read the story: “,” MaineToday, Dec. 24, 2018

On the heels of impressive performances by its debaters in the United Kingdom last month, �ֲ���ý College sends five teams to this year’s World Universities Debating Championships in Dublin, Ireland, from Dec. 27 through Jan. 4.

It is the biggest contingent the Brooks Quimby Debate Council has sent abroad in many years, says council publicity coordinator Vaibhav Bajpai, a junior from Calcutta, India. The traveling team’s size, he says, reflects its “growth both in numbers and in talent.”

Accompanied by debate coach Bryan Brito and three student judges (junior Rakhshan Zahid of Karachi, Pakistan; senior Katie Celeste of Croton, N.Y.; and junior Matthew Robinson of Washington, D.C.), the �ֲ���ý squads will compete against more than 300 international teams. �ֲ���ý pairs competing in Dublin are: senior Adrienne Maxwell of Somers, Mont., and senior Jon DeCarlo of Poland, Ohio; juniors Michael Neville-O’Neill of Rowley, Mass., and Ryan Creighton of Lyme, N.H.; Bajpai and Casey Pfitzner of Spotsylvania, Va.; senior Jeremy Fisher of Mount Kisco, N.Y., and senior Michael Metzger of Wellesley, Mass.; and sophomore Brendan Jarboe of Acton, Mass., and junior Robert Yamartino of Middlefield, Conn.

In mid-November, �ֲ���ý traveled to intervarsity debate tournaments in Newcastle upon Tyne and Durham, both in England, where more than 60 teams and 120 debaters participated. The �ֲ���ý team of Creighton and Neville-O’Neill won the Durham tournament and reached the finals in Newcastle. Pfitzner and Bajpai placed 12th in Durham, where �ֲ���ý debaters were recognized as among the top speakers.

The team’s November victories were followed by a solid performance in early December at Cambridge University, where DeCarlo and Maxwell placed 20th in a field of 88 teams. The �ֲ���ý team of Zahid and Celeste placed 31st.

“It’s very satisfying as a debater to be able to cross the Atlantic and triumph against universities such as Oxford and Cambridge,” Bajpai says. “We’ve learned a lot and are very optimistic about the Worlds in Dublin. The debate council has matured and these accomplishments are evidence of that maturity.”

From left to right: Juniors Vaibhav Bajpai, Ryan Creighton and Michael Neville-O’Neill prepare for a November debate tournament in Newcastle upon Tyne.