STETSON-LETTER
VOL. 8, NO. 1
STETSON UNIVERSITY, DeLAND, FLORIDA
NOVEMBER, 1959
$6,000,000 ASKED FOR NEW BUILDINGS
ML *4*
Stetson's needs and plans to raise funds for these new buildings were dramatically laid before guests at a Leadership Dinner
following the September 29 meeting of the Board of Trustees. At the speakers table, from left, are Clyde Bennett, the Rev.
J. Winston Pearce, Trustee Ralph Ferrell, Sidney Taylor, Dr. C. H. Bolton, president of the Board of Trustees, Dr. Edmunds,
Earl Brown, chairman of Region I, Walter L. Hays, national chairman, Dr. Hugh West, Trustee Arthur N. Morris Trustee
Thomas Hansen, Trustee Earl Gaston, and the Rev. LeRoy Lawson. (See stories on Pages 2, 3, 14, 15, and 16)
Trustees of Stetson University met September 29 and formally approved plans for
a national campaign for $6,000,000 to provide needed buildings at DeLand and an
expendable faculty salary fund for DeLand
and St. Petersburg.
The campaign is the direct result of planning begun at the Diamond Jubilee Convocation a year ago when such national and
international figures as Evangelist Billy
Graham, Former Congressman Brooks Hays
of Arkansas, Former Governor Harold Stas-
sen, Dr. J. D. Grey, of New Orleans, Judge
Bryan Simpson, of Jacksonville, and Dr.
Louis Orr, Orlando, president of the American Medical Association, visited the campus
and spoke to capacity audiences.
The study of needs for present-day Stetson was begun with the 75th birthday celebration. It considered factors which show
Stetson's responsibility as the oldest university in Florida. 'The University must continue to be a pacemaker among church-
Library and Science
Buildings, Faculty-
Fund 1st Need
related colleges that represent free enterprise in education, the study disclosed.
The factor of growth was considered.
America's school population indicates a vast
influx of college students in the next decade. Stetson feels a responsibility for taking
a share of this load and has tentatively set
its sights on a student body of 2,000, an
increase of about twenty-five per cent.
Before this increase is accepted, the study
showed, Stetson needs additional facilities
to do a better job with the present student
body. These facilities include a new library
to cost $1,500,000; a Science Center, $1,-
500,000; Gymnasium and Field House,
$500,000; School of Music Building, $500,-
000; Fine Arts Building, $300,000; School of
Business Building, $350,000; Chapel, $750,-
000; Infirmary, $150,000; Outdoor Recreation Area, $200,000; and an Expendable
Faculty Fund, $250,000.
The trustees designated the library,
science center, and the faculty fund as the
three most imperative needs. The most recent new construction on the campus has
been in residence halls for men and women and the Stetson Union.
"We have remodeled buildings and used
temporary structures for classrooms and
laboratories to carry on our teaching program but we have extended to the limit
present possibilities for instruction in
make-shift facilities," President Edmunds
said. "If we are to go forward under the
basic plans of the University, we must have
new classroom and laboratory buildings."
The sum sought for the Faculty Salary
Fund, will help hold first-choice teachers
until additional endowment is acquired.
(Continued on Page 16)
Region 1 Kickoff Dinner October 20th
SEE STORY
ON PAGE 2
