NJCL 2008

Welcome to Miami

Posted by Brian at 07:38 pm on Monday, September 10, 2007

Salvete!  I’m Brian Compton, one of the two chairs for the 2008 NJCL Convention at Miami University along with Steve Gentle.  I can’t tell you how excited everyone in our state is to be welcoming our fellow JCL’ers this summer, and we can’t wait for July.  This is a really special event for Steve and I- not only are we (nearly) lifelong fans of JCL, but Miami has been like a second home for us.  Steve graduated in 1993, the year that Convention last visited Oxford (he was also NSCL Vice President that year- convenient since one of the main jobs is to know the campus and what goes where, and how best to direct people how to get there).  That year was my first national convention, and the year that I fell in love with Miami; thus, two years later, I was a freshman on campus, and I loved every minute of the next four years.  Even after I left in 1999, I’ve always been able to find an excuse to get up to campus, and now that I live in Harrison, OH, I’m only 20 minutes away- convenient when I “need” something from the JCL Office.  As for Steve, I won’t try to list all the things he loves, though it would not be a stretch to say that he is a Redhawk Superfan.  In fact, this Saturday he’ll be running the video board when the ‘hawks take on the University of Cincinnati Bearcats (more on that later).  If I’m lucky, I’ll be in the stands with another JCL friend of mine (he’s a UC alum, but I don’t hold it against him).  And of course, Steve and I were both employees of Geri Dutra and the ACL office in Oxford- as we can tell you, their current digs are like a paradise compared to where it’s been.

So why do we like Miami so much?  There’s the history, there’s the campus itself, there’s the friendships (Steve met his wife while there, and I’m still in contact with friends going back to my freshmen year), there’s...too much to list.  Ultimately, it’s difficult to pinpoint one or two things to love, but those who love it do so powerfully.  Maybe some of you will find your own reason during your week here.

Here are a few interesting details about Miami:
- Miami was founded by a decree of George Washington, which stated that in the region of land that would become the (John Cleves) Symmes Purchase there would be a university.  The university was officially chartered in 1809 as The Miami University, and 1809 is recognized as the official foundation year.  The university didn’t officially open its doors until 1824, though; the intervening years were spent gathering donations of money and material.

- The first buildings were designed in imitation of buildings at Yale University (the Stoddard and Elliott dorms near the Hub are supposedly exact replicas of early Yale dorms).  This lead to Miami receiving the nickname “The Yale of the Midwest.” In that same vein, Miami has also been referred to as a “Public Ivy,” both for its appearance and for the high quality of education that it provides.

- Miami was one of the first universities outside of the original Ivy League to field a school-sponsored football team, brought to the university by President Warfield and a young group of Princeton transplants.  Their first inter-collegiate game was against the nearby University of Cincinnati, leading to the longest-running football rivalry west of the Alleghenies.  Every year they play “the Bell Game,” named for the Bell Trophy that goes to the winner; the bell is painted half-white (Miami) and half-black (UC), with the years of their wins painted in red.  The field where that first game was played is now part of the Academic Quad; it is bordered by Irvin, Stoddard, Elliott, and Harrison Halls and King Library.

- While we’re on the subject of football, Miami is also known as the “Cradle of Coaches,” as many football coaches who went on to great fame began their careers at Miami as either players or coaches.  A few include Paul Brown (founder and original head coach of both the Cleveland Browns and the Cincinnati Bengals of the NFL); Bo Schembechler, beloved and recently passed coach of the University of Michigan; and Ara Parseghian, the Notre Dame coach who gave a transfer student named Rudy Ruettiger a spot on the practice squad (the subject of the film Rudy).  Recently passed coaches Randy Walker of Northwestern and Terry Hoeppner of Indiana University also counted Miami as part of their football resumes. 

- A number of athletes also called Miami home, including QB Ben Roethlisberger (now sporting a Super Bowl ring with his Pittsburgh Steelers) and Wally Szczerbiak, top 10 pick in the 1999 NBA draft and recent addition to the Boston Celtics.

- The Western Campus (site of Peabody Hall, one of our convention dorms and former home of the ACL office) is the furthest east portion of campus.  Huh?  The name comes from the fact that it is the Western College of Mt. Holyoke, a women’s university in Massachusetts.  For many years, this was separate from Miami (Miami was an all-male institution until the 1870’s), but officially closed its doors in the 1970’s, when Miami president Philip Shriver bought it and made it a part of Miami.  Until last year, Miami students could be majors in the Western College Program (WCP), a unique experience in which students lived in a separate community and essentially created their own majors, allowing them to introduce components of different disciplines into their declared course of study.  The current chair of the Classics department, Dr. Judith DeLuce, is a former dean of Western College.

- Along with Western College, Miami and its environs have been the site of a number of women’s colleges, including Oxford College, whose sole building marks the end of the High Street region known as “Uptown Oxford.” Ironically, this was also a site of the ACL office; it was located here during my time as an office worker, and we were one of the only inhabitants of the building (a few exchange students would live here, but it was abandoned for the most part- spooky!).

- A number of fraternities trace their foundation to Miami, including Beta Theta Pi (their national office is located down the road from Yager Stadium).  Originally, these sub rosa organizations were forbidden to congregate on campus, leading to an event known as “The Snowball Rebellion,” where members filled Harrison Hall with giant snowballs and sealed the doors shut. 

- William Holmes McGuffey, creator of the famous McGuffey Readers for elementary students, was one of the university’s original faculty members (he wrote the Readers while at Miami).  His home is now a museum dedicated to him.

- Some famous alums (besides Mr. Gentle and myself of course) include Rita Dove, U.S. Poet Laureate from 1993 to 1995; U.S. President Benjamin Harrison; Whitelaw Reid, journalist for the New York Tribune who, among other accomplishments, provided first-person coverage for the paper at the Battle of Gettysburg; Nick Lachey of 98 Degrees; and political commentator P. J. O’Rourke.  A number of current members of the U.S. House and Senate, both from Ohio and elsewhere, called Miami home at one point or another.

So there you have it- everything you wanted to know (or didn’t want to know) about Miami. 

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