Hamilton Gazetteer / Entities / Kirkland College

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organization

Kirkland College

Overview

Kirkland College was a coordinate women’s liberal arts college that operated from 1965 to 1978 adjacent to Hamilton College in Clinton, New York. Planning began in 1962–63 under Hamilton president Robert W. McEwen; the college opened in 1968 and enrolled its charter class. It operated as an independent institution sharing some facilities and administrative functions with Hamilton until the two merged on June 30, 1978, with the merged institution retaining the Hamilton name. The college was named for Samuel Kirkland, the founder of the Hamilton-Oneida Academy that became Hamilton College.

Relevance to Research

Kirkland appears in the corpus beginning with the 1968–69 academic year and becomes an increasingly central subject through the merger in 1978 and into the early post-merger years. The Spectator integrated Kirkland editors and reporters from the fall 1969 issue onward. Coverage spans Kirkland’s founding rationale, its developing campus and programs, the relationship between the two student bodies, and the merger debate.

Notes

President: Samuel F. Babbitt was Kirkland’s first and only president; he delivered remarks at the second Kirkland convocation in September 1969. He later wrote Limited Engagement: Kirkland College 1965–1978, An Intimate History of the Rise and Fall of a Coordinate College for Women (XLibris, 2006), describing the merger as “messy.”

Board: Walter Beinecke Jr. served as Chairman of the Hamilton Board of Trustees and spoke at Kirkland’s 1969 convocation. Millicent Carey McIntosh, former President of Barnard College, served on Kirkland’s first Board of Trustees and contributed progressive educational views to its founding mandate.

Founding rationale: Hamilton chose the coordinate model rather than direct coeducation, described by VP Paul D. Carter ‘56 as “a very daring move.” President McEwen initiated the planning during 1962–63 but died before Kirkland opened, depriving Kirkland of its chief champion at Hamilton. The original vision was a cluster of colleges like the Claremont Colleges, though only Kirkland was ever established. Kirkland’s mandate was to “make a fresh attack on introducing major fields of learning” without being constrained by Hamilton’s traditional patterns.

Campus: Adjacent to Hamilton. Had its own dormitories (including one called Kirkland Dormitory), offices, and developing facilities. A new library, health center, auditorium, and other shared facilities were planned as of 1970. The Kirkland side of campus has more modern architecture; after the merger, art and music departments were located there.

Traditions: Bagpipes at convocation, established in Kirkland’s first year (1968). The college seal featured an apple tree; green apples remain a symbol of Kirkland among alumnae. During Hamilton commencements, students and faculty wear green apple pins to honor Kirkland’s legacy.

Institutional tensions: Hamilton students could register for any Kirkland class, but Kirkland students initially required professor permission to take Hamilton courses. Many at Hamilton perceived it as the superior institution, and Kirkland was stereotyped as favoring “easy” or “feminine” subjects. SAT scores of Kirkland students were lower than Hamilton’s, but Kirkland students performed as well or better than Hamilton men in the courses they took together.

Merger (1978): In 1977, as Kirkland pursued “The Campaign for the Second Decade” endowment drive, Hamilton refused an operating funds guarantee, finding Kirkland unlikely to become self-sufficient. Debt from building Kirkland’s entirely new campus had burdened its finances; construction costs had jumped 10% in a single year. The merger took effect June 30, 1978, over much student protest; the process has been described as a “hostile takeover” and the mood on campuses at times as “near riot.” Kirkland tenure was not transferred; tenured Kirkland faculty had to pass a new tenure review. Most survived, but discontent persisted long after 1978.

Legacy at Hamilton: Kirkland’s educational principles — including student-designed majors and independent study — were absorbed into the Hamilton curriculum. The Kirkland endowment was transferred to Hamilton with restrictions that all funds support “women and their needs and interests at Hamilton.” The Kirkland Archives (including Babbitt’s papers) are housed in Burke Library. In the mid-1990s, Hamilton faculty founded the Kirkland Project as a research center building on Kirkland’s legacies of women’s education and innovative pedagogy.

Distinguishing pedagogy: Kirkland was known for an innovative, student-centered approach to liberal arts education that contrasted with Hamilton’s more traditional curriculum.

Notable alumnae and faculty (from Wikipedia): - Roz Chast — cartoonist for The New Yorker, attended Kirkland College - Sandy Faison — Broadway actress, member of the 1972 charter class - Christie Vilsack — member of the 1972 charter class, later First Lady of Iowa - Natalie Babbitt — children’s author (Tuck Everlasting), taught at Kirkland; wife of President Samuel F. Babbitt; wrote her first works while raising their children in Clinton, NY - Esther Barazzone — former Kirkland faculty, later president of Chatham College (Pittsburgh)