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Smith College is a distinguished liberal arts college
committed to providing the highest quality undergraduate education for women to enable
them to develop their intellects and talents and to participate effectively and fully
in society.
The college began more than 130 years ago in the mind
and conscience of a New England woman. The sum of money used to buy the first land,
erect the first buildings and begin the endowment was the bequest of Sophia Smith.
When she inherited a large fortune at age 65, Sophia Smith decided, after much deliberation
and advice, that leaving her inheritance to found a women's college was the best
way for her to fulfill the moral obligation she expressed so eloquently in her will:
"I hereby make the following provisions for the
establishment and maintenance of an Institution for the higher education of young
women, with the design to furnish for my own sex means and facilities for education
equal to those which are afforded now in our colleges to young men.
"It is my opinion that by the higher and more thorough
Christian education of women, what are called their "wrongs" will be redressed,
their wages adjusted, their weight of influence in reforming the evils of society
will be greatly increased, as teachers, as writers, as mothers, as members of society,
their power for good will be incalculably enlarged."
The college envisioned by Sophia Smith and her minister,
John M. Greene, resembled many other old New England colleges in its religious orientation,
with all education at the college "pervaded by the Spirit of Evangelical Christian
Religion" but "without giving preference to any sect or denomination."
Smith has changed much since its founding in 1871. But
throughout its history there have been certain enduring constants: an uncompromising
defense of academic and intellectual freedom, an attention to the relation between
college education and the larger public issues of world order and human dignity,
and a concern for the rights and privileges of women.
Indeed, at a time when most people had narrow views
of women's abilities and their proper role in society, Sophia Smith showed not only
concern with the particular needs of young women but also faith in their still underdeveloped
powers. After enumerating the subjects that continue to be a vital part of the college's
curriculum, she added:
"And in such other studies as coming times may
develop or demand for the education of women and the progress of the race, I would
have the education suited to the mental and physical wants of women. It is not my
design to render my sex any the less feminine, but to develop as fully as may be
the powers of womanhood, and furnish women with the means of usefulness, happiness
and honor now withheld from them."
Today the college continues to benefit from a dynamic
relationship between innovation and tradition. Smith is still very much part of Northampton,
now a lively and sophisticated cultural center in its own right. The great majority
of students still live in college houses with their own common rooms, a happy survivor
of the original
"cottage" plan. The faculty and administration are still composed of both
men and women, thus exemplifying a professional community where the two sexes work
together with respect. The teaching is still as challenging as it is at the best
coeducational colleges. And while Smith's basic curriculum of the humanities, arts
and sciences still flourishes, the college continues to respond to the new intellectual
needs of today's women--offering majors or interdepartmental programs in computer
science, engineering, women's studies, Third World development, neuroscience, film
studies, Latin American studies, history of the sciences and other emerging fields.
Were Sophia Smith to revisit Northampton, she would no doubt find her vision realized,
as students at her college prepare themselves for exemplary lives of service and
leadership. |
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Mission
of Smith
College
Sophia
Smith: Smith College's Founder
Smith
College
Presidents
Honorary
Degrees
Smith
College
Medalists
John
M. Greene
Awards
Sherrerd
Prizes for Distinguished
Teaching
Sophia
Smith
Awards
Commencement
Speakers
Some
Special
Traditions
Notable
Alumnae |
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