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Northampton 350th Convocation,
John M. Greene Hall, June 5, 2004
I am very pleased to join in
this historic convocation. Smith is a Johnny-come-lately,
or I should say, a Joan-come-lately, to historic Northampton.
However, its anniversaries have a fortunate symmetry with
those of Northampton. Smith’s first commencement coincided
with Northampton’s 225th anniversary; Northampton’s
350th coincides with the college’s 125th.
Northampton
has always been an integral part of the vision of Smith College.
When Sophia Smith completed her will, she specified that
the college that would bear her name should be located not
in Hatfield, where she lived, but in Northampton. She insisted
that the college should be located in what she called "the
best place," and she determined that
place was Northampton. Nonetheless, she laid down a condition.
The city would need to contribute $25,000 to the new college;
otherwise, it would be established in Hatfield. Hatfield
was so upset by her choice that it attempted to take legal
action, contending that Sophia was not of sound mind when
she abandoned her native Hatfield, but at length they gave
up their attempt to overturn the will. The town raised
the money, and land was purchased in Northampton.
Smith’s
founders very much wanted the college to be part of the practical
life of the town. Contrasting their vision to the one that
they imagined had inspired the founding of Mount Holyoke,
they decided not to build a single seminary-like structure
where students would live, but a set of buildings that looked
like family houses. To emphasize this point, Smith purchased
the first student residence from a town citizen, Mr. Dewey,
and the house thereafter bore his name. Students, they felt,
should use Forbes Library as their library, and attend Northampton’s
churches.
The kind of commitment to civic
life that Smith’s
founders tried to incorporate in the arrangements of the
new college has been important throughout Smith’s history.
It is best symbolized in the Grecourt Gates, which stand
as the symbolic entrance to the college, outside of College
Hall. The gates were erected in honor of the Smith College
Relief Unit, a group of Smith graduates who went to France
in 1917 to help rebuild some villages in the district of
the Somme that had been destroyed by the war. Shortly after
they arrived in the district to rebuild, the German Army
swept through again. The Smith women helped evacuate the
village, packing up belongings and standing at the crossroads,
directing straggling soldiers while shells were exploding
around them. When the allies retook the village, the Relief
Unit returned, completing the rebuilding process and not
leaving to return to the United States until 1920. In 1924,
William Allan Neilson, Smith’s third president, erected
the Grecourt gates, so called because they are a replica
of the gates of the Chateau at Grecourt where the Unit had
its headquarters, to commemorate their efforts.
At the dedication
ceremony, there were a number of speeches in John M. Greene,
and then a grand procession to the site of the gates, during
which everyone sang the Marseillaise. Those who spoke at
the ceremony described their significance. Harriet Boyd Hawes,
of the class of 1892, the leader of the Unit, said, "Here
was a chance for our beloved college to do its bit for humanity
and to establish a tradition of service which should take
us far outside our own walls." Ada Comstock, the great Dean
of the College after whom the Ada Comstock Scholars Program
is named, said, "They form
a wide gateway through which the graduates of this college
will go out year by year, ready as were the members of this
unit to dedicate all they have to the common lot."
When you walk through the Grecourt
Gates, the first place you reach is Northampton’s Main Street. Smith’s
founders intended the college and its students to share in
the practical and civic life of the city. It is a mission
we continue to hold dear today. |
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