thursday, september 22, 2011
100 YEARS AND
STILL GROWING
With persuasion, NY created what would become SUNY-ESF F By Liz Sawyer | Asst. News Editor
ew people know more about the history of SUNY-ESF than Hugh Canham. Canham knows how the college came to be on Syracuse University’s property and why the name changed three times. He knows when every building was erected, the school’s long-standing traditions and exactly how many female undergraduate students were enrolled before 1950. But most of all, Canham knows how the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry has evolved during the last 100 years. He knows all of this because his familiarity of the college goes back to 1955, when he visited the campus with his high school physics teacher. Half a century after his graduation and nine years after his retirement, the emeritus professor remains knowledgeable about the school’s current climate and plays a major role in informing students about its history. “I think we can only understand the present by looking at history,” he said. “You can only understand why this college is what it is by understanding the history.”
How it all began
During the late 1800s there was a rise in forestry degree programs in Europe, which led to calls for similar programs in the United States, Canham said. Several programs popped up around the country, including those at Yale University and Cornell University in 1898. The man heading the Cornell program, Bernhard Fernow,
INSIDE is a series of articles to commemorate SUNY-ESF’s 100 years at Syracuse University. Page 8: Past chancellors and presidents at the school Page 8: A timeline of interesting points in ESF’s history Page 9: ESF’s connection with its higher-ups at SUNY Pages 12 and 13: Traditions, mascots and campus buildings Page 24: ESF’s first intercollegiate athletics teams Above photo: Bill Aloisi sits with his fiancee on the ESF Quad in the 1950s. Photo courtesy of SU Archives.
started some radical silvicultural practices in the Adirondack Mountains, which upset wealthy landowners enough to call for an end to the program just five years after it began, Canham said. SU’s chancellor, James Day, always wanted a state supported agriculture and forestry school and added William Bray to the SU faculty to teach a few forestry courses in 1907, Canham said. Louis Marshall, an influential Syracuse lawyer who knew the legislatures in Albany, convinced them to move the forestry college to SU, effectively stealing the program from rival Cornell, Canham said. Both Bray and Marshall received recognition for their contributions to the school when buildings on the ESF campus were named in their honor. In 1911, the New York State College of Forestry at SU officially opened with 52 students, two faculty members and a dean. Students met in the basement of Lyman Hall on SU’s campus until Bray Hall was opened in 1916, Canham said. Canham said the origins of SU caused quite a controversy and nearly prevented the school from getting the forestry program.
SEE HISTORY PAGE 14
INSIDENEWS
INSIDEOPINION
INSIDEPULP
INSIDESPORTS
Not in our house Housing Authority bans alcohol
Moving on David Stolz admits nostalgia about leaving
Reunited SU alumni will return to campus
Flip-fl op? With Syracuse and Pittsburgh jetting to the Atlantic Coast
from three parking lots used for sporting events. Page 3
the Big East, but recognizes the potential excitement the ACC brings to SU. Page 4
for a cultural gathering. Page 16
Conference, East Carolina takes a chance at applying to the Big East. Page 24