The Middle Years: 1916–1958

3.1 Introduction

[p. 53] In a book published in 1922, titled What Is the YMCA?, Paul Super, the Secretary for the Personnel Bureau of the International Committee of YMCAs, warned that the YMCA “faces two dangers: first, that of limiting its work to activities within its building, and second, institutionalism.”¹ Super’s warning came at the tail end of an enormous YMCA building boom. There were over 300 new YMCA buildings constructed in the United States between 1900-1920, adding to the 359 that already existed. By 1922, American YMCAs owned and operated more than 700 buildings, with the total value in material and property topping $150 million.²

The building boom had a significant effect on the YMCA’s image and work, not all of which was positive. Hopkins notes in his History of the YMCA in North America that by the 1920s,

Even more than in the past an Association was identified with its building: in one of the strongest states no city YMCA was organized without a building of its own. From the immense city structures, costing millions, to the plain log meeting rooms built by Dakota Indians with their own hands, facilities reflected the programs carried on by their owners and in turn shaped those activities. Program was thus increasingly institutionalized, as city after city campaigned for large funds for building purposes.³

The danger of a YMCA being identified so much with its building was the extent to which such an identification might obscure or marginalize its deeper religious work and purpose. Yet buildings were not in themselves necessarily problematic: what mattered was what associations did with or in them.

The building boom was in part an expression of a gradual transformation of the YMCA’s basic work and mission which began in the late nineteenth century. Over time, the YMCA began to shift from being a voluntary association of members who were committed [p. 54] to being active participants in a religious movement which had both personal and social (i.e., public) dimensions, to a professionalized institution that offered various social and recreational services and programs designed to be consumed by an increasingly passive membership.⁴ While buildings were not generally viewed as being necessary to support a religious movement, they were seen as essential to support the programs and services of an institution.

The tension between the YMCA’s original identity as a movement versus its increasing success as an institution was the theme of Paul Super’s book. In Super’s view, while the institutionalization of the YMCA brought certain advantages and strengths, it also threatened to undermine the “real” YMCA. According to Super, the “real” YMCA was a religious or spiritual movement, not a service-providing institution. He wrote that

The values with which the Young Men’s Christian Association deals as a movement are spiritual. It has to do with what are ordinarily considered the highest interests of life. The Association movement seeks to influence men and boys in the realm of their religious convictions, ethical standards, moral ideals, personal and social conduct. It bands together men and boys who wish to give God the right place in their lives, and who become a movement by associating their efforts to extend the application of this principle. The Association is a movement just to the extent that it moves men and boys to apply the teachings of Jesus to their relations to God, to their relations to their fellow men, to the problems, opportunities, and materials of life.⁵

The growing tension between the movement and institutional dimensions of the YMCA offers a strikingly appropriate theme for the exploration of the University YMCA’s middle years. The years between 1916 and 1958 were marked by a continuing struggle with this tension. Through the leadership and legacy of “Chief” Henry Wilson, the longest serving General Secretary in the University YMCA’s history (1916-1946), the movement dimension of the YMCA was kept at the center of importance. Like Super, [p. 55] Wilson held a passionate conviction that the “real” YMCA was a religious movement. Also like Super, Wilson believed that a local YMCA could preserve the strength and character of its movement dimension even as it succeeded in establishing itself as an institution with a professional staff and building of its own. While the experience of the University YMCA in its middle years offered evidence that this was indeed possible, it also demonstrated how difficult it was to achieve and sustain.

3.2 Mission and Work

1916-1938

The tension between the movement and institutional dimensions of the YMCA at the University of Illinois had reached a fever pitch when Henry Wilson began his work as General Secretary on June 1, 1916. Wilson, who was born and raised in Canada but educated in the United States at George Williams College and Yale University, arrived in Champaign after serving for seven years as General Secretary of the YMCA at Marshalltown, Iowa. Just 33 years old and newly ordained as a minister in the Congregational church, he brought a fresh, critical outlook and renewed energy to the YMCA at Illinois at a time when it was badly needed. The Association was carrying an accumulated deficit of $40,000, and it had become increasingly bogged down in what seemed to be a losing battle of meeting the many demands and responsibilities of managing its building while maintaining its movement-oriented mission.

Almost immediately, Wilson expressed his doubts to the Board about whether Association Hall, which had been built and dedicated with such hope only eight years earlier, fit the Association’s work and mission. The situation was discussed, but no action was taken until 1917, when an unexpected turn of events provided an opportunity for change. After the United States joined World War I in April of 1917, the YMCA was asked if it would, as a service to the war effort, agree to give up the use of its building in order to provide housing and office space for the School of Military Aeronautics. The Board agreed to the request, on condition that it would be provided with a guarantee against financial loss. [p. 56] This condition was met, and during the summer of 1917, the YMCA moved out of its building and into temporary quarters in a house on the northeast corner of Wright and Green Streets that was the former residence of the president of the University.

The Association remained in the former president’s house until the war was over. By then, the Board had decided that the Association would not return to the building it still owned. Association Hall was first rented and then sold to the Illinois Union, a nonprofit organization founded in 1909, the precursor to today’s Illini Union Board. In late December of 1918, the University YMCA moved into what was known as the “Hut,” a wooden structure with one large room and a small office space that the Association bought and relocated on property it acquired on the southwest corner of Wright and Green Streets. The Hut was the Association’s home until December of 1923, when it was destroyed by a fire.

The official mission of the University YMCA during the first few years of this era, as stated in its constitution, declared that

The object of this Association shall be to serve the men of the University in practical ways; to lead in the endeavor to solve the moral problems of university life; to surround non-Christian men with such influence as shall lead them into open discipleship with Jesus Christ; to promote Christian fellowship and aggressive Christian work especially by and for students, and to train them for permanent Christian service, not only in distinctly religious callings, but also in secular pursuits.⁶

This mission was changed in 1923 when the Association adopted a new constitution. The new official statement of purpose, which was to remain unchanged until 1961, stated that

The purpose of this organization shall be: (1) To lead students to faith in God through Jesus Christ. (2) To lead them into membership and service in the Christian Church. (3) To promote their growth in Christian faith and character, especially through the study of the Bible and prayer. (4) To influence them to devote themselves in united effort with all Christians [p. 57] to making the will of Christ effective in human society, and to extending the Kingdom of God throughout the world.⁷

The most noteworthy aspect of the 1923 statement for this study is its strong linking of personal and public aims, and its hint of Social Gospel influence. The call to make the “will of Christ effective in human society” and to extend the “Kingdom of God throughout the world” was firmly planted in the culture of public Protestantism. It also mirrored the language of the Social Gospel movement. “The Kingdom of God,” Walter Rauschenbusch wrote, is “a collective conception, involving the whole social life of man. It is not a matter of saving human atoms, but of saving the social organism. It is not a matter of getting individuals to heaven, but of transforming the life on earth into the harmony of heaven.”⁸ Despite the use of the term “kingdom,” the Kingdom of God was a deeply democratic concept. Social Gospel advocates thought that the way to transform life on earth into the “harmony of heaven” was to democratize social and economic relations.

In addition to the official statement in the new Constitution, various unofficial statements of purpose and mission were also used during the 1916-1938 period. The statement that was used in the annual Students’ Handbooks from 1917 until 1936 featured one of the key words characteristic of the YMCA’s culture during this period: “service.” This statement declared that

The Young Men’s Christian Association is the active men’s religious organization of University Students. Its aim is service. While the purpose of a University education is to prepare one for larger service, yet many do not attain to real leadership because of the lack of development of moral and spiritual qualities. The purpose of the Association is to provide opportunity for the development of a varied program of service which will make for the attainment of the best in individual and community life.⁹

Because the official purpose statement from the constitution was considered to be “unwieldy,” and because it raised “theological questions” in the minds of some people (what exactly these were is [p. 58] unclear), a shorter statement was approved by the Board in 1931 for use in membership campaigns:

The Young Men’s Christian Association of the University of Illinois is a fellowship of students and faculty whose purpose it is to understand the life of Jesus and to make His spirit vital wherever they may live, work, or play.¹⁰

An important feature of this statement is the description of the Association as a fellowship of students and faculty. Beginning in 1925, the Association created a membership category for faculty. This followed the urging of John R. Mott, who delivered a speech at the University of Illinois in 1922 in which he asked an assembly of campus religious workers “why we should not aspire to a plan to take in every student and professor and instructor in the university.” Mott insisted that

The plan should include the whole range of the ethical and spiritual life of these members of the university. Our aim should be to expand our plans as will not only cover every man and woman but likewise follow through in the symmetrical development of every side of their life, morally and spiritually. Let these plans include every one of their relationships, let it have every relationship to their regular university work.¹¹

The University YMCA attempted to follow Mott’s suggestion. Over 150 faculty members were recorded as being involved in the work of the Association in the 1925-1926 year.¹²

By the 1930s, the University YMCA had fully shifted its identity from being a student association only to being an association that engaged and served both students and faculty. It had also by this time brought personal and public aims up to the same level of emphasis. The new purpose statement that was used in the Students’ Handbooks beginning in 1936 reflected both of these developments:

The Young Men’s Christian Association is an undenominational religious organization of University students and faculty [p. 59] members. Supplementing the education derived from the various University courses, the YMCA endeavors to challenge its members with Christian ideals essential to leadership. Student committees promote its activities. They aim to develop a varied program to attain the best in individual and community life. To those seeking to make Christian life effective, the YMCA presents a challenge for service. A threefold opportunity exists: the advantages of working with others, the enrichment of your own life resulting from your own experiences, and through projects meeting actual and urgent needs in the lives of others on the campus and in the community.¹³

The work the University YMCA carried out during the years between 1916-1938 built upon the work of the previous era, while expanding it in several important ways. There were four broad categories of work that remained consistent across the entire period covered in this chapter, though individual activities and programs differed from year to year. Using the language of the day, these were: (1) Practical Service; (2) Community Service; (3) Religious Work; and (4) International Friendship. Most of the work carried out under these categories was developed and led by students. The work was overseen by a Student Cabinet averaging about 18 members, one for each of the average of 18 program-related committees that functioned during this time. According to the YMCA’s records, between 300-500 student and faculty members were actively involved in the work of these committees each year.

What follows is a brief sketch of the work conducted under each of the four broad categories named above for the years 1916-1938. It must be stressed that this is merely a sketch that captures only a small part of the tremendous range and number of activities the University YMCA pursued during this era. It should also be noted that the explosion of activity and participation in the YMCA occurred after it left its fancy, expensive building. While there is certainly no single explanation for this surge in activity, Henry Wilson’s commitment to the YMCA as a volunteer-led movement must have been a factor. The Board of Directors thought so, at [p. 60] least. Less than two years after Wilson was hired, the Board passed a special resolution praising Wilson’s “statesmanlike plans for the future extension of the Association” and his “sound judgment and clear vision.” “We believe,” they declared, “that a continuance of his services are as nearly vital to the success of these plans as the services of any one man can be said to be vital in such projects.”¹⁴

1. Practical Service

The work the Association carried out under the category of “practical service” included a range of activities and services. The Students’ Handbook, still a collaborative project with the YWCA, continued to be published and distributed free annually to all freshman. New students were also still offered help, advice, and counseling in personal matters such as finding rooms and roommates. The various homes for the Association offered a kind of practical service to students, with lounge space, periodicals and newspapers from “hometowns” across the state, free stationery (this was offered to encourage students to write home to family members), mail service, and a “checking service” that gave students a place to temporarily store books and luggage. The “practical service” category also included a host of social, recreational, and entertainment events and activities, such as the annual Post-Exam Jubilee, “stunt” shows, “fireside sings,” games, receptions, and outings and picnics.

One of the largest and most important pieces of the “practical service” work was helping students to find jobs. The University YMCA’s Employment Department, originally established in 1897, grew to such an extent that as many as forty student volunteers plus a full-time secretary were needed to pursue and oversee its work. Growth in the 1920s was especially dramatic. While 647 students applied for work through the Department in 1924, by 1926, over 1,335 students applied. There were more applicants than there were jobs, however. In 1926, the YMCA was only able to find work for 962 of the 1,335 students who applied. Jobs, almost all of which were located on or near the campus, included dish washing, waiting tables, cooking, peeling potatoes, tending furnaces, gardening, cutting wood, washing windows, and painting [p. 61] bee hives (on the list I drew these jobs from it was noted in parentheses after this job, “bees not at home”).¹⁵

In the 1920s, detailed annual reports of the Employment Department were published that offer an interesting glimpse into what the YMCA thought was the larger meaning and significance of this work. First, the Association tried, through personal conversations, to gently discourage students who did not need full time employment from taking jobs which otherwise would be available to students who depended on them in order to stay in school. For the 1926-1927 academic year, the Association reported that as a result of these conversations, 150 relatively well-off students had voluntarily chosen not to take full time jobs, “in order that more needy men might have them.” “This is character development,” the YMCA proclaimed, “the actual putting into practice of the highest kind of Christian ideals.”¹⁶

The work of the Employment Department was seen as a subtle but serious expression of practical Christian values. This was emphasized in the language the YMCA used in its attempt to recruit student volunteers to work with the Department. In helping a fellow student to find a job, the Association wrote to prospective volunteers that

you are not going to him with something. He can not feel that you are superimposing something upon him, nor that you are trying to get him into an activity with (as he may think) some design. He is coming to you in great need. He senses your sympathy. You meet the need. This is a practical Christianity which he can understand. As long as you have time for him and fail him not he will seek you out again and again. On perplexing questions you become his Court of Last Resort. You are his confidant throughout his University course. Unconsciously, he invites you to help in the moulding of his character, the growth of his soul.¹⁷

The Employment Department was closed in 1932 when the University decided to offer employment assistance to students as a regular part of its on-going work.

[p. 62] 2. Community Service

Under the second broad category of work, labeled “community service,” the “boys’ work” of the previous era was continued and expanded. Hal Colvin, a graduate of Kansas State University and Yale University Divinity School with experience in student YMCA work, was hired in 1919 to oversee this expansion. Under his leadership, the Association organized University students to conduct “Hi-Y” clubs in local high schools, and “Gra-Y” clubs for younger boys in local grade schools. These clubs were mainly focused on athletic and recreational activities, although they also included charity work and various projects aimed at addressing community needs. Local, regional, and state-wide conferences featuring discussions and lectures on religious and vocational topics were organized for older boys, often drawing more than 1,000 participants. Speakers at these conferences regularly included the president of the University, the mayors of Champaign and Urbana, University faculty members, local members of the clergy, and notable business, educational, and religious leaders from around the country.

In language similar to that which was used in describing the larger meaning of the work of the Employment Department, the YMCA felt that its community service work was a way to express “practical” Christian values. Through participating in athletic and recreational activities with college men, it was thought, boys could gain a “Christian influence” which would help to shape their characters. It was also understood to be a way of building character, initiative, and leadership skills in college students.

3. Religious Work

Despite a reportedly widespread disillusionment with religion on college campuses, the religious work of the YMCA at Illinois flourished in the period between 1916-1938. Although the period when the YMCA and YWCA provided the only organized religious work on the University campus had passed, each Association continued to play a key role in the religious life of students and faculty. The importance of the work of the YMCA was emphasized by Steven E. Fisher, pastor of the University Place Church [p. 63] of Christ and director of the Illinois Disciples Foundation, who remarked in 1923 that “I have, for a good many years, regarded the Association as the keystone in the arch of our religious activities at the University. It has proven again and again to be the factor by which our group of religious workers is bound together, and through which definite continuity and singleness of purpose have been made to prevail.”¹⁸ Religious work at the University of Illinois by various denominations was organized in the decade before 1910. By 1923, when Fisher made the above statement, organized religious work on campus was being conducted by and for Methodists, Episcopalians, Disciples, Presbyterians, Unitarians, Baptists, Congregationalists, Catholics, and Jews.¹⁹

There were continuities in the YMCA’s religious work from the previous era, as well as several changes and additions. The annual religious census continued to be conducted throughout this period. Monthly all-campus religious meetings and services, co-sponsored with the YWCA, continued to be strong, attracting large audiences with popular national speakers such as Sherwood Eddy and John R. Mott. Special lectures and conferences on religious themes were also successfully continued throughout this period. The annual summer conferences of midwest student YMCAs at Lake Geneva, Wisconsin continued to be strong, with the YMCA at Illinois regularly sending the largest delegations.

Three of the core elements of the religious work program from the previous era, however, were discontinued. Missions work ended in 1925, hanging on longer at Illinois than it did in many other student YMCAs. While deputation teams continued to be sent annually to nearby towns to hold special religious programs for most of this period, after 1937 regular deputations work was ended. Bible classes were discontinued in 1920 after the new campus churches and foundations took them over. Between 1920 and 1928, the YMCA organized Bible discussion groups in fraternities and independent houses. More than fifty groups were formed each year, involving hundreds of students and many faculty members who served as leaders. The Bible discussion groups were discontinued in 1928, replaced by a new program called “Fireside Forums.” Fireside Forums were in some ways similar to the Bible [p. 64] discussion groups, being held in fraternities and independent houses and grounded in Christian values and principles, but instead of focusing on the Bible they focused on broad public issues such as war and peace, economics, politics, and the meaning of citizenship. They proved to be extremely popular, involving thousands of students each year.

Several new elements were added to the Association’s religious work program during this period. A regular newsletter, called the “Y’s Indian,” was created in 1920.²⁰ While in part this was a publicity tool for the Association, useful for recruiting new members and volunteers, it was mainly viewed (at least at first) as a means for the religious education of students and faculty. It was written, edited, and published by student volunteers. Freshman Fellowship conferences and discussion groups were created in 1923, and an annual Freshman Camp was established in 1926. Each of these programs for freshman would last, with some changes, longer than thirty years. Together, they would involve thousands of students every year. While these programs might best be understood as elements of the YMCA’s “practical service” work, focused as they were on helping new students to get oriented and adjusted to University life, the YMCA insisted in internal and external documents that the freshman work was religious work. Focused on personal character development, Freshman Fellowship and Freshman Camp had a strong “Christian influence” flavor. But each program also included information and tips designed to help freshman to succeed in their academic and social lives, along with a chance to speak and interact with senior students and faculty members.

Another new element of the YMCA’s religious work addressed the application of Christian principles to “life work.” A student committee, named “Life Work Guidance,” was formed in 1924 to help students “who are unsettled in their choice of life work, or who have chosen without consideration of the Christian implications in their work.” The committee was devoted to providing counseling for students “in the application of Christian principles toward the choice of a life work whether it be in business, ministry, engineering, or agriculture.”²¹ An annual “Life Work Conference” was organized, co-sponsored with the YWCA, where hundreds [p. 65] of students heard inspirational lectures and had the opportunity to receive individual counseling. The YMCA continued to offer some form of vocational counseling with a Christian emphasis through the 1950s.

Inspired by a powerful international conference of the Student Volunteer Movement held in Indianapolis from December 28, 1923 to January 1, 1924, at which a wide array of social, economic, religious, and political issues were discussed and debated, the YMCA and YWCA at Illinois set up in 1924 a joint committee on “interracial cooperation” that became a part of the religious work of each Association. Acting out of a conviction that racism, discrimination, and prejudice were “un-Christian,” the committee set about studying the campus to learn about the situation of African American students in their midst. In an article published in the Y’s Indian, a member of the committee from the YMCA wrote that the committee discovered that “prejudice and discrimination is [sic] most marked with regard to eating places and places of amusement.” He also wrote that “an opportunity should be given to active Christian negro students to serve on Y committees. While we have been cordial with a number of these men who frequent our rooms we have never offered them a place to serve in our program, nor have we considered the difficulties that are faced by these seventy men in their lives as students of our university.”²² A few African-American students, both men and women, were appointed to the committee. Although the committee continued to be listed in the Students’ Handbook through 1932, I was unable to find any record of what it accomplished.

The final new element of the YMCA’s religious work during this period was the creation of a “Faculty Forum” program during the spring semester of 1927.²³ The Faculty Forum was an outgrowth of the student Bible discussion groups, which faculty members participated in as leaders. Initially, it was set up as a series of disparate discussions of various religious “problems,” held on Fridays over lunch, and led by a different member of the faculty each week. It soon developed into an eight-part, theme-based lecture-discussion series held every spring. Until the 1960s, the themes almost always directly related to religion. The theme for 1929 was [p. 66] “The Religion of an Educated Man.” The series included a lecture by professor W. A. Noyes on “How can the moral and spiritual resources of men be developed commensurate with the powers science has created?”; a lecture by Moses Jung of the Hillel Foundation on “What are the essentials of a philosophy of living?”; and a lecture by Dean Kendric C. Babcock of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences on “What is the place of religion in higher education?”

Assessing the first Faculty Forum series in 1927, which drew an average attendance of 75 men, E. J. Filbey, assistant dean of the College of Commerce, said that “it meant for many people a strengthening of their religious convictions and a greater realization of the necessity of giving expression to their faith in their daily life.” Professor E. H. Williams of the department of physics declared it “The best series of discussions that I have attended at Illinois.” Rev. James C. Baker, director of the Wesley Foundation and pastor of the Trinity Methodist church, described it as “one of the most significant things that has happened on our campus in the 20 years that I have been here.”²⁴ A parallel series of forums for graduate students was set up in 1929, but at this time such forums did not prove to be popular, and they were discontinued. Faculty Forums, however, continued to be held each year. They soon drew an average weekly attendance of over 100 men (women were not yet allowed to attend). In a different form with a different name—Friday Forum—it still exists today.

4. International Friendship

One of the most important and longest lasting areas of work in the history of the University YMCA was begun in 1918 with the creation of a student committee devoted to establishing “friendly relations” among international students at the University of Illinois. Work with international students was sparked by several things: a rise in the number of such students attending the University; the growing strength and influence of the internationalism of the YMCA (a good part of which was inspired by the desire to spread Christianity); and the first World War, which convinced many people of the tremendous need to develop international understanding [p. 67] and good-will in order to avoid future wars.

In 1919, the second year of the YMCA’s “friendly relations” work, there were 201 international students from 31 different countries attending the University of Illinois. In a report detailing the activities of the Friendly Relations committee for the 1919-1920 academic year, the work was described as having five dimensions:

We seek to render personal service to these men, to have extended to them the hospitality of Christian American homes, to give them a part in the social life promoted by the Student Association, to create and foster personal friendships between them and American students and to bring them in contact with the inspiration of student summer conferences and other great Christian student gatherings. In its wider aspects, this five fold program in behalf of these future leaders of the nations paves the way for better international understanding, in its deeper purpose it aims to bring them into the greatest friendship of all, that with Jesus Christ.²⁵

The annual reports of the Committee on Friendly Relations (the name was changed to the “Committee on International Friendship” in 1927) that were published throughout the 1920s and 1930s were filled with stories and anecdotes illustrating how each of the above dimensions of this work were applied.

While much of the work with international students was devoted to various social activities, the provision of personal services (helping students to find rooms, for example), and the deepening of personal faith, it must be stressed that the effect of the work was understood to have deep public significance as well. The committee believed that no other task had more far-reaching possibilities than that of fostering better relations between the peoples of all nations. “What influences for justice, liberty, righteousness, world peace may be released as these students go out to all the nations, if we but meet our opportunities,” the committee wrote in its report for 1921-1922. “And what privilege we have in the opportunities to participate with Christ in bringing to pass his life’s purpose.” In its report for 1925-1926, the committee declared that

[p. 68] this building up of friendly relations and ties of sympathetic understanding is far more than a gesture of hospitality offered to strangers; it is an undertaking of international significance, a direct and real contribution to the slow building of that structure of world goodwill and brotherhood of which humanity stands so starkly in need today.²⁶

Growing up alongside work with international students in the 1920s were a series of other international-related initiatives, including a world problems forum, world outlook discussion groups, and a world education program. These initiatives reflected the Association’s intense commitment to internationalism, and to global awareness and concern. In a report before the Board of Directors in 1934, Henry Wilson gave voice to this commitment, proudly declaring that

In the face of strong efforts to develop racial prejudice, we have maintained an emphasis on the Christian attitude toward race, and despite all of the calls to pronounced nationalism, we have strenuously maintained a program seeking to develop an international mindedness on the part of Americans and to express the attitude of hospitality and good will toward the foreign students who come to campus.²⁷

Institutional Trends and Dynamics

Institutional matters for the University YMCA during the 1916-1936 period featured several significant changes and fluctuations. The Association’s budget increased from about $20,000 in 1916 to more than $45,000 for the 1924-1925 year. The success in doubling the budget was mainly a result of Henry Wilson’s work and vision. Wilson viewed the University YMCA’s constituency as including the whole state, not just the campus and immediate Champaign-Urbana community. He organized an ambitious fund drive in which the state was divided into districts with teams of alumni and community leaders heading-up campaigns for money. He also enlarged the Board of Directors to include 30 men and created a Board of Trustees to oversee an endowment fund and campaign in 1923. The income off of the endowment [p. 69] during the 1923-1937 period added between $4,000-$7,000 to the annual operating budget of the Association. In the 1920s the University YMCA also became a charter member of the Champaign-Urbana Community Chest, which brought in between $4,000 and $6,000 a year.

The state-wide fund drives were remarkably successful for a time, allowing the Association to pay off its debt and maintain an annual budget in the $45,000 range until the effects of the Great Depression began to settle in. By 1932, the budget sank below $26,000. It reached a low of $21,993 in 1935-1936 before it slowly began to rise again. From 1929 until 1943, the Association ran a deficit every year. By the mid 1930s, the deficit reached an accumulated total of over $18,000. Throughout the depression years, the professional staff returned a portion of their salaries each year to the Association in order to help reduce the size of the deficits. Wilson regularly returned the largest portion, as much as a full third of his $5,400 annual salary.

The fundraising success of the 1920s allowed the Association to hire seven full-time secretaries by the middle of the decade. It was Wilson’s long-term hope that the YMCA would be able to hire one secretary for each 1,000 male students enrolled in the University. This hope was dashed when the depression set in, and it later proved unfeasible when the number of men enrolled in the University reached heights undreamed of by Wilson in the 1920s. During the depression years, the YMCA dropped down to three full-time secretaries, a number it was able to maintain only through deficit spending fueled by bank loans.

Along with budgets and staff, membership in the University YMCA fluctuated with the times. Vigorous membership campaigns were undertaken for both students and staff in the 1920s. By October of 1927, there were more than 1,000 student members and as many as 500 faculty members. Changes in the membership policy in 1919 may have helped the Association to achieve these numbers. In that year, the Association decided to drop its requirement that members make a financial contribution. The “evangelical test” was also dropped, allowing a more diverse group to become members. Membership was switched to what was called [p. 70] the “purpose basis.” To become a member, all one had to do was pledge to work to achieve the YMCA’s purpose. Membership stayed high until the depression years, when numbers for both students and staff slipped substantially.

Perhaps the most dramatic institutional matter during the 1916-1938 period related to the YMCA’s location. As mentioned above, the Association decided to sell Association Hall in 1918. The sale of Association Hall proved to be an amazingly troublesome matter. As mentioned above, the Illinois Union first rented and then purchased the building from the YMCA. The sale, which did not occur until 1923, was financed by the YMCA. This proved to be a mistake. The Illinois Union faced hard times and regularly pleaded with the YMCA to reduce the interest rate on their mortgage. There were many times when it failed to make payments. In addition, the Illinois Union demanded that the YMCA help pay to fix structural damage in the building that was not discovered until several years after the sale was made. The struggle with the Illinois Union continued until 1941, when the Union was dissolved and folded into the University of Illinois Foundation. Finally, on December 1, 1941, partly out of exasperation with the whole affair, the YMCA agreed to accept an amount of money from the Foundation which was less than the remaining mortgage it was owed.

After a brief stay in the former University president’s house, the Hut on the southwest corner of Green and Wright Streets became the University YMCA’s new home. The YMCA stayed in the Hut from December 23, 1918, until December 8, 1923, when it was destroyed by a fire.²⁸ There were two moves in 1925. First, the Association moved to temporary quarters in Hughes Hall, which was offered by the University, and then it split into two separate locations. Henry Wilson and a few other staff rented offices on the second floor of the Duncan Studio on Green Street, across from where the Hut once stood, while the program-related secretaries moved back into Association Hall (then called the “Union Building”), renting three rooms on the first floor. This arrangement continued until 1928, when the Association moved into two houses on a lot it had purchased on the southwest corner [p. 71] of Wright and Chalmers Streets.

Immediately after the Hut burned, the YMCA announced a campaign to raise money for a new building that would be suitable for the Association’s work. It was recorded in Board of Directors minutes that “all agreed the new building should not have a cafeteria or residence.” The new building was to be a “spiritual power house.” It was decided in 1924 that the new building would be located on the lot the Association purchased on the southwest corner of Wright and Chalmers Streets, rather than on the property the YMCA owned on Green and Wright where the Hut once stood.

There was a fair amount of controversy about this decision, as the southern area of Wright Street had several sororities and was considered by many to be a kind of “women’s corridor.” A new building in this area designed for men was seen as inappropriate. A petition campaign calling on the YMCA to abandon its plans to build on the lot at Wright and Chalmers was conducted, but to no avail. The YMCA’s administration and Board were convinced that it should not locate its new building on the property at Green and Wright because that location had become the heart of the campus’ commercial district. Since the new building was to have neither a residence nor a cafeteria, and since it was to be designed to support religious work with students, the Association believed it would be best to place it near the center of student life and activity.

There were several unsuccessful attempts to raise enough money for a new building in the 1920s and 1930s. On the eve of the stock market crash of 1929, an ambitious campaign to raise $1,100,000 for both a building and the endowment was announced. Needless to say, this campaign was not successful. Finally, in May of 1935, a building campaign was launched that proved successful in an amazingly short period of time. By December of 1935, over $300,000 had been raised for a new building. After the design for the building was finalized, construction began during the summer of 1937.

In a special ceremony on November 21, 1937, John R. Mott delivered an address to mark the laying of the cornerstone of the new building. “We see the larger meaning of this building—the [p. 72] larger meaning of the vision of this University YMCA,” Mott declared.

It is a building where all may come and find a real home. It is going to be a building where men will be greatly helped in developing a symmetry of character—of character free from sham—manliness, open-mindedness, sympathy, loyalty to Christ, the central figure of the ages and eternity. It is going to be a building where we train leaders in unselfish service. It is going to be a vision where the kingdoms of this world—industry, commerce, finance, and of the movies and of the theater and of the press, schools, colleges, universities, of all modern society—become the kingdom of our Lord. It is going to be a generating center for great action and good causes . . . . It is going to be a great unifying influence.²⁹

The following summer, the Association moved into its new quarters, opening a new period in its history.

1938-1946

The official dedication of the new building did not take place until April 30, 1939. The dedication included a series of events and speeches. The main address was delivered by Sir William Henry Bragg, a distinguished scientist, Nobel prize winner, and chair of the Scientific Advisory Board for the British Government. In his address, delivered to a capacity crowd in the University of Illinois’ auditorium, Sir William spoke on the theme of “wisdom,” reminding his audience that

it is wrong to think only in terms of the things in the laboratory or the books in the class room, and forget that every man’s life includes his contacts with his fellow men. If I may use an analogy from modern physics the electric field of every atom penetrates, influences, and is influenced by the electric fields of its neighbors; just so a man is not a separate identity, his life cannot be lived alone, and the wisdom that we pray for includes that which directs his relations with his neighbors and the right use of knowledge in making those relations good.³⁰

[p. 73] The Board of Governors approved an official statement for the building dedication, which was read by Henry Wilson. The statement declared that

This Association belongs to the life of the University. It affirms that the cultivation of the spirit must not be forgotten or neglected in the cultivation of the intellect. It affirms, indeed, that it is of primary importance. This University YMCA, as a voluntary expression of the moral interest and purpose of students and faculty, should be an assurance to parents and other citizens of Illinois that at heart the moral life of this University community is sound. The Association is a moral asset to the University, the value of which has not been appraised, or indeed, its influence exploited.³¹

One of the themes of the Board’s statement was an awareness, informed by its experience with its first major building, that the new building would bring dangers and worries as well as opportunity. Lessons from the years spent in Association Hall were consciously brought to the planning process for the new building. One lesson was that the new building needed to be designed around the Association’s mission, and not the provision of unrelated, income-producing services. Thus, the Board reported that in the new building,

We do not have dormitories nor restaurant, nor other commercial enterprises. We have set ourselves to the tasks which fulfill our purpose, the meeting of moral and spiritual need and opportunity. The building symbolizes our method. It is but an instrument for the accomplishment of this purpose. It is a headquarters, out from which the Association shall “carry on”—a training center out from which will walk men trained in methods of expressing their education in terms of service, to serve the society which gave them their education. It is to be, we hope, a spiritual power house in campus life.³²

The “dangers” of the new building were expressed in language that echoed both the Social Gospel movement and Paul Super’s [p. 74] warning about institutionalism.

The Board, in accepting this new beautiful home for, and on behalf of, the Association, wants you to know that we appreciate the dangers which attend it. The danger of the building being thought of as an end, rather than as a means; that faith will be put into the tangibles of brick and mortar, rather than in the intangible things of the spirit. The danger that in this age of material evaluation of men and organizations, we accept it as a measure of material wealth, therefore of success. It is the danger of mammon-mindedness. Of course, we recall for ourselves the injunction of the Master that we cannot serve God and mammon. Our danger is that we may believe we have come into a new understanding other generations, without our knowledge and wealth, did not possess. We have been taught to be rational—not to think in terms of either or (God or mammon), but in terms of both and (God and mammon). This rationalization breeds indulgence, complacency, and arrogant spirit. . . . What shall it profit an organization if it gains a fine building and endowment, and loses thereby its sense of mission and its own soul?³³

While these words were the official words of the Board of Directors, they were most likely written by Henry Wilson, the one person who was most responsible not only for the success of the building campaign, but also for the continuing grounding of the Association in its religious movement oriented mission. Without taking away anything from the work and commitments of the Board and the hundreds and hundreds of active members of the time, the new building can honestly be understood as a great monument to Wilson’s inspiring vision, his tireless efforts, his fierce determination, and his deep belief in the importance of the University YMCA’s work.

Changes in Mission and Work

Despite the fact that a statement in the Students’ Handbook for 1938-1939 declared that a “new era” in the YMCA’s work was being opened with the occupying of its new building, there was no new mission statement and little evidence of drastic change in the [p. 75] YMCA’s work during the 1938-1946 period. Bible classes were started up again in 1938, but they apparently met with little success, and were discontinued after only a few years. A Church Relations committee devoted to encouraging church attendance and religious interest was added around 1938, but this work was not really new. A World Service committee was created in 1940, but its work was mainly an extension of the work of the Friendly Relations committee. In 1940, a committee on Organized Clubs was formed. This committee was responsible for “the discovery of special interests in the YMCA membership,” and for “finding something worthwhile for non-active members to do.” The clubs included ping-pong, model airplanes, stamp collecting, and chess and checker groups. The committee was apparently disbanded after 1945.

The most noteworthy aspects of change in the work of the Association in the 1938-1946 period were the temporary addition of special activities and projects related to World War II, and the Association’s decision in the fall of 1939 to attempt to develop work with faculty and graduate students that would ultimately be on the same level as that with undergraduates. Work with faculty and graduate students had begun in the 1920s. Apart from the Faculty Forums and the publishing of an annual Faculty Handbook along side of the Students’ Handbooks, however, little was being done by 1939 on a regular basis. Between 1939-1946, several new activities conducted by and for faculty and graduate students were added, including social events, forums, and discussion groups. In 1941, a Faculty Relations committee was formed to work to establish closer relations between student and faculty members of the Association. It would not be until the next period, however, that more substantial work with faculty would be done.

Institutional Trends and Dynamics

During the 1938-1946 period, the finances of the Association changed significantly. At the start of the period, the annual budget hovered in the $32,000 range. Annual operating deficits were still a problem. A $5,000 deficit was recorded in 1938-1939, the first full year the Association spent in its new building. The Association [p. 76] was carrying an accumulated operating deficit of $24,628 by April of 1942. Wilson and the Board believed that the only way the Association would be able to afford its new building and escape its cycle of deficits was to develop an endowment. The old endowment had been used up in the construction of the building. Therefore, with great hope, an outside expert who had successfully helped other YMCAs to raise endowments was hired in 1941, and an endowment campaign was launched. Unfortunately, it failed to produce results.

Meanwhile, regular fund raising began to improve dramatically, and after 1942, the annual budget began to run a small surplus. In 1944, Wilson proposed the organizing of a campaign to create a $250,000 “stabilization fund” to help the Association eliminate its accumulated deficit and pay off the $19,000 balance still owed on the building. A key motivation for the fund was to provide a means for expanding the staff and program in anticipation of new work the Association would need to conduct after the war was over. Overseen by a committee of sixty alumni and friends from around the state, the campaign was a partial success, raising $140,000 by early 1946. It enabled the Association in 1945-1946 to run its highest annual budget yet, $62,263.

Membership during the 1938-1946 period saw wide up and down swings. After declining during the early depression years, membership was raised to about 950 for the 1938-1939 year. But in 1939, a new record was set when 1,390 students and faculty were enrolled as members. For some reason, in the 1930s there was apparently a drastic drop in faculty membership. Membership was mostly comprised of students. Students had developed a kind of precinct system for their campaign, with impressive results. While student membership was at its highest ever in 1939, the number of active members was less than previous years. For the 1939-1940 year, 250 students were reported to be active on YMCA committees, a figure considered to be low. After 1941-1942, overall membership slipped again, staying in the 750 range for a while until it dropped as low as 300 in 1945-1946.

The Association came out of the depression with only three full-time secretaries. Thanks to the stabilization fund, it was able [p. 77] to field six full-time secretaries by the 1945-1946 year. Yet an even more drastic change was on the horizon, as that year was Henry Wilson’s last as General Secretary. Wilson fell ill during the fall of 1945. He was granted a leave of absence in November of that year. The leave was extended twice. He did not return to work until the end of April, 1946, and he never regained his full strength. He died suddenly on September 15, 1946, near Kansas City, aboard a train with his wife headed to New Mexico to attend his son’s wedding.

1946-1958

While the first dozen years after Wilson’s death brought no official change in the University YMCA’s mission or purpose statements, there were major changes developing under the surface in both mission and work. With Wilson’s death and the end of the war, the University YMCA began a slow evolution into a new era. One sign that the old era was passing was the demise of the annual Students’ Handbook, or “I Book,” as it was called in its last few years. After regular publication for over 70 years, it was discontinued in 1955. The most immediate change in the Association’s work, however, came as a result of a commitment to develop new work with and for the thousands of veterans that flooded the campus after the war. The 1946-1958 period also brought new social programming, a renewed commitment to the Association’s religious work, a strong program in public affairs and “effective citizenship,” new work on racial relations and equality, an expansion of work with and for faculty and graduate students, a new counseling program, and a great expansion of work with international students.

The University YMCA had begun to plan for work with returning veterans in 1944. The creation of the stabilization fund was aimed in part at enabling the Association to hire new staff to work with returning veterans. After the war, more than half of the students enrolled in the University—11,000 of the 18,516 students enrolled for the 1946-1947 year—were veterans. In 1946, William Grant Black and J. Wendell Walton, both veterans, were hired to help develop work with these students. A Veteran’s Committee was organized that sponsored a forum series on veterans’ [p. 78] issues, social events, and various other activities. It addressed one of the key issues for veterans: the challenge of choosing academic majors and careers. In partnership with Phi Eta Sigma (the Freshman Honor Society) and Dean of Men E. E. Stafford, YMCA staff member William Black helped organize a major conference on career choices held during the 1948-49 academic year. Over 13,000 students attended the three-day conference, which included more than sixty speakers in as many different sessions. Though the conference had been planned for freshmen and sophmores, the majority of those who attended were juniors and seniors.

The most popular YMCA work with veterans was the Program of Family Life Education. The program was organized by a student committee and staffed by Dr. Katherine Whiteside Taylor, a specialist in marriage and family living from Seattle and the first woman to be hired by the Association for program-related work. It included a series of classes taught by Dr. Taylor, discussion groups, cooperative play groups, and individual counseling. The classes, especially, were wildly successful, enrolling over 7,000 students in the first year and a half they were offered. While they were initially planned for veterans and their families, they were open to all students. Dr. Taylor left the staff in 1948, but Dr. Lester A. Kirkendall was hired to carry on the work. Dr. Kirkendall left in 1950. After 1951, the program continued, but at a reduced level.

New social programming was developed after the war with the opening of the “Wigwam Room” in May of 1946 in the YMCA’s basement, which, eight years after the building had been occupied, was still unfinished. A joint project of the YMCA and YWCA, the “Wigwam Room” was designed to provide space for “wholesome recreational activities.” Open only on Fridays and Saturdays from 8:30 p.m. to 12:30 a.m., it had a soda fountain, recorded music, and a dance floor. Its development was sparked in large measure by the desire to offer weekend entertainment free of alcohol. The Wigwam Room succeeded for a time, but then attendance dwindled. In 1951, the basement was finally finished, thanks to funds from the Dr. Albert F. Kaeser family. It became the Kaeser or “K” Room, with a snack and luncheon counter where [p. 79] students and faculty could meet, study, and relax between classes.

With Henry Wilson’s death came a sharp commitment to renew the Association’s religious work. There was a need, Associate General Secretary “Mic” Coldwell wrote, to make sure the “C” in “YMCA” was, as he put it, “a large ‘C’—not a small ‘c’.”³⁴ The renewal of religious work after the war included the establishment of committees on “personal growth” and “religious experience.” What is most noteworthy for this study is the strong political emphasis of this work, brought about in part by the experience and views of veterans. The strengthening of personal faith, long the main emphasis in the YMCA’s religious work, was viewed as being important but insufficient in the post-war world. An editorial in the Y’s Indian for March of 1947 proclaimed that

Our Christian faith must be strengthened and we ought to know the fundamentals of our religion. But we know, too, that this implies action. We want to help our more unfortunate brothers; we want to stand for better race relations, for more religious tolerance, for all those things which help men to live together more happily. Veterans who have seen conditions from the vantage point of devastated combat areas and who, at the same time, are aggressive Christians, are aware that if ever the world is to be a better place, we must begin with positive action. Worship must be combined with political action.³⁵

To pursue a political action oriented religious work, a committee on public affairs was established in 1947. It was devoted to encouraging a “better understanding of current national and international affairs and their significance for the efforts of progressive young men everywhere.”³⁶ At first the committee mainly sponsored discussions and made readings available from the People’s Section of the United Nations Organization and UNESCO. Then, while its name changed several times, it became more aggressive. In 1949, the committee was renamed as the “citizenship” committee. Its objective was the promotion of “effective citizenship” through “bringing to the attention of students their responsibilities as citizens, and striving to make unbiased information available [p. 80] to them for intelligent action.”³⁷ The activities of this committee included studies of the civic responsibilities of Christians, a public affairs bulletin board, sponsorship of tours of local and state government centers, and campus conferences on citizenship.

In 1951, the committee’s name was changed again, back to “public affairs.” It sought to stimulate student interest in public issues through a parliamentary debate program, mock elections, week-end work camps, legislative action groups, and forums. In 1952, the name was changed to the “effective citizenship” committee. The description of the purpose of this committee was dramatic:

In this day of war, political scandal, human suffering, etc., it is especially necessary for students to become aware of local, national, and world problems. Political speakers are brought to the campus, a Little United Nations is sponsored, and outstanding men in the field of world leadership are made available to the students. This is a dynamic committee which is leading the way toward free thought and action on the campus of the University of Illinois.³⁸

The work of bringing political speakers to campus, which was co-sponsored with the Young Republicans and the College Democrats, was of no small importance, as the campus was for a time closed to such speakers. One politician who spoke on the front lawn of the YMCA in 1954 was Richard Nixon. But the main work of the effective citizenship committee was focused on developing civic skills and habits in students. “We at the YMCA are interested in effective Christian citizenship,” one student involved in the work explained. “The University is our community, our society, and if we can learn right here and now how to take part in civic life we’ll be more ready to take our part in the larger society when we graduate.”³⁹

Connected to the new public affairs work was a renewal of work on racial issues through the establishment of a Racial Relations Committee. The committee was devoted to both education and action towards improving racial relations on the campus and in the community. In 1949, it focused its concerns on the McKinley [p. 81] YMCA (the community YMCA in Champaign), after hearing rumors that it had discriminatory policies against African-Americans on the use of its swimming pool. In late 1952, a renamed Racial Equality Committee focused their attention on fraternities, restaurants, and campus barbers. Campus barbers, who were refusing to serve African-Americans and other students of color, received the most attention. The campaign that developed against racial discrimination by these barbers, which was led by the YMCA, caused a high degree of controversy and stretched out over three years. A petition drive was organized by the YMCA in early 1953. In February of that year the University of Illinois Student Senate voted to endorse and join the YMCA’s campaign. The YWCA, along with several campus churches and religious foundations, also joined the effort, as did the independent Student-Community Humans Relation Council.

There was tension between the various groups working on the barbershop issue, partly over tactics. The YMCA wanted to avoid confrontations. It saw “moral persuasion” as the best avenue for change. Several discussions were held with barbers at the YMCA, with hopes that they might change the barbers’ minds and practices. However, the talks failed. For a time, the YMCA considered opening its own barbershop in its building.

In March of 1954, the Champaign-Urbana Federation of Labor announced that because of the YMCA’s campaign against campus barbers, it was going to withdraw its support for the Champaign-Urbana Community Chest. The labor group called on the YMCA to end its campaign. An emergency meeting involving representatives of the YMCA, the Community Chest, and the Federation of Labor was held to discuss the matter. At that meeting, it became apparent that the key issue was a lawsuit that had been filed against campus barbers by the Student-Community Human Relations Council. Officials from the YMCA stated that the YMCA was not involved in, nor did it support, the lawsuit. The YMCA agreed to pass a policy related to racial equality that would make its position clear.

On March 15, 1954, the Board of Directors passed an official policy on racial equality, which read in part that the Association [p. 82] “believes that education, continuous persuasive effort and a willingness to seek creative solutions at points of difference are the most constructive ways to improve racial relations.” The statement condemned the use of violence, threats, and other such tactics (presumably including lawsuits), and set a policy that prevented the YMCA from entering into joint projects with groups “whose policies or methods are not consistent with those of this Christian Association.”⁴⁰ An additional resolution passed on the same day reaffirmed that the “historic” policy of the Association with respect to the use of its building was “to maintain an open door and an open forum to all groups and organizations whose purposes and programs are not in violation of the Christian objectives and/or policies of the YMCA.”⁴¹ Whether or not this was intended to exclude the Student-Community Human Relations Council from meeting at the YMCA is unclear. Whether or not these policies satisfied the Federation of Labor is also unclear.

These issues were soon moot, however, for in response to the threat of a picketing campaign by the Student-Community Human Relations Council, the barbers agreed in early May to cut all students’ hair. However, the agreement included a list of “rules,” the first two of which were that “We do not cut unusual styles of women’s haircuts,” and “We do not cut curly, kinky, woolly types of hair.”⁴² These rules would obviously function to prevent most African-Americans from receiving service. Despite this, the Student-Human Relations Council surprisingly considered the agreement a victory, and attention to the issue died down. One interesting note about this whole affair is that not one word of it—nor of anything else the Racial Equality Committee did, for that matter—ever appeared in the Y’s Indian.

Work with faculty and graduate students was greatly expanded during the 1946-1958 period. Faculty Forum changed and expanded, adding in 1947 for the first time a series in the fall, and opening attendance to women in 1948. In 1948, fall symposiums for men and women faculty members were organized with the YWCA. In 1947, a Young Men’s Faculty Club was formed. In order to promote interdisciplinary learning and sharing, the club allowed no more than two men from each department to join. [p. 83] Part of its purpose was to provide support for faculty members who were seeking a more balanced academic life. It held bi-weekly luncheon meetings and was devoted to the cultivation of friendship, the exchange of thought on vital moral and social questions of the day, and the furtherance of the YMCA’s purpose and ideals. By the mid 1950s, however, the club stopped meeting. Work with graduate students was more successful. By the mid 1950s, it included forums modeled after the Faculty Forum, retreats, seminars, weekend outings, square dances, weekend workcamps in Chicago neighborhoods, and discussion groups. At their peak, over 200 students participated in these programs each year. The graduate student forums were especially popular, often drawing even larger audiences than the Faculty Forum.

In 1949, student president Robert Larson reported that “The ‘Y’ is becoming more and more a center for foreign student activity and social life.”⁴³ With the hiring of John Price in 1950 as the YMCA’s new secretary responsible in part for work with international students, it became even more so. Price, an ordained Methodist minister with experience in student work in California, Michigan, and Minnesota (where he served as General Secretary for the University of Minnesota YMCA), oversaw the addition of several new initiatives. International Suppers, held every two weeks and co-sponsored with the YWCA, were organized in 1951. They proved immediately popular, drawing over 200 students for each supper, with a total of 3,000 students attending during the 1953-1954 year alone. Each supper featured a focus on a different nation or culture, with native dishes accompanied by music, dance, art, stories, skits, and talks. Price also organized an International Student Camp similar to Freshman Camp. It was also a success, drawing for a time over 200 participants per year, which often made it far larger than Freshman Camp. Eventually, the International Student Camp was transformed into an International Student Welcome Weekend, which drew many hundreds of participants. In the 1950s, Price also organized the development of an international student directory, and the mailing of a personal letter to all new international students before their arrival on campus. The letters included a welcome to each student, an offer to provide [p. 84] assistance, and an invitation to be a part of the work of the YMCA.

One of the most memorable additions to international programming under Price was a series of weekend and vacation “tours.” Groups of international students traveled by bus to visit local farms, the monuments and sites in Springfield and Chicago, and other places both local and national. In April of 1952, Price organized a tour of the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) for 30 international students from 16 different countries. In addition to touring the area, students received presentations on the social and economic aspects of TVA. The trip also included visits to colleges and universities in Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee. The TVA tour, which became known as the “Southern Tour,” was continued for over twenty years.

In 1953, the YMCA received a grant from the Sears-Roebuck Foundation which temporarily allowed Price to spend all of his time working with international students. Over the years, he developed a host of new initiatives and programs, most of which were either social or cultural. He also spent a great deal of time conducting individual counseling with international students, helping them with personal and educational problems. In his 18 years on staff (1950-1968), he became a great friend of international students and their families, drawing thousands of people together in the sharing of diverse cultures and views. In spirit and form, he embodied the YMCA’s commitment to internationalism. He gave the University YMCA’s tradition of work with international students, begun after the first World War, a vigorous new life.

Institutional Trends and Dynamics

Institutional matters for the University YMCA during the 1946-1958 period had both positive and negative dimensions. At the beginning of the period, the budget stood at $68,698. While it dipped down to $60,000 for 1948-1949, it rose slowly from then on, reaching a new height of $100,000 for 1957-1958. Financially, things began on a good note, with a $2,000 surplus for 1946-1947. But then things turned sour. Beginning in 1948, the Association ran deficits for six years in a row, the largest being $4,596 for 1954-1955. While finances improved briefly in 1955-1956, [p. 85] by early 1957 the situation appeared grim. A banner-headline in the April, 1957 issue of the Y’s Indian announced that “Serious Financial Problems Confront University YMCA.” The article under this headline declared that the Association was facing an urgent financial situation, and that emergency measures would be required to turn things around. While things were turned around for that fiscal year, the following year, 1957-1958, ended with a $3,500 deficit.

Financial matters not immediately related to the annual operating budget fared better during this period. The stabilization fund that Henry Wilson had set up reached $166,556 in 1947. This was, however, simply a total for all the money that had been raised under this fund to date. Most of this money had either already been spent by 1947 or had been earmarked to pay off the building and cover expenses and staff positions related to work with veterans. An endowment fund was created in May of 1948, and the Association’s constitution was changed in 1951 to set up a new Board of Trustees to oversee it. A campaign to raise $1 million for the endowment fund was launched in 1953, with the goal of creating a fund that would permanently support one-half of the annual operating budget of the Association. While the fund passed $100,000 in April of 1954, it stalled shortly thereafter.

As mentioned above, a gift from the Kaeser family made it possible to finish most of the basement. The new Kaeser Room, which included a cafeteria, was dedicated in October of 1951. The Wilson Chapel, a memorial to Henry Wilson located on the second floor that was made possible by gifts from alumni and friends, was dedicated in February of 1953. In 1954, contributions for a memorial to Fred A. Poor, a long-time supporter of the University YMCA and chair of the Board of Trustees who died in August of 1953, made it possible to construct a library and lounge for students on the third floor. The library was dedicated in September of 1954. Three bedrooms were also built on the third floor as a part of this project. They were to be used by student employees of the YMCA and by guests. It is ironic that less than ten years after Wilson’s death, the YMCA’s new building contained both a cafeteria and a dormitory, two things Wilson had repeatedly warned [p. 86] should never be a part of the new building.

A final matter related to finances during this period was the granting in 1955 to the YMCA of a $1 million bequest from Fred S. Bailey, a Champaign banker who was a close friend of Henry Wilson’s. For many years there were rumors that Bailey was considering a major bequest to the YMCA. Some hoped it would solve the Association’s financial problems. However, in the actual (as opposed to rumored) bequest, Bailey stipulated that its purpose was to create a permanent fund that would be restricted for only one use: the granting of scholarships to “worthy moral students” at the University of Illinois. The YMCA was simply to act as the fund’s “custodian.” None of the money could be used to support the YMCA’s programs or general budget. At first, none of the money could even be used to pay for the costs of administering the fund. After a petition was successfully presented to the Circuit Court, a portion of the fund was made available to cover the administrative costs related to managing the fund and granting the scholarships. About $22,000 in scholarships were granted to students during the 1957-1958 academic year, the first full year of the Bailey Scholarship Fund’s life.

Membership in the Association changed dramatically during the 1946-1958 period. From 1946-1950, total membership stood at around 1,000, with a peak of 1,307 for 1947-1948. Membership for that year, which happened to coincide with the University YMCA’s 75th anniversary, included 1,174 undergraduate students, 98 graduate students, and 26 faculty. In 1950-1951, student membership dropped significantly. Almost the entire meeting of the Board of Directors in December of 1950 was devoted to exploring the reasons for this drop, and for the “growing student unrest” that was being perceived at the time. At this meeting, the unrest was mainly attributed to worries over the (undeclared) war in Korea. While I could not find membership numbers for 1950-1951, student membership was recorded as being 600 in 1951-1952. By 1956-1957, student membership had dropped to around 400, while faculty membership had climbed dramatically to 233.

The situation with regard to staff during the 1946-1958 period featured swings in numbers and serious unrest. After Wilson’s [p. 87] death, Philip Morgan, who had joined the YMCA’s staff in 1941, was named General Secretary. During his brief tenure as General Secretary, the Association employed a total of sixteen staff, including eight full-time secretaries. Morgan left the University YMCA in the fall of 1948 to accept a position with the national YMCA office in Chicago. Howard Amerman, on the University YMCA’s staff since 1946, was named acting General Secretary, a position he held until 1950.

In July of 1950, Harold B. Ingalls became the University YMCA’s new General Secretary. “Pete” Ingalls, as he was called, was a 47 year old graduate of Oberlin College with a master’s degree from Columbia and a divinity degree from Yale. He had deep roots in student YMCA work, having served as president of the student YMCA at Oberlin while he was an undergraduate. He held several staff positions in national student YMCA work, and was serving as acting General Secretary of the National Student Council of YMCAs and of the National Intercollegiate Christian Council in New York City at the time he accepted the General Secretary position at Illinois.

The fact that the University YMCA could lure a person such as Ingalls to become its General Secretary spoke to the stature of the Association during this period. The YMCA at the University of Illinois was at this time the largest student YMCA in the world, with a budget nearly as large as the national student office in New York. It was also widely regarded as the most effective student YMCA in North America. Its work and methods were viewed as a model by national YMCA staff as well as staff from other student associations.

Ingalls’ eight year tenure as General Secretary was tumultuous. It was marked by financial difficulties, the controversy over the barbershop issue, and major personnel transitions and problems. When Ingalls started, there was a team of six full-time secretaries. Thereafter, the number of secretaries fluctuated from year to year with the budget. Twice under Ingalls the number reached seven, but by 1957-1958, the team of secretaries had been cut to four.

Two milestones were reached with staff during this period. [p. 88] First, there were two staff retirements that together marked a symbolic end to the Henry Wilson era. Mic Coldwell retired in 1956 after 38 years of service, and Gertrude Wahl retired in 1958 after nearly 54 years on the staff. Coldwell had joined the staff in 1918, two years after Wilson, as an associate secretary for program. For over two decades, he was a major creative force in the Association’s programming. In the early 1940s, his responsibilities were changed to fundraising. He spent many years traveling the state in an endless search for new funds. Gertrude Wahl had been a member of the support staff since 1905. She had stayed with the Association all the way from its days at Association House, the little frame house shared with the YWCA on Wright and John, to the new building on Wright and Chalmers. She did many, many tasks for the Association over the years, including serving as the Association’s bookkeeper.

The second milestone with staff was less worthy of celebration. In 1958, Pete Ingalls became the first General Secretary to be forced to resign. At a special meeting of the Board of Directors held on February 24, 1958, the Board voted not to renew his contract as General Secretary when it was scheduled to run out at the end of June. The reasons for this action were not clearly recorded in the minutes. What was recorded was that there were “major personnel problems” related to Ingalls that reportedly had been developing and building for years. The sharpest conflict was between Ingalls and Alan Herman, a program secretary who joined the staff in the fall of 1956.

With Ingalls’ departure, the Association was again in search of a new General Secretary. Again, it would draw its director from the national staff of the YMCA. In July of 1958, J. Frederick Miller, the former Associate Secretary of the National Student Council of YMCAs, was offered the job of General Secretary. When Miller came on board in September of 1958, the Association was already in the midst of a transition into a new chapter of its life and work.

3.3 Discussion

The era covered in this chapter includes the beginnings of a [p. 89] change in how those involved in the University YMCA understood its mission and work. While the promise of association continued to include a mix of personal and public dimensions, attention to public aims increased. However, the Association’s role in contributing to public or social change continued to be understood mainly in personal terms. It continued to follow David Kinley’s view from 1893 that “We should seek to develop the moral and religious character, and industrial and other social ills will then largely settle themselves on the basis of greater existing justice and brotherly love.”⁴⁴

While Kinley’s view was most clearly evident in the Association’s “friendly relations” work with international students, it permeated all other work as well. It was the deeper meaning behind the consistent use of the word “service” in describing the YMCA’s work. This can be glimpsed in an editorial titled “The Man Who Serves,” published in the October, 1922, edition of the Y’s Indian. The editorial proclaimed that “The best men in the world are those who serve their fellowmen without considering their own well being and interests.” It concluded that “The Y, with its program of service, offers an opportunity for every man to develop the moral and spiritual side of his life. With such development he will find himself of the greatest value to his University, to his fellow students and to society in general.”⁴⁵

But the period after the first World War was a period during which this optimistic (many felt naive) view was sharply challenged elsewhere. The incredible brutality and destruction of the war demolished for many the easy optimism of the Student Volunteer Movement for Foreign Missions’ (SVM) clarion call, “the evangelization of the world in this generation.” Reinhold Niebuhr, speaking at the Twelfth Quadrennial Convention of the SVM in 1935, remarked that

When I think of the fifty years of the Student Volunteer Movement, I remember that these are just the fifty years from 1885 to the present in which we gave ourselves in America to a false dream of the possibilities of a Christian nation, imagining that it would be an easy thing to achieve a Christian social order and a Christian world order, that it was only necessary [p. 90] to preach love a little more charmingly than we had previously done and we would enter into the kingdom of God.⁴⁶

Niebuhr and others, especially Kirby Page, became sharp critics of a liberal Protestantism (essentially, the conservative wing of public Protestantism) that preached personal love and goodwill as the main tools for transforming economic relations and public life. Giving a harder, more “realistic” edge to the Social Gospel than Walter Rauschenbusch had, they adopted a justice language that embraced political action aimed at radical structural change, including replacing capitalism with socialism.⁴⁷

The key person bringing this view and language into the YMCA was Sherwood Eddy. Eddy, who grew up in Kansas, the son of a wealthy businessman, became deeply committed to both evangelism and the YMCA after hearing Dwight Moody speak at a summer conference while he was an undergraduate at Yale in the late 1880s. After graduate study at Union Theological Seminary and Princeton, he joined the staff of the International YMCA. He went on to become a leading figure in the YMCA’s missionary work, second only to John R. Mott, spending fifteen years of his life as a missionary in India.⁴⁸

In 1927, Eddy delivered a bold speech to the Tenth Quadrennial Convention of the SVM in Detroit that proclaimed the “dawn of a new day” for the student movement. Speaking of the period before the first World War, he argued that

Then, for the most part, we held fervidly a personal gospel for ourselves and the world. Then we felt a divine call to go from our own favored “Christian” nation to the backward “heathen” nations lost in darkness. Then we felt called to take up “the white man’s burden” and go out from our “superior” race to the backward peoples of the world. We had wealth, power, success, civilization—we felt that we had almost everything to give and nothing to learn. We were often unconsciously complacent, paternalistic, imperialistic.⁴⁹

The experience of the first World War changed Eddy’s views [p. 91] dramatically. During the war, he related,

there broke upon me the first gleams of a social gospel that sought not only to save individuals for the future, but here and now in this world of bitter need, to Christianize the whole of life and all its relationships—industrial, social, racial, international. Religion was not primarily something to be believed, or felt; it was something to be done, a life to be lived, a principle and a program to be incarnated in character and built into a social order.⁵⁰

Condemning a “world of sordid materialism, autocratic exploitation and organized militarism,” Eddy called on students to join together in building

a whole new social order founded upon social justice. We have to humanize, to Christianize, to permeate with the principles of Jesus’ way of life all social relations and institutions. We have not only to save a few elect souls in our slums at home or in our foreign missions. We have to abolish those disgraceful slums for which we are criminally responsible and share in all things with all men as brothers of whatever nation, or race, or color or creed, our wealth, our education, our privilege and opportunity, as well as our full spiritual heritage. We can have no superior or patronizing privilege of “charity” to poor men or nations, but must begin with our own repentance and the claims of social justice. The ethical ideals of Christianity must be applied to all aspects of human life so as to develop a civilization of brotherly sons of God, not simply to save individuals.⁵¹

Eddy’s speech, which included blunt criticism of America’s racism and corporate greed, was strong medicine. It was difficult for most staff, volunteers, and Board members in the YMCA to swallow. Despite the embrace of the Social Gospel by John R. Mott and the student movement in 1914, and despite the fact that the national YMCA had officially adopted the justice-oriented “Social Creed” of the Federal Council of Churches in 1919 (which Eddy’s speech closely mirrored), the YMCA continued to be dominated [p. 92] by exactly that liberal Protestantism that Niebuhr and others found increasingly problematic.⁵² Even though Eddy and Page each spoke numerous times to YMCA audiences around the country, their message had little effect on the work of the majority of local associations. This appears to be the case with the YMCA at the University of Illinois. Eddy was invited by the University YMCA to speak at Illinois many times in the 1920s and 1930s, but my review of the Association’s records and materials reveal little to indicate that his ideas were incorporated into its work.

The institutionalism issue that Paul Super raised in his 1922 book, What Is the YMCA?, has a bearing on this discussion. The growing institutionalism of the YMCA not only threatened to marginalize its religious movement orientation, in favor of professionalized services and recreational programming, but it also threatened to marginalize voices within the YMCA which were calling for a particular kind of religious movement: that is, one which, like Eddy’s, viewed the existing social order as unjust. By 1920, there were over 2,000 YMCAs in the United States with nearly one million members. Of these, 778 were student associations reporting 84,169 members.⁵³ The YMCA had become an American institution. It was strongly supported by corporate industrialists such as J. P. Morgan and John D. Rockefeller, Jr., who sat on Boards of Directors and donated significant amounts of money to operational budgets and building campaigns.

When Eddy and others on the YMCA staff publicly embraced in 1919 not only the Social Gospel, but socialism and the recognition of Soviet Russia, much pressure was brought to bear on John R. Mott, then the General Secretary of the North American YMCA, to have them fired. Eddy decided to submit his resignation rather than wait to be fired, writing that “I felt I could not continue to ask rich men for their money while, at the same time, I criticized their methods of making that money. I knew that many of the men I had solicited would never tolerate the social gospel I felt impelled to proclaim.”⁵⁴ Mott refused to accept Eddy’s resignation, declaring that if there was no room for people like Eddy in the YMCA, there was no room for him, either. The decision to allow Eddy to stay led a group of industrial leaders to threaten a [p. 93] boycott of the YMCA. The American Legion, the Daughters of the American Revolution, and the Better America Federation each joined in the condemnation of both Eddy and the YMCA. The commander of the American Legion remarked that he would like to see Eddy “silenced in time of peace, and shot in time of war.”⁵⁵

While there were most certainly people in local associations who tried to follow and apply Eddy’s ideas, the general tenor of the YMCA during this time reflected a clear dominance of a liberal (rather than radical) Protestantism, avoiding “extreme” positions, whether from the left or right. Although the national YMCA appeared to embrace Eddy’s views by adopting a new mission statement in 1931 that declared that the YMCA’s purpose was to build both “Christian personality and a Christian society,” it did not radically change its work.⁵⁶ It simply adopted some of the language of Social Gospel advocates, while continuing to hold on to a highly individualized, nonconfrontational program of work.

Until the post World War Two period, the national YMCA culture was mirrored at Illinois. While the University YMCA included some Social Gospel language in its mission and purpose statements, it continued to follow a moderate, mostly personal-oriented work. Henry Wilson’s proud declaration in 1934 that the University YMCA had stood as a force against racism and nationalism shows how it stood at odds with certain elements on the right. An episode from 1935, when the Board of Directors refused to allow sponsorship of a campus peace meeting, shows how it was distanced from the left. While the Board felt that the University YMCA “should do its part in helping to maintain a sane and proper advocacy of peace,” it felt that the groups behind the meeting in question were “extremely radical or communistic.” They concluded that “the policy of the YMCA should be to develop all the aims consistent with its goal, the development of the fullest Christian life, but not to advocate methods concerning which there might be an honest difference of opinion among members of the Board and among supporters of the YMCA.”⁵⁷

Another side of the YMCA’s institution versus movement question was also relevant to the University YMCA’s development during this period. This side focused on the struggle to maintain the [p. 94] fundamental nature of the YMCA as a religious movement of volunteers, against forces which were pushing it to become a professionalized, business-like institution. Over the course of his thirty-year tenure as General Secretary, Henry Wilson repeatedly challenged his Board on this issue. In his monthly report for October, 1927, Wilson included a lengthy section titled “What Is the University YMCA?” that drew directly on Paul Super’s 1922 book, What Is the YMCA? Wilson took both students and faculty to task in the report. Faculty, he felt, were too willing to defer leadership to the Association’s professional secretaries. The problem with students was that so many of them “come to the University with an institutionalized interpretation of the Association that it is exceedingly difficult for them to recognize it as a Christian movement, rather than as a building where they may indulge in swimming or gymnastics or other pastimes.”⁵⁸

The key problem Wilson discussed in the 1927 report was the problem of determining what the nature of the relationship between faculty, Board, students, and paid secretaries ought to be in order to remain true to the Association’s religious movement orientation. With respect to relations between faculty, the Board, and students, he asked:

How may the Directors work with the Student Cabinet in defining our policies, our programs and our methods of work without relieving the Cabinet of responsibility or making the members feel that the Board desires to dominate or suppress them? In other words, how can we most expeditiously demonstrate that the University Young Men’s Christian Association is not students alone, nor faculty alone, but is only a University Association in so far as both faculty and students have their part in it?⁵⁹

The related issue of the place of paid secretaries in the work of the Association was of especially deep concern to Wilson. To bolster his own view on this issue, he quoted W. J. Parker, the General Secretary of the Chicago YMCA, who argued that

Two distinct and conflicting theories of YMCA management [p. 95] are developing among the Associations. They appear to relate only to the relation of volunteers and employed forces but they affect much more and produce two radically different types of Association. According to one theory the function of boards and committees is to advise, counsel, help, cooperate with secretaries, but not interfere with them in their operation of the Association. According to the other theory, the function of boards and committees is to operate the Association, they are the proprietors, using secretaries as technical advisors, counselors and professional aids. The trend is strong toward the first theory. It looks easier. Volunteers want to be relieved of responsibility. Secretaries are flattered by being told they are the head of the organization. But it is the second which places volunteers in their proper position of leadership; increases the character output of the Association; increases the likelihood of permanence and makes for safety.⁶⁰

For Wilson, the principle of voluntary leadership was of preeminent importance. While he wrote that it was easier to think of the University YMCA as a business and to attempt to assign to a paid secretary the task of running it, he declared that the Association was not a business, but rather “a partnership in a spiritual undertaking. The things of the spirit are the things that abide and the success of the partnership depends upon the investing of spiritual life in the enterprise.” Wilson carried this view all the way through his tenure, even after 1938, when the Association moved into its new $300,000 building and its “business” dimensions were greatly increased. At a 1940 Board meeting, for example, he reminded the Board that it is “not a mere rubber stamp,” that there was a need for it to be a group of men with “imagination, vision and energy who could and would formulate a program and contribute their share to the functioning of the organization.”⁶¹ In 1941, he complained to the Board that “There is too much dependence on secretarial leadership,” and in 1944 he sternly warned that there was a need to be ever vigilant in avoiding the “deadly perils of institutionalism.”⁶²

By the latter part of the 1916-1958 era, beginning around the time of the Second World War, signs of significant change began to emerge in the University YMCA’s mission and work. A language [p. 96] of “democracy” and “citizenship” began to appear in various documents, and, as I described above, new committees and initiatives were developed related to racial equality, public affairs, and effective citizenship. The Association began to take on an aggressive role as a force for developing not just personal religious character and faith through “selfless” service, but civic skills and habits through political education and action. While this new role remained firmly “Christian” in its grounding and inspiration, it nevertheless marked a real shift in the Association’s orientation.

Public affairs work in YMCAs in the United States began to receive wide attention and interest after 1935, when the National Council of YMCAs created a new Committee on Public Affairs. While there was little public affairs work being conducted in local associations at that time, by the end of the 1930s there was a burst of enthusiasm for it. In January of 1939, the National Board of YMCAs of the United States adopted a statement declaring that “The Association program should be for members and participants, a veritable school of democracy.”⁶³

In the late spring of 1939, on the eve of the Second World War, the Association of Secretaries of the Young Men’s Christian Association of North America held their forty-seventh conference in Toronto to assess “where we are as a Movement in our work with the youth of our day, especially in their relationship to democracy and religion.”⁶⁴ The summary proceedings of this conference were published in 1939 by the YMCA’s Association Press, in a book titled Toward Christian Democracy: A Profession Takes its Bearings. This book reveals a remarkable depth and seriousness of discussion in the YMCA on the work of educating young people for democratic citizenship. In preparation for the conference, study materials were written and widely circulated on the meaning of democracy and on strategies for YMCA youth work. More than 500 Associations used these materials.

While events in Europe, combined with the lingering problems of the Great Depression, lent an urgency to the conference’s agenda, it is clear that the sense of urgency also came from a sober evaluation of the effectiveness of the YMCA’s existing programs of citizenship education. The editor of the summary proceedings [p. 97] (who was also a member of the YMCA National Board) noted in his forward that “the youth for whom our organization exists are, after nearly one hundred years of our work, in perhaps more confusion than at any time before in our country’s history.”⁶⁵ The conference attendees committed themselves to strengthening the YMCA’s civic education program as a partial answer to this confusion. “Are we going to treat this question of democratic citizenship as a casual thing, which we do with our left hand when we are free for a moment from institutional concerns,” one participant asked, “or do we intend to move it squarely into the center of our program and recognize it as our main job?”⁶⁶

With the publication by the Association Press of Paul Limbert’s Educating for Civic Responsibility: A Guide to Policy and Practice in Public Affairs Education in 1941, a compelling argument for moving public affairs work to the center of the YMCA’s program was powerfully articulated. In his book, Limbert attempted to weave together the religious faith and social-action dimensions of the YMCA, arguing that

Inevitably, the purpose of the Young Men’s Christian Association impels it to a concern for preparing its members for civic responsibility and joining with other forces to modify the structure of our society, locally and nationally. There can be no conflict between “personal religion” and a “social gospel.” Christian groups are committed to a social outreach just because they are so deeply concerned about persons.⁶⁷

Importantly, Limbert did not view public affairs work as an add-on to existing work. “To set public affairs off in a corner, even a very important corner, would be a serious misinterpretation of our opportunity,” he wrote. “Education for citizenship is not a specific program so much as an emphasis that may make a difference at every point of our total program.⁶⁸

Statements in various University YMCA documents from the mid 1930s forward began to echo the new belief in the importance of the YMCA’s role in civic development. The long-standing argument that the University YMCA is important because it offers students a way to achieve “balance” in their educations took [p. 98] on an explicitly civic as well as moral tone. This was reflected in Henry Wilson’s proclamation in 1933 that the purpose of the University YMCA was to “make for a better citizenship” by linking citizenship with “spiritual values.” It was also reflected in an editorial in the December, 1939 issue of the Y’s Indian, which declared that

In the “Y,” as nowhere else, is the true democratic spirit engendered. The heterogeneous membership of the “Y” is composed of practically all nationalities and creeds. The members, joined by a common bond, a belief in Jesus and his teachings, are doing the most worthwhile service on the campus. Here a student loses racial prejudices, learns something of tolerance and cooperation, and becomes an altogether better citizen.⁶⁹

The 1940s and 50s brought even stronger articulations of the University YMCA’s role in public life. Robert Trobaugh, student president for 1941-1942, wrote in his welcome statement in the Students’ Handbook that

Education has a new meaning for those of us coming to college this year. If we say we are opposed to a society in which democracy and Christian principles are denied, then we—engineers, and farmers, and ministers alike—must want and begin now to understand and accomplish those things which we believe are God’s will for every man, or else we can no longer have them. The program of our YMCA is planned to build Christian citizenship in a world that certainly needs it.⁷⁰

In 1952, Paul Van Arsdell, a professor of economics and chair of the Board of Directors from 1949-1954, declared that

The basic purpose of the University of Illinois YMCA is to develop the integrity of the individual by emphasizing the importance of Christian precepts and their application in the day-by-day living of University men. This fundamental objective of the Association is unchanging, and we reiterate it as [p. 99] the heart and soul—the very right of existence—of the University YMCA. . . . [W]hatever the problem—whether local, state, national, or international—solid, sound citizenship is of prime importance. In the building of this citizenship, the foundation is the integrity of the individual, to which this Association remains dedicated.⁷¹

By 1958, the University YMCA had begun to chart a new path. While it continued to carry much of the spirit and work of previous eras, it was clearly headed for new ground. The next few decades, as we shall see in the following chapter, would bring nothing less than radical change.

¹ Paul Super, What Is the YMCA? (New York: Association Press, 1922), p. xi. Super left his position with the North American YMCA in 1922, traveling to Poland to help found the YMCA in that country. He became the National Secretary for the Poland YMCA, a position he held for more than fifteen years.

² Figures are from The Hundred-Year Book: A Synoptic Review of the History of the Young Men’s Christian Association (New York: Association Press, 1944).

³ C. Howard Hopkins, History of the YMCA in North America (New York: Association Press, 1951), p. 456.

⁴ This view of the transformation of the YMCA is drawn from Mayer N. Zald’s insightful study, Organizational Change: The Political Economy of the YMCA (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1970).

⁵ Super (1922), pp. 105-106.

⁶ Article II, Constitution and By-Laws of the Young Men’s Christian Association of the University of Illinois (1909), p. 1.

⁷ Article II, Constitution and By-Laws of the Young Men’s Christian Association of the University of Illinois (1923), p. 1.

⁸ Walter Rauschenbusch, Christianity and the Social Crisis (Louisville: Westminster/John Knox Press, 1907, 1991), p. 65.

⁹ Students’ Handbook of the University of Illinois, 1917-1918, p. 10.

¹⁰ Minutes, Board of Directors, YMCA of the University of Illinois, May 14, 1931.

¹¹ John R. Mott, unpaged transcript of a speech delivered at the University of Illinois, January 28, 1922.

¹² Corliss D. Anderson, “Report of the Retiring President to the Members of the YMCA at the University of Illinois,” July 1, 1926, p. 10.

¹³ Student’s Handbook of the University of Illinois, 1936-1937, p. 15.

¹⁴ Resolution adopted by the Board of Directors, March 27, 1918.

¹⁵ Figures from “Working His Way,” the Annual Report of the University YMCA Employment Department, 1926-1927.

¹⁶ Ibid., p. 3.

¹⁷ Ibid., p. 21.

¹⁸ Fisher quoted in appendix 10, “A Brief Statement Regarding the Young Men’s Christian Association at the University of Illinois,” a promotional document printed in 1923.

¹⁹ Winton Solberg, “Faith and Knowledge: Religion at the University of Illinois,” unpublished manuscript.

²⁰ Though I found no record of it in the historical materials I reviewed, legend has it that the name “Y’s Indian” was meant to refer to the “adoption” by the YMCA in 1878 of Carlos Montezuma, an eleven-year-old Native American from Arizona. The YMCA at Illinois financed a part of his education. Montezuma became a medical doctor of some renown, setting up a practice in Chicago. See Harold Hannah, One Hundred Years of Action: The University of Illinois YMCA, 1873-1973 (Champaign: University YMCA, 1973), p. 12. The name “Y’s Indian” was discontinued after 1989 when the controversy over the University of Illinois’ mascot, “Chief Illiniwek,” raised awareness about the racist nature and implications of such names and images. The University YMCA now has two publications: an “Annual Report,” which includes information and articles about financial, institutional, and membership matters, and the semi-annual “Y Highlights,” which focuses on program work.

²¹ Students’ Handbook, 1925-1926, p. 15.

²² “Committee of ‘Y’ Attacks Campus Racial Problems.” Y’s Indian, April, 1924, p. 2.

²³ Faculty Forum was not begun in 1926, as Harold Hannah incorrectly wrote in his book. The first series was held during the spring semester of 1927.

²⁴ “Faculty Praises Forum Meetings as Worth While.” Y’s Indian, April 22, 1927, p. 2.

²⁵ Report of Friendly Relations Work Among Foreign Students at the University of Illinois, 1919-1920, p. 1.

²⁶ Eight Annual Report of the Committee on Friendly Relations among Foreign Students at the University of Illinois, 1925-1926, p. 4.

²⁷ Minutes, Board of Directors, December 18, 1934, p. 4.

²⁸ In Hannah’s book, the date the Hut burned is incorrectly recorded as December 18, 1923. It actually burned on December 8.

²⁹ John R. Mott, “University Leadership and World Affairs,” p. 12. Unpublished transcript of speech delivered at the University YMCA, November 21, 1937.

³⁰ Sir William Henry Bragg, p. 3, unpublished transcript of speech delivered at the University of Illinois, April 30, 1939.

³¹ Statement of the Board of Directors, April 30, 1939, p. 3.

³² Ibid., p. 4.

³³ Ibid., pp. 5-7.

³⁴ M. Ian Coldwell, “The ‘Y’ at the U. of I.—An Evaluation.” Y’s Indian, February, 1952, p. 2.

³⁵ “Needed—Action.” Y’s Indian, March, 1947, p. 2.

³⁶ The University of Illinois Student Handbook, 1948-1949, p. 41.

³⁷ The University of Illinois Faculty Handbook, 1949-1950, p. 21.

³⁸ The University of Illinois I Book, 1952-1953, p. 16. The committee brought women who were “outstanding in the field of world leadership” to campus as well as men, including Eleanor Roosevelt, who spoke at the YMCA in May of 1954.

³⁹ Tom Taylor, quoted in “Mock Election Held on Campus.” Y’s Indian, December, 1952, p. 4.

⁴⁰ “Policy of the YMCA of the University of Illinois on Racial Equality.” Adopted by the Board of Directors, March 15, 1954.

⁴¹ Policy of the YMCA of the University of Illinois on the Use of Its Building.” Adopted by the Board of Directors, March 15, 1954.

⁴² “Negroes Served After Barbers Change Policy.” The Daily Illini, May 5, 1954.

⁴³ Report of the President to the Board of Directors, November 21, 1949.

⁴⁴ David Kinley, “The Law of Social Progress.” New York Christian Advocate, Aug.-Sept., 1893. Reprinted in Social Progress: Four Articles by David Kinley (Urbana: University of Illinois, 1893), p. 2.

⁴⁵ “The Man Who Serves.” Y’s Indian, October, 1922, p. 2.

⁴⁶ Reinhold Niebuhr, “Our World.” In Jesse R. Wilson, ed., Students and the Christian World Mission (New York: Student Volunteer Movement for Foreign Missions, 1936), p. 7.

⁴⁷ For more on Niebuhr’s thought, see Richard Wightman Fox, Reinhold Niebuhr: A Biography (New York: Pantheon Books, 1985). For more on Kirby Page, see Charles Chatfield and Charles DeBenedetti, eds., Kirby Page and the Social Gospel: An Anthology (New York: Garland Publishing, 1976).

⁴⁸ See Sherwood Eddy, Eighty Adventurous Years: An Autobiography (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1955).

⁴⁹ Sherwood Eddy, “Can We Still Believe in Foreign Missions?” In Andrea Hinding, et al., Drawing Strength from the Past: Documents of the YMCA Student Movement (Minneapolis: YMCA of the USA, 1987), p. 13.

⁵⁰ Ibid., p. 12.

⁵¹ Ibid., p. 13.

⁵² The complete text of the social principles adopted by the YMCA in 1919 is published in Galen M. Fisher, Public Affairs and the YMCA: 1844-1944 (New York: Association Press, 1948), pp. 72-74.

⁵³ Mayer Zald (1970), p. 31; Commission on Student Work, What of the Future of Student YMCAs? (New York: National Council of the Young Men’s Christian Associations, 1941), p. 8. It must be noted that of the 778 student associations, only 620 were based at colleges and universities. The rest were located at theological seminaries and preparatory schools.

⁵⁴ Sherwood Eddy (1955), p. 120.

⁵⁵ See C. Howard Hopkins, John R. Mott, 1865-1955: A Biography (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans, 1979), pp. 621-622, and Sherwood Eddy (1955), pp. 120-122.

⁵⁶ Hopkins (1951), p. 521.

⁵⁷ Minutes, Board of Directors, October 16, 1935.

⁵⁸ Henry Wilson, “Report of the General Secretary to the Chairman of the Board of Directors.” October 1, 1927, p. 8.

⁵⁹ Ibid., p. 9.

⁶⁰ Ibid., pp. 9-10.

⁶¹ Minutes, Board of Directors, February 12, 1940, p. 2.

⁶² Minutes, Board of Directors, June 13, 1941; minutes, Board of Directors, June 8, 1944.

⁶³ Quoted in S. M. Keeny, ed., Toward Christian Democracy: A Profession Takes its Bearings (New York: Association Press, 1939), p. 96.

⁶⁴ Ibid., p. v.

⁶⁵ Ibid.

⁶⁶ R. E. G. Davis, “Democracy and the YMCA.” In Ibid., p. 73.

⁶⁷ Paul M. Limbert, Educating for Civic Responsibility: A Guide to Policy and Practice in Public Affairs Education (New York: Association Press, 1941), pp. 10-11.

⁶⁸ Ibid., p. 31.

⁶⁹ “The ‘Y’s’ Program.” Y’s Indian, December, 1939, p. 2.

⁷⁰ Robert Trobaugh, “To the Class of 1945.” In University of Illinois Students’ Handbook, p. 11.

⁷¹ Paul M. Van Arsdell, “Individual Integrity Stressed by YMCA.” Y’s Indian, April, 1952, p. 2.