Private liberal arts college in Middletown, Connecticut, US
This article is about Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut. For a list of other colleges and universities with names including "Wesleyan", seeWesleyan University (disambiguation).
The college accepted female applicants from 1872 to 1909, but did not become fully co-educational until 1970. Before full co-education, Wesleyan alumni and other supporters ofwomen's education establishedConnecticut College in 1912.[5][6] Wesleyan, along withAmherst andWilliams colleges, is part of "TheLittle Three". Its teams compete athletically as a member of theNESCAC inNCAA Division III.
Before Wesleyan was founded, amilitary academy established byAlden Partridge existed, consisting of the campus's North and South Colleges. As this academy failed, New EnglandMethodists bought it and founded in 1831 anall-male Methodist college.[8]Willbur Fisk was the first president.[8] Despite its name, Wesleyan was never an officially denominational seminary, though its curriculum and campus religious life were shaped by a heavy Methodist influence.[9] In 1909, it built Judd Hall, named after alumnusOrange Judd, one of the earliest academic buildings devoted exclusively to undergraduate science instruction on any American college or university campus.[10][11][12]
The Wesleyan student body numbered about 300 in 1910[13] and had grown to 800 in 1960.[14]
Wesleyan is, along with Amherst and Williams colleges, a member of theLittle Three. Wesleyan began as the smallest of the three. Later on, it expanded its programs, qualifying as a university with a variety of graduate offerings and became larger than the other two.[15]
The rear of College Row: From left to right: North College, South College,Memorial Chapel, Patricelli '92 Theater (not pictured: Judd Hall)
In 1872, the university became one of the first U.S. colleges to attemptcoeducation by admitting a small number of female students,[11] a venture then known as the "Wesleyan Experiment". "In 1909, the board of trustees voted to stop admitting women as undergraduates, fearing that the school was losing its masculine image and that women would not be able to contribute to the college financially after graduation the way men could."[16] From 1912 to 1970, Wesleyan operated again as an all-male college.[17]
Wesleyan became independent of the Methodist church in 1937. In 2000, the university was designated as a historic Methodist site.[18]
Beginning in the late 1950s, presidentVictor Lloyd Butterfield[19] began a reorganization program that resembled Harvard'shouse system and Yale'scolleges. Undergraduate study would be divided into seven smaller residential colleges, with their own faculty and centralized graduate studies. Doctoral programs and a Center for Advanced Studies (later renamed the Center for the Humanities) were included in this reorganization.[20][21][22]
The building program begun under this system created three residential colleges on Foss Hill (Foss Hill dormitories), followed by three more residential colleges (Lawn Avenue dormitories, now called Butterfield Colleges). Although the structures were built, only four of the proposed academic programs were begun. Two of those continue today: the College of Letters and the College of Social Studies.[14][20] It has a student-faculty ratio of 7:1.[23]
Butterfield's successors, Edwin Deacon Etherington (class of 1948)[24] andColin Goetze Campbell,[25] completed many innovations begun during Butterfield's administration, including the return of women in numbers equal to men;[26] a quadrupling in the total area of building space devoted to laboratory, studio, and performing arts instruction; and a significant rise in racial, ethnic, and religious diversity and total number of students.[27][28][29]
The view from Foss Hill: From left to right: Judd Hall, Harriman Hall (which houses the Public Affairs Center), andOlin Memorial Library
Wesleyan occupies a 360-acre (1.5 km2) campus, with over 340 buildings, including the five-building College Row; Olin Memorial Library; Andrus Public Affairs Center; the Exley Science Center; Shanklin and Hall-Atwater Laboratories; theVan Vleck Observatory; Fayerweather with Beckham Hall; Russell House, a National Historic Landmark; the Allbritton Center; the Butterfield dormitories; the Fauver Field dormitories; and the 11-building Center for the Arts complex.
When Wesleyan University was founded in 1831, it took over a campus with two buildings, North College and South College, from 1825. These were originally constructed by the City of Middletown for use by Captain Partridge's American Literary, Scientific, and Military Academy. In 1829, after the Connecticut legislature declined it a charter to grant college degrees, Partridge moved his academy toNorthfield, Vermont. The academy later becameNorwich University and the Middletown buildings were acquired by Wesleyan.
Clark Hall, a freshman dormitory built in 1916 and renovated in 2002
The original North College was destroyed in a fire in 1906, but South College survived, being converted into offices that same year. The cupola and the belfry, which contains the Wesleyan Carillon, was designed byHenry Bacon and was added in 1916.[30]
The original core buildings of the campus were North College and South College. North College, aNassau Hall-type building seen in most early American college campuses, was replaced after a fire in 1909 with the current North College. South College is the sole building from the beginning
The northern end of High Street contains several large buildings that were former private residences, a few of which were exceptional architectural examples. These includeRussell House, aNational Historic Landmark, two Alsop family houses, (one is currently the African-American Studies center with student housing; the other is theDavison Art Center), the Davison infirmary, a second Russell family house that contains the University Development Office, and Downey House. High Street, which is the old center of campus, was once described byCharles Dickens as "the most beautiful street in America".[31]
The front side of Allbritton Center, the building on Wesleyan's campus which houses the Jewett Center for Community Partnerships, Patricelli Center for Social Entrepreneurship, and the Wesleyan Media Project, as well as the student–run cafe Espwesso[32]
Wesleyan's 46 undergraduate academic departments.[33] 40% of Wesleyan graduates take double majors.[34][35]
Wesleyan offers3–2 programs in engineering with theCalifornia Institute of Technology andFu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science. These programs allow undergraduates to receive degrees in five years from both Wesleyan (B.A.) and Caltech or Columbia (B.Sc., Engineering).[36][37][38] Additionally, Wesleyan offers a BA/MA Program in the sciences leading to a bachelor's degree in the fourth year and a master's degree in the fifth year. Tuition for the fifth year of the master's degree is waived.[39]
Wesleyan does not require undergraduates to take prescribed courses.[40][41] Freshmen are offered First Year Initiative seminars,[42] and undergraduates are encouraged in the first two years of study to take a minimum of two courses from two different departments in diverse subject areas.[43]
The Bailey College of the Environment, created in 2009, integrates the following components: 1) a curricular component, including the newly established environmental studies major, the environmental studies certificate, and a senior capstone project; 2) aThink Tank of Wesleyan faculty, scholars of prominence, and undergraduates whose aim is to produce scholarly work that will influence national and international thinking and action on critical environmental issues; and 3) the Collaborative Research Initiative (CRI), which is designed to encourage COE majors with the most potential to undertake environmental research.[44][45][46]
The university's Film Studies program is led by film historianJeanine Basinger.[47] In 2008,Vanity Fair said: "This tiny Connecticut University, with a total enrollment of 2,700, has turned out a shockingly disproportionate number of Hollywood movers and shakers."[48][49] Similarly, in 2008,Variety magazine noted Basinger's contribution to the film industry through her work in the Wesleyan Film Studies program, and the large number of alumni of the program now working in Hollywood.[50] University students, biographers, media experts, and scholars from around the world may have full access to The Wesleyan Cinema Archives, which document the film industry during the 20th century and contain the personal papers and film related materials ofIngrid Bergman,Frank Capra,Clint Eastwood,Federico Fellini,Elia Kazan,Frank Perry,Roberto Rossellini,Robert Saudek,Martin Scorsese,Gene Tierney,Raoul Walsh, andJohn Waters, amongst others.[51][52]
In February 2013, Wesleyan announced the creation of a new College of Film and the Moving Image, incorporating the Film Studies Department, the Center for Film Studies, the Cinema Archives and the Wesleyan Film Series.[53]
The College of Integrative Sciences (CIS) provides students with an interdisciplinary education in the sciences, and combines it with hands-on problem solving skills in research. To build interdisciplinary expertise, students must complete both a traditional major in science or mathematics, as well as a "linked" major that combines components from other disciplines to form a coherent plan of study.[54]
The College of Letters is an interdisciplinary humanities program offering a three-year B.A. major for the integrative study of European literature, history, and philosophy.[55]
TheCollege of Social Studies (CSS) was founded in 1959, combining the fields of history, economics, government, and philosophy. Students take 5.5 of the program's 10.5 (thesis-writing students take 11.5) required credits during their sophomore year. Sophomore year focuses on the development of modern Western society from historical, economic, social and political perspectives, and culminates with comprehensive final exams. Seniors are required to write an honors thesis (full year) or senior essay.[56][57][58]
Wesleyan is the sole undergraduate liberal arts college to be designated a Molecular Biophysics Predoctoral Research Training Center by the National Institutes of Health (NIH).[59]
Wesleyan's theater program has two theater facilities: the Theatre in the Center for the Arts, a 400-seat space; and the '92 Theater, home to Spike Tape, which is a student-run theater organization. Spike Tape produces upwards of five plays and musicals a semester, completely run by undergraduate students. They can be found at spiketapewes.com.[60][61][62]
Wesleyan has 11 graduate departmental programs in the sciences, mathematics, computer science, psychology, and music.[65] Graduates receive theMaster of Arts or Doctor of Philosophy degrees.[66] Like in many traditional liberal arts colleges in the United States, all of Wesleyan's master's and bachelor's degrees are designated "of Arts" by historical precedent, regardless of the field of study.[67][68] Wesleyan also offers a Graduate Liberal Studies Program. Graduates receive theMaster of Arts in Liberal Studies (MALS) or theMaster of Philosophy in Liberal Arts (MPHIL) degrees.[69]
Beginning in 2012, Wesleyan became the first small liberal arts college to partner with a private consortium to design and offer free public access online courses.[70] Wesleyan teaches online courses in Math, Computer Science, Law, Psychology, and Literature, as well as other subjects.
For the Class of 2027 (enrolling Fall 2023), Wesleyan received 14,500 applications and accepted 2,280 (15.7%).[71] The medianSAT score for admitted freshmen was 770 for math and 750 for evidence-based reading and writing.[71] The medianACT score was 34 for the composite.[71] Since 2014, Wesleyan has been test optional.[72]
Wesleyan announced in July 2023 that it would no longer give preference in admission to applicants with family or donor ties to the school, officially endinglegacy admission at the institution.[75][76]
In the 2025U.S. News & World Report rankings, Wesleyan University is tied for 14th overall among national liberal arts colleges. In the 2024 edition, it was ranked first in "Best Colleges for Veterans", 16th in "Best Value Schools", and tied for 36th in "Top Performers on Social Mobility".[81] Wesleyan University isaccredited by theNew England Commission of Higher Education.[82]
In theForbes ranking of the top 500 American colleges for 2024–25, which combines national research universities, liberal arts colleges and military academies in a single survey, Wesleyan University is ranked 54th overall and 12th among liberal arts colleges alone. In another recent Forbes ranking, Wesleyan placed ninth nationally and third among liberal arts colleges.[83] According to a study entitled "Revealed Preference Ranking" published by theNational Bureau of Economic Research, Wesleyan ranks No. 22 among all colleges and universities, and No. 5 among liberal arts colleges only.[84] The stated purpose of the NBER study was to produce a ranking system that "would be difficult for a college to manipulate" by basing it on the actual demonstrated preferences of highly meritorious students.[84] Wesleyan was listed on theFoundation for Individual Rights in Education's 2016 "10 Worst Colleges for Free Speech".[85]
Washington Monthly ranked Wesleyan third in 2022, out of 203 liberal arts colleges in the U.S., based on its contribution to the public good, as measured by social mobility, research, and promoting public service.[86]
In 2019Kiplinger ranked Wesleyan 16th of the 149 best value liberal arts colleges in the United States.[87]
Olin Memorial Library has more than 1.8 million volumes and approximately 10,000 serial subscriptions.[88][89][90] Wesleyan's first library was Rich Hall (now '92 Theater), which was built just after theCivil War.[60][91] Olin Library was designed by the firm ofMcKim, Mead & White, built 1925–1927, and dedicated in 1928.[89]
The second largest library on campus is the Science Library, which houses over two hundred fifty thousand volumes.[92]
The Art Library is housed on the second floor of Olin Library. Davison Art Center holds the Print Reference Library. There is also a Music Library (which includes scores and recordings and the World Music Archives) and several department libraries. In 2024, thesound-art workMinute/Year was installed in the main library stairwell.[93][94]
Davison Art Center is inAlsop House, which is designated aU.S. National Historic Landmark.[95][96] The Art Center has a large collection consisting primarily of works on paper, including 18,000 prints, 6,000 photographs, several hundred drawings, a small number of paintings, and three-dimensional objects (includingartists' books, sculptures, and other objects).[97][98][99] The print collection has works byDürer,Goya,Rembrandt,Manet, and others.[100][101]
The museum's educational program includes student museum internships and student-curated exhibitions.[100][102][103]
In the late 1860s, a yearly contest, the "Cannon Scrap," began between the freshmen, whose mission it was to fire theDouglas Cannon on February 22, and the sophomores, who were charged with foiling the effort. In 1957, the tradition of stealing the cannon began in earnest.[104][105][clarification needed]
Memorial Chapel, a multi-denominational space built in 1871
The university employs a Jewish rabbi, a Protestant chaplain, and a Muslim chaplain.[106] There is program housing for Buddhists, Muslims, Christians, and Jews.[107]
Wesleyan is a member of theDivision III New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC), fielding intercollegiate varsity teams in 29 sports. It competes against traditionalLittle Three rivals Amherst and Williams. Approximately 600 students participate in intercollegiate varsity sports each year.[108] Wesleyan is one of the 39 founding members of the NCAA.[109]Wesleyan's football and baseball field, Andrus Field, is the oldest continuously used American football field in the world[110][111] and the oldest continuously used baseball field in the world.[112]
With alumni includingBill Belichick,Eric Mangini, andField Yates, the school has been described byESPN as a "hotbed for great football minds."[113] Led by coach John Raba, the winningest lacrosse coach in NESCAC history, the Wesleyan's Men's Lacrosse team won the Division III NCAA championship title in 2018. It was the first national championship in school history.[citation needed]
Amos Magee helped lead Wesleyan University to an ECAC Soccer Championship and school-best record of 15–1–1 in 1991, and is the Cardinals' all-time leading scorer (35 goals and 85 points).[114] He was aNational Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) Division III All-American in 1992, four times was named all-New England, and was inducted into the Wesleyan University Hall of Fame.[115]
In February 2011,U.S. News & World Report described the university as one of "20 Colleges Where It's Easiest to Get Involved" with a "Students per Club" ratio of "11.66". At that time there were around 270 student groups available to the 3,148 enrolled students.[116]
The Wesleyan Student Assembly (WSA) is a body of 38 students elected annually to represent Wesleyan University's undergraduate student body. The members of the assembly serve as student advocates in all areas of the university, including matters related to student life, academics, university finances, and campus facilities.[117][118][119][120]
The Debate Society was founded in 1903[citation needed] and later named in honor of[citation needed]Woodrow Wilson, who had been a professor at Wesleyan between 1888 and 1890 and who "became deeply involved in extracurricular student activities such as the [Wesleyan] debate society."[121] He "stimulated students to organize opportunity for debate through a House of Commons similar to the one he had started at Johns Hopkins in 1884."[122]
Another student group is the Environmental Organizers' Network (EON), which campaigns on environmental issues.[123][124] Wesleyan also owns a tract of land that is used as Long Lane Farm, a 2-acre (8,100 m2) organic vegetable farm run by students.[125]
Some of the oldest and most visible student groups are campus publications, including a bi-weekly newspaper,The Wesleyan Argus and a periodical,Hermes, the university's oldest student-run publication.[126] Until 2008, the student body published theOlla Podrida which was originally a quarterly newspaper in the late 1850s, but was the college yearbook since the Civil War. TheArgus is the campus newspaper.[127]Wesleying is a student-runweblog that documents undergraduate life at Wesleyan, often receiving up to 10,000 page views a day.[128]
Wesleyan was long known as the "Singing College of New England."[129] The university's "tradition as a 'singing college' had its roots in the vitality of Methodist hymnody."[130] In 1862, a university glee club made the first tour of Wesleyan singers. The Wesleyan glee club organized by students frequently traveled and performed from the mid-19th century through the mid-20th century[131][132] and was considered among the best collegiate glee clubs in the late 19th century.[133] It traveled widely giving concerts, including being received twice at the White House (in 1901 byPresident McKinley and again in 1928 byPresident Coolidge) and being recorded onto a phonograph record byThomas Edison.[133] University alumni published the first edition ofThe Wesleyan Song Book in 1901.[131] Subsequently, the Glee Club twice won the National Intercollegiate Glee Club Competition at Carnegie Hall.[134] Since the Glee Club's disbanding, the tradition of choral singing has been carried on by the Wesleyan Singers, later renamed the Wesleyan Concert Choir, and then renamed again The Wesleyan Ensemble Singers (2010). This tradition also continues today in several student-run a cappella groups on campus, including the Wesleyan Spirits, the university's oldest group. There are at least 13 groups that perform on campus regularly,[135] with others occasionally created and disbanded, including Triple Major, Notably Sharp, The Cardinal Sinners, The Mazeltones, The Mixolydians, and numerous others.
Wesleyan has chapters ofAlpha Delta Phi, Alpha Psi Alpha,Chi Psi,Psi Upsilon, andDelta Kappa Epsilon (DKE).[136]However, the only organizations that are active and have society houses on campus (as of 2024), are ADP, Psi U, and The Eclectic Society.
In September 2014, Wesleyan ordered all fraternities with on-campus housing to become co-educational within the next three years.[137]In 2015, Wesleyan University ordered the closure of the DKE fraternity house on High Street. In 2017, DKE won the claim against Wesleyan University in a court trial. The jury awarded damages of $386,000 to the Kent Literary Club, DKE's Wesleyan alumni chapter.[138]
In 2023, around 10 percent of the student body holds citizenship other thanthat of the United States.[5] There is financial aid available for students from Africa and Asia.[9]
John Maher's 1995 workThinker, Sailer, Brother, Spy: A Novel features a fictional look at the life of a professor (a principal character) in the "hothouse atmosphere of Wesleyan University...."[147] Two ofRobert Ludlum's novels are set partially at Wesleyan,The Matlock Paper much of the action takes place in and around the campus of a thinly disguised Wesleyan,[148] and alsoThe Chancellor Manuscript where Ludlum refers to Wesleyan as 'a wealthy but minor university'.
The 1963comedic novel,Night and Silence Who is Here?, by novelistPamela Hansford Johnson, is thought by many literary critics to be patterned humorously after Wesleyan's Institute for Advanced Studies (now the Center for the Humanities); the main characters comprise and parallel the cast of Shakespeare'sMidsummer Night's Dream.[149]The Eclectic Society, a play that premiered on 27 January 2010 at theWalnut Street Theatre is based upon theEclectic Society at the university during the early 1960s.[150][151] In the 2012 novelDream School, by novelistBlake Nelson, the protagonist attends an eastern liberal arts college, Wellington College, modeled on Wesleyan.[152]
The 1994 cult comedy filmPCU was based on (and filmed in part at) Wesleyan, the alma mater of the screenplay's two writers, Adam Leff andZak Penn, and represents "an exaggerated view of contemporary college life...."[161] centering on a fictionalized version of theEclectic Society, known in the film as "The Pit."[162][163][164]
In 2015,Rolling Stone published a long form feature on Wesleyan's drug culture titled "Inside the Wesleyan Molly Bust",[166] where dozens of students overdosed on tainted ecstasy, leading to the expulsion of five students.
Wesleyan alumni have received external fellowships, includingFulbright,Goldwater,Marshall,Rhodes,Truman, andWatson.[167][168] For the years 2007 through 2011, a total of 42 Wesleyan students and alumni received scholarships under the Fulbright program.[169] The university has had at least 87 Watson Fellows since the inception of the program in 1968.[170]
^Colleges Get Career-MindedArchived 2012-07-05 at theWayback Machine, Wall Street Journal (a PDF of the document for those who do not have a subscription to the Journal). Page 2, third and fourth paragraphs. Page 3, last paragraph. By Lauren Weber. 22 May 2012. Retrieved 23 May 2012.
^Clint Eastwood Becomes A Museum Piece, Clint Eastwood Cinema Collection, Film Study, Wesleyan University Cinema Archives, Chicago Tribune, By Lawrence Van Gelder, New York Times News Service. 9 September 1988. Retrieved 18 December 2011.
^Inventory of the Gerald M. Meier Papers, 1928-2003Archived 2012-09-11 at theWayback Machine, Duke University Libraries. Collection Overview, Second paragraph, "genesis and growth of the College of Social Studies at Wesleyan University". Contents of Collection, Box S1, Wesleyan University (Middletown, Conn.), College of Social Studies. Retrieved 22 March 2012.
^abChristopher Avery, Mark E. Glickman, Caroline M. Hoxby, and Andrew Metrick, "A Revealed Preference Ranking of U.S. Colleges and Universities", NBER Working Paper No. W10803.Abstract onlineArchived 2015-10-17 at theWayback Machine, Social Science Research Network
^Chatfield, Andrew (December 20, 2023)."Upcoming Faculty and Alumni Performances and Exhibitions".The Wesleyan Connection.Archived from the original on June 2, 2024. RetrievedJune 2, 2024.The sound installation "Minute/Year" (2016–present) by artists Kata Kovács and Tom O'Doherty makes its United States premiere in the Wesleyan Olin Library in January 2024 and runs through December 31, 2024. The project uses the daily repeated recording/playback/re-recording of sound in a space to reveal the resonant frequencies of the venue. Presented in collaboration with Professor of Music and Director of Graduate Studies Paula Matthusen.
^The Paper Trail – EducationArchived 2014-01-08 at theWayback Machine. Best Alternative Media Outlet: Wesleyan Blog Trounces Ivy Competition,U.S. News & World Report (24 January 2007). Retrieved on 17 October 2011.
^Harrington, Karl Pomeroy; Price, Carl Fowler (November 29, 1901)."The Wesleyan Song Book". Wesleyan University Musical Association. Archived fromthe original on January 1, 2014 – via Google Books.
^Western Reserve AcademyArchived 2012-11-08 at theWayback Machine, Article entitled, "Spotlight: Eric Conger,"The Eclectic Society. Second paragraph. Spring 2010. Retrieved 17 January 2012.
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