Davidson College Catalog

268 Pages·2002·16.7 MB·English

by  Davidson College

CATALOG FOR THE ACADEMIC YEAR 2002-2003
DAVIDSON
Digitized by the Internet Archive
in 2012 with funding from
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
http://www.archive.org/details/davidsoncollegec20022003
CATALOG OF
ANNOUNCEMENTS
FOR THE
ACADEMIC YEAR
2002-2003
RECORD
OFFICIAL
FOR THE YEAR
2001-2002
DAVIDSON
PublishedbytheDavidsonCollege
OfficeofCollegeCommunications
EditedbytheOfficeofAcademicAffairs
—
2 AcademicCalendar
ACADEMICCALENDAR2002-2003
FallSemester2002
August22-25 Orientation
August26 Classesbegin8:30a.m.
October4-6 Homecoming
October11 FallBreakbeginsafterlastclass
October16 Classesresume8:30a.m.
October25-27 FamilyWeekend
October26 FallConvocation
November26 ThanksgivingBreakbeginsafterlastclass
December2 Classesresume8:30a.m.
December11 FallSemesterclassesend
December12 ReadingDay
December13 Examsbegin
December19 Examsend12:15p.m.andSemesterBreakbegins
SpringSemester2003
January13 Classesbegin8:30a.m.
January20 MartinLutherKingDay
February28 SpringBreakbeginsafterlastclass
March10 Classesresume8:30a.m.
April16 SpringConvocation
April18 EasterBreakbeginsafterlastclass
April23 Classesresume8:30a.m.
May7 SpringSemesterclassesend
May8 ReadingDay
May9 Examsbegin
May14 Examsend12:15p.m.
May18 Commencement
IMPORTANTNOTE
This catalog describes an academic calendar for Davidson College which consists oftwo 15-
week semesters. The requirements in this catalog apply to students entering Davidson in the
2002-03academicyear.
Informationinthiscatalogisaccurateasofthedateofpublication. DavidsonCollegereserves
therighttomakechangesinpolicies, regulations, andfees, givingduenotice, inaccordancewith
soundacademicandfiscalpractice.
ACCREDITATION
DavidsonCollegeisaccreditedby:
CommissiononCollegesoftheSouthernAssociationofColleges
andSchoolstoawardthebaccalaureatedegree
TheNorthCarolinaDepartmentofPublicInstruction
AmericanChemicalSociety
NationalCouncilfortheAccreditationofTeacherEducation
NONDISCRIMINATIONPOLICY
DavidsonCollege admits qualified students and administers alleducational and employment
activities regardless of race, color, sex, national origin, religion, age, sexual orientation, or
disability unless allowedby law and deemed necessary to the administration ofthe educational
programs. In addition, the college complies with all applicable federal, state, and local laws
governingnon-discrimination.
—
TableofContents 3
TABLE OF CONTENTS
AcademicCalendar2002-2003 2
HISTORYANDSTATEMENTOFPURPOSE 5
ADMISSIONANDFFNANCIALINFORMATION 9
AdmissionInformationandProcedures 9
FinancialAid 13
Honors,Awards,andScholarships 14
TuitionandFees 19
CAMPUSLIFE 25
TheHonorCodeandtheCodeofResponsibility 25
ResidenceHalls 25
AthleticsandPhysicalEducation 29
ReligiousandSpiritualLife 31
SocialLife 31
CareerServices 36
HealthandSafety 37
ACADEMICPROGRAMANDPOLICIES 41
TheCurriculum 41
StandardsofProgress 42
RequirementsforGraduation 43
InternationalPerspectivesandStudyOpportunities 45
Pre-ProfessionalPrograms 51
AcademicSupport 57
GeneralInformationandRegulations 62
COURSESOFINSTRUCTION 67
OFFICIALRECORD 183
Trustees 183
FacultyandLibrariansEmeriti 185
ContinuingFaculty,2001-02 187
OtherInstructionalAppointments,2001-02 194
NewFacultyandInstructionalAppointments,2002-2003 197
NamedProfessorships 201
AdministrativeStaff 202
Scholarships 211
CurricularEnrichment 226
BookFunds 228
HonorSocieties 236
Awards 237
ScholarshipHolders 241
Classof2002 247
EnrollmentStatistics 251
GeographicalDistribution 252
AlumniAssociationChapters 253
Index 258
CapsuleInformation 261

AND
HISTORY
STATEMENT OF PURPOSE
HISTORY
"Whenthepeculiar circumstancesofacommunity demandit, and theirbenevolence
willjustifyit, theestablishmentofaCollegehavingtheBibleforits firstcharter, and the
prosperity ofthe Church and our country for its great design, ought to be regarded as
anenterpriseofnocommongrandeur."
—
Davidson's first president, Robert Hall Morrison, in his
inauguraladdress, August2, 1838
Founded by Concord Presbytery, Davidson College
opened as a manual labor institute in 1837. The college's
name memorializes General William Lee Davidson, who
died at the nearby Revolutionary War battle of Cowan's
Ford in 1781. General Davidson's son provided the initial
acreageforthecampus.
The college seal and the college motto, Alenda Lux
Ubi Orta Libertas ("Let Learning Be Cherished Where
Liberty Has Arisen"), recall the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence; both seal
and motto resulted from the suggestion of Peter Stuart Ney, an elusive Frenchman
believedbysometohavebeenNapoleon'sMarshalNey.
Original academic subjects included moral and natural philosophy, evidences of
Christianity, classical languages, logic, and mathematics. Three professors, including
Morrison,taughtthiscurriculumtoDavidson'ssixty-fivestudents.
Although Presbvterian-originated, the college maintained from the beginning its
intent to educate students without regard to their denominational affiliation. Students
came from a vareitv of religious and regional backgrounds. By I860, Davidson alumni
livedintwelvestatesandtwoforeigncountries.
A bequest in 1856 from Maxwell Chambers of Salisbury, North Carolina, provided
the college withthe means to strengthen itsbase and expand its influence. The giftofa
quarter of a million dollars made the institution, for a time, the richest college south of
Princeton and helped the college survive through the Civil War years. It also provided
for the construction of a central academic building that was named in honor of the
college's first substantial benefactor. The present Chambers Building, which replaced
theoneburnedin1921, alsobearshisname.
—
6 HistoryandStatementofPurpose
While in 1866 the college had a student body of only twenty-four men, during the
post-war recovery period there was a gradual expansion of curriculum, faculty, and
students. Newly added academic disciplines included chemistry, English, history, and
physics. By 1890theteachingstaffincluded its firstPh.D.-holdingprofessors. Increasing
growthinenrollmentgavethecollegeastudentbodyofover300by 1910.
In 1911, the college offered the A.B. and the B.S. degrees, with the former requiring
study ofGreek and Latin, the latter allowing substitution ofa modern foreignlanguage
in place of Latin. There were fifteen departments, though majors were not a feature of
the curriculum until the 1920s. A strengthened financial base was augmented by the
generosity ofthe Rockefellers who provided funds for replacing the original Chambers
buildingandbyannualsupportfromtheDukeEndowmentwhichcontinuestoday.
The 1920s and 1930s saw courses in accounting, business, economics, and music
added to the curriculum, as well as honors programs and seminars. In 1923, Davidson
was selected as the third college in North Carolina to be chartered for a chapter of Phi
Beta Kappa. Curricular revisions in the 1960s and 1980s altered the academic calendar
and degree requirements, but retained Davidson's emphasis on breadth of education
along with increasing opportunities for specialization, independent academic work,
studyabroad, andinterdisciplinaryprograms.
Firstadmittingwomenasdegreecandidatesin1973, thecollegehasgrowntoaround
1,600 students on campus, the limit established by the current strategic plan. The
teaching faculty numbers approximately 150. Changes in physical plant begun during
the 1990s have supported the college's growth with new and renovated facilities for
athletics, the visual arts, the sciences, residential housing, student and community
activities, andtheperformingarts.
Recent academic program changes include the expansion of concentrations and the
options for a second major or minor in many departments. Attention given to writing
across the curriculum includes small classes designed to help first-year students make
thetransitiontocollege-levelworkandwriting.
Davidson's underlying philosophy appears in the college's official statement of
purpose.
STATEMENT OF PURPOSE
Davidson College is an institution ofhigher learning established by Presbyterians of
North Carolina in 1837. Since its founding, the ties which bind the college to the
Presbyterian Churchhave remained close and strong. The college intends thatthis vital
relationshipbecontinuedtothemutualbenefitofchurchandschool.
Davidson commits itselfto a Christian tradition that recognizes God as the source of
alltruth, and findsinJesusChristtherevelationofthatGod, aGodboundbynochurch
orcreed. Theloyaltyofthecollege thusextendsbeyond the Christian community tothe
whole human community and necessarily includes an openness to and respect for the
world's various religious traditions. Davidson is dedicated to the quest for truth and
encourages teachers and students to explore the whole of reality, whether physical or
spiritual, with an unlimited employment of their intellectual powers. Faith and reason
must work together in mutual respect if Davidson is to realize and maintain its
particularvisionofacademicexcellence.
TheprimarypurposeofDavidsonCollegeisto assiststudentsindevelopinghumane
—
HistoryandStatementofPurpose 7
instincts and disciplined and creative minds for lives of leadership and service. In
implementing its purpose, Davidson has chosen tobe a liberal arts college, to maintain
itselfas a residentialcommunity ofscholars, toemphasizethe teachingresponsibilityof
all professors, and to ensure the opportunity for personal relationships between
students and teachers. It is vital that all students in every class know and study under
mature and scholarly teachers who are able and eager to provide for each of them
stimulation, instruction, andguidance.
Davidson seeks students of good character and high academic ability who share its
valuesand showpromiseforusefulnesstosociety. Intheselectionoffaculty, thecollege
seeks men and women who respect the purpose of the college, are outstanding
intellectually, who have the best training available in their fields of study, and whose
interest in students and teaching is unfeigned and profound. For its part, the college
mustprovideadequatephysicalfacilities, increaseitsfinancialresources, andfurnishits
faculty with the time and opportunity for creative scholarship fundamental to the best
teaching.
Asaliberalartscollege,Davidsonemphasizesthosestudies, disciplinesandactivities
that are mentally, spiritually, and physically liberating. Thus, the college concentrates
upon the study of history, literature and languages, philosophy and religion, music,
drama and thevisualarts, thenatural andsocialsciences, andmathematics. Thecollege
also requires physical education, provides for competitive athletics, and encourages a
variety of social, cultural and service activities. While Davidson prepares many of its
students for graduate and professional study, it intends to teach all students to think
clearly, to make relevant and valid judgments, to discriminate among values, and to
communicatefreelywithothersintherealmofideas.
As a college that welcomes students, faculty and stafffrom a variety ofnationalities,
ethnicgroupsandtraditions,Davidsonvaluesitsdiversityandseekstobeacommunity
that recognizes the dignity and inherent worth of every person. As a college whose
tradition commits it to nurture the life of the spirit, Davidson endeavors to provide
opportunities for religious services and other activities appropriate for the various
religioustraditionsrepresentedonthecampus.
Davidson holds a priceless heritage bequeathed by those who have dedicated their
livesandtheirpossessionsforitswelfare.Toitmuchhasbeenentrusted, andofitmuch
isrequired.
DAVIDSON'S PRESIDENTS
Robert Hall Morrison (1836-1840); Samuel Williamson (1841-1854); Drury Lacy
(1855-1860); John Lycan Kirkpatrick (1860-1866); George Wilson McPhail (1866-1871);
John Rennie Blake, chair of the faculty (1871-1877); Andrew Dousa Hepburn
(1877-1885); Luther McKinnon (1885-1888); William Joseph Martin, vice president and
acting president (1887-1888); John Bunyan Shearer (1888-1901); Henrv Louis Smith
(1901-1912); William Joseph Martin (1912-1929); Walter Lee Lingle (1929-1941); John
Rood Cunningham (1941-1957); Clarence John Pietenpol, acting president (1957-1958);
David Grier Martin (1958-1968); Frontis Withers Johnston, acting president (1968);
Samuel Reid Spencer, Jr. (1968-1983); Frontis Withers Johnston, interim president
(1983-1984);JohnWellsKuykendall(1984-1997);RobertFredrickVagt(1997-).