Liberal Arts Building - Missituk Campus
Constructed in 1861, four stories high, the old building houses the School of Languages, Literature, and the Arts.
School of Languages, Literature, and the Arts: the first floor is occupied by offices and classrooms dedicated to the massive English Department; other departments fit in on upper floors as they may. Dr. Peter Crownin, a former professor
of English, is Dean of the School.
• Department of Modern Languages: chaired by Dr. Allen Peabody, an expert in Romance languages. Extensive coursework in French and German is available, with some classes in Spanish, Italian, and Russian. One-year introductions to tongues such as Japanese or Mandarin Chinese are sometimes offered.
• Department of Classical Languages: offers courses in classical Greek, classical and medieval Latin, and an introduction to Hebrew or Aramaic on alternate semesters.
• Department of Oriental Studies: a new department created by Missituk's young president, Dr. Wainscott, this tiny department actually concerns what we would now call the Middle East. The chairman, Dr. Shalad, is expert in Arabic, Persian, Urdu, and Sanskrit and occasionally offers courses in Middle Eastern history, philosophy, art, and culture.
Shalad is a taciturn, private man, 50 years old. Dr. Shalad is presently teaching a special course in medieval metaphysics with emphasis on the difficulties of translation from Arabic originals.
• Department of English: the aging Dr. Eastman is interim chairman; already there is talk of his retirement and the name of Albert N. Whipple - 118 W Staltonstall St, senior professor in the department, has been mentioned as his replacement.
Though there are a handful of historically-oriented literature classes at the graduate level, most readings are done in conjunction with the extensive composition classes which seek to enliven and perfect student expression and style. There are also some descriptive linguistics courses analyzing or codifying (depending on the instructor's bent) the grammar, structure, and transformations of English, and a solitary theoretical course seeks to discover the underlying principles of all language, taught by Dr. Stanley Whitman, 49.
The department also guides Missituk University Press, and the publishing and printing of books is now a substantial activity. Dr. Swanson Ames, 51, oversees the work. Ames is also responsible for publication of the student newspaper, the Missituk University Crier. He reads every line of copy and wields a notoriously capricious blue pencil. He hates the student editor, Howard Penobscott.
Albert N. Whipple: Whipple is a learned New England historian and a member of the New Jerusalem Historical Society. Harvard-educated, he was born and raised in New Jerusalem and is presently master of the family home at 118 Saltonstall Street.
• Department of Fine Arts: headed by Dr. Arthur Goddard, the department has a few practice and theory courses as well as classes in historical styles of European art and architecture modeled from Ruskin. Much of the department's efforts are devoted to the creation of cultural events for the University.
In music it fields an enthusiastic string quartet, a small orchestra, and several choruses and choirs. Much of this activity occurs without grant of academic credit.
Artist-in-Residence: David Rosen, an academic but technically-accomplished oil painter and sculptor executes University commissions as they arise. He has worked here most of the decade. In March and April of 1949, Rosen was beset by a series of powerful dreams concerning cyclopean structures, sunken cities, and the dreaming dead. His attempts to work off the dreams through painting and sculpture were to no avail; although he produced his most powerful works, the strain forced him to take a medical leave of absence. Since his return he has had no further problems.
• University Marching Band: an unofficial volunteer group unconnected with, and in fact despised by, Fine Arts people because of their propensity for public drunkenness and rowdy behavior.
• University Players: though there are no drama classes or other such trade-school intrusions at the University, the department maintains a resident director of theater, Mrs. Alice Turner, whose task is to yearly present six worthy stage plays for the edification of the community, beginning in November of the year. Cast and crew are volunteers and receive no academic credit for their work. All must be University students, faculty, staff, or their relatives.
Presentations must include "one play from the classical Greek theater, two works from the reign of Elizabeth, one stage play written by an American living or dead, one work written by a European living or dead, and one new play written by a member of the University community, which may be a farce."
• Philosophy Department: a one-man affair, nearly out of touch with the rest of the universe; 61-year-old Dr. George Kilbraith teaches as if Henri Bergson was the only philosopher since Thomas Aquinas. Kilbraith also offers a hopelessly muddled class in formal logic.
School of History & the Social Sciences: this school occupies portions of the Liberal Arts building. Its dean is Dr. Harvey Wilcox, a historian.
• Department of History: Dr. Martin Fen, 53, heads the department. He's an expert in European history since Napoleon. Though large in quantity of course, much of the department is given over to required courses in Commonwealth and United States history.
• Department of Ancient History: presently without a chairman.
• Department of Anthropology: despite chairman Abram Bethnell's extensive education and familiarity with the 12 original volumes of The Golden Bough and the rather ingenuous works of Margaret Murray, he has not the slightest inkling that the true forces of magic and darkness exists.
• Department of Archaeology: archaeology is a young science and still too headline hungry to have a good academic reputation. The youngish Dr. Francis Morgan is the chairman and only fulltime member of the department; he dreams of establishing rigorous methods and standards for all archaeological digs so that the past is not irrevocably lost. He is athletic, skilled with firearms, and a veteran of expeditions to primitive locations. He is currently taking flying lessons at the
New Jerusalem Airport and is a member of the New Jerusalem Gun Club.
• Department of Economics and Sociometrics; this department teaches economics as a theoretical science rather than a business course but does emphasize as it can the friction of reality. Great reliance is placed upon governmental statistics and independently-developed information and methods. Harvey Cox has been active in gathering global statistics which might be used by investigators to trace worldwide patterns of large-scale cultic activities. Dr. Anthony Westgate is department chairman.
Type
University / Educational complex
Parent Location
Owning Organization
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