The story
Founded by Charles Wesley Emerson in 1880.1
Origins
Charles Wesley Emerson founded the Boston Conservatory of Elocution, Oratory, and Dramatic Art in 1880, a year after Boston University closed its School of Oratory. Classes were held at Pemberton Square in Boston, where ten students enrolled in the conservatory's first class.
The following year, the institution changed its name to the Monroe Conservatory of Oratory, in honor of Charles Emerson's teacher at Boston University's School of Oratory, Professor Lewis B. Monroe.
In 1890, the name changed again to Emerson College of Oratory and was later shortened to Emerson College in 1939.
Early expansion and growth
The college expanded and rented space at 36 Bromfield Street, and moved to Odd Fellows Hall on Berkeley and Tremont Streets in the South End of Boston. With the new location, the college's first library was established in 1892. Henry Lawrence Southwick, a faculty member and alumnus, became a financial partner for the college with Charles Wesley Emerson in 1889. This financial partnership led to the acquisition of the Boston School of Oratory from Moses T. Brown in 1894.
At the turn of the century, faculty members Henry and Jessie Eldridge Southwick and William H. Kenney purchased the college from Dr. Emerson. Soon after, the college rented a new location in Chickering Hall.
Dr. Emerson retired in 1903 and William J. Rolfe, a Shakespearean scholar and actor, was named the second President of Emerson College of Oratory. His service as president lasted until his retirement in 1908.
As the Student Government Association of the college held its first meeting in 1908, the third president of the college, Henry Lawrence Southwick, was inaugurated. During his tenure, the study of acting and stagecraft became more prominent in the college curriculum and the college rented a new building at 30 Huntington Avenue in Copley Square. The college was also granted the right to award Bachelor of Literary Interpretation (B.L.I.) degrees. In addition, Emerson became the first school with a collegiate-level program in children's theater in 1919. The school offered its first course in Journalism in 1924.
The college purchased its first piece of real estate with a new women's dormitory building at 373 Commonwealth Avenue in the Back Bay, and started intramural sports in 1931 with the organization of volleyball games.
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Administrative restructuring
In 1930, full charge and control of the college was transferred to the Board of Trustees by William H. Kenney, Henry Lawrence Southwick, and Jessie Eldridge Southwick.
In 1932, the first course in radio broadcasting was taught by the program director of WEEI, a Boston AM radio station. Harry Seymour Ross became the fourth president of Emerson College in 1933. That year, the college purchased buildings at 128 and 130 Beacon Street, beginning its presence in Boston's Back Bay. Emerson kept ownership of these buildings until summer 2003.
In the following years, a professional training program in speech pathology (1935) and the first undergraduate program in broadcast journalism (1937) were offered for the first time in the United States. Construction of a theater behind 128–130 Beacon was completed in 1939, and the institution was granted the right to award Master of Arts degrees in 1941.
Post-war era
In the post-war era, the G.I. Bill of Rights and the Broadcasting curriculum contributed to the rebalancing of the student body from a primarily-female population to an equally-balanced population of men and women. Boylston Green, the first president to have no prior association with the college, used his background as a dean of students to enhance extracurricular activities, including the establishment of a student activities fee. These efforts led to the first publication of Emerson's student newspaper, The Berkeley Beacon, in 1947, which is still in production today.
Emerson also saw major development in its broadcasting program. A one-year Certificate of Broadcasting was offered via evening classes. The FCC awarded the college a 10-watt license in 1949, and WERS, the first educational FM radio station in New England, was born. The station's power was increased to 300 watts three years later, and 18,000 watts by 1953.
At the start of the decade, in 1950, Emerson College became a member of the New England Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools, an accreditation association for schools and colleges in New England.
President Green left the college in 1949 after being selected as president of the University of the South, and Godfrey Dewey served as Acting President until 1951. At that time, Jonathon French was appointed as Acting President, and he became president in December of that year, despite never being formally inaugurated.
Financial crisis of 1952 and recovery
The college suffered from a severe financial crisis in 1952, and sought $50,000 in emergency funding. At the time, the Chairman of the Corporation stated that without these funds, the college had three alternatives: go broke, sell out, or merge with another institution. Led by the National Alumni Council, a grassroots campaign was launched to improve the financial situation of the college. The efforts led to the resignation of the Council of Trustees, which was then replaced mostly by alumni. The new board elected a former Emerson history professor, S. Justus McKinley, as the fifth President of Emerson College.
Pulling out of its financial crisis, the college started to develop its programs with new facilities. In 1953, Emerson opened The Robbins Speech, Language and Hearing Clinic at 145 Beacon Street, furthering the Communication Sciences and Disorders Program. A television studio was dedicated at 130 Beacon in 1954, with its first closed-circuit TV program the following year as WERS-TV. The first annual spring musical, Lady in the Dark by Moss Hart, was presented. Later, the school was authorized to grant honorary degrees, Bachelors and Masters of Science in speech, and a Bachelors of Music in conjunction with the Longy School of Music.
Back Bay as Emerson's campus
As the 1960s started, 373 Commonwealth Avenue was sold to purchase a dormitory at 100 Beacon Street for 609 undergraduate and 29 graduate students. A year later, a building at 150 Beacon Street was obtained for dorms, a dining hall, and administrative offices. With major gifts from Elisabeth Abbot Smith and J.F. Buzzard, the college library moved from the fourth floor of 130 Beacon Street into its own building at 303 Berkeley Street. In 1964, two buildings were purchased: 96 Beacon Street, which became the student union building, and 132–134 Beacon Street, which became a dormitory. The campus remained primarily in Back Bay until the late 1990s.
In 1967, Richard Chapin, former Dean of the Harvard Business School was inaugurated as the seventh president of Emerson College.
Shortly afterwards, an academic planning committee approved a new course of study for general education requirements. The first level of this program replaced the college-wide requirements with a two-year interdisciplinary course of study and electives. In order to accommodate this new program, the building at 67–69 Brimmer Street was purchased. The Institute of Interdisciplinary Studies was born. In 1971, the college gained authorization to grant BFA and BS degrees, and in 1985 it was authorized to grant MFA degrees.
Attempted relocation
Though Emerson College has moved to various locations within the city of Boston, the appointment of Allen E. Koenig (the ninth President of Emerson College) almost took the college completely outside of Boston. As soon as he was inaugurated in 1979, Koenig initiated talks with Pine Manor College in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts to relocate Emerson and merge the two schools. However, an agreement was never reached and the plan was dropped entirely.
At the start of the 1980s, Koenig made a proposal to the board of trustees for a major renovation of the college's facilities. The plan allowed for new performance spaces, classrooms, and faculty offices at Brimmer Street; remodeling the Library and Learning Resources Center at 150 Beacon; remodeling the 303 Berkeley building for the Humanities and Social Sciences Division; a new radio/audio complex at 126 Beacon; and construction of two new television studios behind 130 Beacon. In 1984, 355 Commonwealth Avenue was purchased for Administration and 21 Commonwealth Avenue was purchased for the Communication Studies department. The college also received the authorization to grant MFA degrees in Creative Writing in 1985.
Despite the newly purchased Commonwealth Avenue buildings, Lawrence, Massachusetts, was soon being discussed as a new location for Emerson College, about 44.5 km (27.7 mi) away from Boston. The Mayor of Lawrence announced that the necessary land would be taken by eminent domain and sold to Emerson for a token payment of $100. However, the five affected private landowners disagreed with this arrangement and fought the city in court. Three years later in 1988, Judge John Forte ruled in favor of the City of Lawrence. The river-front site in Lawrence was proposed as the new campus for the college. However, as real estate values in Boston dropped and the costs of constructing a new campus increased, the plans were put on hold. Koenig resigned as president in 1989, and the plan was officially abandoned in 1990.
In 1988, the college bought a building at Zero Marlborough Street (also known as 6 Arlington Street) for dormitories and a dining hall.
Rebirth in the Historic Theater District
John Zacharis became the tenth President of Emerson College and faced a college fractured by the failed move to Lawrence, Massachusetts. Over the course of two years, he worked to restore unity to the campus by purchasing a building at 180 Tremont Street, now called the Ansin Building. This purchase started a transition from Back Bay to the Boston Theater District. Zacharis went on medical leave in 1992 and died of leukemia shortly after.
During Zacharis's leave, Jacqueline Weis Liebergott, then the college's vice president and academic dean, was appointed as Acting President and a year later was inaugurated as the college's first female president. Shortly after, she submitted a 10-year master plan to the Boston Redevelopment Authority which involved moving the college to the Washington Street Theatre District.
In the mid-1990s, a planning document of the college's future plans was drafted and public hearings were held. The college also extended health care benefits to domestic partners of gay and lesbian faculty, administration and staff. Under the plan, dental coverage and tuition waivers were also available.
In December 1993, the college received a $100,000 gift from Mary E. Tufte, which funded its online debut in 1994. Financed by the contribution, The Tufte Lab was placed on the fourth floor of the Ansin Building and dedicated in Mrs. Tufte's honor. The lab was the catalyst for a telecommunications/fiber optic network installation, which was completed in October 1995.
In addition, the college announced the purchase and restoration of The Little Building (1994) across the street from the Ansin Building and next to Emerson's Majestic Theatre. Restoration work on the facades of the college's buildings at 126, 128, 130, 132–134, 168 Beacon Street, and 21 Commonwealth Avenue was completed in 1994 and 1995.
In 1998, Emerson purchased the Walker Building (Boston) at 120 Boylston. The building currently hosts the school's Department of Television, Radio, Film Production, the Institutional Advancement (Alumni and Development) department, and the Government and Community Relations department. It also contains the school's library and many of its classrooms.
Early 21st century (2000–2019)
The Tufte Performance Production Center (PPC) at 10 Boylston Place opened in 2003. The 11-story steel-and-glass building houses the Department of Performing Arts and includes two theaters (The Semel Theatre and The Greene Theatre), two television studios, makeup and costume labs, faculty offices, and an exhibition area. Also that year, the Cutler Majestic Theatre finished renovations and re-opened as one of the main stages of Emerson Stage productions.
Circa 2001 Emerson adjuncts voted to establish a union and in 2004 ratified its first contract with the college. The Affiliated Faculty of Emerson College, American Association of University Professors (AFEC-AAUP) represents 240 adjunct faculty members at Emerson College as of 2022.
In 2004, it was announced that the buildings at 96, 100, and 132 Beacon had been sold and would be vacated by the Fall 2006 semester. Construction of a new 14-story residence hall at 150 Boylston Street began in March 2004, and was completed in September 2006. It is the first entirely-new residence hall in Emerson's history. The facility includes residential suites, athletic facilities, offices and meeting rooms for student organizations, informal gathering places for off-campus students, spaces for small-group rehearsals and performances, and dining facilities.
The school purchased Boston's historic Paramount Theatre on Washington Street in 2005, with plans to build a new complex at the site including a 565-seat main stage theater inside the existing Paramount Theater and a 125-seat black box theater in an adjacent new building. Plans also included a 200-seat film screening room, eight rehearsal studios ranging from 700 to 1,900 square feet (65 to 177 m2), six smaller rehearsal spaces, a sound stage for film students, a new scene shop, and a dormitory.
In May 2006, the Campus Center in the Piano Row building was named the Max Mutchnick Campus Center after a major gift from the 1987 graduate and co-creator of the television sitcom Will & Grace. In the same year, the school exercised its purchase option on the Colonial Theatre, adjacent to the Little Building, and then converted the upper floors of the building to a 372-bed dormitory. With the addition of dorm space here and at the Paramount Theatre, the school hoped to accommodate up to 75% of its students in on-campus housing by 2010.
In September 2006, a long-running labor dispute between the administrators and faculty union was resolved. The administration limited the union's role in promotion and tenure, and brought department chairs into administrative roles, where they were not covered by the union. In response, the college agreed not to dismantle the union.
In September 2007, students in Emerson Alliance for Gays, Lesbians, and Everyone (E.A.G.L.E.) as well as the Student Government Association (S.G.A.) received the gender neutral bathrooms they had pitched to the administration in the spring. In September 2016, every bathroom on Emerson's campus was converted into a gender inclusive restroom.
On December 2, 2009, President Liebergott announced she would step down in June 2011. On September 8, 2010, the college announced she would be succeeded by M. Lee Pelton of Willamette University.
On March 18, 2010, the newly renovated Paramount Center officially opened, with Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino illuminating the Paramount's original art deco marquee, which Emerson had restored. In addition to the 590-seat Paramount Theatre, the Paramount Center also houses an experimental black box theater, the Bright Family Screening Room, a sound stage, a scene/prop production shop, nine rehearsal studios, six practice rooms, four classrooms, 20 faculty offices, and a student commons area.
In 2014, a student sued the college for negligence in an instance of sexual assault and failing to provide her her Title IX rights. A Massachusetts judge ruled in favor of Emerson in this lawsuit and the second one intitiated by the same student in 2017.
In late 2019, Marlboro College announced that it would merge with Emerson at the end of the 2019–20 academic year. Under the agreement, finalized on July 23, 2020, Marlboro gave its endowment to Emerson, which created the Marlboro Institute of Liberal Arts and Interdisciplinary Studies. Marlboro students were guaranteed admission and tenure-track faculty were guaranteed teaching positions at Emerson. At that time, Marlboro had approximately 150 students.
Post-COVID and onward (2020–present)
In December 2020, President Lee Pelton announced his planned departure from Emerson College in June 2021 to assume a new role as CEO and President of the Boston Foundation. Jay M. Bernhardt became the 13th president of Emerson College on June 1, 2023, after serving as dean of the Moody College of Communication at the University of Texas at Austin. Bernhardt's investiture ceremony at the Cutler Majestic Theatre on March 22, 2024, coincided with a pro-Palestinian demonstration. He told organizers they could demonstrate "immediately outside" the venue so long as doors stayed clear. When 12 students and one non-student were arrested for disturbing the peace, Bernhardt said the incident caused "deep distress and anxiety," reaffirmed that Emerson "cherish[es] respectful dialogue," and asked prosecutors to drop the charges.
A month later, on April 25, 2024, 118 people, including many Emerson students, were arrested after Boston Police cleared a Boylston Place Alley encampment on a public walkway that was part of the nationwide college protests against the Israel-Hamas War. In campus statements, Bernhardt noted that Emerson had urged the city to delay the sweep, sent staff to precincts, posted bail for students, cancelled classes so the community could process events, and pledged not to file campus disciplinary cases. On April 26th, 2024, the Student Government Association called for the resignation of President Bernhardt.
In March 2025, Emerson announced its 2025-2030 strategic plan, Extraordinary Emerson 2030.
From Wikipedia’s article on Emerson College, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.5