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{{redirect|SJCA|the city in California|San Jose, California}}
{{Infobox University
{{Short description|Private liberal arts college in the United States.}}
|name = St. John's College
{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2023}}
|image = [[Image:Sjcseal.jpg|The Seal of St. John's College]]
{{Infobox university
|motto = Facio liberos ex liberis libris libraque <br>(''I make free men from children by means of books and a balance'')
| name = St. John's College
|established = [[1696]] as '''King William's School'''<br>[[1784]], '''Chartered'''<br>[[1937]], '''New Program'''
|type = [[Private school|Private]]
| image_size = 250px
| image_alt = The logo of St. John's College consists of a round seal with the words "St. John's College" arranged by it's side. The design of the seal consists of seven books arranged around a scale (balance) in the center. Around the seal are the words Facio liberos ex liberis libris libraque, which is the College's motto in Latin.
|president = Christopher Nelson, [[Annapolis, Maryland|Annapolis]], <br>Michael Peters, [[Santa Fe, New Mexico|Santa Fe]]
| motto = ''Facio liberos ex liberis libris libraque''
|city = [[Annapolis, Maryland|Annapolis]], [[Maryland|Maryland]]|
| motto_lang = la
state = <br>[[Santa Fe, New Mexico|Santa Fe]], [[New Mexico|New Mexico]]
| mottoeng = I make free adults from children by means of books and a balance
|country = [[United States|USA]]
| established = {{start date and age|1696}} (as King William's School)<br/>{{start date and age|1784}} (St. John's charter)
|undergrad = 450-475 per campus
| type = [[Private college|Private]] [[Liberal arts colleges in the United States|liberal arts college]]
|postgrad = 100
| endowment = $244.5 million (2023) <ref>{{Cite web |last=Luell |first=Sara |date=2023-10-18 |title=St. John’s College Annapolis Receives More Than $35 Million from Hodson Trust for Student Scholarships |url=https://www.sjc.edu/news/st-johns-college-annapolis-receives-more-35-dollars-million-hodson-trust-student-scholarships |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231201030257/https://www.sjc.edu/news/st-johns-college-annapolis-receives-more-35-dollars-million-hodson-trust-student-scholarships |archive-date=2023-12-01 |access-date=2024-05-02 |website=St. John's College {{!}} News & Features |quote="St. John’s College Annapolis today announced that the school has received $35.1 million from the Hodson Trust, bringing the college’s total endowment to $244.5 million and providing its students with an additional $1.8 million in financial scholarship support annually."}}</ref>
|staff = 134 total (both campuses)
|campus = [[Urban area|Urban]]
| budget = $47.7 million (2022)
<ref>{{Cite web |title=SUSTAINING STRENGTH 2022 Report for Alumni & Friends |url=https://www.sjc.edu/application/files/8616/7709/4007/St-Johns-College-Report-Alumni-Friends-2022.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230321165003/https://www.sjc.edu/application/files/8616/7709/4007/St-Johns-College-Report-Alumni-Friends-2022.pdf |archive-date=2023-03-21 |access-date=2024-05-02 |page=17 |type=Report |format=PDF |quote=$47.7 FY2022 Expenses (in millions)}}</ref>
|mascot =
| president = [[Nora Demleitner]] ([[Annapolis]]) <br/> J. Walter Sterling ([[Santa Fe, New Mexico|Santa Fe]])
|free_label = Athletics
| academic_staff = ~164 total (both campuses)
|free = [[Croquet]], [[Fencing]], [[Sport_rowing|Crew]], [[Intramural sports|Intramurals]], [[Search and Rescue]]
| undergrad = 775 (both campuses)<ref name="bruni" />
|website = [http://www.stjohnscollege.edu/ www.stjohnscollege.edu]
| postgrad = ~160
| city = [[Annapolis, Maryland]] and [[Santa Fe, New Mexico]]
| country = United States
| campus = Annapolis: [[Urban area|Urban]] <br/>Santa Fe: [[Urban area|Urban]] / Semi-rural
| colors = {{Color box|#FF5D28}} Orange
| athletics =
| mascot = Platypus/[[Axolotl]]{{efn|According to the website of the Annapolis campus's college bookstore, "Though the College has no mascot, the platypus sometimes fills in, wearing a St. John's College shirt and providing unique company for the students at St. John's." URL accessed 2006-07-27. The Santa Fe campus has soccer, football, and [[Ultimate Frisbee]] teams.}}
| website = {{URL|http://www.sjc.edu|sjc.edu}}
| image_name = St. John's College.svg
| former_name = King William's School<br />(1696–1784)
| coor = {{coord|38|58|57|N|76|29|33|W|region:US-MD_type:edu}}<br/>{{coord|35|40|3|N|105|54|44|W|region:US-NM_type:edu}}
| accreditation = [[Middle States Commission on Higher Education|MSCHE]] (Annapolis)<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-10-31 |title=St. John's College - Statement of Accreditation Status |url=https://www.msche.org/institution/0176/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240506194435/https://www.msche.org/institution/0176/ |archive-date=2024-05-06 |access-date=2024-05-06 |website=Middle States Commission on Higher Education |language=en-US}}</ref><br/>[[Higher Learning Commission|HLA]] (Santa Fe)<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-05-06 |title=Higher Learning Commission {{!}} Statement of Accreditation Status |url=https://www.hlcommission.org/component/directory/?Itemid=&Action=ShowBasic&instid=1509 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240506195054/https://www.hlcommission.org/component/directory/?Itemid=&Action=ShowBasic&instid=1509 |archive-date=2024-05-06 |access-date=2024-05-06 |website=Higher Learning Commission}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-05-03 |title=About St. John’s |url=https://www.sjc.edu/about |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240401195713/https://www.sjc.edu/about |archive-date=2024-04-01 |access-date=2024-05-03 |website=St. John's College |at=Accreditation and Licensure |quote=St. John’s College in Annapolis is accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools; St. John’s in Santa Fe is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission.}}</ref>
| religious_affiliation = [[Secularity|Secular]]
}}
}}


'''St. John's College''' is a [[Private college|private]] [[Liberal arts colleges in the United States|liberal arts college]] with campuses in [[Annapolis, Maryland]] and [[Santa Fe, New Mexico]]. As the successor institution of '''King William's School''', a [[University-preparatory school|preparatory school]] founded in 1696, St. John's is one of the [[Colonial colleges|oldest institutions of higher learning]] in the United States;<ref name="bruni">{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/11/opinion/contrarian-college-stjohns.html |title=The most contrarian college in America |last=Bruni |first=Frank |date=September 11, 2018 |work=The New York Times |access-date=2018-09-20 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite press release | url=http://www.stjohnscollege.edu/about/AN/campus.shtml | title=About St. John's College | publisher=St. John's College | access-date=December 20, 2012 | archive-date=October 4, 2013 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131004230659/http://www.stjohnscollege.edu/about/AN/campus.shtml | url-status=dead }}</ref> the current institution received a collegiate charter in 1784.<ref>{{cite book | url=https://archive.org/stream/somehistoricalac00stjo#page/n7/mode/2up | title=Some historical accounts of the founding of King William's school and its subsequent establishment as St. John's college, together with biographical notices of the various presidents from 1790–1894, also of some of the representative alumni of the College (1894)|via=Archive.org | year=1894| publisher=Annapolis [Baltimore, Press of the Friedenwald co.]| access-date=October 2, 2014}}</ref> In 1937, St. John's adopted a [[Great Books]] curriculum based on discussion of works from the [[Western canon]] of philosophical, religious, historical, mathematical, scientific, and literary works.
'''St. John's College''' describes itself as one college on two campuses: St. John's College, [[Annapolis, Maryland|Annapolis]] and St. John's College, [[Santa Fe, New Mexico|Santa Fe]]. As the successor to the '''King William's School''', a grammar school founded in [[1696]], St. John's College, Annapolis was chartered in [[1784]], making it one of the oldest institutions of higher learning in the U.S.


The college grants a single bachelor's degree in [[Liberal arts education|liberal arts]]. The awarded degree is equivalent to a double major in [[philosophy]] and the [[history of mathematics]] and [[History of science|science]], and a double minor in [[classics|classical studies]] and [[comparative literature]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Undergraduate Subjects: An Integrated Curriculum|url=https://www.sjc.edu/academic-programs/undergraduate/subjects|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210206031519/https://www.sjc.edu/academic-programs/undergraduate/subjects|archive-date=2021-02-06|access-date=2021-03-10|website=www.sjc.edu|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=St. John's College Transcript Support |url=https://www.sjc.edu/application/files/1514/6825/8701/PDF_Parchment_Transcript_Support.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231126203445/https://www.sjc.edu/application/files/1514/6825/8701/PDF_Parchment_Transcript_Support.pdf |archive-date=2023-11-26 |archive-format=PDF |access-date=2021-03-10 |website=St. John's College |format=PDF}}</ref> Two master's degrees are available through the college's graduate institute: one in liberal arts, which is a modified version of the undergraduate curriculum, and one in Eastern Classics, which applies a Great Books curriculum to a list of classic works from India, China, and Japan.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sjc.edu/academics/graduate/master-s-eastern-classics/ |title=Liberal Arts College - Great Books Program &#124; St. John's College |website=Sjc.edu |access-date=2016-12-24}}</ref>
Since [[1937]], the school has followed an unusual curriculum, called The New Program or the [[Great Books]] Program, based on discussion of works from the Western philosophic and literary canon. Within St. John's College, the curriculum is often referred to simply as "The Program." The [[Great Books]] program was developed at the [[University of Chicago]] by [[Stringfellow Barr]], [[Scott Buchanan]], [[Robert Hutchins]], and [[Mortimer Adler]] in the mid-1930s as an alternate form of education to the then rapidly changing undergraduate curriculum. The Great Books program in use at St. John's today was heavily influenced by Jacob Klein, who was Dean of the college in the 1940s and 1950s.

The four-year, nearly all-required program of study demands that students read and discuss the works of many of Western civilization's most prominent contributors to philosophy, theology, mathematics, science, music, poetry, and literature, such as [[Aristotle]], [[William Shakespeare|Shakespeare]], [[René Descartes|Descartes]], and [[Albert Einstein|Einstein]]. In line with the views the program's founders&mdash;who complained of "vocational interests" that "clutter" other college's curricula&mdash;"Johnnies", as St. John's students style themselves, usually value intellectual pursuits for their own sake, regardless of whether they have practical application.

Unlike mainstream U.S. colleges, St. John's eschews contemporary textbooks, lectures, and examinations. While traditional (A through F) grades are given, the culture of the school deemphasizes their importance. Grading is based largely on class participation and papers. Tutors, as faculty members are called at the College, play a non-directive role in the classroom, compared to mainstream colleges. However, at St. John's this does vary somewhat by course and instructor.

Despite its name, St. John's College has no religious affiliation. The school grants only one bachelor's degree. Two master's degrees are currently available, one in Western classics, which is a modified version of the undergraduate curriculm, and a parallel course of studies in Eastern Classics. The Master's in Eastern Classics is unique to St. John's Santa Fe, as no other accredited institution of higher learning in North America offers a similar degree. Both graduate degrees are awarded to graduate students through the college's Graduate Institute.


==History==
==History==
===Old program===
St. John's College traces its origins to King William's School, founded in 1696. King William's School was founded with an affiliation to the [[Church of England]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Perry |first=William Stevens |title=Some Historical Accounts of the Founding of King William's School and its Subsequent Establishment as St. John's College |isbn=978-0656792696 |location=[[Annapolis, Maryland]] |publication-date=1894 |pages=7–11 |chapter=King William's School, Annapolis, MD. |url=https://archive.org/details/somehistoricalac00stjo/page/n11/mode/2up}}</ref> In 1784, Maryland chartered St. John's College, which absorbed King William's School when it opened in 1785.<ref name="St. John's College Press">{{cite book|last1=Tilghman|first1=Tench Francis|title=The Early History of St. John's College in Annapolis|date=1984|publisher=St. John's College Press|location=Annapolis}}</ref> The college took up residence in a building known as Bladen's Folly (the current McDowell Hall), which was originally built to be the Maryland governor's mansion, but was not completed.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://hcap.artstor.org/cgi-bin/library?a=d&d=p1631 |title=The Council of Independent Colleges: Historic Campus Architecture Project |website=Hcap.artstor.org |date=1909-02-20 |access-date=2016-12-24}}</ref> There was some association with the [[Freemasons]] early in the college's history, leading to speculation that it was named after [[Saint John the Evangelist]].<ref>{{cite journal|title=1784: The Year St. John's College Was Named|journal=Maryland Historical Magazine|date=June 1979|volume=74|issue=2|pages=133–51}}</ref> The college's original charter, reflecting the Masonic value of religious tolerance as well as the religious diversity of the founders (which included [[Presbyterianism|Presbyterians]], [[Anglicanism|Episcopalians]], and the [[Roman Catholic]] [[Charles Carroll of Carrollton]]) stated that "youth of all religious denominations shall be freely and liberally admitted". The college always maintained a small size, generally enrolling fewer than 500 men at a time.


In its early years, the college was at least nominally [[public university|public]]—the college's founders had envisaged it as the Western Shore branch of a proposed "[[University of Maryland]]"—but a lack of enthusiasm from the [[Maryland General Assembly]] and its [[Eastern Shore of Maryland|Eastern Shore]] counterpart, [[Washington College (Maryland)|Washington College]], made this largely a paper institution. After years of inconsistent funding and litigation, the college accepted a smaller annual grant in lieu of being funded through the state's annual appropriations process. During the [[American Civil War|Civil War]], the college closed and its campus was used as a military hospital. In 1907 it became the undergraduate college of a loosely organized "University of Maryland" that included the [[University of Maryland at Baltimore|professional schools located in Baltimore]]. By 1920, when Maryland State College (founded in 1857 as Maryland Agricultural College) became the [[University of Maryland at College Park]], St. John's was a free-standing private institution.<ref name="St. John's College Press"/>
St. John's College was chartered in [[1784]] and later began granting bachelor's degrees. The first act of the newly chartered school was the incorporation of King William's School, a defunct grammar school established in [[1696]]. The college took up residience in a building known as Bladen's Folly, which was originally built to be the state govenor's mansion, but was not completed. There was some association with the [[Freemasons]] early in the college's history, leading to speculation that it was named after [[Saint John the Evangelist]], the patron saint of [[Freemasonry]]. The College's original charter, reflecting the Masonic value of religious tolerance as well as the religious diversity of the founders (they included both Presbyterians and Episcopalians), stated that "youth of all religious denominations shall be freely and liberally admitted."


The College curriculum has taken various forms throughout its history. Although it began with a general program of study in the liberal arts, St. John's was a military school for much of the 19th century. In contrast to [[Washington and Lee University]], a contemporary institution, the College always maintained a small size, generally enrolling fewer than 500 men at a time.
The college curriculum has taken various forms throughout its history. It began with a general program of study in the liberal arts, but St. John's was a [[military school]] for much of the late 19th century and early 20th century. It ended [[compulsory military training]] with [[Enoch Barton Garey|Major Enoch Garey's]] accession as president in 1923.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.capitalgazette.com/news/local/annapolis-past-to-present-military-life-at-st-john-s/article_38a185cf-9d7f-54cb-a830-ec5265a08a13.html
|work= The Capital
|title=Annapolis, past to present: Military life at St. John's
|last= Doyel
|first= Ginger
|date=2003-04-02
|access-date=2013-04-27
|url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130628203140/http://www.capitalgazette.com/news/local/annapolis-past-to-present-military-life-at-st-john-s/article_38a185cf-9d7f-54cb-a830-ec5265a08a13.html |archive-date=2013-06-28
}}</ref>
Garey and the Navy instituted a [[United States Navy Reserve|Naval Reserve]] unit in September 1924, creating the first-ever collegiate Department of [[naval science|Naval Science]] in the United States. But despite St. John's successfully pioneering the entire [[Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps|NROTC]] movement, student interest waned, the voluntary [[ROTC]] disappeared in 1926 with Garey's departure, and the Naval Reserve unit followed by 1929.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://blog.usni.org/2009/03/21/from-our-archive-the-naval-reserve-officers-training-corps-by-by-captain-chester-w-nimitz-u-s-navy |title=USNI Blog » Blog Archive » From Our Archive: The Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps by Capt. Chester W. Nimitz, USN 1928 |website=Blog.usni.org |access-date=2016-12-24}}</ref>


===New program===
In [[1936]], the College lost its accreditation.{{ref|xtalk}} The Board of Visitors and Governors, faced with dire financial straits caused by the [[Great Depression]], invited educational innovators [[Stringfellow Barr]] and [[Scott Buchanan]] to make a completely fresh start. They introduced a new program of study, which is essentially the one still in effect [[as of 2005]]. Buchanan became dean of the College, while Barr assumed its presidency.
{{wikisource|Catalogue of St. John's College, 1945}}
In 1936, the college lost its [[accreditation]].<ref name="quiet">{{webarchive|author=Kathy Witkowsky|year=1999|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080605203758/http://www.highereducation.org/crosstalk/ct0499/news0499-revolution.shtml|title=A Quiet Counterrevolution: St. John's College teaches the classics—and only the classics|publisher=highereducation.org: Educational Crosstalk|access-date=2024-04-02}}</ref> The Board of Visitors and Governors, faced with dire financial straits caused by the [[Great Depression]], invited educational innovators [[Stringfellow Barr]] and [[Scott Buchanan]] to make a completely fresh start. They introduced a new program of study, which remains in effect today. Buchanan became dean of the college, while Barr assumed its presidency. In his guide ''Cool Colleges'', Donald Asher writes that the New Program was implemented to save the college from closing: "Several benefactors convinced the college to reject a watered-down curriculum in favor of becoming a very distinctive academic community. Thus this great institution was reborn as a survival measure."<ref>{{cite book|author=Donald Asher|title=Cool Colleges|year=2007|publisher=Ten Speed Press|page=123|isbn=978-1-58008-839-8}}</ref>


In [[1938]], Walter Lippman wrote a column praising liberal arts education as a bulwark against fascism, and said “in the future, men will point to St. John’s College and say that there was the seed-bed of the American renaissance. {{ref|nelson1}}
In 1938, [[Walter Lippman]] wrote a column praising liberal arts education as a bulwark against fascism, and said, "In the future, men will point to St. John's College and say that there was the seed-bed of the American renaissance."<ref name="radical">Charles A. Nelson (2001),''Radical Visions: Stringfellow Barr, Scott Buchanan, and Their Efforts on behalf of Education and Politics in the Twentieth Century''. Bergin and Garvey, Westport, CT; {{ISBN|0-89789-804-4}}.</ref>


In 1940, national attention was attracted to St. John's by a story in ''[[Life (magazine)|Life]]'' entitled "The Classics: At St. John's They Come into Their Own Once More".<ref name="radical"/> Classic works unavailable in English translation were translated by faculty members, typed, mimeographed, and bound. They were sold to the general public as well as to students, and by 1941 the St. John's College bookshop was famous as the only source for English translations of works such as [[Copernicus]]'s ''[[De revolutionibus orbium coelestium]]'', [[Augustine of Hippo|St. Augustine]]'s ''[[Bibliography of Augustine of Hippo#Works|De musica]]'',<ref>{{cite web |last1=Jacobsson |first1=Martin |title=De musica {{!}} Augustine of Hippo |url=https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/585303 |website=goodreads.com |publisher=Almqvist & Wiksell Intl |access-date=18 May 2024}}</ref> and [[Ptolemy]]'s ''[[Almagest]]''.
In [[1940]], national attention was attracted to St. John's by a story in [[Life Magazine]] entitled: ''The Classics: At St. John’s They Come into Their Own Once More.'' {{ref|nelson2}}


The wartime years were difficult for the all-male St. John's. Enlistment and the draft all but emptied the college; 15 seniors graduated in 1943, eight in 1945, and three in 1946.<ref name="radical"/> From 1940 to 1946, St. John's was repeatedly confronted with threats of its land being seized by the Navy for expansion of the neighboring [[United States Naval Academy|U.S. Naval Academy]], and [[James Forrestal]], Secretary of the Navy, formally announced plans to do so in 1945. At the time, ''[[The New York Times]]'', which had expected a legal battle royale comparable to the [[Dartmouth College v. Woodward|1819 ''Dartmouth'' case]], commented that "although a small college of fewer than 200 students, St. John's has, because of its experimental liberal arts program, received more publicity and been the center of a greater academic controversy than most other colleges in the land. Its best-books program has been attacked and praised by leading educators of the day."<ref>"St. John's and Navy Facing Fight In Courts Over College's Campus", June 29, 1945, p. 17.</ref>
Classic works unavailable in English translation were translated by faculty members, typed, mimeographed, and bound. They were sold to the general public as well as to students, and by [[1941]] the St. John's College bookshop was famous as the only source for English translations of works such as [[Copernicus]]'s ''Revolutions of the Celestial Sphere,'' [[Augustine of Hippo|St. Augustine]]'s ''De Musica,'' and [[Ptolemy]]'s ''Mathematical Compositions.''
[[File:Evans Science Lab, St. John's College, Santa Fe.jpg|thumb|right|Evans Science Lab, Santa Fe campus]]
The constant threat of eviction discouraged Stringfellow Barr. In late 1946 Forrestal withdrew the plan to take over St. John's in the face of public opposition and the disapproval of the [[House Naval Affairs Committee]], but Barr and Scott Buchanan were already committed to leaving St. John's and launching [[Liberal Arts, Inc.]], a new, similar college in [[Stockbridge, Massachusetts]]; that project eventually failed—but thinking about other sites for the college eventually led to the opening of St. John's second campus in Santa Fe in 1964.


St John's had been founded as an all-white institution and continued as such in the early years of the New Program, with Barr actively discouraging black students from applying.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Smith |first1=J. Winfree |title=A Search for the Liberal College: The Beginning of the St. John's Program |date=1983 |publisher=St. John's College Press |location=Annapolis, MD}}</ref> However, by 1948 faculty and student sentiment had shifted and students, with the support of the faculty and administration, persuaded a reluctant Board of Visitors and Governors to integrate the college and St. John's became one of the first previously all-white colleges south of the [[Mason-Dixon line]] to admit black students voluntarily.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.sjca.edu/asp/alumAssocMain.aspx?page=6834 |title="Letter from Martin A. Dyer, Class of 1952, to St. John's Alumni", July 16, 2004 |access-date=2007-04-24 |url-status=bot: unknown |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051103051206/http://www.sjca.edu/asp/alumAssocMain.aspx?page=6834 |archive-date=November 3, 2005 }}, accessed July 26, 2007</ref>
The wartime years were difficult for St. John's. Enlistment and the draft all but emptied the college; 15 seniors graduated in 1943, 8 in 1945, and 3 in 1946.{{ref|nelson3}}


In 1949, Richard D. Weigle became president of St. John's. Following the chaotic and difficult period from 1940 to 1949, Weigle's presidency continued for 31 years,<ref>"Richard Weigle, 80, Served as President Of St. John's College" (Obituary), ''The New York Times'', December 17, 1992, p. B22.</ref> during which time the New Program and the college itself became well established.
From 1940 to 1946, St. John's was repeatedly confronted with threats of its land being seized by the Navy for expansion of the Naval Academy. In 1945, [[James Forrestal]], Secretary of the Navy, announced plans to seize the St. John's campus for expansion of the U. S. Naval academy. At the time, the [[New York Times]], which had expected a legal battle royal comparable to the Dartmouth case, commented{{ref|nyt1945}} that "although a small college of fewer than 200 students, St. John's has, because of its experimental liberal arts program, received more publicity and been the center of a greater academic controversy than most other colleges in the land. Its best-books program has been attacked and praised by leading educators of the day."


In 1951, St. John's became [[coeducational]], admitting women for the first time in its then-254-year history. There was some objection from students because they had not been involved in—nor even aware of—the decision before it was announced to the media, and from some who believed that the college could not remain a serious institution were it to admit women. Martin Dyer reported that women who were admitted quickly proved they were the academic and intellectual equals of their male counterparts.
The constant threat of eviction discouraged Stringfellow Barr. In late [[1946]] Forrestal withdrew the plan, in the face of public opposition and the disapproval of the House Naval Affairs Committee, but Barr and Scott Buchanan were already committed to leaving St. John's and attempting to launch a [[Liberal Arts, Inc.|new, similar college]] in [[Stockbridge, Massachusetts]]; the project eventually failed.


As enrollment grew during the 1950s, and facing the coming larger [[Baby boomer|baby-boom generation]], thoughts turned again towards opening another campus—but this time in addition to, not instead of, the one in Annapolis. Serious talk of expansion began in 1959 when the father of a student from [[Monterey, California]], suggested to President Weigle that he establish a new campus there. ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' ran an article on the college's possible expansion plans,<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20070930083205/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,895177-1,00.html "College Spawns College"], ''Time Magazine'', December 26, 1960, accessed April 28, 2007</ref> and 32 offers came in to the college from [[New Hampshire]], [[Oregon]], [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]], [[Alaska]], [[Florida]], [[Connecticut]], and other states.
In [[1949]], Richard D. Weigle (pronounced "why-gull") became president of St. John's. Following a difficult and chaotic period from 1940 to 1949, Weigle's presidency continued for 31 years<!--New York Times obituary "Richard Weigle, 80, Served as President Of St. John's College," Dec 17, 1992; ProQuest Historical Newspapers The New York Times (1851 - 2002)
pg. B22---> during which the college and New Program became well established as continuing institutions.


A group from the [[Monterey Peninsula]] told Weigle that they were definitely interested, though funding was a problem, and suitable land was a big question. There was also an offer of land in [[Claremont, California]], but competition with the other colleges there for students and financial contributions was a negative. The Riverside [[The Mission Inn Hotel & Spa|Mission Inn]] (in [[Riverside, California]]) was another possibility, but with only {{convert|5|acre|hectare}} of land and many renovations needed to the inn, funding was again a major issue.
In [[1951]], St. John's became coeducational, admitting women for the first time in its then-254-year history.
[[File:Levan Hall, St. John's College, Santa Fe.jpg|thumb|Levan Hall, Santa Fe campus]]
The three California locations were all still major contenders when Robert McKinney (publisher of ''[[The Santa Fe New Mexican]]'' and a former SJC board member) called and told Weigle that a group of city leaders had long been looking for another college for Santa Fe. During a lunch Weigle attended at [[John Gaw Meem]]'s house on the outskirts of Santa Fe in late January 1961, Meem volunteered that he had a little piece of land ({{convert|214|acre|hectare|disp=sqbr}}) that he would gladly donate to the college. After lunch, Weigle looked at the land and instantly fell in love with it. A committee of four faculty members (Robert Bart, Barbara Leonard, Douglas Allanbrook, and William Darkey) later visited the four sites in contention and, after much deliberation, recommended Santa Fe.<ref>"The Colonization of a College: The Beginnings and Early History of St. John's College in Santa Fe", by Richard D. Weigle, Fishergate Publishing Company (St. John's College Print Shop), Annapolis, 1985</ref>


In [[1961]] the governing board of St. John's approved plans to establish a second college at [[Santa Fe, New Mexico]]. According to Western mystery writer [[Tony Hillerman]], the site selection committee originally had expected to locate in [[Claremont, California]], and reluctantly accepted an invitation to inspect a New Mexico site. Hillerman spins a tale of the committeemen:
In 1961, the governing board of St. John's approved plans to establish a second college at [[Santa Fe, New Mexico|Santa Fe]]. Groundbreaking occurred on April 22, 1963, and the first classes began in 1964. As it turned out, shortly afterwards land was also donated to the college on the Monterey Peninsula, on condition that a campus be developed there by a certain date.
:made pale from the weak sun of the coastal climate and their scholarly profession, generally urban, generally Eastern, solidly W.A.S.P. They came from a world which was old Anglo-Saxon family, old books, Greek and Latin literacy, prep schools and Blue Point oysters and Ivy League; a world bounded on the north by Boston... and on the south by Virginia.
According to Hillerman, the Eastern scholars became captivated by the Sangre de Cristo range and the presence of mule deer tracks.{{ref|hillerman}} Groundbreaking occurred on [[April 22]], [[1963]], and the first classes held in [[1964]].


==Academics==
In [[1969]], Weigle was among 79 college presidents signing an [[October 9]]th letter to [[Richard M. Nixon]] urging a stepped-up timetable for withdrawal of U.S. troops from [[Vietnam war|Vietnam]]. The letter said they were "speaking as individuals" and described the war as "a denial of so much that is best in their society."
===Great Books program===
The [[Great Books]] program (often called simply "the Program" or "the New Program" at St. John's) was developed at the [[University of Chicago]] by [[Stringfellow Barr]], [[Scott Buchanan]], [[Robert Maynard Hutchins|Robert Hutchins]], and [[Mortimer Adler]] in the mid-1930s as an alternative form of education to the then rapidly changing undergraduate curriculum. St. John's adopted the Great Books program in 1937, when the college was facing the possibility of financial and academic ruin. The Great Books program in use today was also heavily influenced by [[Jacob Klein (philosopher)|Jacob Klein]], who was dean of the college in the 1940s and 1950s.


The four-year program of study, nearly all of which is mandatory, requires that students read and discuss the works of many of Western civilization's most prominent contributors to philosophy, theology, mathematics, science, music, poetry, and literature. Tutorials (mathematics, language, and music), as well as seminar and laboratory, are discussion-based. In the mathematics tutorial students often demonstrate propositions that mathematicians throughout various ages have laid out. In the language tutorial student translations are presented (ancient Greek is studied in the first two years and French for the last two). The tutorials, with seminar and laboratory, constitute the classes. All classes, and in particular the seminar, are considered formal exercises; consequently, students address one another, as well as their teachers, by their honorific and last name during class.
In [[2005]], St. John's was marred by scandal when it was revealed that the college had employed C.J. McCue to spy on Mark St. John, then the student activities director for the Santa Fe campus, in an effort to find a reason to dismiss him from the college. He sued the college and settled for a year's severance pay.{{ref|markstjohn}}


St. John's avoids modern textbooks, lectures, and examinations, in favor of a series of manuals. While [[Academic grading in the United States#Numerical and letter grades|traditional (A to F) grades]] are given and provided on transcripts, the culture of the school de-emphasizes their importance and grades are released only at the request of the student. Grading is based largely on class participation and papers. Tutors, as faculty members are called at the college, play a non-directive role in the classroom, compared to mainstream colleges. However, at St. John's this varies by course and instructor. Class size is small on both campuses, with a student to tutor ratio of 7:1. Seminar is the largest class, with around 20 students, but led by two tutors. Daytime tutorials are smaller, typically ranging between 12 and 16 students and are led by one tutor. Preceptorials are the smallest class size, ranging between 3 and 9 students.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.stjohnscollege.edu/about/quickfacts.shtml |title=St. John's College &#124; About &#124; Quick Facts |access-date=2009-06-18 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090310231645/http://www.stjohnscollege.edu/about/quickfacts.shtml |archive-date=2009-03-10 }}</ref>
Students have been complaining about poor treatment by the administration. The college initially refused to conduct an investigation into an alleged rape on the Santa Fe campus.{{ref|rape}} Many students were dismissed from the Annapolis campus after an internal cocaine investigation in which many students claimed that they were falsely accused. There have been complaints about staff attacks on students. Such complaints erupted into student protest when Webster Ye, a senior, was allegedly attacked by Roosevelt Langley, the Annapolis dining hall supervisor.{{ref|securityreports}}


The Program involves:
==Notable people associated with St. John's==
* Four years of literature, philosophy, and political science in seminar
* [[James M. Cain]], novelist; was professor of journalism at St. John's from [[1923]] to [[1924]]. Later famous for hard-boiled ''noir'' novels such as ''[[The Postman Always Rings Twice]]''.
* [[Elliott Carter]], composer, taught courses in physics, mathematics and classical Greek, as well as music, at St. John's from [[1939]] to [[1941]].
* [[Hillary Fields]], alumna; romance novelist; won the [[Pushcart Prize]] for a short story in 1998.
* [[Ahmet Ertegun]] founded [[Atlantic Records]] in [[1947]].
* [[Jac Holzman]] founded [[Elektra Records]] in [[1950]] while a student at St. John's.
* [[Francis Scott Key]], alumnus; lyricist of the [[United States of America|United States]] [[national anthem]], ''[[The Star-Spangled Banner]].
* [[Tom G. Palmer]], Senior Fellow at [[Cato Institute]].
* [[Glenn Yarbrough]], original lead tenor of [[The Limeliters]].
* [[Lee David Zlotoff]], creator of [[MacGyver]].

==Annapolis Campus==

St. John's is located in the Historic Annapolis district, one block away from the Maryland State Capitol building. Its proximity to the [[United States Naval Academy]] has inspired many a comparison to [[Athens]] and [[Sparta]]. The schools carry on a spirited rivalry seen in the annual [[croquet]] match between the two schools on the front lawn of St. John's, which has been called by [[Gentleman's Quarterly]] "the purest intercollegiate athletic event in America." St. John's has won 14 out of the last 18 matches.

The center of campus, McDowell Hall, was built in [[1734]]. Its Great Hall has seen many college events, from balls feting Generals Lafayette and Washington to the unique St. John's institutions called waltz parties, which have gradually evolved to consist mostly of swing dancing, though waltz, polka, and even some tango are still played.

==Santa Fe Campus==

St. John's is located at the foot of Monte Sol, on the eastern edge of Santa Fe. It was opened in 1964 due to the increase in qualified applicants at the Annapolis campus. The College chose to open a second campus rather than destroy the intimate feel of the Annapolis campus.

The Santa Fe campus offers students a more secluded atmosphere and better weather than the Annapolis campus, in addition to the vast Pecos Wilderness and Sangre de Cristo Mountains. The college maintains gear to facilitate student use of the outdoors, such as kayaks, rafts, hiking equipment, and sports equipment. In addition, the college [[Search and Rescue]] team is recognized throughout the Southwest, participating in a wide variety of rescue missions in conjuction with the New Mexico State Police and other volunteer teams.

==Curriculum Overview==

The program involves:
* Four years of literature and philosophy in seminar
* Four years of mathematics
* Four years of mathematics
* Three years of laboratory science
* Three years of laboratory science
* Two years of Ancient Greek
* Four years of language (Ancient Greek, Middle/Early English, and French)
* Two years of French
* Freshman year chorus followed by sophomore year music
* Freshman year chorus followed by sophomore year music


The Great Books are not literally the only texts used at St. John's. Greek and French classes make use of supplemental materials that are more like traditional textbooks. Science laboratory courses and mathematics courses use manuals prepared by faculty members that combine source materials with workbook exercises. For example, the mathematics tutorial combines a 1905 paper by [[Albert Einstein]] with exercises that require the student to work through the mathematics used in the paper.
The Great Books are not the only texts used at St. John's. Greek and French classes make use of supplemental materials that are more like traditional textbooks. Science laboratory courses and mathematics courses use manuals prepared by faculty members that combine source materials with workbook exercises. For example, the mathematics tutorial combines a 1905 paper by [[Albert Einstein]] with exercises that require the student to work through the mathematics used in the paper.<ref>Harty, Rosemary (2005), Director of Communications, St. John's College, Annapolis, personal communication (Source details of non-Great-Books materials used at St. John's)</ref>


===Graduate Institute Liberal Arts program===
Nevertheless, the emphasis on source materials is strong; all seminar readings are from the book list, and music is studied from scores that are primary sources.
The Graduate Institute in Liberal Education was established at St. John's College in 1967 as a summer program on the Santa Fe campus. The size and scope of the Institute have expanded so that currently both the Annapolis and Santa Fe campuses offer year-round graduate-level study based on the principles of the St. John's undergraduate program. Students in the Liberal Arts program explore the persisting questions of human existence by studying classic works of the western tradition. This program is organized into five semester-long thematic segments: Philosophy and Theology, Politics and Society, Literature, Mathematics and Natural Science, and History. Students earn a Master of Arts in Liberal Arts (MALA) by completing four of these five segments. A common curriculum provides the basis for a shared intellectual community; discussion with fellow students and faculty is the mode of learning both inside and outside the classroom. Each semester, students attend a seminar, a tutorial and a preceptorial—all carried out as small-group discussions under the guidance of St. John's faculty members. These three types of classes are the framework of the distinctive St. John's educational experience.


===Eastern Classics program===
==Criticism and Controversy==
At the Santa Fe campus, there is a program offering a [[Master of Arts]] in Eastern Classics (MAEC). This program is three semesters long and is designed to be completed in one 12-month period. The impetus for the program came with the recognition that the undergraduate program simply could not do justice to the Great Books of the three main Asian traditions ([[India]], [[China]] and [[Japan]]) by trying to squeeze in a few works among so many European masterworks. The EC program therefore provides a full set of readings in the philosophical, religious and literary traditions of the three cultures listed above. Thus, students learn Chinese culture by reading not only [[Confucius]], [[Laozi]] and [[Zhuang Zhou|Zhuangzi]], but also [[Mencius]], [[Xun Zi]], [[Han Feizi]], and [[Mozi]], as well as historical narratives by [[Sima Qian]] and the ''[[Zuo Zhuan]]'', the later movement of [[Neo-Confucianism]] and [[Zhu Xi]], narrative works such as ''[[Journey to the West]]'' or the ''[[Romance of the Three Kingdoms]]'' and the great Chinese poets, [[Li Bai]], [[Wang Wei (Tang dynasty)|Wang Wei]] and [[Du Fu]]. This list represents only one-third of the required corpus, which also covers the major teachings and branches of [[Hinduism]] and the development of [[Theravada]], [[Mahayana]] and [[Zen]] [[Buddhism]], as well as such literary masterpieces as the ''[[Mahabharata]]'', ''[[Shakuntala]]'', ''[[The Tale of Genji]]'', ''[[Oku no Hosomichi|The Narrow Road to the Deep North]]'', and others. Students also take a language, either [[Sanskrit]] or [[Classical Chinese]].


===Mitchell Art Museum===
St. John's curriculum has drawn criticism and inspired controversy since its inception. It went far beyond the then-existing [[Columbia University]] and [[University of Chicago]] Great Books programs in making the Great Books the entire curriculum rather than one of many courses of study, and in extending the Great Books approach to the sciences as well as the humanities.
In 1989, with a generous gift from Elizabeth Myers Mitchell and her husband Carlton Mitchell (a well-known sailor), the college built a campus gallery, then known as the Elizabeth Myers Mitchell Art Gallery to present museum-quality exhibitions to the greater Annapolis community. In 2014, the gallery achieved national accreditation from the American Alliance of Museums. In 2023, the name was changed to the Elizabeth Myers Mitchell Art Museum in celebration of the accreditation.


===Rankings===
Writing in 1938, just after the first group of freshmen completed their first semester under the new curriculum, Stringfellow Barr{{ref|barr1938}} insisted that there was nothing radical about the curriculum and that it was
In 2024, ''[[U.S. News & World Report]]'' ranked St. John’s #75 in National Liberal Arts Colleges, #35 in Best Value Schools, and #25 in Best Undergraduate Teaching<ref>{{cite web |title=St. John's College |url=https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/st-johns-college-maryland-2092 |website=usnews |publisher=[[U.S. News & World Report]] |access-date=4 March 2024}}</ref> out of 211 Best National Liberal Arts Colleges.<ref>{{cite web |title=National Liberal Arts Colleges Rankings |url=https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/rankings/national-liberal-arts-colleges |website=usnews.com |publisher=U.S. News & World Report |access-date=4 March 2024}}</ref>
:merely carrying out the terms of the eighteenth century charter of St. John's and restoring discipline in the liberal arts and an acquaintance with our intellectual heritage in place of the vocational interests and cafeteria courses that clutter our liberal arts curricula today.
He referred to "opponents of the St. John's program" and said that they consider it "authoritarian and fascist." He said that some "suspect that some sort of Catholic indoctrination is being attempted" because of the inclusion of Aristotle and medieval scholastic works in the curriculum, while "Catholic educators have denounced the list for including Marx and Freud."


==Campuses==
Writing in 1944, Sidney Hook{{ref|hook}} quotes [[Bertrand Russell]]
===Annapolis campus===
:The subject on which you write is one about which I feel very strongly. I think the 'Best Hundred Books' people are utterly absurd on the scientific side. I was myself brought up on Euclid and Newton and I can see the case for them. But on the whole Euclid is much too slow-moving. Boole is not comparable to his successors. Descartes' geometry is surpassed by every modern textbook of analytical geometry. The broad rule is: historical approach where truth is unattainable, but not in a subject like mathematics or anatomy.
St. John's is located in the Historic Annapolis district, one block away from the Maryland State Capitol building. Its proximity to the [[United States Naval Academy]] (across King George Street) has inspired many comparisons to [[Classical Athens|Athens]] and [[Sparta]]. The two schools carry on a spirited rivalry seen in their annual [[croquet]] match on the front lawn of St. John's, which has been called by ''[[GQ]]'' ''"the purest intercollegiate athletic event in America."'' {{As of| 2024}} St. John's has won 32 of the 40 annual matches.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.sjc.edu/annapolis/events/croquet/facts|title=The Annapolis Cup – Croquet Match Fact Sheet |website=St. John's College |access-date=2018-09-13}}</ref> About the Johnnies' commitment to the event, one midshipman commented, "They're out practicing croquet every afternoon! Alabama should take football this seriously."<ref>Multiple references:
and [[Albert Einstein]]:
*{{cite web
:In my opinion there should be no compulsory reading of classical authors in the field of science.... lectures concerning the historical development of ideas in different fields are of great value for intelligent students, for such studies are furthering very effectively the independence of judgment and independence from blind belief in temporarily accepted views. I believe that such lectures should be treated as a kind of beautiful luxury and the students should not be bothered with examinations concerning historical facts.
|last=Cox
St. John's provokes to an intensified degree the long-standing question of whether a liberal arts degree is suitable preparation for modern-day employment. In 1937, [[Robert Hutchins]] insisted that other educational methods "fail in all respects&mdash;we don't get either good practitioners or well-educated people." He said that thirty-six industries in Minneapolis and St. Paul, answering a questionnaire, said that they preferred "no specific education in schools" for their workers.{{ref|hutchins}}
|first=Erin
|date=April 18, 2010
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|url=http://www.hometownannapolis.com/news/top/2010/04/18-51/Rite-of-spring-St-Johns-crushes-Navy-at-croquet.html?ne=1
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120225044101/http://www.hometownannapolis.com/news/top/2010/04/18-51/Rite-of-spring-St-Johns-crushes-Navy-at-croquet.html?ne=1
|archive-date=February 25, 2012
|title=Rite of spring: St. John's crushes Navy at croquet
|work=The Annapolis Capital Hometownannapolis.com
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|access-date=2021-02-12}}
*{{cite web
|last=Rushin
|first=Steve
|date=1997
|url-status=unfit |url=http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/features/1997/jockschools/best9.html
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20031226124121/http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/features/1997/jockschools/best9.html
|archive-date=December 26, 2003
|title=Jock schools U.S.A.
|work=SI.com Sports Illustrated
|publisher=CNN
|access-date=2021-02-21}}</ref>


Construction of McDowell Hall at the center of campus began in 1742 by Provincial [[Governor of Maryland]] [[Thomas Bladen]], but was not completed until after the end of the Colonial period.<ref>{{cite book|last=Mereness|first=Newton Dennison|title=Maryland as a Proprietary Province|publisher=The MacMillan Company|year=1901|location=London|pages=[https://archive.org/details/marylandasaprop02meregoog/page/n373 350]–53|url=https://archive.org/details/marylandasaprop02meregoog|quote=Thomas Bladen subject:Maryland.|asin=B0006BT5K4}}</ref> The 23,000-square-foot historic building underwent some improvements in 2017–18.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.capitalgazette.com/news/annapolis/ac-cn-sjc-mcdowell-hall-renovation-20180407-story.html|title=McDowell Hall, heart of St. John's College campus, gets a makeover|last=Winters|first=Wendi|work=capitalgazette.com|access-date=2018-09-19|language=en-US}}</ref> Its Great Hall has seen many college events, from balls feting Generals [[Gilbert du Motier, marquis de La Fayette|Lafayette]] and [[George Washington|Washington]] to the unique St. John's institutions called waltz parties.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.sjca.edu/asp/main.aspx?page=6586 |title=Archived copy |access-date=2006-09-16 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060902055548/http://www.sjca.edu/asp/main.aspx?page=6586 |archive-date=2006-09-02 }}</ref>
==Ranking and Reputation==
In 1975, a St. John's graduate gave this description{{ref|davidoff}} of how a St. John's degree was received by other institutions:
:Bernard M. Davidoff, M. D., a graduate of St. John's in 1969 and of Columbia Medical School... said the medical schools to which he applied reacted to his unconventional preparation in two ways. "Those who had not heard of St. John's were not impressed. Those who knew of the college generally waived requirements." Like most St. John's alumni who enter medical school, he took an undergraduate course in organic chemistry at another college. Dr. Davidoff... cited only one difficulty in adapting to medical school. "I didn't have any interesting people to talk to," he recalled.
Motivational business speaker [[Zig Ziglar]] included a chapter on "St. John's: A College That Works" in a [[1997]] book{{ref|ziglar}}. He said St. John's holds fast to the "medieval" notion that all knowledge is one and states that "the books they use are terribly hard." He notes that the school "ranks fifth nationally in the number of graduates earning doctorates in the humanities" and is impressed by the 81% of graduates entering education, engineering, law, medicine, and other professions. He concludes "Sounds like St. John's is onto something. Maybe more schools should take that approach."


Mellon Hall, constructed in 1958, was designed by noted architect [[Richard Neutra]].
St. John's runs counter to the usual emphasis on rankings and selectivity.
[[As of 2005]], St. John's college has chosen not to participate in any collegiate rankings surveys, has not sent them their requested survey information, and is not included. President Christopher B. Nelson states that "In principle, St. John's is opposed to rankings." He notes that
:Over the years, St. John's College has been ranked everywhere from third, second, and first tier, to one of the "Top 25" liberal arts colleges. Yet, the curious thing is: We haven't changed. Our mission and our methods have been virtually constant for almost 60 years. So when it comes to the U.S. News and World Report rankings, we would rather be ourselves and have our college speak for itself, than be subjected to fluctuating outside analysis.{{ref|nelson}}
An educational reporter{{ref|xtalk2}} notes:
:Unlike many top-flight liberal arts colleges, St. John's isn't all that hard to get into: The school accepts 75 to 80 percent of applicants, primarily based on three written essays and, to a certain extent, grades. There is no application fee, and standardized tests, like the Scholastic Assessment Test, are optional. About three-quarters of the enrolled students ranked in the top half of their high school class, but only one fifth graduated in the top tenth. School officials said that's because they're less concerned that the applicant show a body of accumulated knowledge than a true desire for attaining it.


====St. John's College Observatory====
Still, the College Board reports that nearly all students submit SAT scores, and those of St. John's students are among the highest in the nation, with the middle 50% of first year students scoring between 660-780 on the SAT Reasoning Verbal and 590-680 on the SAT Reasoning Math.
The observatory facility, located at the top of the Foucault pendulum tower in Mellon Hall, contains two permanently mounted telescopes, a 12" [[Schmidt–Cassegrain telescope]] model LX200 and a 16" [[Newtonian telescope]], both made by [[Meade Instruments]]. The [[Foucault Pendulum]] is located at the top of the four-story tower. The pendulum drive magnet is housed within a cast iron cone in the Observatory facility. The magnet is keyed to turn on and off as the [[pendulum]] swings by using technology such as a [[photoresistor]] that determine the center of the pendulum's swing.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://thucydides.sjca.edu/~stars/observatory-about.html |title=St. John's College Observatory – About Us |website=Thucydides.sjca.edu |access-date=2016-12-24}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://thucydides.sjca.edu/~stars/pendulum-about.html |title=St. John's College Foucault Pendulum |website=Thucydides.sjca.edu |access-date=2016-12-24}}</ref>


===Santa Fe campus===
Princeton Review's list of the twenty colleges with the "happiest students" includes both St. John's campuses, the Santa Fe campus ranking seventh and the Annapolis campus ranking seventeenth.
[[File:St. John's College Holi.jpg|thumb|left|upright=.7|Holi Celebration at Santa Fe Campus]]
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St. John's Santa Fe campus is located on the eastern edge of Santa Fe, close to [[Atalaya Mountain (Santa Fe County, New Mexico)|Atalaya Mountain]]. It was opened in 1964 in response to the increase in qualified applicants at the Annapolis campus. The college chose to open a second campus rather than increase the size of the Annapolis campus. The second campus was part of a larger project to construct six campuses across the country. St. John's abandoned the concept when it later sold a tract of land it owned in [[Monterey, California]].


===Student body===
St. John's has a reputation for being politically liberal — in the past it has made several of the liberal lists on the Princeton Review. However, that reputation may not be completely accurate (even in the case of the Santa Fe campus which is often regarded as more liberal than Annapolis) — while the campus is left-leaning politically, one commentator in the Princeton Review warns: "This isn't really a good place for wandering hippie types who subscribe to a pluralist philosophy of absolute tolerance."
Within the Class of 2022, 36 U.S. states and 15 countries are represented. Approximately 99% of students receive financial aid.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Stringfellow|first1=Johnnie|url=https://www.sjc.edu/admissions-and-aid/undergraduate/apply/freshman-class-profile|title=St. John's College Freshman Class Profile |website=St. John's College Freshman Class Profile}}</ref> First-year undergraduate students range in age from 15 to 65. The student body is relatively small compared to other liberal arts colleges, with a population historically below 500 students on each campus during a year. The average ratio is 6 students for each professor. The college offers many community seminars and lectures that are available to the public.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.stjohnscollege.edu/user/PROFILE.aspx |title=Archived copy |access-date=2006-02-12 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060207161729/http://www.stjohnscollege.edu/user/PROFILE.aspx |archive-date=2006-02-07 }}</ref>


====Admissions====
==Curriculum Details==
St. John’s has been test optional for 40 years. While the Admissions Committee will assess traditional factors such academic record, grades, and any test scores provided, it evaluates applicants through admission essays and interviews.<ref>{{cite web |title=How to Apply to St. John’s |url=https://www.sjc.edu/admissions-and-aid/undergraduate/apply |website=sjc.edu |publisher=St. John’s College |access-date=4 March 2024}}</ref> In 2023, the college accepted 49.9% of applicants, with those admitted having an average 3.81 [[Academic grading in the United States#Grade conversion|GPA]] and those submitting test scores having an average 1250–1460 [[SAT]], or average 30-33 [[ACT (test)|ACT]], score.<ref>{{cite web |title=St John's Admission Requirements |url=https://www.collegesimply./colleges/maryland/st-johns-college/admission/ |website=collegesimply.com |publisher=CollegeSimply {{!}} U.S. Department of Education National Center for Education Statistics |access-date=4 March 2024}}</ref>


==Notable people associated with St. John’s==
===The Great Books===
{{Main|List of St. John's College (Annapolis/Santa Fe) people}}

The same set of Great Books is the basis of the curriculum at both campuses of St. John's College. [[As of 2005]], it is:

====Freshman Year====
[[Homer]]: ''[[Iliad]]'', ''[[Odyssey]]''<br>
[[Aeschylus]]: ''[[The_Oresteia#Agamemnon|Agamemnon]]'', ''[[The_Oresteia#The_Libation_Bearers|Libation Bearers]]'', ''[[The_Oresteia#The_Eumenides|The Eumenides]]'', ''[[Prometheus Bound]]''<br>
[[Sophocles]]: ''[[Oedipus the King|Oedipus Rex]]'', ''[[Oedipus at Colonus]]'', ''[[Antigone (Sophocles)|Antigone]]'', ''[[Philoctetes (Sophocles)|Philoctetes]]''<br>
[[Thucydides]]: ''[[History of the Peloponnesian War]]''<br>
[[Euripides]]: ''[[Hippolytus (play)|Hippolytus]]'', ''[[The Bacchae]]'' <br>
[[Herodotus]]: ''[[The Histories of Herodotus|Histories]]''<br>
[[Aristophanes]]: ''[[The Clouds|Clouds]]'' <br>
[[Plato]]: ''[[Meno]]'', ''[[Gorgias (dialogue)|Gorgias]]'', ''[[Plato's Republic|Republic]]'', ''[[Apology]]'', ''[[Crito]]'', ''[[Phaedo]]'', ''[[Symposium (Plato)|Symposium]]'', ''[[Parmenides (dialogue)|Parmenides]]'', ''[[Theaetetus]]'', ''[[Sophist]]'', ''[[Timaeus (dialogue)|Timaeus]]'', ''[[Phaedrus (Plato)|Phaedrus]]'' <br>
[[Aristotle]]: ''[[Poetics]]'', ''[[Physics]]'', ''[[Metaphysics]]'', ''[[Nicomachean Ethics]]'', ''[[On Generation and Corruption]]'', ''[[Politics]]'', ''[[Parts of Animals]]'', ''[[On the Generation of Animals|Generation of Animals]]'' <br>
[[Euclid]]: ''[[Euclid's Elements|Elements]]'' <br>
[[Lucretius]]: ''[[On the Nature of Things]]'' <br>
[[Plutarch]]: ''Lycurgus'', ''Solon''<br>
[[Nicomachus]]: ''Arithmetic'' <br>
[[Antoine Lavoisier]]: ''Elements of Chemistry'' <br>
[[William Harvey]]: ''[[Exercitatio Anatomica de Motu Cordis et Sanguinis in Animalibus|Motion of the Heart and Blood]]''<br>
Essays by: [[Archimedes]], [[Gabriel Fahrenheit]], [[Amedeo Avogadro]], [[John Dalton]], [[Cannizzaro]], [[Virchow]], [[Edme Mariotte]], [[Hans Adolf Eduard Driesch|Hans Driesch]], [[Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac]], [[Hans Spemann]], [[Stears]], [[J.J. Thomson]], [[Dmitri Mendeleev]], [[Berthollet]], [[Joseph Proust]]

====Sophomore Year====
''The [[Bible]]''<br>
[[Aristotle]]: ''De Anima'', ''On Interpretation'', ''Prior Analytics'', ''Categories''<br>
[[Apollonius of Perga|Apollonius]]: ''[[Conics]]''<br>
[[Virgil]]: ''[[Aeneid]]''<br>
[[Plutarch]]: ''Caesar'' and ''Cato the Younger''<br>
[[Epictetus]]: ''Discourses'', ''Manual''<br>
[[Tacitus]]: ''[[Annals (Tacitus)|Annals]]''<br>
[[Ptolemy]]: ''[[Almagest]]''<br>
[[Plotinus]]: ''[[Enneads|The Enneads]]''<br>
[[Augustine of Hippo]]: ''[[Confessions (book)|Confessions]]''<br>
[[Anselm of Canterbury]]: ''Proslogion''<br>
[[Thomas Aquinas]]: ''[[Summa Theologiae]]'', ''[[Summa Contra Gentiles]]''<br>
[[Dante Alighieri|Dante]]: ''[[Divine Comedy]]''<br>
[[Geoffrey Chaucer]]: ''[[Canterbury Tales]]''<br>
[[Josquin Des Prez]]: ''Mass''<br>
[[Niccolò Machiavelli]]: ''[[The Prince]]'', ''[[Discourses on Livy]]''<br>
[[Nicolaus Copernicus]]: ''[[De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium|On the Revolutions of the Spheres]]''<br>
[[Martin Luther]]: ''The Freedom of a Christian''<br>
[[François Rabelais]]: ''[[Gargantua and Pantagruel]]''<br>
[[Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina]]: ''Missa Papae Marcelli''<br>
[[Michel de Montaigne]]: ''Essays''<br>
[[François Viète]]: ''Introduction to the Analytical Art''<br>
[[Francis Bacon]]: ''[[Novum Organum]]''<br>
[[William Shakespeare]]: ''[[Richard II (play)|Richard II]]'', ''Henry IV'', ''[[Henry V (play)|Henry V]]'', ''[[The Tempest (play)|The Tempest]]'', ''[[As You Like It]]'', ''[[Hamlet]]'', ''[[Othello]]'', ''[[Macbeth]]'', ''[[King Lear]]'', ''[[Coriolanus (play)|Coriolanus]]'', ''[[Shakespeare's sonnets|Sonnets]]''<br>
Poems by: [[Andrew Marvell]], [[John Donne]], and other [[16th century|16th]]- and [[17th century|17th-century]] poets<br>
[[René Descartes]]: ''[[La Géométrie|Geometry]]'', ''[[Discourse on Method]]''<br>
[[Blaise Pascal]]: ''Generation of Conic Sections''<br>
[[Johann Sebastian Bach]]: ''St. Matthew Passion'', ''Inventions''<br>
[[Joseph Haydn]]: ''Quartets''<br>
[[Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart]]: ''Operas''<br>
[[Ludwig van Beethoven]]: ''Sonatas''<br>
[[Franz Schubert]]: ''Songs''<br>
[[Igor Stravinsky]]: ''Symphony of Psalms''<br>

====Junior Year====
[[Miguel de Cervantes]]: ''[[Don Quixote]]''<br>
[[Galileo Galilei]]: ''[[Two New Sciences|Dialogues on Two New Sciences]]''<br>
[[René Descartes]]: ''[[Meditations on First Philosophy]]'', ''[[Rules for the Direction of the Mind]]''<br>
[[John Milton]]: ''[[Paradise Lost]]''<br>
[[François de La Rochefoucauld]]: ''Maximes''<br>
[[Jean de La Fontaine]]: ''Fables''<br>
[[Blaise Pascal]]: ''[[Pensées]]''<br>
[[Christiaan Huygens]]: ''Treatise on Light'', ''On the Movement of Bodies by Impact''<br>
[[George Eliot]]: [[Middlemarch]]<br>
[[Baruch Spinoza]]: ''[[Theologico-Political Treatise]]''<br>
[[John Locke]]: ''[[Second Treatise of Government]]''<br>
[[Jean Racine]]: ''[[Phèdre]]''<br>
[[Isaac Newton]]: ''[[Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica|Principia Mathematica]]''<br>
[[Johannes Kepler]]: ''Epitome IV''<br>
[[Gottfried Leibniz]]: ''Monadology'', ''Discourse on [[Metaphysics]]'', ''Essay on Dynamics'', ''Philosophical Essays'', ''Principles of Nature and Grace''<br>
[[Jonathan Swift]]: ''[[Gulliver's Travels]]''<br>
[[David Hume]]: ''A Treatise of Human Nature''<br>
[[Jean-Jacques Rousseau]]: ''[[Social Contract]]'', ''[[Discourse on Inequality|Discourse on Origins of Inequality]]''<br>
[[Molière]]: ''[[Le Misanthrope|The Misanthrope]]''<br>
[[Adam Smith]]: ''[[Wealth of Nations]]''<br>
[[Immanuel Kant]]: ''[[Critique of Pure Reason]]'', ''[[Groundwork of the Metaphysic of Morals|Foundations of the Metaphysics of Morals]]'', ''[[Metaphysics of Morals]]''<br>
[[Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart]]: ''[[Don Giovanni]]''<br>
[[Jane Austen]]: ''[[Pride and Prejudice]]''<br>
[[Richard Dedekind]]: ''Essay on the Theory of Numbers''<br>
[[Leonhard Euler]]

====Senior Year====
[[United States Declaration of Independence|Declaration of Independence]]<br>
[[United States Constitution|The Constitution]]<br>
[[Supreme Court of the United States|Supreme Court]] opinions<br>
[[Alexander Hamilton|Hamilton]], [[John Jay|Jay]], and [[James Madison|Madison]]: The ''[[Federalist Papers]]''<br>
[[Charles Darwin]]: ''[[The Origin of Species]]''<br>
[[Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel]]: ''[[Phenomenology of Spirit|Phenomenology of Mind]]'', "[[Science of Logic|Logic]]" (from the ''[[Encyclopedia of the Philosophical Sciences|Encyclopedia]]'')<br>
[[Nikolai Ivanovich Lobachevsky]]: ''Theory of Parallels''<br>
[[Alexis de Tocqueville]]: ''[[Democracy in America]]''<br>
[[Abraham Lincoln]]: ''Selected Speeches''<br>
[[Søren Kierkegaard]]: ''[[Philosophical Fragments]]'', ''[[Fear and Trembling]]''<br>
[[Karl Marx]]: ''[[Das Kapital|Capital]]'', ''Political and Economic Manuscripts of 1844'', ''[[The German Ideology]]''<br>
[[Fyodor Dostoevsky]]: ''[[The Brothers Karamazov]]''<br>
[[Leo Tolstoy]]: ''[[War and Peace]]''<br>
[[Herman Melville]]: ''[[Benito Cereno]]''<br>
[[Mark Twain]]: ''[[The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn]]''<br>
[[Flannery O'Connor]]: Parker's Back, The Artificial Nigger<br>
[[Sigmund Freud]]: ''General Introduction to Psychoanalysis''<br>
[[Booker T. Washington]]: Selected Writings<br>
[[W. E. B. DuBois]]: ''[[The Souls of Black Folk]]''<br>
[[Martin Heidegger]]: ''What is Philosophy?''<br>
[[Werner Heisenberg]]: ''The Physical Principles of the Quantum Theory''<br>
[[Robert Millikan]]: ''The Electron''<br>
[[Joseph Conrad]]: ''[[Heart of Darkness]]''<br>

Essays by: [[Michael Faraday]], [[J.J. Thomson]], [[Gregor Mendel]], [[Hermann Minkowski]], [[Ernest Rutherford, 1st Baron Rutherford of Nelson|Ernest Rutherford]], [[Clinton Davisson]], [[Erwin Schrödinger]], [[Niels Bohr]], [[James Clerk Maxwell]], [[Louis-Victor de Broglie]], [[Hans Adolf Eduard Driesch|Dreisch]], [[Hans Christian Ørsted]], [[André-Marie Ampère]], [[Theodor Boveri]], [[Walter Sutton]], [[Thomas Morgan|Morgan]], [[George Wells Beadle|Beadle]] and [[Edward Lawrie Tatum|Tatum]], [[Gerald Jay Sussman]], [[James D. Watson|Watson]] and [[Francis Crick|Crick]], Jacob & Monod, [[G. H. Hardy]]


==See also==
==See also==
* [[Colonial Colleges]]: Details on St. John's antiquity vis-a-vis other old U.S. colleges
*[[Mortimer Adler]]
* [[Educational perennialism]]
*[[Stringfellow Barr]]
*[[Allan Bloom]]
* [[Narrative evaluation]]
*[[Harold Bloom]]
* [[Western canon]]
*[[Scott Buchanan]]
* [[Santa Fe Institute]]
* [[Saint Mary's College of California]] (Moraga), Integral Program
*[[Robert Hutchins]]


==Notes==
*[[Colonial Colleges]]: Details on St. John's antiquity vis-a-vis other old U. S. colleges
{{notelist}}
*[[Educational perennialism]]
*[[Great Books]]
*[[Liberal Arts, Inc.]] Failed attempt by Barr and Buchanan to start a Great Books-based college in the Massachusetts Berkshires, a mile-and-a-half from [[Tanglewood]].
*[[Western canon]]


==References==
==References==
{{Reflist}}
*Harty, Rosemary (2005), Director of Communications, St. John's College, Annapolis, personal communication (Source details of non-Great-Books materials used at St. John's)


==Notes==
==Further reading==
* [http://www.ucpress.edu/book.php?isbn=9780520265875 Racing Odysseus: A College President Becomes a Freshman Again] {{ISBN|978-0-520-26587-5}} A former college president attended St. John's College and wrote a memoir about his experience reading Homer, rowing Crew, and examining the importance of a liberal arts education in today's society.
# {{note|xtalk}} Kathy Witkowsky, 1999: [http://www.highereducation.org/crosstalk/ct0499/news0499-revolution.shtml A Quiet Counterrevolution: St. John's College teaches the classics&mdash;and only the classics] Spring 1999 article in ''Educational Crosstalk''
* [http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/06/13/110613fa_fact_scibona Where I learned to Read] [[Salvatore Scibona]], [[The New Yorker]], 2011-06-13
# {{note|nelson1}} Charles A. Nelson (2001), ''Radical Visions: Stringfellow Barr, Scott Buchanan, and Their Efforts on behalf of Education and Politics in the Twentieth Century.'' Bergin and Garvey, Westport, CT. ISBN 0897898044.
# {{note|nelson2}} ibid.
# {{note|nelson3}} ibid.
# {{note|nyt1945}} "St.John's and Navy Facing Fight In Courts Over College's Campus", [[June 29]], [[1945]], p. 17
# {{note|hillerman}} Tony Hillerman, 2001, "The Committee and the Mule Deer," from ''The Great Taos Bank Robbery: and Other True Stories of the Southwest.'' Harper paperbacks; ISBN 0060937122; [http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0060937122/ref=sib_rdr_prev2_ex125/002-8401604-3094447?%5Fencoding=UTF8&keywords=%22st.%20john%27s%20college%22%20annapolis%20johnnies&p=S03X&twc=1&checkSum=URRH2fWQbrQE4VIW7YH%2FeSFj3mONUNq%2FQOb5XNjAGuE%3D#reader-page A9 online page images]
# {{note|markstjohn}} Mark St. John vs. St. John's College (lawsuit records)
# {{note|rape}} Anna Curtis vs. Chad Williams (lawsuit records)
Widely reported in the Santa Fe New Mexican
# {{note|securityreports}} internal St. John's College security reports, reports filed by Kathryn Jane Murray, Stephen Jablon, and Mark Ingham
# {{note|barr1938}} "St. John's Hails New Curriculum; President Barr of Annapolis College Analyzes Results of 100 Books' program; Elective System Goes; 'Discipline in Liberal Arts' is Substituted for 'Vocational and Cafeteria Course'". [[The New York Times]], [[July 3]], [[1938]], p. 20.
# {{note|hook}} [http://www.ditext.com/hook/hook.html A Critical Appraisal of the St. John's College Curriculum], online text from ''Education for Modern Man'' (New York: [[The Dial Press]], 1946). Reprinted with some minor changes from The New Leader, May 26 and June 4, 1944.
# {{note|hutchins}} "Dr. Hutchins to Aid New-Type College. Head of Chicago University To Be A Governor of St. Johns at Annapolis, Md. To Revive Ancient Aims. Idea of Educating People to Live Instead of To Earn Living to Be Tested, He says." [[The New York Times]], [[July 7]], [[1937]], p. 19
# {{note|davidoff}} "Mixing Frogs and Aristotle," [[The New York Times]], [[May 4]], [[1975]]
# {{note|ziglar}} Zig Ziglar, 1997: ''Something To Smile About Encouragement And Inspiration For Life's Ups And Downs'' Nelson Books, ISBN 0840791836 [http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0840791836/ref=sib_rdr_prev1_167/002-8401604-3094447?%5Fencoding=UTF8&keywords=%22st.%20john%27s%20college%22%20annapolis%20johnnies&p=S056&twc=&checkSum=lxJWARnEOmUnsjyloqfLAuWeLWQJF4mCDYl6uMiXOmE%3D#reader-page A9 online page images]
# {{note|nelson}} [http://www.universitybusiness.com/page.cfm?p=64 Why you won't find St. John's College ranked in U.S. News and World Report]. Article by Christopher B. Nelson in "University Business: The Magazine for College and University Administrators
# {{note|xtalk}} Kathy Witkowsky, 1999, op. cit.


==External links==
==External links==
* {{Official website|http://www.sjc.edu/}}
*[http://www.stjohnscollege.edu St. John's College] official website

*[http://www.stjohnscollege.edu/asp/main.aspx?page=6732 Parent's Frequently Asked Questions] Official description of Reality Weekend
{{Colleges and Universities in Maryland}}
*[http://www.mercer.edu/gbk/gbk/othergbk.html Colleges and Universities that have some form of Great Books program] (includes universities with "core curriculum" programs and universities with "Great Books" courses as options)
{{Colleges and universities in New Mexico}}
{{Colleges That Change Lives}}
{{Annapolis Group}}

{{authority control}}


{{DEFAULTSORT:St. John's College (Annapolis Santa Fe)}}
[[Category:Universities and colleges in Maryland]]
[[Category:Universities and colleges in New Mexico]]
[[Category:St. John's College (Annapolis/Santa Fe)| ]]
[[Category:1784 establishments in Maryland]]
[[Category:Buildings and structures in Annapolis, Maryland]]
[[Category:Buildings and structures in Santa Fe, New Mexico]]
[[Category:Education in Santa Fe, New Mexico]]
[[Category:Educational institutions established in 1784]]
[[Category:Liberal arts colleges in Maryland]]
[[Category:Liberal arts colleges in New Mexico]]
[[Category:1696 establishments in the Province of Massachusetts Bay]]
[[Category:Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in New Mexico]]
[[Category:Private universities and colleges in New Mexico]]
[[Category:Private universities and colleges in Maryland]]

Latest revision as of 18:28, 6 October 2024

St. John's College
The logo of St. John's College consists of a round seal with the words "St. John's College" arranged by it's side. The design of the seal consists of seven books arranged around a scale (balance) in the center. Around the seal are the words Facio liberos ex liberis libris libraque, which is the College's motto in Latin.
Former name
King William's School
(1696–1784)
Motto
Facio liberos ex liberis libris libraque
Motto in English
I make free adults from children by means of books and a balance
TypePrivate liberal arts college
Established1696; 328 years ago (1696) (as King William's School)
1784; 240 years ago (1784) (St. John's charter)
AccreditationMSCHE (Annapolis)[1]
HLA (Santa Fe)[2][3]
Religious affiliation
Secular
Endowment$244.5 million (2023) [4]
Budget$47.7 million (2022) [5]
PresidentNora Demleitner (Annapolis)
J. Walter Sterling (Santa Fe)
Academic staff
~164 total (both campuses)
Undergraduates775 (both campuses)[6]
Postgraduates~160
Location,
United States

38°58′57″N 76°29′33″W / 38.98250°N 76.49250°W / 38.98250; -76.49250
35°40′3″N 105°54′44″W / 35.66750°N 105.91222°W / 35.66750; -105.91222
CampusAnnapolis: Urban
Santa Fe: Urban / Semi-rural
Colors  Orange
MascotPlatypus/Axolotl[a]
Websitesjc.edu

St. John's College is a private liberal arts college with campuses in Annapolis, Maryland and Santa Fe, New Mexico. As the successor institution of King William's School, a preparatory school founded in 1696, St. John's is one of the oldest institutions of higher learning in the United States;[6][7] the current institution received a collegiate charter in 1784.[8] In 1937, St. John's adopted a Great Books curriculum based on discussion of works from the Western canon of philosophical, religious, historical, mathematical, scientific, and literary works.

The college grants a single bachelor's degree in liberal arts. The awarded degree is equivalent to a double major in philosophy and the history of mathematics and science, and a double minor in classical studies and comparative literature.[9][10] Two master's degrees are available through the college's graduate institute: one in liberal arts, which is a modified version of the undergraduate curriculum, and one in Eastern Classics, which applies a Great Books curriculum to a list of classic works from India, China, and Japan.[11]

History

[edit]

Old program

[edit]

St. John's College traces its origins to King William's School, founded in 1696. King William's School was founded with an affiliation to the Church of England.[12] In 1784, Maryland chartered St. John's College, which absorbed King William's School when it opened in 1785.[13] The college took up residence in a building known as Bladen's Folly (the current McDowell Hall), which was originally built to be the Maryland governor's mansion, but was not completed.[14] There was some association with the Freemasons early in the college's history, leading to speculation that it was named after Saint John the Evangelist.[15] The college's original charter, reflecting the Masonic value of religious tolerance as well as the religious diversity of the founders (which included Presbyterians, Episcopalians, and the Roman Catholic Charles Carroll of Carrollton) stated that "youth of all religious denominations shall be freely and liberally admitted". The college always maintained a small size, generally enrolling fewer than 500 men at a time.

In its early years, the college was at least nominally public—the college's founders had envisaged it as the Western Shore branch of a proposed "University of Maryland"—but a lack of enthusiasm from the Maryland General Assembly and its Eastern Shore counterpart, Washington College, made this largely a paper institution. After years of inconsistent funding and litigation, the college accepted a smaller annual grant in lieu of being funded through the state's annual appropriations process. During the Civil War, the college closed and its campus was used as a military hospital. In 1907 it became the undergraduate college of a loosely organized "University of Maryland" that included the professional schools located in Baltimore. By 1920, when Maryland State College (founded in 1857 as Maryland Agricultural College) became the University of Maryland at College Park, St. John's was a free-standing private institution.[13]

The college curriculum has taken various forms throughout its history. It began with a general program of study in the liberal arts, but St. John's was a military school for much of the late 19th century and early 20th century. It ended compulsory military training with Major Enoch Garey's accession as president in 1923.[16] Garey and the Navy instituted a Naval Reserve unit in September 1924, creating the first-ever collegiate Department of Naval Science in the United States. But despite St. John's successfully pioneering the entire NROTC movement, student interest waned, the voluntary ROTC disappeared in 1926 with Garey's departure, and the Naval Reserve unit followed by 1929.[17]

New program

[edit]

In 1936, the college lost its accreditation.[18] The Board of Visitors and Governors, faced with dire financial straits caused by the Great Depression, invited educational innovators Stringfellow Barr and Scott Buchanan to make a completely fresh start. They introduced a new program of study, which remains in effect today. Buchanan became dean of the college, while Barr assumed its presidency. In his guide Cool Colleges, Donald Asher writes that the New Program was implemented to save the college from closing: "Several benefactors convinced the college to reject a watered-down curriculum in favor of becoming a very distinctive academic community. Thus this great institution was reborn as a survival measure."[19]

In 1938, Walter Lippman wrote a column praising liberal arts education as a bulwark against fascism, and said, "In the future, men will point to St. John's College and say that there was the seed-bed of the American renaissance."[20]

In 1940, national attention was attracted to St. John's by a story in Life entitled "The Classics: At St. John's They Come into Their Own Once More".[20] Classic works unavailable in English translation were translated by faculty members, typed, mimeographed, and bound. They were sold to the general public as well as to students, and by 1941 the St. John's College bookshop was famous as the only source for English translations of works such as Copernicus's De revolutionibus orbium coelestium, St. Augustine's De musica,[21] and Ptolemy's Almagest.

The wartime years were difficult for the all-male St. John's. Enlistment and the draft all but emptied the college; 15 seniors graduated in 1943, eight in 1945, and three in 1946.[20] From 1940 to 1946, St. John's was repeatedly confronted with threats of its land being seized by the Navy for expansion of the neighboring U.S. Naval Academy, and James Forrestal, Secretary of the Navy, formally announced plans to do so in 1945. At the time, The New York Times, which had expected a legal battle royale comparable to the 1819 Dartmouth case, commented that "although a small college of fewer than 200 students, St. John's has, because of its experimental liberal arts program, received more publicity and been the center of a greater academic controversy than most other colleges in the land. Its best-books program has been attacked and praised by leading educators of the day."[22]

Evans Science Lab, Santa Fe campus

The constant threat of eviction discouraged Stringfellow Barr. In late 1946 Forrestal withdrew the plan to take over St. John's in the face of public opposition and the disapproval of the House Naval Affairs Committee, but Barr and Scott Buchanan were already committed to leaving St. John's and launching Liberal Arts, Inc., a new, similar college in Stockbridge, Massachusetts; that project eventually failed—but thinking about other sites for the college eventually led to the opening of St. John's second campus in Santa Fe in 1964.

St John's had been founded as an all-white institution and continued as such in the early years of the New Program, with Barr actively discouraging black students from applying.[23] However, by 1948 faculty and student sentiment had shifted and students, with the support of the faculty and administration, persuaded a reluctant Board of Visitors and Governors to integrate the college and St. John's became one of the first previously all-white colleges south of the Mason-Dixon line to admit black students voluntarily.[24]

In 1949, Richard D. Weigle became president of St. John's. Following the chaotic and difficult period from 1940 to 1949, Weigle's presidency continued for 31 years,[25] during which time the New Program and the college itself became well established.

In 1951, St. John's became coeducational, admitting women for the first time in its then-254-year history. There was some objection from students because they had not been involved in—nor even aware of—the decision before it was announced to the media, and from some who believed that the college could not remain a serious institution were it to admit women. Martin Dyer reported that women who were admitted quickly proved they were the academic and intellectual equals of their male counterparts.

As enrollment grew during the 1950s, and facing the coming larger baby-boom generation, thoughts turned again towards opening another campus—but this time in addition to, not instead of, the one in Annapolis. Serious talk of expansion began in 1959 when the father of a student from Monterey, California, suggested to President Weigle that he establish a new campus there. Time ran an article on the college's possible expansion plans,[26] and 32 offers came in to the college from New Hampshire, Oregon, Georgia, Alaska, Florida, Connecticut, and other states.

A group from the Monterey Peninsula told Weigle that they were definitely interested, though funding was a problem, and suitable land was a big question. There was also an offer of land in Claremont, California, but competition with the other colleges there for students and financial contributions was a negative. The Riverside Mission Inn (in Riverside, California) was another possibility, but with only 5 acres (2.0 hectares) of land and many renovations needed to the inn, funding was again a major issue.

Levan Hall, Santa Fe campus

The three California locations were all still major contenders when Robert McKinney (publisher of The Santa Fe New Mexican and a former SJC board member) called and told Weigle that a group of city leaders had long been looking for another college for Santa Fe. During a lunch Weigle attended at John Gaw Meem's house on the outskirts of Santa Fe in late January 1961, Meem volunteered that he had a little piece of land (214 acres [87 hectares]) that he would gladly donate to the college. After lunch, Weigle looked at the land and instantly fell in love with it. A committee of four faculty members (Robert Bart, Barbara Leonard, Douglas Allanbrook, and William Darkey) later visited the four sites in contention and, after much deliberation, recommended Santa Fe.[27]

In 1961, the governing board of St. John's approved plans to establish a second college at Santa Fe. Groundbreaking occurred on April 22, 1963, and the first classes began in 1964. As it turned out, shortly afterwards land was also donated to the college on the Monterey Peninsula, on condition that a campus be developed there by a certain date.

Academics

[edit]

Great Books program

[edit]

The Great Books program (often called simply "the Program" or "the New Program" at St. John's) was developed at the University of Chicago by Stringfellow Barr, Scott Buchanan, Robert Hutchins, and Mortimer Adler in the mid-1930s as an alternative form of education to the then rapidly changing undergraduate curriculum. St. John's adopted the Great Books program in 1937, when the college was facing the possibility of financial and academic ruin. The Great Books program in use today was also heavily influenced by Jacob Klein, who was dean of the college in the 1940s and 1950s.

The four-year program of study, nearly all of which is mandatory, requires that students read and discuss the works of many of Western civilization's most prominent contributors to philosophy, theology, mathematics, science, music, poetry, and literature. Tutorials (mathematics, language, and music), as well as seminar and laboratory, are discussion-based. In the mathematics tutorial students often demonstrate propositions that mathematicians throughout various ages have laid out. In the language tutorial student translations are presented (ancient Greek is studied in the first two years and French for the last two). The tutorials, with seminar and laboratory, constitute the classes. All classes, and in particular the seminar, are considered formal exercises; consequently, students address one another, as well as their teachers, by their honorific and last name during class.

St. John's avoids modern textbooks, lectures, and examinations, in favor of a series of manuals. While traditional (A to F) grades are given and provided on transcripts, the culture of the school de-emphasizes their importance and grades are released only at the request of the student. Grading is based largely on class participation and papers. Tutors, as faculty members are called at the college, play a non-directive role in the classroom, compared to mainstream colleges. However, at St. John's this varies by course and instructor. Class size is small on both campuses, with a student to tutor ratio of 7:1. Seminar is the largest class, with around 20 students, but led by two tutors. Daytime tutorials are smaller, typically ranging between 12 and 16 students and are led by one tutor. Preceptorials are the smallest class size, ranging between 3 and 9 students.[28]

The Program involves:

  • Four years of literature, philosophy, and political science in seminar
  • Four years of mathematics
  • Three years of laboratory science
  • Four years of language (Ancient Greek, Middle/Early English, and French)
  • Freshman year chorus followed by sophomore year music

The Great Books are not the only texts used at St. John's. Greek and French classes make use of supplemental materials that are more like traditional textbooks. Science laboratory courses and mathematics courses use manuals prepared by faculty members that combine source materials with workbook exercises. For example, the mathematics tutorial combines a 1905 paper by Albert Einstein with exercises that require the student to work through the mathematics used in the paper.[29]

Graduate Institute Liberal Arts program

[edit]

The Graduate Institute in Liberal Education was established at St. John's College in 1967 as a summer program on the Santa Fe campus. The size and scope of the Institute have expanded so that currently both the Annapolis and Santa Fe campuses offer year-round graduate-level study based on the principles of the St. John's undergraduate program. Students in the Liberal Arts program explore the persisting questions of human existence by studying classic works of the western tradition. This program is organized into five semester-long thematic segments: Philosophy and Theology, Politics and Society, Literature, Mathematics and Natural Science, and History. Students earn a Master of Arts in Liberal Arts (MALA) by completing four of these five segments. A common curriculum provides the basis for a shared intellectual community; discussion with fellow students and faculty is the mode of learning both inside and outside the classroom. Each semester, students attend a seminar, a tutorial and a preceptorial—all carried out as small-group discussions under the guidance of St. John's faculty members. These three types of classes are the framework of the distinctive St. John's educational experience.

Eastern Classics program

[edit]

At the Santa Fe campus, there is a program offering a Master of Arts in Eastern Classics (MAEC). This program is three semesters long and is designed to be completed in one 12-month period. The impetus for the program came with the recognition that the undergraduate program simply could not do justice to the Great Books of the three main Asian traditions (India, China and Japan) by trying to squeeze in a few works among so many European masterworks. The EC program therefore provides a full set of readings in the philosophical, religious and literary traditions of the three cultures listed above. Thus, students learn Chinese culture by reading not only Confucius, Laozi and Zhuangzi, but also Mencius, Xun Zi, Han Feizi, and Mozi, as well as historical narratives by Sima Qian and the Zuo Zhuan, the later movement of Neo-Confucianism and Zhu Xi, narrative works such as Journey to the West or the Romance of the Three Kingdoms and the great Chinese poets, Li Bai, Wang Wei and Du Fu. This list represents only one-third of the required corpus, which also covers the major teachings and branches of Hinduism and the development of Theravada, Mahayana and Zen Buddhism, as well as such literary masterpieces as the Mahabharata, Shakuntala, The Tale of Genji, The Narrow Road to the Deep North, and others. Students also take a language, either Sanskrit or Classical Chinese.

Mitchell Art Museum

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In 1989, with a generous gift from Elizabeth Myers Mitchell and her husband Carlton Mitchell (a well-known sailor), the college built a campus gallery, then known as the Elizabeth Myers Mitchell Art Gallery to present museum-quality exhibitions to the greater Annapolis community. In 2014, the gallery achieved national accreditation from the American Alliance of Museums. In 2023, the name was changed to the Elizabeth Myers Mitchell Art Museum in celebration of the accreditation.

Rankings

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In 2024, U.S. News & World Report ranked St. John’s #75 in National Liberal Arts Colleges, #35 in Best Value Schools, and #25 in Best Undergraduate Teaching[30] out of 211 Best National Liberal Arts Colleges.[31]

Campuses

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Annapolis campus

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St. John's is located in the Historic Annapolis district, one block away from the Maryland State Capitol building. Its proximity to the United States Naval Academy (across King George Street) has inspired many comparisons to Athens and Sparta. The two schools carry on a spirited rivalry seen in their annual croquet match on the front lawn of St. John's, which has been called by GQ "the purest intercollegiate athletic event in America." As of 2024 St. John's has won 32 of the 40 annual matches.[32] About the Johnnies' commitment to the event, one midshipman commented, "They're out practicing croquet every afternoon! Alabama should take football this seriously."[33]

Construction of McDowell Hall at the center of campus began in 1742 by Provincial Governor of Maryland Thomas Bladen, but was not completed until after the end of the Colonial period.[34] The 23,000-square-foot historic building underwent some improvements in 2017–18.[35] Its Great Hall has seen many college events, from balls feting Generals Lafayette and Washington to the unique St. John's institutions called waltz parties.[36]

Mellon Hall, constructed in 1958, was designed by noted architect Richard Neutra.

St. John's College Observatory

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The observatory facility, located at the top of the Foucault pendulum tower in Mellon Hall, contains two permanently mounted telescopes, a 12" Schmidt–Cassegrain telescope model LX200 and a 16" Newtonian telescope, both made by Meade Instruments. The Foucault Pendulum is located at the top of the four-story tower. The pendulum drive magnet is housed within a cast iron cone in the Observatory facility. The magnet is keyed to turn on and off as the pendulum swings by using technology such as a photoresistor that determine the center of the pendulum's swing.[37][38]

Santa Fe campus

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Holi Celebration at Santa Fe Campus
St. John's College – Santa Fe, New Mexico
Weigle Hall, administrative building
St. John's College (Annapolis/Santa Fe) is located in New Mexico
St. John's College (Annapolis/Santa Fe)
St. John's College (Annapolis/Santa Fe) is located in the United States
St. John's College (Annapolis/Santa Fe)
Location1160 Camino Cruz Blanca,
Santa Fe, New Mexico
Coordinates35°40′0″N 105°54′45″W / 35.66667°N 105.91250°W / 35.66667; -105.91250
NRHP reference No.15000495[39]
NMSRCP No.2013
Significant dates
Added to NRHPAugust 3, 2015
Designated NMSRCPApril 10, 2015

St. John's Santa Fe campus is located on the eastern edge of Santa Fe, close to Atalaya Mountain. It was opened in 1964 in response to the increase in qualified applicants at the Annapolis campus. The college chose to open a second campus rather than increase the size of the Annapolis campus. The second campus was part of a larger project to construct six campuses across the country. St. John's abandoned the concept when it later sold a tract of land it owned in Monterey, California.

Student body

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Within the Class of 2022, 36 U.S. states and 15 countries are represented. Approximately 99% of students receive financial aid.[40] First-year undergraduate students range in age from 15 to 65. The student body is relatively small compared to other liberal arts colleges, with a population historically below 500 students on each campus during a year. The average ratio is 6 students for each professor. The college offers many community seminars and lectures that are available to the public.[41]

Admissions

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St. John’s has been test optional for 40 years. While the Admissions Committee will assess traditional factors such academic record, grades, and any test scores provided, it evaluates applicants through admission essays and interviews.[42] In 2023, the college accepted 49.9% of applicants, with those admitted having an average 3.81 GPA and those submitting test scores having an average 1250–1460 SAT, or average 30-33 ACT, score.[43]

Notable people associated with St. John’s

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See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ According to the website of the Annapolis campus's college bookstore, "Though the College has no mascot, the platypus sometimes fills in, wearing a St. John's College shirt and providing unique company for the students at St. John's." URL accessed 2006-07-27. The Santa Fe campus has soccer, football, and Ultimate Frisbee teams.

References

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  1. ^ "St. John's College - Statement of Accreditation Status". Middle States Commission on Higher Education. October 31, 2023. Archived from the original on May 6, 2024. Retrieved May 6, 2024.
  2. ^ "Higher Learning Commission | Statement of Accreditation Status". Higher Learning Commission. May 6, 2024. Archived from the original on May 6, 2024. Retrieved May 6, 2024.
  3. ^ "About St. John's". St. John's College. May 3, 2024. Accreditation and Licensure. Archived from the original on April 1, 2024. Retrieved May 3, 2024. St. John's College in Annapolis is accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools; St. John's in Santa Fe is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission.
  4. ^ Luell, Sara (October 18, 2023). "St. John's College Annapolis Receives More Than $35 Million from Hodson Trust for Student Scholarships". St. John's College | News & Features. Archived from the original on December 1, 2023. Retrieved May 2, 2024. St. John's College Annapolis today announced that the school has received $35.1 million from the Hodson Trust, bringing the college's total endowment to $244.5 million and providing its students with an additional $1.8 million in financial scholarship support annually.
  5. ^ "SUSTAINING STRENGTH 2022 Report for Alumni & Friends" (PDF) (Report). p. 17. Archived (PDF) from the original on March 21, 2023. Retrieved May 2, 2024. $47.7 FY2022 Expenses (in millions)
  6. ^ a b Bruni, Frank (September 11, 2018). "The most contrarian college in America". The New York Times. Retrieved September 20, 2018.
  7. ^ "About St. John's College" (Press release). St. John's College. Archived from the original on October 4, 2013. Retrieved December 20, 2012.
  8. ^ Some historical accounts of the founding of King William's school and its subsequent establishment as St. John's college, together with biographical notices of the various presidents from 1790–1894, also of some of the representative alumni of the College (1894). Annapolis [Baltimore, Press of the Friedenwald co.] 1894. Retrieved October 2, 2014 – via Archive.org.
  9. ^ "Undergraduate Subjects: An Integrated Curriculum". www.sjc.edu. Archived from the original on February 6, 2021. Retrieved March 10, 2021.
  10. ^ "St. John's College Transcript Support" (PDF). St. John's College. Archived (PDF) from the original on November 26, 2023. Retrieved March 10, 2021.
  11. ^ "Liberal Arts College - Great Books Program | St. John's College". Sjc.edu. Retrieved December 24, 2016.
  12. ^ Perry, William Stevens (1894). "King William's School, Annapolis, MD.". Some Historical Accounts of the Founding of King William's School and its Subsequent Establishment as St. John's College. Annapolis, Maryland. pp. 7–11. ISBN 978-0656792696.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  13. ^ a b Tilghman, Tench Francis (1984). The Early History of St. John's College in Annapolis. Annapolis: St. John's College Press.
  14. ^ "The Council of Independent Colleges: Historic Campus Architecture Project". Hcap.artstor.org. February 20, 1909. Retrieved December 24, 2016.
  15. ^ "1784: The Year St. John's College Was Named". Maryland Historical Magazine. 74 (2): 133–51. June 1979.
  16. ^ Doyel, Ginger (April 2, 2003). "Annapolis, past to present: Military life at St. John's". The Capital. Archived from the original on June 28, 2013. Retrieved April 27, 2013.
  17. ^ "USNI Blog » Blog Archive » From Our Archive: The Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps by Capt. Chester W. Nimitz, USN 1928". Blog.usni.org. Retrieved December 24, 2016.
  18. ^ A Quiet Counterrevolution: St. John's College teaches the classics—and only the classics at the Wayback Machine (archived 2008-06-05)
  19. ^ Donald Asher (2007). Cool Colleges. Ten Speed Press. p. 123. ISBN 978-1-58008-839-8.
  20. ^ a b c Charles A. Nelson (2001),Radical Visions: Stringfellow Barr, Scott Buchanan, and Their Efforts on behalf of Education and Politics in the Twentieth Century. Bergin and Garvey, Westport, CT; ISBN 0-89789-804-4.
  21. ^ Jacobsson, Martin. "De musica | Augustine of Hippo". goodreads.com. Almqvist & Wiksell Intl. Retrieved May 18, 2024.
  22. ^ "St. John's and Navy Facing Fight In Courts Over College's Campus", June 29, 1945, p. 17.
  23. ^ Smith, J. Winfree (1983). A Search for the Liberal College: The Beginning of the St. John's Program. Annapolis, MD: St. John's College Press.
  24. ^ ""Letter from Martin A. Dyer, Class of 1952, to St. John's Alumni", July 16, 2004". Archived from the original on November 3, 2005. Retrieved April 24, 2007.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link), accessed July 26, 2007
  25. ^ "Richard Weigle, 80, Served as President Of St. John's College" (Obituary), The New York Times, December 17, 1992, p. B22.
  26. ^ "College Spawns College", Time Magazine, December 26, 1960, accessed April 28, 2007
  27. ^ "The Colonization of a College: The Beginnings and Early History of St. John's College in Santa Fe", by Richard D. Weigle, Fishergate Publishing Company (St. John's College Print Shop), Annapolis, 1985
  28. ^ "St. John's College | About | Quick Facts". Archived from the original on March 10, 2009. Retrieved June 18, 2009.
  29. ^ Harty, Rosemary (2005), Director of Communications, St. John's College, Annapolis, personal communication (Source details of non-Great-Books materials used at St. John's)
  30. ^ "St. John's College". usnews. U.S. News & World Report. Retrieved March 4, 2024.
  31. ^ "National Liberal Arts Colleges Rankings". usnews.com. U.S. News & World Report. Retrieved March 4, 2024.
  32. ^ "The Annapolis Cup – Croquet Match Fact Sheet". St. John's College. Retrieved September 13, 2018.
  33. ^ Multiple references:
  34. ^ Mereness, Newton Dennison (1901). Maryland as a Proprietary Province. London: The MacMillan Company. pp. 350–53. ASIN B0006BT5K4. Thomas Bladen subject:Maryland.
  35. ^ Winters, Wendi. "McDowell Hall, heart of St. John's College campus, gets a makeover". capitalgazette.com. Retrieved September 19, 2018.
  36. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on September 2, 2006. Retrieved September 16, 2006.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  37. ^ "St. John's College Observatory – About Us". Thucydides.sjca.edu. Retrieved December 24, 2016.
  38. ^ "St. John's College Foucault Pendulum". Thucydides.sjca.edu. Retrieved December 24, 2016.
  39. ^ "Weekly List of Actions Taken on Properties: August 3, 2015 through August 7, 2015". National Park Service. August 14, 2015. Retrieved January 13, 2017.
  40. ^ Stringfellow, Johnnie. "St. John's College Freshman Class Profile". St. John's College Freshman Class Profile.
  41. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on February 7, 2006. Retrieved February 12, 2006.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  42. ^ "How to Apply to St. John's". sjc.edu. St. John’s College. Retrieved March 4, 2024.
  43. ^ "St John's Admission Requirements". collegesimply.com. CollegeSimply | U.S. Department of Education National Center for Education Statistics. Retrieved March 4, 2024.

Further reading

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