Encyclopedia Trinitiana

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{{tag>people presidents}}
====== Flavel Sweeten Luther ======
Flavel Sweeten Luther served as acting [[presidents|president]] and then president of Trinity College from 1903 to 1919.

Born March 26, 1850 in Brooklyn, Connecticut, Luther matriculated at Trinity College as a sophomore when he was 17. Excelling in mathematics, he took first prize in that subject during his very first year on campus. Graduating at age 19 in 1870, Luther taught at a parish school before becoming a deacon in the [[episcopal|Episcopal]] Church on November 2, 1871. Two years later, he took over as rector of a church school in Wisconsin. By 1876, he was professor of mathematics at Racine College in Racine, Wisconsin. 

[{{:luther_flavel_sweeten.jpg?350 |Flavel Sweeten Luther, ca. 1904. Photo credit: [[https://www.jstor.org/stable/community.34926820|Trinity College Archives]]}}]

In 1883, Luther returned to Trinity College to become professor of mathematics. He received a Ph.D. "in course," perhaps the only Ph.D. given by the College. At the same time, he contributed to innovations in bicycle engineering (notably the chainless bevel gear) as a consultant to the Pope Manufacturing Company, which had made its mark in the Frog Hollow neighborhood of [[hartford|Hartford]]. He sought to organize and educate craft workers through the creation of a local Workingmen's Club. A hard worker himself, Luther taught for 17 years in a row before taking a sabbatical year abroad in England in 1900. He avidly attended [[athletics|athletic]] events and was a member of the Trinity Bicycle Club. He gave [[chapel|chapel]] services at Trinity, though he never became a priest and discouraged affiliation with High Church Episcopalianism. Luther was well-known in the city of Hartford, including at his home at 1 Columbia Street.

Upon the resignation of President [[smith_george_williamson|George Smith]] in 1903, Luther was designated Dean of the College and then acting president by the Trinity [[trustees|Board of Trustees]], because of his seniority among the faculty. On April 30, 1904, he was elected President of Trinity College unanimously and feted with a rousing impromptu celebration and later a lengthy public inauguration on October 26, 1904. 

Luther was the only president of Trinity to serve in the Connecticut state legislature while serving as president. Between 1906 and 1908, he served in the Connecticut Senate as a progressive Republican. Under Luther's progressive leadership, the //Hartford Courant// editorialized that "Trinity College is better equipped than ever for the work of contributing to American citizenship well-taught, well-mannered, healthy-minded, public-spirited Christian gentleman." His continued support of Chapel services, though Sunday Evening Service more so than the daily sermons, was met with enthusiasm by many members of the student body. Luther approved of the growing presence of the Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) on campus, even supporting the idea of hiring of YMCA Secretary, who could conduct the religious census of the students, sponsor Bible study, connect the students with service opportunities, and help less fortunate students obtain employment to pay their tuition. Yet no Secretary was hired. Still, Luther had asserted the connection between public service and a college education received at Trinity. 

Increasing the student body at Trinity to between 200 and 250 throughout his tenure, President Luther recruited students from Hartford in larger-than-previous numbers, while making trips to preparatory and high schools throughout the midwestern states. He also helped plan and open a College Union (with pool and card tables and a reading room for undergraduates) in late 1914 in [[seabury_hall|Seabury Hall]]. Additionally, he encouraged the newly-created student [[senate|Senate]].  

During Luther's stewardship of the College, the increase in students brought in additional revenue, but various fundraising campaigns and creative philanthropic ideas did not ultimately solve the deficits which plagued Trinity's bottom line. In 1910, a campaign for new funds was begun during [[commencement|Commencement]] Week. The most important gifts supported the construction of a new building, [[williams_memorial|Williams Memorial]], which would contain administrative offices and a splendid new [[library|library]] upon its opening in early 1915. In June of that year, Luther asked to retire from his position, effective July 1, 1916. However, the Board of Trustees refused to grant his resignation, instead giving him a leave of absence and appointing Professor [[perkins_henry_augustus|Henry Augustus Perkins]] as acting president. 

Returning as president in spring 1916, Luther was tasked with addressing the financial woes of the college, though he freely admitted his lack of success in this area of administration. While away from campus in late 1916, Professor Perkins assumed some of his presidential duties in his absence. Between December 1916 through the declaration of war on Germany in April 1917, Luther succeeded in raising over $250,000, mainly from alumni in New York City. The entrance of the United States into the Great War emboldened Luther's desire to reform the students into good citizens. He helped usher in [[students_army_corps|military training]] and separate Military Science courses at Trinity. Exhausted from the war effort, Luther resigned on December 7, 1918, with an effective date of July 1, 1919. This time the Board of Trustees accepted Luther's resignation on January 18. He was made President Emeritus and given a $3,400 pension by the Carnegie Foundation, which was augmented by $1,600 from the College coffers and added to from funds raised by alumni.

In 1922, Luther was elected to the Board of Trustees and moved to California, where he died in 1928. His widow, Isabel Ely Luther, received a reduced pension, though the College Trustees still paid her $1,600 annually until her death four years later. Alumni gave annually to a Luther Fund. 

===== Preceded By =====

[[smith_george_williamson|George Williamson Smith H’87]] 

===== Succeeded By =====

[[perkins_henry_augustus|Henry Augustus Perkins (acting)]]

[[ogilby_remsen_brinckerhoff|Remsen Brinckerhoff Ogilby]]

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===== Sources =====
[[https://digitalrepository.trincoll.edu/w_books/2/|Trinity College in the Twentieth Century]] (2000) by Peter and Anne Knapp, pp. 5, 6, 47.  

[[https://digitalrepository.trincoll.edu/w_books/4/|History of Trinity College]] (1967) by Glenn Weaver, pp. 220, 233, 253-254, 256, 264-267, 269, 271, 275-276, 279-282, 284.     

[[https://www.jstor.org/stable/community.29402266|Trinity Tripod]], "Dr. Flavel S. Luther Dies in 78th Year," and "Dr. Flavel Sweeten Luther," 01/06/1928.  

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