Monument honors pioneer professors

One of the oldest structures on campus - the Professor's Monument - was dedicated Friday, 151 years after its construction.

The dedication celebrated the unveiling of new plaques on the monument that translated the worn away Latin inscriptions once visible on the memorial.

"Thousands go by, and 99 percent don't notice it," said Robert Warner, dean of the School of Information and Library Studies and a member of the History and Traditions Committee, the group that sponsored the dedication.

The monument is located at the southeast side of the Harlan Hatcher Graduate Library, and the President's House is the only older structure on campus.

The Professor's Monument was constructed in 1846 and serves as a tribute to four University professors who died during the University's early years. The professors - Samuel Denton, Charles Fox, Douglass Houghton and Joseph Whiting - are not buried under the memorial, making the monument a cenotaph. The broken column that rises out of the center of the monument represents the lives of the professors that were cut short.

Warner said the monument is special because it is one of the few monuments that celebrates the faculty.

"We have lots of recognition for administrators, like buildings and portraits, but not much recognition to faculty," Warner said. "Faculty is so important in carrying out the mission of the University."

Louis D'Alecy, who chairs the Senate Advisory Committee on University Affairs, the faculty's governing body, also said that it is good to see faculty members recognized for their contributions.

"Memorials like this serve as a reality check," said D'Alecy, who called the monument "a memorial to the soul of the University and the faculty."

Jason Radine, a University alumnus, gave the dedication speech. Warner chose Radine because he was familiar with a paper Radine had written about the monument as an undergraduate.

"I had always wondered about it," said Radine, who added that he was drawn to the monument because of how it stood there "silently" and "mysteriously," with no plaques.

Radine said the monument is the only known memorial for Whiting.

"As far as we know, this cenotaph stands as his only memorial," Radine said. "Yet all of these four professors live on in the great university which they created and nurtured."

The monument not only serves to recognize the professors, said Bentley Library Director Fran Blouin, but also gives its audience an understanding of the early roots of the University.

"When you read those tributes, it brings to mind the thinking, feeling and learning that went on in the 1800s," Blouin said.

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