Bates College

Bates College

Latin:Academia Batesina
Former name	Maine State Seminary (1855–1863)
Motto	Amore Ac Studio(Latin)
Motto in English	With Ardor and DevotionbyCharles Sumner
Type	Privateliberal arts college
Established	March 16, 1855; 169 years ago(1855-03-16)[nb 1]
Accreditation	NECHE
Academic affiliations	Space-grant, Annapolis Group
Endowment	$418 million (2022)[1]
Budget	$119.8 million (2018–19)
Chairman	John Gillespie
President	Garry Jenkins[2]
Academic staff	190 (2017–18)[3]
Undergraduates	1,821 (2022)[4]
Location	Lewiston , Maine , U.S. 44°6′20″N70°12′15″W / 44.10556°N 70.20417°W /44.10556; -70.20417
Campus	Main campus: 133 acres Bates Mountain: 600 acres Coastal Center: 80 acres Total holdings: 813 acres
Colors	Garnet[5]
Nickname	Bobcats
Sporting affiliations	Division III–NESCAC Division I –CSA Division I –EISA NEISA
Website	www.bates.edu

Bates College(/beɪts/)^[6]is aprivateliberal arts collegeinLewiston, Maine. Anchored by theHistoric Quad, the campus of Bates totals 813 acres (329 ha). It maintains 600 acres (240 ha) of nature preserve known as the "Bates-Morse Mountain" nearCampbell Islandand a coastal center onAtkins Bay.

Bates provides undergraduate instruction in the humanities, social sciences, natural sciences, and engineering, as well as offering joint undergraduate programs. A baccalaureate college, the undergraduate program requires all students to complete a thesis before graduation, and has a privately funded research enterprise. In addition to being a part of the "Maine Big Three", Bates competes in theNew England Small College Athletic Conference(NESCAC) with 31 varsity teams, and 13 club teams.

TheBates athletic programhas graduated 12Olympiansand 209All-Americansand maintains 32 varsity sports, which compete inNCAA Division IIIand two in Division I.

While attending (and later leading) the Freewill BaptistParsonsfield Seminary, Bates founder,Oren Burbank Cheneyworked for racial and gender equality, religious freedom, andtemperance.^[7]In 1836, Cheney enrolled inDartmouth College(after briefly attendingBrown), due to Dartmouth's significant support of theabolitionistcause against slavery.^[7]After graduating, Cheney was ordained a Baptist minister and began to establish himself as an educational and religious scholar.^[7]Parsonsfieldmysteriously burned downin 1854, allegedly due to arson by opponents of abolition.^[8][7]The event caused Cheney to advocate for the building of a new seminary in a more central part of Maine.^[7]With Cheney's influence in the state legislature, the Maine State Seminary was chartered in 1855 and implemented a liberal arts and theological curriculum, making the firstcoeducationalcollege inNew England.^[9][10]Soon after establishment several donors stepped forward to finance portions of the school, such asSeth Hathorn, who donated the first library and academic building, which was renamedHathorn Hall.^[7]TheCobb Divinity Schoolbecame affiliated with the college in 1866. Four years later in 1870, Bates sponsored a college preparatory school, called theNichols Latin School.^[7]The college was affected by the financial panic of the later 1850s and required additional funding to remain operational.^[7]Cheney's impact in Maine was noted by Boston business magnateBenjamin Bateswho developed an interest in the college. Bates gave $100,000 in personal donations and overall contributions valued at $250,000 to the college.^[11]The school was renamed Bates College in his honor in 1863 and was chartered to offer a liberal arts curriculum beyond its original theological focus.^[12]Two years later the college would graduate the first woman to receive a college degree in New England,Mary Mitchel.^[13]The college began instruction with a six-person faculty tasked with the teaching ofmoral philosophyand theclassics. From its inception, Bates College served as an alternative to a more traditional and historically conservativeBowdoin College.^[14][15]There isa complex relationshipbetween the two colleges, revolving around socioeconomic class, academic quality, and collegiate athletics.^[16][17]

The college, under the direction of Cheney, rejectedfraternities and sororitieson grounds of unwarranted exclusivity.^[16]He asked his close friend and U.S. SenatorCharles Sumnerto create a collegiate motto for Bates and he suggested the Latin phraseamore ac studiowhich he translated as "with love for learning" which has been taken as "with ardor and devotion,"^[18]or "through zeal and study."^[19]Prior to the start of theAmerican Civil War, Bates graduatedBrevet MajorHolman Melcher, who served in theUnion Armyin the20th Maine Volunteer Infantry Regiment. He was the first person to charge downLittle Round Topat theBattle of Gettysburg.^[20]The college graduated the last survivingUniongeneralof theAmerican Civil War,Aaron Daggett. The college's firstAfrican Americanstudent,Henry Chandler, graduated in 1874.^[21]James Porter, one ofGeneral Custer's eleven officers killed at theBattle of Little Bighornin 1876 was also a Bates graduate. In 1884, the college graduated the first woman to argue in front of theU.S. Supreme Court,Ella Haskell.^[22]

In 1894,George Colby Chaseled Bates to increased national recognition,^[23]and the college graduated one of the founding members of theBoston Red Sox,Harry Lord.^[24][25]In 1920, the Bates Outing Club was founded and is one of the oldest collegiate outing clubs in the country,^[26]the first at a private college to include both men and women from inception, and one of the few outing clubs that remain entirely student run.^[27]The debate society of Bates College, theBrooks Quimby Debate Council, became the first college debate team in the United States to compete internationally, and is the oldest collegiate coeducationaldebate teamin the United States.^[28]In February 1920, the debate team defeatedHarvard Collegeduring the national debate tournament held at Lewiston City Hall. In 1921, the college's debate team participated in the first intercontinental collegiate debate in history against theOxford Union's debate team at theUniversity of Oxford.^[29]Oxford's first debate in the United States was against Bates in Lewiston, in September 1923.^[30]In addition during this time, numerous academic buildings were constructed throughout the 1920s. In 1943, theV-12 Navy College Training Programwas introduced at Bates. Bates maintained a considerable female student body and "did not suffer [lack in student enrollment due to military service involvement] as much as male-only institutions such as Bowdoin and Dartmouth."^[28]During the war, aVictory Shipwas named theS.S.Bates Victory, after the college.^[31]It was during this time future U.S. Attorney GeneralRobert F. Kennedyenrolled along with hundreds of other sailor-students.^[32][33]The rise of social inequality andelitism at Batesis most associated with the 1940s, with an increase in racial andsocioeconomic homogeneity. The college began to garner a reputation for predominately educatingwhite studentswho come fromupper-middle-classtoaffluentbackgrounds.^[34]The New York Timesdetailed the atmosphere of the college in the 1960s with the following: "the prestigious Bates College — named forBenjamin E. Bates, whose riverfront mill on Canal Street in Lewiston was once Maine's largest employer — provided an antithesis: a leafy oasis of privilege. In the 1960s, it was really difficult for most Bates students to integrate in the community because most of the people spoke French and lived a hard life."^[35]

During this time the college began to compete athletically withColby College, and in 1964, with Bowdoin created theColby-Bates-Bowdoin Consortium.^[36]In 1967, PresidentThomas Hedley Reynoldspromoted the idea of teacher-scholars at Bates and secured the construction of numerous academic and recreational buildings.^[37]In 1984, Bates became one of the first liberal arts colleges to make theSATandACToptional in the admission process.^[38]Reynolds began theChase Regattain 1988, which features the President's Cup that is contested by Bates, Colby, and Bowdoin annually. In 1989,Donald West Harwardbecame president of Bates and greatly expanded the college's overall infrastructure by building 22 new academic, residential and athletic facilities, including Pettengill Hall, the Residential Village, and the Coastal Center at Shortridge.^[39][40]During the 1990s (and mid-2000s), Bates consolidated its reputation of being a "playground for the elite",^[41]by educatingupper-middle-classtoaffluentAmericans,^[42][43][44]which led to student protests and reforms to make the college more diverse both racially, and socioeconomically.^[45][46]

Elaine Tuttle Hansenwas elected as the first female president of Bates College and managed the second largestcapital campaignever undertaken by Bates, totaling $120 million and lead theendowmentthrough the2007–08 financial crisis.^[47][48]The college announced her retirement in 2011, appointingNancy Cableasinterim president, to serve through June 30, 2012, while the college conducted a national search for its eighth president. In 2011, Bates made national headlines for being named the most expensive college in the U.S.,^[49]which caused backlash from American academia and students as it indirectly highlighted substantial socioeconomic inequality among students.^[42][43]

After a year-long search for the next president,Harvard Universitydean,Clayton Spencer, was appointed as Hansen's successor. Spencer assumed the presidency in 2012, and created diversity mandates, expanded student and faculty recruitment, andfinancial aidallocation.^[50][51]While some reforms were successful, minorities at the college, typically classified as non-white and low-income students, still reported a lack ofsafe spaces, insensitive professors, financial insecurity, indirect racism andsocial elitism.^[42][43]According to a 2017 article onincome inequalitybyThe New York Times,^[52]18% of Bates students came from the1% of the American upper class(families who made about $525,000 or more per year),^[53]with more than half coming from the top 5% (families who made about $110,000 or more per year).^[54]According to thePortland Press Herald,Michael Bonney'80 and his wife donated $50 million to the college in support of the $300 million "Bates+You"fundraising campaignlaunched in May 2017. The campaign is the largest ever undertaken by the college totaling $300 million, with $168 million already raised as of May 2017^[update].^[55]In the aftermath of the2019 college admissions bribery scandal, Ron Lieber ofThe New York Timesnoted that need-aware colleges like Bates and others prioritized students who could pay full tuition in the admission process, writing that, "you can get help if you're admitted, but you might not be admitted if you need help."^[56]Though it has a large endowment, Bates has continued to struggle to set a fee schedule that students can afford.^{[57][undue weight?–discuss]}Garry Jenkinssucceeded Spencer in 2023, becoming the first black president of the college.^[58]

Bates is a privatebaccalaureateliberal arts college that offers 36 departmental and interdisciplinary program majors and 25 secondary concentrations, and confersBachelor of Arts(B.A.) andBachelor of Science(B.S.) degrees. The college enrolls 1,792 students, 200 of whom study abroad each semester.^[59]The academic year is broken up into three terms, primary, secondary, and short term, also known as the 4–4–1 academic calendar. This includes two semesters, plus a Short Term consisting of five weeks in the Spring, in which only one class is taken and in-depth coursework is commonplace.^[60]Two Short Terms are required for graduation, with a maximum of three.^[60]

The largest natural science academic department at Bates College is the biology department, followed by mathematics, physics, and geology. The social science academic department with the highest number of majors is its economics department, followed by psychology, politics, and history. The largest humanities academic department is the English department, followed by French and francophone studies, art and visual culture, and rhetoric. The interdisciplinary academic program at Bates with the highest number of majors is environmental studies, followed by biochemistry, neuroscience, and classical and medieval studies.^[61]

Bates also offers a Liberal Arts-Engineering Dual Degree Program withDartmouth College'sThayer School of Engineering,Columbia University'sSchool of Engineering and Applied Science, andWashington University'sSchool of Engineering and Applied Science. The program consists of three years at Bates and a followed two years at the school of engineering resulting in a degree from Bates and the school of engineering.^[62]Bates isaccreditedby theNew England Commission of Higher Education.^[63]

TheU.S. Department of Educationnoted the most popular majors of the 2021 graduates as:^[64]

Research and Experimental Psychology (60)

Political Science and Government (58)

Econometrics and Quantitative Economics (48)

Biology/Biological Sciences (30)

History (30)

Biochemistry (26)

Environmental Studies (25)

Students at Bates take a first-year seminar, which provides a template for the rest of the four years at Bates. The student selects a specific topic offered by the college, and works together in a small class with a scholar-in-field professor of that topic, to study and critically analyze the subject. All first-year seminars place importance on writing ability, and composition in order to facilitate the process of complex and fluid ideas being put down on paper. Seminars range fromconstitutional analysistomathematical theorizingtodisturbance ecology. After three complete years at Bates, each student participates in asenior thesis or capstonethat demonstrates expertise and overall knowledge of theMajor,Minoror General Education Concentrations (GECs). The Senior Thesis is an intensive program that begins with the skills taught in the first-year program and concludes with a compiled thesis that stresses research and innovation.^[65]

A feature of a Bates education is the Honors Program which includes atutorial-basedthesis modeled after the universities ofOxfordandCambridge.^[66]

According to theU.S. National Science Foundation, the college received $1.15 million in grants, fellowships, andR&Dstipendsfor research.^[67]The college spent $1,584,000 in 2014 on research and development.^[68]The Bates Student Research Fund was established for students completing independent research orcapstones.^[69]STEMgrants are offered to students in the science, engineering, technology and mathematics fields who wish to showcase their research at professional conferences or national laboratories.^[70][71][72]Independent research grants from the college can range from $300 to over $200,000 for a three-year research program depending on donor or agency.^[73]The college's Harward Center is its main research entity for community-based research and offers fellowships to students.^[74]According to a 2001 study, Bates College's economics department was the most cited liberal arts department in the United States.^[75][76][77]

Bates College has been the site of landmark experiments and academic movements. In chemistry, the college has played an important role in shaping ideas aboutinorganic chemistryand is considered the birthplace ofinorganic photochemistryas its early manifestations were started at the college by 1943 alumnusGeorge Hammondwho was later dubbed "the father of the movement".^[78][79]Hammond would go on to inventHammond's postulate, revolutionizing activation levels in chemical compounds.^[80]In physics, 1974 alumnusSteven Girvincredited his time at the college as pivotal in his development of thefractional quantum Hall effect, now apillarin Hall conductance.^[81][82]During the development and production of the first nuclear weapons during World War II, two students researching nuclear chemistry at the college were hired by theUnited States Army Corps of Engineersas part of the firstManhattan projectscientific team.^[83][84]

Atop the Carnegie Science Hall sitsStephens Observatorywhich houses the college's high-powered 12-inchNewtonian reflecting telescope. The telescope is used for research by the college, local government agencies, and other educational institutions.^[85]The Observatory is also home to an eight-inchCelestron, a six-inch Meade starfinder, and the onlyCoronado SolarmaxII 60 in the state.^[86][87]

As of 2017^[update], Bates has a faculty of 190 and a student body of 1,780 creating a 10:1 student-faculty ratio and the average class size is about fifteen students. Alltenured facultypossess thehighest degree in their field.^[88]Full-time professors at the college received an average total compensation of $123,066, with salaries and benefits varying from field to field and position to position, putting faculty pay in the top 17% of all public and private universities.^[89]

The college holds the annualMount David Summitwhich serves as a platform for students of all years to present undergraduate research, creative art, performance, and various other academic projects and is named after the campus'Mount David. Presentations at the summit include various discipline-centered projects, themedpanel discussions, films Q & A's, as well as other activities in the Lewiston area.^[90]Started in 2002, the summit is held in Pettengill Hall, and on April 1, 2016, held its 15th summit.^[91][92]

Admissions statistics
2019 entering class [93] Change vs. 2014[94]
Admit rate	12.1% (−11.8)
Yield rate	50.0% (+11.7)
Test scoresmiddle 50%[i]
SATEBRW	630–750
SATMath	640–730
ACTComposite	29–33
High schoolGPA[ii]
Top 10%	71.4 (+2)
Top 25%	89.5 (−6)
Top 50%	99.0 (−1)
^Among students who chose to submit ^Among students whose school ranked

For the class of 2023, Bates admitted 12.1% of all applicants, the lowest-ever for the college.^[95]During the 2018–19 admission rounds, Bates accepted seven transfer students from 205 applicants, yielding a 3.4% transfer acceptance rate.^[96]The college has had years where no transfer applicants were accepted, such as in 2016–17, where all 170 applicants failed to gain admission.^[97]The college had its highest admit rate after the2008 financial crisis, during the 2008–09 year, accepting 30.4% of applicants.^[98]

The average high schoolGPAfor the class of 2019 was an unweighted 3.71.^[99]The averageSATScore was 2135 (715 Critical Reasoning, 711 Mathematics and 709 Writing), and the averageACTscore range was 28 to 32.^[61]Bates has a Test Optional Policy, which gives the applicant the choice to not send in their standardized test scores.^[100]Bates' non-submitting students averaged only 0.05 points lower on theircollegiate grade point average.^[101]The Wall Street Journalfound that Bates had some of the "toughest rejection letters" in the U.S. during the late-2000s.^[102]The college later apologized and issued a statement assuring that it makes an effort to "[deny] the student's application… not [reject] the student".^[102]

For the 2016–17 academic year, Bates charged acomprehensive price(tuition, room and board, and associated fees) of $66,550.^[103]The college's tuition is the same for in-state and out-of-state students. Bates practicesneed-blind admissionfor students who areU.S. citizens,permanent residents, DACA status students,undocumented students, or who graduate from ahigh school within the United States, and meets all of the demonstrated need for all admitted students, including admitted international students.^[104]

Bates does not offer merit orathletic scholarships. Bates is often the most expensive school to attend in its athletic conference.^[105]It the second lowest percentage ofPell Grantrecipients in the United States, below onlyFairfield University.^[106]

For the class of 2019, thegender demographicof the college breaks down to 49% male and 51% female. 27% of U.S. students are students of color (domestic and international) and 13% of admitted students are first generation to college.^[88]The educational background for admitted students is mixed: 49% of students attendedpublic schoolsand 51% attendedprivate schools. About 90% of this incoming class (of those from schools that officially rank students) graduated in the topdecileof theirhigh schoolclasses.^[88]Bates has a 95% freshmanretention rate. A significant portion of 45% of all applicants, transfer and non-transfer, are fromNew England.^[61]About 89% of students are out-of-state, (all 50 states are represented), and the college has students from 73 countries.^[107]

Academic rankings
Liberal arts
U.S. News & World Report[108]	24
Washington Monthly[109]	49
National
Forbes[110]	127
WSJ/College Pulse[111]	64

Bates is noted as one of theLittle Ivies,^[112][113]along with universities such asTufts,Bowdoin, Colby,Amherst,Middlebury,Connecticut College, Hamilton, Trinity,Wesleyan, andWilliams. The college is also known as one of theHidden Ivies, which includes much larger research universities such asJohns HopkinsandStanford University. The 2024 annual ranking byU.S. News & World Reportranked Bates 24th overall best liberal arts college in the nation.^[114]Forbesranked Bates 39th in its 2019 national rankings of 650 U.S. colleges, universities and service academies, and 11th among liberal arts colleges.^[115]

Bates is in a formermill town, Lewiston, which has a largeFrench Canadianethnic presence due to migration fromQuebecin the 19th century. The college is known for cultural strains with the town, with townspeople describing Bates as a "leafy oasis of privilege."^[116]The overall architectural design of the college can be traced through theColonial Revival architecture movement, and has distinctiveNeoclassical,Georgian,Colonial, andGothicfeatures. The earliest buildings of the college were directly designed by Boston architectGridley J.F. Bryant, and subsequent buildings follow his overall architectural template.^[87]Colonial restoration influence can be seen in the architecture of certain buildings, however many of the off campus houses' architecture was heavily influenced by theVictorian era.^[87]Many buildings on campus share design parallels withDartmouth College,University of Cambridge,Yale University, andHarvard University.^[117][118]

Bates has a 133-acre main campus and maintains the 600-acreBates-Morse Mountain Conservation Area,^[119]as well as an 80-acre Coastal Center fresh water habitat at Shortridge.^[120]The eastern campus is situated around Lake Andrews, where many residential halls are located. The quad of the campus connects academic buildings, athletics arenas, and residential halls. Bates College houses over 1 million volumes of articles, papers, subscriptions, audio/video items and government articles among all three libraries and all academic buildings. The George and Helen Ladd Library houses 620,000 cataloged volumes, 2,500 serial subscriptions and 27,000 audio/video items.^[61]Coram Library houses almost 200,000 volumes of articles, subscriptions and audio/video items.^[121]

The most notable items in the library's collection include copies of the originalConstitution of Maine, personal correspondence ofJames K. PolkandHannibal Hamlin, original academic papers ofHenry Clay, personal documents ofEdmund Muskie, original printings of newspaper articles written byJames G. Blaine, and selected collections of other prominent religious, political and economic figures, both in Maine, and the United States.^[122][123]

The campus provides 33Victorian Houses, 9 residential halls, and one residential village.^[61][124]The college maintains 12 academic buildings with Lane Hall serving as the administration building on campus. Lane Hall houses the offices of the president, dean of the faculty, registrar, and provost, among others.^[125]

The Olin Arts Center maintains three teaching sound proof studios, five class rooms, five seminar rooms, ten practice rooms with pianos, and a 300-seat grand recital hall. It holds the college'sSteinway concert grand piano,Disklavier, William Dowd harpsichord, and their 18th-century replicaforte piano. The studios are modernized with computers, synthesizers, and various recording equipment.^[126]The center houses the departments of Art and Music, and was given to Bates by theF. W. Olin Foundationin 1986.^[127]The center has had numerousArtists in Residence, such asFrank Glazer, andLeyla McCalla.^[128][129]The Olin Arts Center has joined with the Maine Music Society to produce musical performances throughout Maine.^[130]

Founded in 1955, the Bates College Museum of Art holds contemporary and historic pieces. In the 1930s, the college secured a private holding from theMuseum of Modern ArtofVincent van Gogh'sStarry Night, for students participating in the 'Bates Plan'.^[131]It holds 5,000 pieces and objects of contemporary domestic and international art. The museum holds over 100 original artworks, photographs and sketches fromMarsden Hartley.^[132][133]The MoA offers numerous lectures, artist symposiums, and workshops. The entire space is split into three components, the larger Upper Gallery, smaller Lower Gallery, and the Synergy Gallery which is primarily used for student exhibits and research. Almost 20,000 visitors are attracted to the MoA annually.^[134]

This conservation area of 600 acres is available to Bates students for academic, extracurricular, and research purposes. This area is mainly salt marshes and coastal uplands. The college participates in preserving the plants, animals and natural ecosystems within this area as a part of their Community-Engaged Learning Program. Due to its overall size, the site is frequently used by other Maine schools such as Bowdoin College for theirNordic Skiingpractices.^[119][135]

In 2015, the college's dining program was ranked 6th byThe Princeton Review,^[136]and 8th byNichein the United States.^[137]The college's dining services received the grade of 'A+' by Niche in 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2017.^[138]The college holds one main dining area and offers two floors of seating.^[139]All meals and catered events on campus are served by Bates Dining Services, which makes a concentrated effort to purchase foods from suppliers and producers within the state of Maine, likeOakhurst Dairyand others.^[140]The Den serves as an on-campus restaurant.^[141]While on campus, enrolled students and faculty have access toround-the-clockemergency medical services and security protection.^[142][143]The college also holds an annual "Harvest Dinner" duringThanksgivingthat features a school-wide dining experience including a New England buffet and live musical performances.^[144]Martin Luther King Dayat Bates is celebrated annually with classes being canceled, and performances, events, keynote talks are held in observance. It is a day marked by keynotes from well known scholars who speak on the subjects of race, justice, and equality in America. In 2016, the college invitedJelani Cobbto speak at the college on MLK Day.^[145][146]The college offers students 110 clubs and organizations on campus.^[147]Among those is the competitive eating club, the Fat Cats, Ultimate Frisbee, and the student government.^[147]The largest club is the Outing Club, which leads canoeing, kayaking, rafting, camping and backpacking trips throughout Maine.^[148]Although Bates has since conception rejected fraternities and sororities, various social groups exist.^[16]

Bates College's oldest operating newspaper isThe Bates Student, created in 1873. It is one of the oldest continuously published college weeklies in the United States, and the oldest co-ed college weekly in the country. Alumni of the student media programs at Bates have won thePulitzer Prize,^[149]and have their later work featured on major news sources.^[150][151]It circulates approximately 1,900 copies around the campus and Lewiston area. Since 1990, there has been an electronic version of the newspaper online.^[152]The newspaper provides access free of charge to a searchable database of articles stretching back to its inception on its website. In 2021, the college administration requested the student newspaper to retract an article that focused on the ongoingunionizationamong faculty staff members and replace it with an article that also includedanti-unionarguments. Some students accused the administration ofcensorshipover this issue.^[153]

WRBCis the college radio station of Bates College and was first aired in 1958. Originally started as anAM stationat Bates, it began with the efforts of rhetoric professor and debate coachBrooks Quimby. It is ranked by the 2015Princeton Reviewas the 12th best college radio station in the United States and Canada, making it the top college radio in theNew England Small College Athletic Conference.^[154]

There are five auditioneda cappellagroups on campus. The Deansmen and the Manic Optimists are all-male, the Merminaders are all-female, and the co-ed groups are known as TakeNote and the Crosstones.^[155]

The formation of the team predates the establishment of the college itself as the debate society was founded within theMaine State Seminarymaking it the oldest coeducational college debate society in the United States. It was headed by Bates alumnus and teacherBrooks Quimbyand became the first intercollegiate international debate team in the United States.^[28]The Quimby Debate Society has been noted as "America's most prestigious debating society,"^[156]and the "playground of the powerful."^[157]During the 1930s, the debate society was subject to 'The Quimby Institute' which pitted every debate student against Brooks Quimby himself. This is where he began to engage in heated debate with them that stressed "flawless assertions" and resulted in every error made by the student to be carefully scrutinized and teased.^[28]Bates has an annual and traditional debate withOxford,CambridgeandDartmouth College. It competes in theAmerican Parliamentary Debate Associationdomestically, and competes in theWorld Universities Debating Championships, internationally. The debate council was ranked 5th nationally in 2013, the year prior year ranking 9th in the world.^[158][159]

The class graduates participate in anIvy Daywhich installs a granite placard onto one of the academic or residential buildings on campus. They serve as a symbol of the class and their respective history both academically and socially. Some classes donate to the college, in the form of gates, facades, and door outlines, by inscribing or creating their own version of symbolic icons of the college's seal or other prominent insignia. This usually occurs on graduation day, but may occur on later dates with alumni returning to the campus. This tradition is shared with theUniversity of PennsylvaniaandPrinceton University. On Ivy Day, members ofPhi Beta Kappaare announced.^[160]

This tradition is nearly a century old.^[161]The college has held, on odd to even years, a Winter Carnival which comprises a themed four-day event that includes performances, dances, and games. Past Winter Carnivals have included "aSwissOlympic skier swooshing down Mount David", faculty and student football games, faculty and administration skits, oversized snow sculptures, "serenading of the dormitories", and expeditions toCamden. When alumnusEdmund Muskiewas governor, he participated in a torch relay fromAugustatoLewistonin celebration of the1960 Winter Olympics.^[161]

Robert F. Kennedy, with his naval classmates, built a replica of their boat back in Massachusetts out of snow in front of Smith Hall, during their carnival. This tradition is second only toDartmouth Collegeas the oldest of its kind in the United States.^[28][162]Students are known to participate in what has been colloquially termed as the 'Dartmouth Challenge', which consists of alcohol related activities, closely related to the parent ritualNewman Day, a tradition the college started in the 1970s.^[17][163]The carnival has been hosted by the Bates Outing Club since its conception.^[164]

On the Friday of Winter Carnival, the Bates College Outing Club initiates the annual Puddle Jump. A hole is cut by a chainsaw or by the original axe used in the inaugural Puddle Jump of 1975, in Lake Andrews. Students from all class years jump into the hole, sometimes in costumes, to celebrate, "exuberance at the end of a hard winter." By mid-evening, they celebrate with donuts, cider and a cappella performances.^[165]

The college's official mascot is thebobcat, and official color is garnet. The college athletically competes in theNCAA Division IIINew England Small College Athletic Conference(NESCAC), which also includesAmherst,Connecticut,Hamilton,Middlebury,Trinity,Tufts,Wesleyan,Williams, and "Maine Big Three" rivalsBowdoinandColbyin theColby-Bates-Bowdoin Consortium. This is one of the oldest football rivalries in the United States. This consortium is a series of historically highly competitive football games ending in the championship game between the three schools. Bates is the holder of the winning streak, but also has the record for the biggest loss in the athletic conference.

Overall the college leads the Colby-Bates-Bowdoin Consortium in wins. Bates has won this championship a total of eleven times including 2014, 2015, and in 2016 won it again with a 24–7 win over Bowdoin, after their 21–19 home victory over Colby.^[166][167]

According toU.S. Rowing, the Women's Rowing Team is ranked 1st in the New England Small College Athletic Conference, and 1st overall inNCAA Division III Rowing, as of 2016^[update].^[168]In the 2015 season, the women's rowing team wasthe most decoratedrowing team in collegiate racing while also being the first to sweep every major rowing competition in its athletic conference in the history of NCAA Division III athletics. In 2015, the men's rowing team had the fastest ascension in rankings of any sport in its athletic conference and is the NESCAC Rowing Champion.^[169]Bates has the4th highest NESCAC title hold, is ranked 5th in its athletic conference and 15th in Division III athletics. As of 2018^[update], the college has graduated a total of 12 Olympians, one of whom won theOlympic Gold Medalrowing for Canada at the2008 Beijing Olympics.^[170]The all-time leader of theChase Regattais Bates with a total of 14 composite wins, followed by Colby's 5 wins, concluding with Bowdoin's 2 wins.

The ice hockey team is the first team to win the NESCAC Club Ice Hockey Championships four times in a row.^[171]As of 2016^[update], the men's club ice hockey team is ranked 5th in the Northeast, and 25th overall in theNESCHA rankings.^[172]In the winter of 2008, the college's Nordic Skiing team sent students who were the highest-ranked skiers in theEastern Intercollegiate Ski Associationand placed 4th in the 2008NCAA Division I Championship.^[173]In April 2005, the college's athletic program was ranked top 5% of national athletics programs.^[174]The Men's Squash Team won the national championships in 2015, and 2016, with the winning student being the first in the history of the athletic conference, to be named the All American all four years he played for the college.^[175]The men's track field is the first team in the history of Maine to have seven consecutivewinsof the state championship, a feat completed in 2016.^[176]Bates maintains 31 varsity teams, and 9 club teams, including sailing, cycling, ice hockey, rugby, and water polo.^[177]

In 2005, PresidentElaine Tuttle Hansenstated, "Bates will purchase its entire electricity supply from renewable energy sources in Maine" and secured a new contract, adding a premium of $76,000 to their energy supply.^[178]Bates College signed onto theAmerican College and University President's Climate Commitmentin 2007.^[179]In April 2008, the college completed its dining complex named "The Commons"^[180]at a cost of approximately $24 million.^[181]The complex is 60,000 square feet, certifiedLEED Silver, and featuresoccupancy sensors,anti-HCFCrefrigerants, natural ventilation, heat islands, and five separate dining areas with almost 70% of the walls being glass paneling.^[182]

In 2009, the college was given its third $5,000grant allocationby the Hobart Center for Foodservice Sustainability which cited Bates as "having the best sustainability program among numerous entrants nationwide".^[183]In 2010, the college was named one of 15 colleges in the United States to the "Green Honor Roll", byPrinceton Review.^[184]Bates mitigates 99% of emissionsvia electrical consumptionand purchases all of its energy from Maine Renewable Resources. The college expended $1.1 million of its endowment to install lighting retrofits, occupancy sensors, motor system replacements and energy-generating mechanisms.^[185]Select buildings at the college are open24/7, thus requiring extra energy, due to this the college has implemented technology that places buildings on "stand-by" mode while minimum occupancy is attained to preserve energy.^[185]The practice is set to reduce the college's overall emissions levels by 5 to 10 percent. Overall, the academic buildings and residential halls are equipped with day-lighting techniques, motion sensors, and efficient heating systems.^[185]Bates expended $1.5 million to implement a central plant that provides steam for heating for up to 80% of all on-campus establishments. The central plant is equipped with a modernized biomass system and a miniature back-pressure steam turbine which reduces campus electricity consumption by 5%. The college also installed a $2.7 million900kWhyper-roterized turbinethat accounts for nearly one-tenth of the campus' entire energy consumption.^[185]Bates was the first food-service operation in higher education to join the Green Restaurant Association. In 2013, the environmental practices of the college's dining services were placed along withHarvard University, andNortheastern University, as the best in the United States by the Green Restaurant Association;^[186]it earned three out of three stars, the only educational institution in Maine to do so.^[187]

Bates maintains numerous environmental clubs and initiatives such as Green Certification, which recognizes students who commit to sustainable policies and practices,^[188]Green Bike, which offers students access to bicycles for use on and off campus for free,^[189]and the Bates Action Energy Movement in which students participate in "both on-campus and nationwide environmental events and engage students with discussions on climate change and other pressing ecological crises."^[190]TheBates College Museum of Artoffers programs such as the Green Horizons Program that showcaseenvironmentalismin art, society, and culture.^[191]

TheUnited States Environmental Protection Agencyhonored Bates as a member of the Green Power Leadership Club due to the fact that 96% of energy used on campus is from renewable resources.^[192]All newly developed buildings and facilities are built toLEEDSilver and Gold standards.^[193]The college achievedcomplete carbon neutralityin 2019, as a result of campus-wide conservation efforts and specific initiatives in its implementation plan.^[185][194]

Bates College is governed by its central administration, headquartered in andmetonymicallyknown as "Lane Hall". The first president of the college was its founder,Oren Burbank Cheneyand its president isClayton Spencer, who took office October 26, 2012.^[51]There have beeneight presidentsof Bates College, and oneinterimpresident.^[195]The president isex officioa member and president of the board of trustees, chief executive officer of the corporation, and principal academic of the college.^[196]

There are 37 members on the Bates College board of trustees. The chairman of the board is 1980 alumnus and founder of Prospector Partners, John Gillespie.^[197]

As atax-exemptnonprofit organization, Bates is classified undersection 501(c)of the U.S.Internal Revenue Code.^[198]The endowment surpasses thenational average,^[199]yet has been seen as a laggard compared to its direct peers.^[200]During the first half-century of the college, the endowment grew at an exponentially high rate, topping off at $1 million in 1910, asYale University, then 207 years old, stood at $12 million.^[201]"Lackluster fundraising, poor governance, anddivestments" from the 1960s to 1980s, "cost Bates hundreds of millions" according to a 2019-20The Student/BCIC academic study.^[201]During the2007–08 financial crisisandsubsequent recession, the college's endowment lost 31% of market value.^[202]The Bates endowment consistently outperformed peers inmarket returns, particularly against fellowNESCACcolleges and theIvy Leaguefrom 2010 to 2018.^[201]Its low endowment-to-student ratio increases the college'sfee dependencyand therefore overallsticker price, frequently making Bates one of themost expensive colleges to attendin the United States.^[203][204]

As of the 2016 fiscal year, the college received $28.2 million in overall donations demonstrating a 134% increase in giving since 2013, and breaking the previous 2006 record of $24.8 million. In May 2017 presidentClayton Spencerannounced the "Bates+You"fundraising campaign, the largest ever undertaken by the college, due to close out on $300 million.^[205][206]

In 2014, members of the student advocacy group, Bates Energy Action Movement (BEAM), requested the collegedivestfrom 200 companies that held the largestfossil fuel reserves.^[207]In response the college asserted the board of trustees had afiduciary responsibilityto the growth of the endowment and declined to specifically divest from the companies.^[208]However, in accordance with the student's request the college did disclose its full investment strategy, and commented on the long term implications of divestment by saying:

Were we to guarantee a fossil fuel free endowment more broadly than the 200 companies, greater than half of the endowment would need to beliquidated. In either scenario, the transition would result in significanttransaction costs, a long-term decrease in the endowment's performance, an increase in the endowment'srisk profile, and thus a loss in annual operating income for the college.^[208]

• 
  Bryant Gumbel, journalist and sportswriter
• 
  Holman Melcher, American military officer during the American Civil War
• 
  Frank Sandford, Christian cult leader
• 
  Benjamin Mays, civil rights leader
• 
  E. Robert Kinney, former CEO of General Mills
• 
  Jared Golden, U.S. Congressman
• 
  Edmund Muskie, former U.S. Secretary of Stateand U.S. Senator
• 
  George Hammond, scientist and theoretical chemist
• 
  Robert F. Kennedy, American politician and lawyer

Bates alumni have included leaders in science, religion, politics, the Peace Corps, medicine, law, education, communications, and business; and acclaimed actors, architects, artists, astronauts, engineers, human rights activists, inventors, musicians, philanthropists, and writers. As of 2015^[update], there are 24,000 Bates College alumni.^[65]Bates alumni, including faculty, include 86Fulbright Scholars;^[209]22Watson Fellows;^[210]5Rhodes Scholars;^[211]as well as 12 members of theU.S. Congress;^{[nb 2]}7Emmy Awardwinners; 5Pulitzer Prizewinners;^[215]and CEOs ofFortune 500companies.

The college is associated, through alumni and academic staff, with the following intellectual, scientific, and social contributions to human advancement, including laying the foundations ofbraille typography(Frank Haven Hall),^[216][217]"The Kingdom" (Frank Sandford),^[218]theAmerican civil rights movement(Benjamin Mays),^[219]basketball's fast break(Frank Keaney),^[220]theBoston Red Sox(Harry Lord,Charles Small),^[25][24]thefractional quantum Hall effect(Steven Girvin),^[221]andorganic photochemistry(George Hammond).^[222]

In national and international government, alumni of the college include the 58th U.S. Secretary of State,Edmund Muskie(1936),^[223]U.S. Attorney GeneralRobert F. Kennedy(1944),^[32]and Clerk of the Supreme Court of the United StatesJohn F. Davis(1928). As of November 2018, the college has had 12 United States Congress members among its alumni:John Swasey(1859),Daniel McGillicuddy(1881),Carroll Beedy(1903),Charles Clason(1911),Donald Partridge(1914), Edmund Muskie (1936),Frank Coffin(1940), Robert F. Kennedy (1944),Leo Ryan(1944),Bob Goodlatte(1974),Ben Cline(1994), andJared Golden(2011).^[212][213]In state government, Bates alumni have led all three political branches in Maine, graduating two Chief Justices of theMaine Supreme Court, twoMaine Governors, and multiple leaders of both state houses. Notable military people include Brevet MajorHolman Melcher(1862),^[224]as well asMedal of HonorrecipientsFrederick Hayes(1861),Josiah Chase(1861),Joseph F. Warren(1862),Lewis Millet(1943),^[225]Aaron Daggett(1860), andJames Porter(1863).^[226]

Bates alumni in business, finance, and economics includeGeneral MillsCEORobert Kinney(1939),^[227]Fidelity Fundmanaging directorBarry Greenfield(1956),^[228]Analysis GroupfounderBruce Stangle(1970),Merrill LynchCFOJoseph Willett(1973),^[229]Japonica PartnersCEOPaul Kazarian(1978),^[230]L CattertonCEOMichael Chu(1980),^[231]Cubist PharmaceuticalsCEOMichael Bonney(1980),^[232]National Bank of CanadaCEOLouis Vachon(1983),^[233]andAffiliated Managers GroupCFODarrell Crate(1989).^[234]In literature, music, journalism, television, and film, the following attended Bates: actorsJeffery Lynn(1930),John Shea(1970),^[235]Maria Bamford(1990–92),^[236]Bryant Gumbel(1970),^[237]writersJeffrey K. Tulis(1972),^[238]Elizabeth Strout(1977),^[239]Lisa Genova(1992),^[240]andBrian McGrory(1984)^[241]and musicianCorey Harris(1991).^[242]Bates counts 12 Olympian alumni:Vaughn Blanchard(1912),Harlan Holden(1913),Ray Buker(1922),Art Sager(1926),Arnold Adams(1933),Nancy Fiddler(1978),Mike Ferry(1997),Justin Freeman(1998),Andrew Byrnes(2005),Hayley Johnson(2006),Emily Bamford(2015), andDinos Lefkaritis(2019).^[243]

• New England Small College Athletic Conference
• List of colleges and universities in Maine
• Hidden Ivies: Thirty Colleges of Excellence
• Liberal arts colleges in the United States
• List of colleges and universities in Maine

• Official website
• Bates Athletics Website