(CONNECTICUT) Statement in support of a suspended Yale stude

Sale 2600 - Lot 95

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(CONNECTICUT.) Statement in support of a suspended Yale student, signed by his classmates. Manuscript document signed by 92 members of the Class of 1851. 33 x 13 1/2 inches on 2 conjoined sheets; laid down on later mat board, moderate foxing, 5-inch repaired closed tear, dampstaining to mat board. [New Haven, CT], 23 November 1848

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The rising Yale sophomores had a longstanding traditional ceremony, the "Burying of Euclid," which featured the destruction of their freshman textbooks. The student chosen by his classmates to lead the ceremony in 1848, Asa French, was singled out by the administration for suspension, which both surprised and angered his classmates. They drafted and signed this statement, insisting that "the custom of burying Euclid is time-honored" and "should be regarded as a class matter, each acting the part assigned to him by his class, assuming of course no individual responsibility." The statement was intended to serve as a sort of letter of reference, insisting that the suspension should not be regarded as a blight on French's character.

Asa French (1829-1903) of Braintree, MA was reinstated, graduated with the Class of 1851, and went on to a long law career; he was active in alumni affairs. Among the noteworthy students who signed here in his defense are journalist Richard Henry Sylvester (1830-1895); John William Hendrie (1830-1900), benefactor of the Law School's Hendrie Hall; Henry H. Jessup (1832-1910), missionary to Syria; and Colonel William Woolsey Winthrop (1831-1899), an expert on military law.