Letter from Thomas Eugene West to George M. Modlin

Letter from Thomas Eugene West to George M. Modlin

In this letter from 1948, Thomas Eugene West writes to University of Richmond President George M. Modlin about the opening of Brandeis University, a private institution sponsored by the Jewish community, in Waltham, Massachusetts. West claims that Brandeis does not seem to have any financial problems and describes its opening celebration as "elaborate" and "colorful." However, he questions the survival of the university because the "type of student they need will go to Harvard, M.I.T., Chicago, Michigan, and so forth" and "wealthy Jews already have their own loyalties to their own Alma Maters." In addition, he writes that Brandeis’s President and Chairman of the Board of Trustees hope that students of "all denominations and races would attend," but West is skeptical that this will occur. West believed the university would be around for less than ten years. As of 2017, Brandeis has nearly 4,000 undergraduate students and a 886 million dollar endowment.

Letter from Thomas Eugene West to George M. Modlin, 11 October 1948, RG 6.2.4.3 Box 11, University Archives, Virginia Baptist Historical Society.

1948-10-11

Modlin, George Matthews, 1903-1998

English

UA6.2.4.3.11-19481011.jpg

Richmond (Va.)