Boston University

Boston University was founded in 1839 by a group of Methodist ministers who wished to establish a school that followed Methodist theologies. Therefore, Boston University has a strong methodist ideal base. The university was first named “Newbury Biblical Institute”, which went through a few changes (eg. “Methodist General Biblical Institute”) before settling on “Boston University”. In 1867, Boston University opened all of its divisions to be accessible to women, becoming the first university in America to do so. In 1869, president William Warren of Boston University, along with other methodist businessmen in Boston, such as Lee Claflin, signed a petition to charter Boston University as one of the first modern research universities in America. It was also around this time when the Boston University seal and the school colors were established. The seal was drawn by William Fairfield Warren himself and consists of a roman cross with the city of Boston. The university colors are scarlet and white, which was considered to be unusual at the time. According to Warren, most colleges at the time were for only one sex and had generally one color. But Boston University is open for both sexes, therefore it was believed that the university should have two colors. In 1872, Boston University established the College of Music - the first school to grant degrees for music. It was also this year when the Great Boston Fire happened, which destroyed a large portion of the university facilities. The fire was one of the biggest reasons behind the university campus being spread out in terms of locations. Boston University is also known for many first graduates of minorities. In 1877, the university had the country’s first Black, first Japanese, and first woman Law graduates. (Emanuel Hewlett, Takeo Kikuchi, and Lelia Josephine Robinson.) It also awarded the first Ph.D to a woman, Helen Magill White. These firsts are said to represent one of the founding principles of Boston University: higher education should be accessible to all.