THE NEW AGE--ARTICLE--FEBRUARY 1990--ARTMATH.FEB
                 THE GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY:
          A NEW ERA OF PARTNERSHIP WITH THE SCOTTISH RITE

                     REYNOLD J. MATTHEWS, 33
              Grand Archivist of The Supreme Council
       1733 SIXTEENTH STREET NW, WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009-3199
                     
     How many of our readers know that The George Washington 
University in Washington, D. C., is not simply named to honor our 
first President but that he was also the first to endow it?  
Washington left a bequest of 50 shares in the Potomac (Canal) 
Company (worth then about $23,000) for the endowment of a 
University in the District of Columbia "to which the 
youth...might be sent for the completion of their Education...in 
acquiring Knowledge in the principles of Politics and good 
government."{1}  Unfortunately the endowment would prove of 
little monetary value, but the thought and momentum were 
established.  The George Washington University was established in 
1821 and has now existed for 169 years.  
     There is also much additional evidence of Masonic 
involvement with the University:

     For a number of years there had been a growing interest in 
     the University among Masonic Bodies.  George Washing-ton was 
     a towering figure in the history of Masonry.  Luther Rice, 
     the founder of Columbian College, was a Mason.  [Columbian 
     College later became the George Washington University.]  Dr. 
     Marvin [who became President of the University in 1927] was 
     a 33rd Degree Mason.{2}

     By the 1920's the League of Masonic Clubs had become 
interested in the need for a properly trained foreign service.  
"The Masons were particularly concerned by the fact that the only 
institution formally offering such training through a School of 
Foreign Service was a church-related institution."  Then 
Sovereign Grand Commander Cowles was very much involved with the 
National League of Masonic Clubs, as evidenced by the 
correspondence in the Archives of The Supreme Council.  However, 
the League was unable to provide the assistance that it had 
envisioned in dealing with this concern.{3}
     The Supreme Council and Sovereign Grand Commander John H. 
Cowles then became involved.  On December 28, 1927, The George 
Washington University "accepted a gift of one million dollars 
with the understanding that the gift would revert if at any time 
the institution ceased to be nonsectarian.  The details of the 
grant were the result of many conferences between President 
Marvin and John H. Cowles."{4}
     With this gift from the Scottish Rite, intended as a 
memorial to George Washington, the Mason, The George Washington 
University was able to establish the School of Government.  The 
gift also presaged many others to the University from Masonic 
sources.  High Twelve International, for instance, established 
the Wolcott Scholarships.  Mrs. Chauncey M. Depew, in memory of 
her husband who was a Thirty-third Degree Mason of the Northern 
Masonic Jurisdiction, contributed $125,000 for the purpose of 
establishing a Department of Public Speaking in the new School of 
Government.{5}
     The dedication of The Supreme Council to its venture is 
evidenced by Dr. William L. Fox, 32, K..C..C..H.., Grand 
Historian of The Supreme Council, who in a discussion with the 
author noted that the gift of $1,000,000, intended to be paid 
over ten years starting in 1928, was paid as promised and that no 
payment was missed even during the height of the Great 
Depression.   The indenture agreed to by The Supreme Council and 
the University provided that each payment of $100,000 would be 
made by February 22 (Washington's Birthday).  Only in 1931 did a  
$50,000 payment slip to March 14, and in 1935 the payment slipped 
to March 21.  Then, in 1936, the final $200,000 was paid, 
completing the obligation in only nine years--a full year ahead 
of schedule.
     The next phase of The Supreme Council's involvement with The 
George Washington University came in 1954 when the Scottish Rite 
Fellowship Program was established.  Eventually, 32 of our 42 
Orients, as well as The Supreme Council, supported Fellowships at 
the University.  By 1982 this resulted in over 500 Fellows 
sponsored by the Scottish Rite at a cost approaching $2,000,000.  
The Supreme Council then provided support for two Doctoral Degree 
scholarships in the field of Public Administration which proved 
to be as successful as the previous Master's Degree programs.  
Recently, for instance, we noted in The New Age, (August 1989, 
page 43) that Dr. Andrea Arntsen, one of the Scottish Rite 
Fellows sponsored by the Alexandria, Virginia, Bodies, was 
honored by the Department of Defense with the Distinguished 
Civilian Service Award, the highest such award that can be earned 
by a civilian employee of that Department.
     Today the original $1,000,000 endowment has grown to over 
$5,000,000, and through discussions between Sovereign Grand 
Commander C. Fred Kleinknecht, Illustrious John D. Blankinship, 
33, S..G..I..G.. in the state of Washington, and The George 
Washington University President, Stephen Joel Trachtenberg, a 
truly historic agreement was completed on December 18, 1989.  The 
George Washington University and the Scottish Rite of Freemasonry 
for the Southern Jurisdiction have renewed and expanded their 
time-tested mutual objective of promoting the cause of public 
education and producing the best-educated citizenry possible.
     Effective with the school years 1990-1991, the endowment 
mentioned above will be used to award ten scholarships known as 
Scottish Rite of Freemasonry Scholarships.  These awards will be 
for $5,000 each and will be available to undergraduates enrolled 
in any school or department at the University.  Each year 
thereafter ten additional such scholarships will be awarded until 
the maximum number of 40 annual scholarship recipients is reached 
in four years.
     This agreement also provides that for those Orients 
establishing fellowships for graduate study at The George 
Washington University School of Government and Business 
Administration or the Elliott School of International Affairs, 
the University, commencing with the school year 1990-1991, will 
provide matching grants in the form of tuition waivers.  These 
waivers will be for a minimum amount of $5,000 and a maximum of 
$10,000 annually per recipient.  The University has committed up 
to $100,000 each year for these awards.  
     This new venture is truly a landmark in Scottish Rite 
Freemasonry's support of American education.  Through it future 
generations of young men and women will be able to advance in 
their careers to the benefit of themselves and their fellowmen.  
Every American Mason can be proud of this achievement.  It 
carries forth the vision of our great Brother and our Nation's 
first President while serving the Craft and Country he loved so 
well.




Today the original $1,000,000 endowment has grown to over 
$5,000,000.

This new venture is truly a landmark in Scottish Rite 
Freemasonry's support of American education.  It carries forth 
the vision of our great Brother and our Nation's first President 
while serving the Craft and Country he loved so well.






     1 Undated, anonymous MSS in The Supreme Council Archives, 
GWU, Box 2-121.
     2 Elmer Louis Kayser, Bricks Without Straw (N.Y.: 
Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1970), p.259.
     3 Kayser, ibid.
     4 Kayser, op. cit., p. 260.
     5 The Supreme Council Archives, Box 2-121.
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