New Professors and New Buildings. 1901-1902 [excerpt]

     The college year had hardly opened when we were shocked by the news of the assassination of President McKinley at Buffalo. At the request of Mr. Leishman a public service was held in the college chapel on the day of his funeral, which was attended by all the American officials, by the staff of the French Embassy and the American colony. A formal service had been held in the morning of the same day in the chapel of the British Embassy at Therapia. This was the third time since the founding of Robert College that we had been called to mourn the death of a President of the United States [278][279] by assassination. What could we say to our students in view of such crimes, we who had come out here professing to represent a higher Christian civilization and the blessings of a free government—a government of the people by the people? We told them that the people repudiated and condemned these crimes, that they did not disturb the stability of the government, that they were the work of individuals such as were to be found in every country; but in our hearts we knew that the principles which we represent here had been dishonored in the minds of the people of this country and our influence in some measure diminished. These great crimes have confirmed the belief of Europeans in the picture of American society, which they get from their newspapers, which represents us as worshipers of the almighty dollar, given over to lawlessness and regardless of human life, with little real respect for God or man. They make this impression, not by inventions of their own, but by quotations from New York newspapers. Robert College is a standing protest against this conception of our country, and we defend its honor as best we can, without concealing the fact that the conflict between good and evil is as fierce there as in other parts of the world.