This article is missing information about major university developments, particularly from 1977 onward—including but not limited to: The 1989 Galpin Takeover, the 2016 Anti-Racist Collective movement, and the 2018 Galpin Call In. Please expand the article to include this information. Further details may exist on the talk page.(October 2026)
The factual accuracy of parts of this article (those related to Academics, Residential Life, and International Presence,) may be compromised due to out-of-date information. The reason given is: The Library section remains largely unchanged since Sept 22, 2009; Residential Life references date to 2014; International presence references date to 2019. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information.(October 2026)
Founded as the University of Wooster in 1866 by the Presbyterian Synod of Ohio, the institution opened its doors in 1870 with a faculty of five and a student body of thirty men and four women. Ephraim Quinby, a Wooster citizen, donated the first 20 acres (8.1ha), a large oak grove situated on a hilltop overlooking the town.[dead link] After being founded with the intent to make Wooster open to everyone, the university's first Ph.D. was granted to a woman, Annie B. Irish, in 1882. The first black student, Clarence Allen, began his studies later in the same decade.
The university gradually began to define itself as a liberal arts institution. In 1915, after a bitter dispute between the faculty and the trustees, the institution was renamed The College of Wooster reflecting a dedication to the education of undergraduate students in the liberal arts.[failed verification][dead link]
The college developed under the presidency of Charles F. Wishart, 1919–1944. [how?][vague]
During the Fundamentalist–Modernist Controversy in the 1920s, prominent Presbyterian layman and former United States Secretary of StateWilliam Jennings Bryan attacked the college for its teaching of evolution. The subject had been taught at the college for several decades and defended by president Wishart. Bryan called for the general assembly of the church to cut off funding to the college. In 1923, Wishart defeated Bryan for the position of Moderator of the General Assembly, largely on the evolution issue, and the college continued to teach evolution. Wishart was followed by Howard F. Lowry, who served from 1944 until his death in 1967. He was followed by J. Garber Drushal, who served until 1977.
On November 10, 2015, the college named Sarah Bolton as its twelfth president and first female president. Bolton left the college at the end of the 2021–2022 academic year to assume the presidency of Whitman College. Anne E. McCall was inaugurated on October 28, 2023.
Scottish heritage
Wooster's school colors are black and old gold and its mascot is the 'Fighting Scot'. Early Wooster teams were known as the Presbyterians or unofficially as the 'Presbyterian Steamroller.' In 1939, a large donation from alumnus Birt Babcock funded the purchase of kilts for the marching band, in the yellow-and-black MacLeod tartan (MacLeod of Lewis), which had no particular significance, except that it matched the school colors. Scottish culture became an important part of the school's heritage; today, the football games feature a Scottish pipe band with Highland dancers in addition to a traditional marching band, with all three groups clad in the MacLeod tartan. The college offers the "Scottish Arts Scholarship" for students who perform as pipers, drummers, or Scottish dancers.
Kauke Hall, an iconic building on the college's campus
Presidents
Wooster has had fifteen presidents from 1870 to 2024, including interim presidents.
The College of Wooster Libraries consists of three branches (Andrews Library, Flo K. Gault Library, and Timken Science Library) and a music library located at the Scheide Music Center. Andrews Library, the largest library in the system, houses more than 850,000 volumes and can accommodate over 500 readers. Andrews Library houses the college's Special Collections, media library, and the student writing center.
Art museum
The College of Wooster Art Museum was established in the 1930s. The current museum was established at the Ebert Art Center in 1997. The museum houses two small galleries, the Charlene Derge Sussel Art Gallery and the Burton D. Morgan Gallery.
Bornhuetter Hall, one of the college's residence halls
The College of Wooster is a residential campus and has 16 residence halls, which house 16 to 270 students each, and 30 program houses. 97% of the student body live in the residence halls on campus.
International presence
Elias Compton, former dean of the college, founded the Wooster in India program during the 1930s, which established a sister school relationship with Ewing Christian College in Allahabad, India. Over a forty-year time span, Wooster sent several former students to serve as Head Resident at Ewing while Ewing faculty were brought to Wooster as Ewing Fellows; a plaque with the names of Ewing Fellows hangs in Babcock Hall. The Wooster in India program provides for the exchange of students and ideas.
Today, 15% of the student body is international in origin, representing 59 countries. The college offers instruction in seven foreign languages and opportunities to study abroad in 60 countries. Sixty-nine percent of Wooster students are from outside of Ohio.
Performing arts
Freedlander Theatre is the main auditorium on campus.
Wooster is the home of the Ohio Light Opera, an enterprise founded within the college in 1979, but not part of the college curriculum. It is the only professional company in the United States entirely devoted to operetta. OLO performs the entire Gilbert & Sullivan repertoire, but also regularly revives rarely performed continental works of the 19th and early 20th centuries. Over the years, the company has produced eighty different operettas.
Wooster's performing ensembles include the Wooster Symphony Orchestra, founded in 1915 by Daniel Parmelee, then Professor of Violin at the college. The orchestra currently is the second-oldest orchestra in continuous performance in the state of Ohio. Additional ensembles include the Scot Symphonic and Marching Bands, the Wooster Chorus, and the Wooster Jazz Ensemble.
Wooster has an active on-campus pipe band. Officially called the College of Wooster Pipe Band, members perform at many official on-campus events such as commencement, sports games (football, basketball, swim meets, and sometimes lacrosse games) and many spontaneous student-run events. During the spring season, they perform and compete at a grade 3 level, having won prizes at the Scots wi' Shotts event in Cleveland hosted by the local Lochaber Pipe Band.[citation needed] The Pipe Band also placed first in the grade 3 contest at the 2009 Toronto Indoor Highland Games, as the only American band competing.
The college's department of Theatre and Dance produces two dance concerts per year, a fall concert in the round, and a spring concert in a more formal proscenium setting. Additionally, the college produces at least two plays each academic year. Further plays are produced by student groups and seniors pursuing their Independent Study projects. In 2007, Wooster's theatre production of 'Nocturne' was invited to perform at the Kennedy Center's American College Theatre Festival in Washington, D.C. Wooster's production was one of four shows chosen from a field of approximately 400 entries.[citation needed]
Department of Theatre and Dance - 2026 Productions
1. Fall Production: EMIL!A, by Morgan Lloyd Malcom.
The College of Wooster has hosted more than 80 fraternities, sororities, and honor societies since its establishment, with approximately 30 active today. The most visible are the college's Greek Academic and Social chapters. The Greek System includes Honor Societies and Professional Fraternities.
Student organizations
The Wooster Voice is the weekly student newspaper with a newly launched website, and has been published weekly since 1883 (see list of college newspapers), while WOO 91, which was at WCWS-FM until 2019, is the college's online radio station that streams from iHeartRadio.
The college's Moot Court team participates in the American Moot Court Association, won a 2008 National Championship, and was ranked second in the nation in 2017 by the ACMA.
Wooster teams are named the Fighting Scots. Wooster's athletic history dates back to its first baseball team, in 1880, which played only one game, losing 12–2 to Kenyon College. The football program was established in 1889; over its first two seasons, the team won all seven games it played, by a total score of 306–4. Included was a 64–0 victory at Ohio State on November 1, 1890, in the Buckeyes' first-ever home football game. Shortly thereafter, intercollegiate sports were banned by the College President.
↑For reference, see any edition of the Wooster Index yearbookArchived January 10, 2021, at the Wayback Machine, which has regularly featured fraternities, sororities and honor societies during its 147 years of publication. Website accessed January 7, 2021.
Becerra, Brianna (March 14, 2025). "Title IX didn't save me". The Wooster Voice. Archive.org. Archived from the original on October 14, 2026. Retrieved October 14, 2026.
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