Clifton Daggett Gray
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Clifton Daggett Gray (July 27, 1874 – February 21, 1948) was an American minister who served as the third President of Bates College from March 1920 to November 1944. Under his tenure the debate team began to compete internationally and hosted the
University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...
's
Oxford Union The Oxford Union Society, commonly referred to simply as the Oxford Union, is a debating society in the city of Oxford England, whose membership is drawn primarily from the University of Oxford. Founded in 1823, it is one of Britain's oldest ...
's first American debate in Lewiston; Gray is known as the "father of the
Brooks Quimby Debate Council The Brooks Quimby Debate Council (BQDC) is a debate society in Lewiston, Maine, primarily comprising students from Bates College. The society, known for participating in British and American Parliamentary debate styles, competes in the American Pa ...
." He led the college through the
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to a $2 million endowment and introduced the V-12 Naval Training Program at the college.


Life and career

Gray was born on July 27, 1874, in Boston, Massachusetts, graduating from
Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
in 1897 and then receiving a Ph.D. from the
University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...
. Gray then served as a
Free Will Baptist Free Will Baptists are a group of General Baptist denominations of Christianity that teach free grace, free salvation and free will. The movement can be traced back to the 1600s with the development of General Baptism in England. Its formal est ...
pastor and editor of ''The Standard'', a Baptist periodical. Clifton Daggett Gray became Bates' third president in 1919, serving until 1944. He continued his predecessor's expansion of the academic side of Bates, but his tenure also saw significant changes in other aspects of college life. On-campus dancing was officially sanctioned, hazing was abolished, and student orientation and socializing rules were more formally established. As president, Gray greatly expanded the college's endowment and was active in the Bates debate program. He helped to organize the first intercontinental debate: Bates debated
Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
in 1921. During World War II, Gray was instrumental in bringing a V-12 Navy unit to train officers at the college. Gray served as president of Bates until 1944, when he retired.


Death and legacy

Gray died on February 21, 1948, in
Lewiston, Maine Lewiston (; ; officially the City of Lewiston, Maine) is List of cities in Maine, the second largest city in Maine and the most central city in Androscoggin County, Maine, Androscoggin County. The city lies halfway between Augusta, Maine, August ...
, four years after he retired from the presidency. Source for death date (genforum.com)
/ref> Bates College honored Gray by naming their main athletic gymnasium after him. The Gray Athletic Building (Gray Cage) at Bates is home to basketball games, and student and faculty activities.


References


Further reading

* ''Bates College Mirror'' (Lewiston, Maine: Bates College, 2006)


External links



{{DEFAULTSORT:Gray, Clifton Daggett 1875 births 1948 deaths Baptists from Maine Harvard University alumni University of Chicago alumni People from Boston Presidents of Bates College Baptists from Massachusetts Free Will Baptists Baptist ministers from the United States