Silliman University

Silliman University (also referred to as Silliman or SU) is a private Protestant research university in Dumaguete City, Philippines. Established in 1901 as Silliman Institute by the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions, it is the first Protestant institution of higher education in the Philippines and in Asia.

The university was named after Dr. Horace Brinsmade Silliman, a retired businessman and philanthropist from Cohoes, New York who provided the initial sum of $10,000 for the establishment of the school. Starting as an elementary school for boys, the school expanded to become a college in 1910, acquiring university status in 1938. Silliman University was run and operated by Americans during the first half of the 20th century. After the Second World War, Filipinos began to assume more administrative positions, culminating in the appointment of the university's first Filipino president in 1952.

More than 10,000 students from the Philippines and at least 56 other countries are enrolled in ten colleges, five schools, and three institutes. It is registered as a National Historical Landmark by the National Historical Institute and is one of the few private higher education institutions in the Philippines that have been granted full autonomous status by the Commission on Higher Education. It is also a founding member of the Association of Christian Universities and Colleges in Asia (ACUCA) and one of the recognized institutions in the U.S. Veterans Administration's list of approved educational institutions.

History

Founding and Early Development

left|thumb|150px|National Historical Commission marker installed in 1966.

left|thumb|150px|National Historical Landmark marker installed in 2022.

left|thumb|150px|Dr. David Sutherland Hibbard in a 1914 yearbook of Silliman Institute.

thumb|150px|left|US Vice President [[Charles W. Fairbanks visited Silliman Institute in 1909.]]

right|thumb|250px|[[Horace Silliman. The University's first benefactor and namesake.]]

thumb|250px|[[Silliman Hall is the oldest standing American structure in the Philippines. The design of the building is reminiscent of the Stick style architecture that characterize American buildings in the late 19th century. Some of the materials used to build it were salvaged from an old theater in New York. The present structure was built in 1909 as an addition to the original structure built in 1902, now demolished. It presently houses the university's Heritage Museum.]]

thumb|250px|Guy Hall, built in 1918, was one of the buildings occupied by Japanese troops during World War II.

right|thumb|250px|An early morning photograph of the Silliman University Church. Construction for the church building began in 1941. Due to interruptions brought by [[World War II, it was completed only in 1949.]]

right|thumb|250px|The western side of the Gate of Knowledge is one of the iconic portals of Silliman University. Built in the 1950s, this landmark now serves as the main entrance to the main campus. The original portal, called the Gate of Opportunity (built circa 1901–1905), is on the southeastern side of the campus facing the Rizal Boulevard. Silliman's portals have become the de facto symbol for the university and the [[Dumaguete|City of Dumaguete. It has also been incorporated into the provincial seal of the Province of Negros Oriental.

]]

Silliman University was founded on August 28, 1901, as Silliman Institute by Protestant missionaries under the Board of Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian Church in the United States. Originally established as an elementary school for boys, the institute began operations through an initial $10,000 donation from Dr. Horace Brinsmade Silliman, a retired businessman and Christian philanthropist from Cohoes, New York, who sought to establish an industrial school based on the Hampton Institute model of Virginia.

The person tasked by the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions to establish the school was Dr. David Sutherland Hibbard, a man from Lyndon, Kansas, who, after serving as a pastor in a Presbyterian church in that locality, offered his services to the Board as missionary. Upon his arrival in the Philippines, he was commissioned, along with his wife Laura, to scout the southern part of the islands to determine the best location for the school. His original destination were Cebu, Zamboanga and Iloilo. While in Cebu, he received a suggestion to make a side-trip to Dumaguete. Recalling how the university started half a century later, Dr. Hibbard described: In 1909, Silliman Institute was visited by US Vice President Charles W. Fairbanks. In 1910, it was awarded government recognition and the right to grant a degree. In the same year, it was incorporated under the laws of the Philippines. Women began to be admitted in 1912, with Pura Blanco as its first female student, and in 1921, the Silliman Bible School (later to become the Divinity School) was established in cooperation with the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, which largely represented the Congregational Churches of the United States. As enrollment in the institution continued to grow, a corresponding increase in faculty followed. These developments were accompanied by the adoption of a more advanced curriculum and the construction and acquisition of more permanent buildings and equipment. Of note was Emilio Aguinaldo's decision to send his sons to Silliman Institute. By 1925, it was already recognized as "the most influential Protestant institution of higher learning" in the Philippines, according to a report submitted by the Board of Educational Survey, which was created by the Philippine Legislature to conduct a study on all educational institutions in the country. The institute was re-incorporated in 1935, and in 1938 became the first school outside of Manila to be granted university status.

World War II

Life at the university was interrupted when World War II broke out. On May 26, 1942, some three weeks after the fall of Corregidor, two Japanese transports anchored in Dumaguete. Silliman was occupied by the Japanese forces and was converted to a garrison. One of its buildings, Channon Hall, became the headquarters of the dreaded Japanese kempeitai or military police where many Filipinos were tortured and killed. During the occupation, many members of the faculty and the student body were forced to evacuate to four localities within the province. Under the leadership of Dr. Arthur Carson, then president of Silliman, the remaining members of the faculty continued university operations in the mountains of Negros Oriental. This led to the formation of what was then known as the "Jungle University" in Malabo, Valencia, one of the localities in the province. University Professor Roy Bell became a major in the Negros Island guerrilla forces, established a Free Government, printed the Victory News, and used his radio transmitter to establish contact with the South West Pacific Area (command). Many students, alumni, faculty members and ROTC officers joined the resistance forces, while theology professors Alvin Scaff, Proculo Rodriguez, Paul Lindholm and James McKinley "carried on pastoral and teaching duties for the resistance soldiers and civilians in guerrilla-dominated territory." The Carson and Bell families, plus other faculty members, were evacuated by the USS Narwhal (SS-167) on February 7, 1944.

American and Filipino forces liberated Dumaguete on April 26, 1945. A few days later, the Faculty Emergency Committee took charge of the campus and began preparations for the resumption of classes and the challenge of reconstruction.

Post-war years

For the first half of the century, Silliman was run and operated by Americans. After the Second World War and until the early 1950s, efforts toward the Filipinization of the university administration began to surface. Filipino faculty members began to assume significant positions and, as more of them took on administrative roles, the board of trustees elected the university's first Filipino president, Dr. Leopoldo T. Ruiz, on August 26, 1952. He officially took office in April 1953. A Silliman alumnus (A.B. 1916) and a graduate of the University of California at Berkeley (B.A. 1920), Ruiz had an extensive experience in higher education and foreign service. Before his appointment, he pursued graduate studies in sociology at Columbia and Yale, earning an M.A. (1924) from the former, and a Ph.D. (1942) from the University of Southern California.

In the same decade as Ruiz's appointment, the United Board for Christian Higher Education in Asia (UBCHEA), an interdenominational group based in New York, assumed responsibility for channeling all church aid to Silliman. The United Board is an international organization supported by ten Protestant mission boards. The 1960s saw a decreasing American representation in the faculty and the engagement of new batch of professors of other nationalities. During this time, faculty members of South Korean, British, Scottish, German, Dutch and of Indonesian nationalities, among others also joined the faculty. By 1970, the Divinity School was the most international among academic units on campus. Up to most recent times, however, American and foreign visiting professors are still assigned in specialized areas.

In the early 1960s and toward the beginning of the Martial Law years, the university embarked on a "Build a Greater Silliman" program. This is in response to the growing student population and the corresponding need for additional facilities. With significant support from many donors, mostly alumni and entities from abroad, the program led to the construction of more academic buildings, dormitories, faculty housing units, and other facilities. These included the now-famous Luce Auditorium which was funded largely by the Henry Luce Foundation; the Science Complex, equipped with an observatory on top of the third floor; the Engineering Complex; and the Silliman University Medical Center.

Martial law era

When Martial Law was declared in 1972, Silliman was closed down by the government. It was one of the first two universities to be closed, and one of the last to be reopened. On the morning of September 23, 1972 some faculty members and many students were rounded up by the local Philippine Constabulary (now the Philippine National Police), some of whom were detained for one to six months. Many offices of the university, including the Weekly Sillimanian, the student paper, were raided by the PC. Journalist Crispin Maslog, who was teaching in the university at the time, recalls that Marcos himself had complained about instances where members of the political opposition such as Senator Jovito Salonga and Senator Juan Liwag were invited to speak at the university. produced a dog vaccine that gave a three-year immunity from rabies, making it the first and only laboratory to produce a rabies vaccine with long-term immunity in the whole of Southeast Asia. The development of the vaccine resulted in the elimination of rabies in many parts of the Visayas and Mindanao Islands and was later on used by other countries in their fight against rabies conducted in collaboration with the World Health Organization.

1980s to recent history

The 1980s saw the restoration of the university's Student Government and the approval of its constitution. After years of suppression by the Marcos regime, students were again allowed to organize in 1981. The decade also witnessed the 100% board exam ratings of the Electrical Engineering, Nursing and Accountancy programs and the installation of solar-powered light posts in the campus in the years 1986 and 1989 respectively.

Owing to its rich history, the university was declared as a National Historical Landmark by the National Historical Institute on June 19, 2002. A marker stating this declaration was installed inside the campus on September 23, 2022.

Silliman is one of few private higher educational institutions in the country with full autonomous status granted by the Commission on Higher Education (CHED), the same government agency that recognized some of its programs as Centers of Excellence and Centers of Development.

Campus

thumb|left|Pre-World War II aerial view of Dumaguete, showing the Silliman campus. Hibbard Hall, constructed in 1932, is not yet visible in the picture.

thumb|250px|right|Treeline along the west quadrangle along the Portal Buildings.

thumb|250px|right|Treeline along the Silliman University Church.

250px|thumb|right|Treeline on both sides of the west quadrangle.

Silliman is located in Dumaguete, a quiet and peaceful seaside community with a population of 142,171. The university campus has a total land area of 62 hectares composed of the main campus along Hibbard Avenue, and the campus for the College of Agriculture and the Institute of Environmental and Marine Sciences to the north. Dotted by large acacia trees, the main campus is home to most of the colleges and schools of the university and is adjacent to the city's downtown district. Occupying almost one-third of the downtown area, the campus faces the sea to the east, flanked by its portals which are now considered symbols of the school and city. The three most prominent portals are the Gates of Knowledge, Opportunity and Service. The Gate of Knowledge is the current and main entrance; it is the starting point of the two-kilometer-long Hibbard Avenue which was named after Dr. David Sutherland Hibbard, one of the founders of the institution. The other prominent landmarks on the main campus are the Silliman Hall, which now houses the Heritage Museum; the Silliman University Church; the Robert B. and Metta J. Silliman Library; and the Claire Isabel McGill Luce Auditorium, the largest theater outside Metro Manila. It is frequented by tourists so the university maintains a campus cruiser, a 15-seater golf cart or tram-like vehicle, to ferry visitors around the campus. It is used to transport students during regular days.

Two kilometers to the north (the other end of Hibbard Avenue) is the campus for the College of Agriculture and the Institute of Environmental and Marine Sciences. It has a land area of 29 hectares, and houses the College of Agriculture Complex, the Silliman Farm, a number of dormitories (known as the Cocofed Dormitories) and the Marine Laboratories of the Institute of Environmental and Marine Sciences. Adjacent to it is the Silliman Beach.

Silliman has off-campus facilities located in Camp Lookout, Valencia and on Ticao Island, in the Province of Masbate. The Camp Lookout facility houses the university's Creative Writing Center which now serves as the venue and permanent home of the Silliman National Writers Workshop. The center has a two-storey main function hall and five duplex cottages.

The university's Ticao Island facility, on the other hand, is a 465-hectare property in the Province of Masbate, another island in Bicol Region. Donated by the family of Elizabeth How, the facility is a combination of a working ranch, agricultural plantations, and patches of secondary forests. Since then, Silliman has established a technical-vocational school in partnership with TESDA. Under its most recent structure, it is facilitated through the SU TEVEC.

Dumaguete has been called a "center of learning in the south" or a "university town" due to the presence of Silliman and other universities that have made their mark nationally and abroad. The city has become a melting pot of students, professionals, artists, scholars and the literati coming from the country and the world.

Theaters and museums

right|thumb|250px| The Claire Isabel McGill Luce Auditorium (built 1973–75) is named after the wife of Henry Luce III, elder son of [[Henry Luce who is the founder and editor-in-chief of Time magazine. Its construction was mainly funded by the Henry Luce Foundation.]]

thumb|250px|right|Ground floor terrace of the Silliman Hall which now houses the Heritage Museum.

thumb|250px|right| Dr. Romeo P. Ariniego Art Gallery.

There are a number of theaters on the Silliman campus. Foremost is the Claire Isabel McGill Luce Auditorium. Construction of this edifice was commenced in 1973 and completed in the year 1975. The other one is the Audio Visual Theater maintained by the Instructional Media and Technology Center. A third is named as the Woodward Little Theater. The latter is regularly utilized by the Speech and Theater Arts Department.

Silliman also maintains a number of museums. These include the Anthropology Museum now situated at Hibbard Hall, the Heritage Museum at the Silliman Hall, the Gonzales Museum of Natural History at the Science Building, the Marine Mammal Museum of the Institute of Environmental and Marine Sciences (IEMS), the Ariniego Art Gallery, and the SU-ROTC Museum located at the Col. Roman T. Yap Hall.

The Anthropology Museum was relocated from Silliman Hall to Hibbard Hall in 2015. Established in 1973, it was opened to bring the importance of the Filipino's cultural heritage to the attention of the public. The bulk of the artifacts displayed came from fieldworks, excavations, purchases and donations. The museum has seven galleries. The first three, contain exhibits which have been collected from known cultural or ethnic groups all over the country. These items or artifacts include simple tools and instruments such as basketry, agricultural and aquatic tools, weapons, clothing and ornaments as well as musical instruments. The display is based on two general criteria: the type of social organization (incipient, tribal or sultanate) and the type of economic subsistence (hunting, and gathering, marginal agriculture or farming) under which ethnic group is categorized. The exhibit on the last four galleries are artifacts excavated from different parts of Negros Island and in the mountain areas of Cotabato. A number of excavations done by Sillimanian anthropologists in the 1970s yielded ancient artifacts, like burial urns, and porcelain pieces which date back to the Sung period in the twelfth century.

The Heritage Museum which was opened in August 2020 and housed at the Silliman Hall, is a repository with exhibits on the university's history since it was founded in 1901 by the Americans. Collections such as memorabilia and set-ups (e.g. classrooms) on what the life the founders had during the institution's infancy are showcased in the various sections the museum has.

The Gonzales Museum of Natural History is located at the first floor of the Science Complex. It showcases a collection of preserved animals traditionally found in the tropics such as different kinds of fishes, crustaceans, snakes, eagles, birds, flying lemurs, etc. The museum was named in honor Prof. Rodolfo Gonzales, a former biology teacher of the university. The Marine Mammal Museum on the other hand contains a large collection of whale and dolphin bones. It is located at a facility of the Institute of Environmental and Marine Sciences two kilometers north of the main campus. In 2015, the university opened its SU-ROTC Museum located on the first floor of Roman Yap Hall which houses the rare artifacts and equipment used in the Second World War and military uniforms of high-ranking Sillimanian military officials over the years.

Zoo

The A.Y. Reyes Zoological and Botanical Gardens or the Silliman University Zoo is the university zoo. It is also the home for the Center for Tropical Conservation Studies. The garden started in the 1960s as a tree planting project and field laboratory studies facility by the Silliman University Biology Department.

In 1990, it became the country's first captive breeding center for the Philippine Spotted Deer (Rusa alfredi). Since then, the garden's captive breeding program has expanded to include other endangered wildlife unique to the Philippines such as the Critically Endangered Visayan Warty Pig (Sus cebifrons) and the Negros Bleeding-Heart Dove (Gallicolumba keayi).

Administration

left|thumb|150px|[[David Sutherland Hibbard. Silliman's founding president.]]

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