1900

January–March

 * March 22, 1900

COMMODORES VS. THE ADMIRAL

Vanderbilt chancellor J.H. Kirkland rails violently against an unknown party, presumed to be a student. "Someone, whose face shuns the light," he fumes in morning chapel, "did what he thought was smart." If anyone in the room thinks it's funny, Kirkland harrumphs, "I wish they would take their hats and leave."

Yesterday morning, the cannon on the grounds of the Customs House downtown-- the cannon captured a couple of years ago by Admiral George Dewey at the battle of Manila and presented to the city-- turned up with a new coat of paint. Charged up with school spirit, and perhaps weary of the worship of Dewey (the Schwartzkopf of his day), someone painted circles of gold and black around the cannon. On the base, in red letters, is the name of the university.

For Kirkland, the prank is a PR nightmare. He is certain that all of Nashville will condemn Vanderbilt's lack of patriotism. He demands "resolutions expressing regret and indignation" from the student body. "While we do not regard the act in question as evidence of an exalted wisdom," reads the students' response, "yet we do not look upon it as a deliberate affront to the good citizens of Nashville, Admiral Dewey or the goddess of Liberty."

And, Vanderbilt being Vanderbilt, the students find a financial solution: They offer to pay for a new paint job.

--Tom Wood

Paul Conkin, Gone With the Ivy: A Biography of Vanderbilt University (University of Tenn. Press, 1985), pp. 142-143; The Hustler 3/23/1900.

(Originally published in Nashville Scene, 3/18/93)