History

In January 1931 Rollins College hosted “The Curriculum for the College of Liberal Arts,” a conference chaired by the famed educator John Dewey who was joined by more than a dozen other noted scholars and academics from around the country, including Rollins President Hamilton Holt. In Holt’s forward to the post-conference proceedings publication, he noted the genesis of his idea for drawing these experts to Rollins:

It seemed to me that a relatively small Conference of persons interested in and informed about educational problems, a group neither radical nor reactionary, but liberal, forward-looking, might in similar manner and spirit contribute a great public service to the cause of education in general and the colleges of America in particular, at this time when education all along the line from the kindergarten to the graduate school and the university is undergoing such widespread and on the whole such just criticism.

To that purpose, this group of distinguished educational leaders met in dialogue to discuss a number of matters, including core curricula, general education, and purpose of a bachelor’s degree as a whole.

Specifically, the charge for this first Dewey conference was to have an informed, in-depth discussion about the state of the liberals arts colleges in America at the beginning of the 1930s through these relevant categories:

• The Function of the Liberal Arts College
• Place of the Liberal Arts College in Education
• On Student Interest
• Organization of Material Curriculum
• On Teachers and Teaching
• Appraisals of Achievement

Each category listed a number of discussion subpoints with conversations occurring throughout the week of January 19-24, followed by summary reports and recommendations both general and specific, as well as acknowledging dissenting opinions.

The result was a more than 800-page publication of the full proceedings made available as an educational resource. The resulting recommendations—which emphasized “individualization in education”—were implemented by Rollins in the fall of 1931. Outcomes for such convocations of intellectual discourse are not always immediate or easily identified, but Holt’s introduction to Rollins College of the conference table approach with faculty and students engaged in interactive conversations about educational topics rather than the traditional didactic approach was so provocative that American writer Sinclair Lewis, in his Stockholm address accepting the Nobel Prize in literature, listed Rollins as one of only four colleges in the United States doing the most to encourage creative work in contemporary literature.

Hamilton Holt’s lead in generating, hosting, and following up on the ideals discussed in the 1931 conference led to additional colloquies along those same lines: ”Rollins College: Toward a Pragmatic Liberal Education” in 1997, “Liberal Education and Social Responsibility in a Global Community” in 2007, and this most recent iteration in 2025 as Rollins College continues its place in a leadership role on the forefront of education in the liberal arts.