» The College “Y”

College YMCA leaders birth the Student Volunteer Movement for Foreign Missions, 1886

Whenever I’m in London I pick up a stack of books I’ve ordered online in the UK. I remember a friend checking out my orders and telling me, “You buy the weirdest books!”

Well, here’s another weird book: “The College ”Y“: Student Religion in the Era of Secularization” (David P. Setran)

Setran outlines the emergence, rise and fall of a dynamic Christian movement among US college students. Here’s the story. . .

In the last half of the nineteenth century there were two major trends on US campuses of higher education.

Firstly, colleges of higher education were secularizing. Previously, colleges had taken responsibility for the spiritual and moral formation of students. Increasingly they saw their role as solely academic. They were moving away from compulsory to voluntary religion.

Secondly, the number of colleges and students was booming. Between 1870-1910 undergraduate enrollments grew from 62,839 to 355,430.

Into the breach stepped the YMCA. In 1858 they formed the College “Y”. During the last four decades of the nineteenth century, the YMCA emerged as the focal point of student life in American higher education.

Between 1877-1910 the number of YMCA college chapters grew from 40 to 559 with 31,901 members. By 1920, the YMCA had chapters in 764 institutions with a membership of 80,649.

25-30% of the nation’s male students were now enrolled. By 1920, the YMCA had achieved a near monopoly on student religious life in America.

Then came their collapse.

Stay tuned for more. . .