[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 15 (Tuesday, January 31, 2012)]
[Senate]
[Pages S202-S203]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 RECOGNIZING KNOX COLLEGE ON 175 YEARS

  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I rise today to congratulate Knox College 
in Galesburg, IL, on the 175th anniversary of its founding.

[[Page S203]]

  On February 15, 1837, the Illinois Legislature granted a charter to 
Knox Manual Labor College. Its founder, the Reverend George Washington 
Gale, a social reformer from New York, came to the Illinois prairie to 
found a college emphasizing manual labor that would be open to students 
regardless of their financial means, gender, or race.
  This egalitarianism and the strong anti-slavery beliefs of Reverend 
Gale and his followers gave Knox and Galesburg a unique place in the 
history of the abolitionist movement in America. Knox is a nationally 
recognized part of the Underground Railroad network. Its Old Main was 
the site of the fifth debate between U.S. Senate candidates Abraham 
Lincoln and Stephen Douglas. It was during the debate at Knox that 
Lincoln would argue for the first time against slavery on moral 
grounds.
  It seems fitting that President Lincoln, the Great Emancipator, and 
President Obama, our nation's first African American president, both 
hold honorary degrees from this institution. Knox was also the alma 
mater of Barnabas Root, who in 1870 became one of the first African 
Americans to earn a college degree in Illinois. In that same year, 
Hiram Revels, who also attended Knox, became the first African American 
to serve in the United States Senate.
  Today, the Knox campus is a vibrant community of world class scholar-
teachers, staff, and more than 1,400 students hailing from 48 States 
and 51 countries. Manual labor may have been dropped from its name and 
curriculum--much to the relief of its current students to be sure--but 
Knox's founding commitment to providing a quality education to all 
persists. Of Knox's students today, more than a quarter are first 
generation college students, a quarter are U.S. students of color, and 
nearly one third are low-income students. Approximately two thirds of 
students receive some form of financial aid, and Knox has been rated by 
Princeton Review as a ``Best Bang for Your Buck.''
  I congratulate President Teresa Amott and the entire Knox community 
on this milestone in the proud and storied history of Knox College. 
Knox is truly one of our nation's great liberal arts institutions--its 
contributions far surpass its relatively small size. So, as we look 
back in celebration of Knox's preceding 175 years, we also look to the 
future in anticipation of the continued contributions this small 
college on the Illinois prairie will make to our State and our country 
for years to come.

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