Incorporation of the College of the Atlantic

On July 10, 1969, a group of trustees signed incorporation papers, establishing COA as its own legal entity and marking an important step towards actualizing their vision of a college on Mount Desert Island. At this time, the founding trustees included David Benson, Leslie Brewer, Bernard Cough, John Good, Rev. James Gower, Edward Heyman, Richard Lewis, James MacLeod, Rev. Arthur Cushman McGiffert, Carlo Ninfi, Robert Smith and Winston Stewart. The idea of a local college had been developing through committee meetings and informal conversations, only starting to coalesce in earnest in the late 1960s, when a small group of founders gained official permission from the state to use the term ‘college’ to refer to their project. The original trustees had the unusual role of acting both as legal and economic founders, as well as developing a philosophy of education, a task that often falls to faculty. Influenced by the unique natural landscape of the island, as well as knowledge of other liberal arts colleges that were opening around the same time, they settled on the idea of human ecology; which was felt to encompass many of the tenets of education they found important for their small college. With college now legitimized by the state and officially incorporated, the end of the 60’s saw the idea of College of the Atlantic becoming a plausible reality. 

For more information, see the oral histories linked below, or take a look at Such a Frail Bark; a collection of comments on COA’s early days.