September 21, 1923

Speaking at Convocation, President MacCracken spoke of a signature he had seen in the registration books when visiting the University of Krakow—that, said The Miscellany News, “of Nicholas, the son of Nicholas, known to us as Copernicus. This name represents a world, said the president, to which every student at Vassar links herself by the simple act of registration.” MacCracken urged the freshmen to “know the professors, the employees, the village and the county—Remember you are citizens of the commonwealth of learning.”

The college opened with an enrollment of 1,150 students from 18 nations, of whom 299 were freshmen. Recent trustee action raised the total enrollment—set at 1,000 in 1905—to 1,150 largely to accommodate residents of Poughkeepsie and former students who left in good standing because of illness or for other personal reasons. Twenty-three such students resumed their studies this semester.