Marlboro College

Marlboro College was a private college in Marlboro, Vermont. Founded in 1946, it remained intentionally small, operating as a self-governing community with students following self-designed degree plans culminating in a thesis. In 1998, the college added a graduate school. The college closed at the end of the 2019–2020 academic year and gifted its endowment to Emerson College in Boston to create the Marlboro Institute of Liberal Arts and Interdisciplinary Studies at Emerson College. History Marlboro College was founded in 1946 by Walter F. Hendricks, who had been inspired by his time as director of English at Biarritz American University. Hendricks would lead the college for five years, until 1951, but would leave after a dispute with the trustees. He founded Windham College that same year. Many of the first students were returning World War II veterans. The campus incorporated the buildings of three farms that were on the site at Potash Hill. The first students were primarily freshmen but included some sophomores and juniors and one senior, Hugh Mulligan, who in 1948 became the first Marlboro graduate. The students made "How Are Things At Casserole College?" the first school song in response to the dining hall menu.