A simple matter of mathematics

Spring 2025 is an exciting semester at Eastern University. We attempt to keep up with classwork as celebrations are planned, choirs are arranged, and the whole university is waiting in anticipation for festivities to begin. Why, you might ask? 

2025 marks Eastern University’s Centennial celebration, the 100th birthday of the school we know and love. The excitement can barely be contained as we all prepare for such an occasion. 

However, amidst all the hustle and bustle of the many celebrations on Eastern’s campus commemorating our anniversary, a deeply important question has emerged. You might hear murmurs, quietly circulating rumors from upperclassmen and graduates, but very rarely does it slip out from shadowy whispers and into open conversation.

Several brave souls have dared to ask, why are we celebrating the centennial anniversary of Eastern University this year? 

I know what you’re thinking. Your brow has just furled. You grip the newspaper just a little tighter now, or if you’re reading online, you hold your phone close as your hand begins to shake. Your stomach might even be in knots. What does this mean? Is this not Eastern University’s 100th anniversary? 

Well, my dear fellow students, deeply appreciated faculty members and all other esteemed readers of this fine newspaper, it is my sad but necessary duty to inform you that 2025 does not actually mark Eastern University’s Centennial anniversary. 

Before you gather your pitchforks, and threaten to burn me at the stake with all those fire-starters that are not allowed on campus, allow me to explain.

This is a simple matter of mathematics. 

The roots of Eastern University as we know it today are found in Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary, which began in 1925, in Rittenhouse Square, Philadelphia. For those of you who didn’t know (or, didn’t feel the need to do the math, it’s okay, I get it), 1925 was exactly one hundred years ago. Why does this matter? This matters because when Eastern University announces that this year, 2025, marks our 100th anniversary, they equate the beginning of the university with the beginning of the seminary.

This doesn’t seem too strange, right? The seminary just morphed into Eastern, and so sure, it seems like some details might have been fudged a little bit in order for it to make sense that the university as a whole is 100 years old, but that’s not too big a problem. I understand your confusion, my friend. Let’s return to the story together, shall we? 

The seminary itself did not develop an undergraduate program until seven years later. So, the seminary did not even approach becoming a college until 93 years ago. The Bachelor of the Arts degree, which solidified the undergraduate program, was developed in 1938. This undergrad program separated from the seminary around 1951, and after the separation, morphed into Eastern Baptist College. Eastern Baptist College then moved to the Walton estate, the campus we live on today. 

Alright, let’s take a quick break to do the math. Eastern Theological Seminary was created in 1925. Eastern Baptist College became its own entity around 1950. Eastern as a college did not officially exist until only 75 years ago. Furthermore, if it could be argued that location was the continuity between the seminary and college, Eastern didn’t exist on the campus that we know until the college separated from the seminary.

Fast forward another 25 years (approximately). In 2001, Eastern Baptist College became a university. So, it’s only been 25 years since the actual entity Eastern University began. Keep in mind, at this point, Eastern University was still separate from Eastern Theological Seminary. In 2003, Eastern University assumed charge of Eastern Theological Seminary, now known as Palmer Theological Seminary. 

What this means is that for over 50 years of the existence of Eastern as a college, Eastern Theological Seminary wasn’t actually part of it. So, if we’re basing our centennial anniversary on the beginning of a program that wasn’t even part of our university for over half the time the university has existed…perhaps something is amiss.

My dear friends, I regret to inform you that the evidence is conclusive.

Eastern University is indeed not 100 years old. It’s not even really 75 years old. It didn’t even become a university until 25 years ago. And, the whole 100 year count is based on the existence of Eastern Theological Seminary, which was only part of the Eastern college for about 25 years, spent 50 years wandering the streets of Philadelphia alone, until it was adopted back into the Eastern family in 2003. 

What implications does this have for our celebration? That, my lieges, is up for you to decide. I hope you will choose wisely. After all, this is only a simple matter of mathematics, but how you choose to respond could affect the rest of your life.