March 4, 2010

Newcomb Lives flags waved today as spectators (aka “Sophie’s Posse”) paraded through the French Quarter to the hearing in Montgomery v. Tulane at the Louisiana Fourth Circuit Court of Appeal.

Dan Caruso of Simon, Peragine, Smith & Redfearn argued that Tulane’s elimination of Newcomb College did violence to Mrs. Newcomb’s intent expressed in her will and throughout her life, and that restitution of Newcomb College and nothing less is the remedy. He argued on behalf of plaintiff-appellant Susan Montgomery that this case is without precedent. The cases cited by Tulane all involve testators wishing to leave money to various causes which they did not found, fund and build during their lifetimes. Mrs. Newcomb left her estate to a college which she founded years before her death and to which she had already given hundreds of thousands of dollars to build and maintain. Moreover, Tulane accepted the gifts and the bequest understanding the purpose and conditions of the donations.

Tulane attempted to rivet the court’s attention on a small, excerpted portion of the will while ignoring Mrs. Newcomb’s history with Tulane. Tulane argued that some of the language in Mrs. Newcomb’s will (specifically, that she had “every confidence that the ‘Administrators of the Tulane Educational Fund’ will continue to use and apply the benefactions and property I have bestowed and may give for the present and future development of this department of the University known as the H. Sophie Newcomb Memorial College”) was only “precatory,” i.e. that it expressed her non-binding wish but did not place an enforceable condition or charge on her bequest.

The three-judge panel was informed, engaged, and attentive. We can expect a decision and opinion “as soon as possible,” perhaps within the next four to six weeks. Come join in building the momentum! Things are looking good.

BE INVOLVED: Join our conference call on Tuesday night, March 9th, at 9:00 p.m. EST to hear a more detailed update about the case, to ask questions and to share news and ideas with other supporters on the call. Call-in Number: 1-218-936-4700; access Code: 8747287#

BE INVESTED: USE YOUR CREDIT CARD AND CHARGE YOUR DONATION AT OUR WEBSITE, www.newcomblives.com, or SEND YOUR CHECK TO:

TFoNC c/o Paige Gold
3909 Rust Hill Place
Fairfax, VA 22030

WHO WAS JOSPHINE LOUISE NEWCOMB? – (Continued)

(For the complete timeline of Mrs. Newcomb’s life, click here.)

In following years Josephine Louise provided generous funding for the college’s needs, giving approximately $1.5 million in her lifetime. She continued to maintain an unpretentious lifestyle, dressing simply, traveling with her few belongings in trunks, living in hotels and boarding houses in New York in winter and spending summers in northern resorts such as Niagara Falls, Richfield Springs and Saratoga, usually traveling with a secretary.

In 1892, when she was 75 years old, Josephine Louise returned to New Orleans after an absence of more than 20 years and made her first visit to Newcomb College. She and her secretary arrived unannounced during Mardi Gras and had difficulty finding lodging. During her stay, Josephine Louise visited the college daily and took an active interest in its development, agreeing to fund construction of an academic building adjacent to the main house that was needed for the school’s expansion.

For the next eight years, Josephine Louise traveled regularly to New Orleans for the winter. When the first student residence, the original Josephine Louise House, was built on Washington Avenue, she lived in an apartment in the dormitory, becoming even more interested in the operation of the college and in the students themselves. She spoke of Newcomb College as her “life’s work” and declared that, “in this college my daughter lives again to me. She does not seem to be dead, but lives again in this college and in these girls.”

Josephine Louise continued to fund projects for the college, always studying proposals carefully down to the smallest details. Her gifts included an academic building, an art building, property for expansion, and equipment. In 1894 she gave the college a proper freestanding chapel, choosing the architect and approving all details and appointments. She commissioned stained-glass windows by Tiffany & Co., including a set of windows depicting the Resurrection of Christ, in which Sophie’s image appears as an angel in the scene. (To be continued.)