This document serves as a foundational record of Silliman University, the first Protestant and American-founded institution of higher learning in the Philippines and Asia. It details the university's origins from the philanthropic vision of Dr. Horace B. Silliman, a retired businessman from Cohoes, New York, who donated $10,000 to the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions in 1899. The narrative follows the arrival of Dr. David Sutherland Hibbard and his wife, Laura, in Dumaguete, leading to the opening of Silliman Institute on August 28, 1901. The text provides context on the institution's growth from an elementary school for boys into a comprehensive university (attaining university status in 1938). It highlights the school's survival through the Japanese occupation during World War II, during which it became a center for the resistance movement, and its subsequent post-war reconstruction. This record is vital to the institution's history as it codifies the "Silliman Way"—an educational philosophy emphasizing the integration of faith, character, and academic excellence within the local Filipino cultural context.
Portal 2014