ABSTRACT
By 1888, Wesleyan university had dropped its requirement that teachers be practicing Methodists and had hired Woodrow Wilson, a Presbyterian and a Hopkins graduate. Wilson had been popular—a dynamic lecturer, a prolific writer, and an energetic part-time football coach. But in 1890, Wilson had accepted an offer from Princeton, and even with Wilson's help the school had been unable to find a replacement. The Oberlin Review's masthead for that year, his senior year, had listed John R. Commons as chief editor and Ella B. Downey as a literary society editor. The Oberlin administration took Monroe's advice and offered John R. a position. John R. spent only one year at Oberlin, but it was a crucial year for his development as a teacher and for his intellectual evolution. In 1934, John R. looked back on his teaching at Oberlin as a happy time. He was close to his family again.
