1885 Commencement Program, Valedictorian Solomon Cohen Weill

In 1885, Solomon Cohen Weill of Wilmington also graduated at the top of his class and stayed on campus to teach Latin and Greek. President Battle described Weill’s valedictory address this way: “He handled ably ‘National Decay and Individual Character.’ The ideal of the Greek was beauty; of the Roman, the soldier; of the American, the individual. We recognize no aristocracy but that of merit. To this is our strength and greatness due.” In 1887, Weill returned to Wilmington, where he practiced law and served as a university trustee until 1895. In 1900, the university appointed Jacob Warshaw as an instructor in modern languages for one year. He was the second Jew on the faculty.