Middlesex University (Massachusetts)

Middlesex University

Former seal of Middlesex University
Former names	Middlesex College of Medicine & Surgery (1914–1936)
Type	Private
Active	1914–1947 (became Brandeis University)
Location	Waltham, Massachusetts, United States Coordinates: 42°22′01″N 71°15′21″W / 42.36694°N 71.25583°W / 42.36694; -71.25583
Campus	Suburban

Middlesex University, known primarily for its medical and veterinary schools, operated from 1914 until 1947, first in Cambridge, Massachusetts, later in Waltham, Massachusetts.

The "Middlesex College of Medicine and Surgery" was founded in 1914 by John Hall Smith and originally located in East Cambridge, Massachusetts. It was affiliated with the Middlesex Hospital. In 1917, Massachusetts chartered an institution named the "University of Massachusetts" with the same board of trustees.

In 1928, it moved to the Waltham campus, the present-day campus of Brandeis University. The building which Brandeis calls "The Castle" was originally the main building of Middlesex University and was designed and constructed by John Hall Smith between 1928 and 1940.

In 1935 Middlesex College of Medicine and Surgery received authorization to grant B.A. and B.S. degrees and became "Middlesex College." In 1937 it merged with the University of Massachusetts to become "Middlesex University," with schools of medicine, liberal arts, pharmacy, podiatry, and veterinary medicine, and the state of Massachusetts reclaimed the name "University of Massachusetts" for the state college.

Middlesex University was important as a veterinary school; it was the only veterinary school in New England, and when it closed in 1947, there was none in New England until Tufts University opened Cummings in 1978. As of 2012, two Middlesex graduates were still practicing in Massachusetts, and four more were still living.

Middlesex University is described by a Brandeis University web page as "a university founded on the principles of equality, freedom, and scholarship, as the school maintained a student population diverse in race, color, and religion, during a time when many universities in the United States had quotas and were not as open." In particular, it freely admitted Jews during a time when most elite universities had Jewish quotas, and it had many Jews among its students and faculty. Its medical school experienced difficulty securing AMA accreditation. The AMA said this was due to insufficient funds, faculty, and facilities, but some at the university believed that antisemitism played a role. In the words of C. Ruggles Smith, son of the founder: