offer and Edmund Stanley, a clerk of the Kansas Yearly Meeting, was recruited to serve as Friends' first President. In October, at the scheduled meeting, Stanley reported that the school was opened on September 21, 1898, and that "In accordance with the purposes in organizing and maintaining a denominational institution for higher education, we are encouraging such movements as will cultivate and stimulate spiritual growth and development." He also acknowledged additional gifts from local citizens of Wichita (Davis included) in the form of works of art. 53 students enrolled initially, of whom only 12 were ready for college work. A college of liberal arts and a preparatory department offered classes in Literature, History, Mathematics, Astronomy, Bible, German, Elocution, and oratory. Classes were also available in Piano, Voice, and Music Harmony and Theory. President Stanley shared the vision and future he saw for the university during the opening meeting: "The purpose of this school shall be to give to the world and to give our country a class of citizens that will be in every sense loyal citizens. Loyalty has in it more than we often think... Loyalty means that mental training and discipline which makes the child think, the development which makes him strong in mind and body, strong in his moral nature, a full man in that intelligence which should direct the efforts of all men for conscientious, honorable and successful private life and citizenship." Academics Friends grants a wide range of degrees through the College of Business, Arts, Sciences and Education (CBASE), the College of Adult and Professional Studies (CAPS), and a Graduate School (GRAD). CBASE, Friends' undergraduate school, offers degrees in Business and Information Technology, Education, Fine Arts, Natural Science and Mathematics, Religion and Humanities, and Social and Behavioral Sciences. Friends offers a Bachelor of Fine Arts in ballet and a Bachelor of Science in Zoo Science, both of which are rarely offered by other institutions. CAPS offers seven adult bachelor's degree programs and the Graduate School offers nine Master's level degrees. Classes taught in CAPS and GRAD generally meet one night a week or online. Student life The Friends Art Department has a track record in the Wichita area of producing professional contemporary artists as well as being the home of the Epsilon Rho chapter of the Kappa Pi International Honorary Art Fraternity. The main choir, the Singing Quakers, have traveled the globe to many locations