 Beatty had a number of familiar and social connections to Washington College, including a stint in leadership of the Synod of Wheeling.The debate among the Boards of Trustees festered for a time, until they were sparked to movement by a meeting on September 27, 1864 of 69 Jefferson and 66 Washington alumni at the First Presbyterian Church in Pittsburgh.During the two-day convention, the alumni decided that union was in both schools' best interest, that the unified name should be Washington & Jefferson College, and that it should be non-sectarian, but Protestant in character.