The Cosmopolitan Club movement at the University of Iowa

The Cosmopolitan Club Movement began at the University of Wisconsin in 1903. By 1907, eight universities joined the Wisconsin club to form a national association called the Association of Cosmopolitan Clubs (ACC). In 1908, at the State University of Iowa (SUI) a cohort of engineering students from the Philippines and Mexico began the State University of Iowa Cosmopolitan Club (SUI CC) and joined the ACC. By 1913, when the SUI hosted the Seventh Annual National ACC Convention in Iowa City, thirty chapters belonged to the ACC.

In the early twentieth century, Cosmopolitan Clubs provided opportunities for foreign and domestic students to work toward internationalism on university campuses. The ACC pioneered foreign student support systems and outreach in US higher education, leading to the implementation of foreign student advisors on college campuses and governmental handbooks to assist international students in navigating the US higher education system.

Specifically looking at the SUI CC, my research illuminates the interactions among Cosmopolitan Club international student members, fellow domestic students, SUI faculty, SUI administration, and residents of Iowa City. In addition, I examine the role of Sudhindra Bose, a key figure within the local and national Cosmopolitan Club Movement. More broadly, I examine the Cosmopolitan Club Movement at the national level, arguing that despite challenges faced by the national association, at the local level, the foreign student members of the SUI CC and Sudhindra Bose played key roles in laying the foundation for dynamic international exchange and began a legacy of internationalism at SUI.