While attending (and later leading) the Freewill Baptist Parsonsfield Seminary, Bates founder, Oren Burbank Cheney worked for racial and gender equality, religious freedom, and temperance.

Senator Charles Sumner to create a collegiate motto for Bates and he suggested the Latin phrase amore ac studio which he translated as "with love for learning" which has been taken as "with ardor and devotion,"[18] or "through zeal and study.

"[19] Prior to the start of the American Civil War, Bates graduated Brevet Major Holman Melcher, who served in the Union Army in the 20th Maine Volunteer Infantry Regiment.

In 1894, George Colby Chase led Bates to increased national recognition,[23] and the college graduated one of the founding members of the Boston Red Sox, Harry Lord.

[36] In 1967, President Thomas Hedley Reynolds promoted the idea of teacher-scholars at Bates and secured the construction of numerous academic and recreational buildings.

[39][40] During the 1990s (and mid-2000s), Bates consolidated its reputation of being a "playground for the elite",[41] by educating upper-middle-class to affluent Americans,[42][43][44] which led to student protests and reforms to make the college more diverse both racially, and socioeconomically.

[50][51] While some reforms were successful, minorities at the college, typically classified as non-white and low-income students, still reported a lack of safe spaces, insensitive professors, financial insecurity, indirect racism and social elitism.

All first-year seminars place importance on writing ability, and composition in order to facilitate the process of complex and fluid ideas being put down on paper.

After three complete years at Bates, each student participates in a senior thesis or capstone that demonstrates expertise and overall knowledge of the Major, Minor or General Education Concentrations (GECs).

[69] STEM grants are offered to students in the science, engineering, technology and mathematics fields who wish to showcase their research at professional conferences or national laboratories.

[107] Bates is noted as one of the Little Ivies,[112][113] along with universities such as Tufts, Bowdoin, Colby, Amherst, Middlebury, Connecticut College, Hamilton, Trinity, Wesleyan, and Williams.

[117][118] Bates has a 133-acre main campus and maintains the 600-acre Bates-Morse Mountain Conservation Area,[119] as well as an 80-acre Coastal Center fresh water habitat at Shortridge.

In the 1930s, the college secured a private holding from the Museum of Modern Art of Vincent van Gogh's Starry Night, for students participating in the 'Bates Plan'.

[139] All meals and catered events on campus are served by Bates Dining Services, which makes a concentrated effort to purchase foods from suppliers and producers within the state of Maine, like Oakhurst Dairy and others.

[142][143] The college also holds an annual "Harvest Dinner" during Thanksgiving that features a school-wide dining experience including a New England buffet and live musical performances.

[144] Martin Luther King Day at Bates is celebrated annually with classes being canceled, and performances, events, keynote talks are held in observance.

This is where he began to engage in heated debate with them that stressed "flawless assertions" and resulted in every error made by the student to be carefully scrutinized and teased.

[161] The college has held, on odd to even years, a Winter Carnival which comprises a themed four-day event that includes performances, dances, and games.

[161] Robert F. Kennedy, with his naval classmates, built a replica of their boat back in Massachusetts out of snow in front of Smith Hall, during their carnival.

[174] The men's squash team won the national championships in 2015, and 2016, with the winning student being the first in the history of the athletic conference, to be named the All American all four years he played for the college.

[181] The complex is 60,000 square feet, certified LEED Silver, and features occupancy sensors, anti-HCFC refrigerants, natural ventilation, heat islands, and five separate dining areas with almost 70% of the walls being glass paneling.

The college expended $1.1 million of its endowment to install lighting retrofits, occupancy sensors, motor system replacements and energy-generating mechanisms.

The central plant is equipped with a modernized biomass system and a miniature back-pressure steam turbine which reduces campus electricity consumption by 5%.

[191] The United States Environmental Protection Agency honored Bates as a member of the Green Power Leadership Club due to the fact that 96% of energy used on campus is from renewable resources.

In 2014, members of the student advocacy group, Bates Energy Action Movement (BEAM), requested the college divest from 200 companies that held the largest fossil fuel reserves.

[208]Bates alumni have included leaders in science, religion, politics, the Peace Corps, medicine, law, education, communications, and business; and acclaimed actors, architects, artists, astronauts, engineers, human rights activists, inventors, musicians, philanthropists, and writers.

As of November 2018, the college has had 12 United States Congress members among its alumni: John Swasey (1859), Daniel McGillicuddy (1881), Carroll Beedy (1903), Charles Clason (1911), Donald Partridge (1914), Edmund Muskie (1936), Frank Coffin (1940), Robert F. Kennedy (1944), Leo Ryan (1944), Bob Goodlatte (1974), Ben Cline (1994), and Jared Golden (2011).

Notable military people include Brevet Major Holman Melcher (1862),[224] as well as Medal of Honor recipients Frederick Hayes (1861), Josiah Chase (1861), Joseph F. Warren (1862), Lewis Millet (1943),[225] Aaron Daggett (1860), and James Porter (1863).

[234] In literature, music, journalism, television, and film, the following attended Bates: actors Jeffery Lynn (1930), John Shea (1970),[235] Maria Bamford (1990–92),[236] Bryant Gumbel (1970),[237] writers Jeffrey K. Tulis (1972),[238] Elizabeth Strout (1977),[239] Lisa Genova (1992),[240] and Brian McGrory (1984)[241] and musician Corey Harris (1991).

[242] Bates counts 12 Olympian alumni: Vaughn Blanchard (1912), Harlan Holden (1913), Ray Buker (1922), Art Sager (1926), Arnold Adams (1933), Nancy Fiddler (1978), Mike Ferry (1997), Justin Freeman (1998), Andrew Byrnes (2005), Hayley Johnson (2006), Emily Bamford (2015), and Dinos Lefkaritis (2019).