Denison University - Adytum Yearbook (Granville, OH)

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mm lye m%h Denison Co Be. | e dislike the changes which time brings to familiar and loved scenes; but we wish our children to grow, not- withstanding the changes involved. V e wish Denison to grow although growth implies change. Loyalty to the past requires ns to make a future different from the past I gladly avail myself of the opportunity afforded by the editor of the Adytum to outline what the friends of Denisoii have in mind for the future. I prefer to speak of general ideals rather than specific features in detail. First, we wish it to be a college. The distinction is becoming clearer in the development of educational ideals m America, be- tween the college and the university, or technical school. It is a difference both of purpose and of method. The latter aim, by spe- cialized methods, to produce specialists. Tlie college aims primarily to form character, to mature students, to lay the foundation m a broad general culture, upon which the technical training may rest The college aims to make the man,-to furnish the materia of which theVmiversity may make the professional man. The future will demand quite as thorough a training for its leaders as the past. The field of the college cannot be abandoned. We wish to devote Denison to collegiate and preparatory work. For this, we have the ideal location and atmosphere and adequate equipment is quite within our reach. No more honorable work need be sought than to realize the possibilities of this. Therefore, we propose to ourselves nothing less than to make here such an institution of the highest grade. We are already ex- ceptionally well furnished in many respects. Most institutions, which are trying to be colleges, would be happy if they had the plant which has already been provided here. But our faces must be toward the future. We shall need more buildings. With the completion of our central power plant, the problem of heating and lighting our build- ings will be much simplified. The most serious practical difficulty in the way of enlargement will be removed. The new gymnasium for young men will supply a serious need. We hope soon to see the new Shepardson administration building and another dormitory for young women as well as a gymnasium for them. Beyond this, it is easy to see that we shall need at no distant date an Administra- 10

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seems to me, considering the lack of college spirit, then, that the first Adytum was a book thoroughly representative of the Denison of that day, and that it was a good beginning for a series which I hope will be permanent. Yours trul} ' , Francis W. Shepardson. March 1, 1904. Mr. Charles K. Chapman, Editor of the Adytum, Granville, Ohio. Dear Sir : When President Roosevelt suggested publicity as a remedy for the trust evil, the initiated caught a ray of his college training and his one-time connection with a college annual. No trust magnate fears to have the searchlight of publicity turned on his business methods revealing, perhaps, small dealers forced out of business, common stock holders deprived of their investments and laborers searching in vain for their accustomed labor, more than the recreant Denisonian fears the appearance of the Adytum. What pugnacious prep, smarting from that reference in last year ' s Adytum to his awkwardness or his disastrous call at the Sem., or his involuntary visit to the hydrant, does not impatiently wait for his Junior College year when he can vent his wrath, and even scores by means of the Adytum. The Salmagundi and Et Cetera may serve as a temporary safety valve but the Adytum with its more permanent record and wider circulation can alone take care of the exhaust. The politician fears the publicity of the press. The collegian fears his college annual. For woe be unto that Denisonian, be he dignified Prex. or quaking prep, instructor, occupying the point of the crescent on the chapel platform, when the Adytum lays him bare. I doubt not that many a professor has shortened his assign- ments and many a Sophomore has concealed his importance and many an occupant of the Dormitories has failed to empty a well filled bucket on the unsuspecting passer by, and dare T add, many a walk through Spring Valley has been abandoned, by reason of the Adytum. When Tom Eeed defined a Statesman as a politician who is dead, he stated the tendency of the press to under-rate our public men. The strongest characters present the best opportunities for caricature and uncomplimentary editorial, but the deserving sur- vive and are purged thereby. Public life is not the place for weak- lings, neither is college. The Adytum has ever been true to college life. It has never to my knowledge descended to Yellow Journal- ism nor has it failed to reveal the weaknesses, as well as the strong points, of our Denison. Mr. Editor, the Epitome of my recollections of the Adytum is Pul)licity. Yours respectfully, John A. Chamberlain. 9

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tion buildiag for the college, which shall provide offices, class-rooms and chapel and remove all college work from the Acadamy building and all recitations from the East Dormitory. It seems also very desirable to have a building which shall constitute a home for the younger boys of the Academy. Besides buildings, there are obvious needs which call for fur- ther increase of the endowment funds. We shall need additional chairs of instruction. Perliaps none is of more immediate practical importance than a chair of public speaking. Additional income could also be properly used in removing the danger of losing our best teachers because other institutions can offer them much larger salaries. Many instances could be cited in M-hich such inducements have been declined, but loyalty to Denison ought not to cost too much. I have left for the last the most important feature of the future Denison — namely, the spirit which should dominate the de- velopment of the institution. It was founded in a spirit of devotion to the kingdom of Christ. If that spirit is not maintained, the chief reason for the college will have disappeared. Other institu- tions, notably the state universities, are prepared to furnish the other elements of an education. It is the glory of such a college as ours that it is free to give the proper primacy to the spiritual elements of character. We may be, by so much, broader than they. We may open all the windows of our minds to light which comes from whatever direction, from above us as well as about us. We may aim at the development of the whole man, spiritual as well as physical and mental. We rest upon the proposition that the Christian man is the best friend, the most valuable citizen, the most efficient teacher, the manliest m an the highest product of the race. We frankly place Jesus Christ at the head of our work. The educational foundation which has been laid in Granville, is broad and sound. We have no other purpose than to build a superstructure worthy to rest upon it. The same spirit of devotion to high ideals which has moved friends, faculty and students in the past, will ensure a future worthy of the past. E. W. Hunt. 11