University of Kansas - Jayhawker Yearbook (Lawrence, KS)

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THE FIRST FACULTY. On the i gth of July, 1866, the Regents elected the first Faculty. It is a significant fact that during the early years of the University ecclesiastical politics had much to do with the appointment of members of the Board of Instruction. Three professors were elected: Elial J. Rice, to the Chair of Belles -Lettres and Mental and Moral Science, as the representative of the Methodist Church ; David H. Robinson, to the Chair of Ancient Languages, as the representative of the Baptist Church; and Francis H. Snow, to the Chair of Mathematics and Natural Science, as the representative of the Congregational Church. The first Faculty was largely untrammeled by ancient tradition in deter- mining the course of study and the methods of administration of student affairs. Co-education and instruction in the modern sciences as an essential part of the regular curriculum were features unknown to other institutions of the same class at the time of our beginning. When Chancellor Oliver resigned in the fall of 1867 the regents combined the offices of Chancellor and President of the Faculty. r STUDENTS OF THE FIRST YEAR. At the opening of the University, September 12, 1866, forty students pre- sented themselves for admission. In the first annual catalogue an apology was made for the elementary character of the students in attendance, and the hope was expressed that the preparatory department might be abolished at the end of the second year. As a matter of fact twenty-five years elapsed before this event took place. The forty students enrolled during the first day of the first year were in- creased to fifty-five for the year. The unsettled condition of society necessitated the withdrawal of more than one -half of this number before the end of the year in order to assist their parents in agricultural and domestic duties. In fact, the iunior members of the Faculty became alarmed lest the entire enrollment should disappear before the final examinations, and made a house-to-house visitation, beseeching the parents of their pupils to assist them in avoiding the disgrace of a premature closing of the academic year.

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History of the University of Kansas. By Dr. F. H. Snow. [HE founders of the commonwealth of Kansas made provision in the Constitution for a State University which should be the crown of the free public school system and should open its doors to properly qualified students, without discrimination of race, politics, sex, or religion. The public school system of Kansas begins with the pri- mary grades of the towns and cities and the district schools of the rural sections and proceeds in orderly sequence through the grammar grades and the high school grades to the State University. The official beginning of the University of Kansas must be considered as having occurred on the ist day of March, 1864, when the legislative act of organ- ization, having been approved and signed by Governor Carney, was made a law by its official publication. THE FIRST BUILDING. The first university building, called the North College, was erected at a cost of about $20,000. It was brought to completion early in September, 1866, the carpenters putting the finishing touches to the stairway on the morning of the opening of the University, on September 12. At the dedication, Judge Solon O. Thacher delivered the principal address, and formally dedicated the building to the use of impartial, patriotic, and Christian education.

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ENROLLMENT IN SUBSEQUENT YEARS. The increase in the number of students from year to year has been slow and steady. At the end of the first ten years (in 1876-77) the total enrollment was 359; at the end of the second decade (1886-87), 4 8 9J at the end of the third decade (1896-97), 1004; during the present academic year (1903-04), 1,325. No attempt has been made at any time to increase the attendance by lowering the standard of admission; on the other hand, the entrance requirements have been continually advanced and impartially enforced. GRADUATES OF THE UNIVERSITY. The course of study leading to the degree of A.B. originally occupied seven years, including three years of preparatory work, so that the first class to grad- uate from the University of Kansas was the class of 1873, which consisted of four members. The number of graduates of an institution furnishes a better basis for esti- mating its efficiency than the aggregate number of students without reference to the length of time covered by their enrollment. The University of Kansas has enrolled a total of 16,000 students; of this number 2,500 have completed their courses of study and received the degrees appropriate thereto. During the past six years the number of graduates has averaged more than 200 annually. ADDITIONAL BUILDINGS. The most distinguished service rendered by General Fraser was the suc- cessful execution of his own plan for the erection of the main building of the University, now denominated Fraser Hall. On the 3d of February, 1870, the citizens of Lawrence, by almost a unanimous vote, authorized bonds to the amount of $100,000 for the purpose of erecting this building. The Legislature of 1872 added $50,000 to the amount realized from the Lawrence bonds, and on Decembei 2 of the same year the north wing of the building was first occupied by university classes. Eleven years went by before another Jbuilding was erected. In 1883 the Leg- 10