University of Alabama - Corolla Yearbook (Tuscaloosa, AL)

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THE IQ3I OOF?OLI A 30

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0 ■ K r ' ' f W ' - N m , • tl f rsi ' -- 1 rij m HH HPtt R M ilkr M Bi ' ' ' ' - :M ■ ' M CONFEDERATE MEMORIAL a0;« J It is a notable fact also that the second chapter in the South of Phi Beta Kappa Society, which, as Lord Balfour has recently said is the world ' s leading scholastic society, was founded at the University of Alabama in 1851. The institution made a great contribution to the enrichment of the lives of the people and made it without one penny of cost to the state. In 1864 the University was reduced to ashes by Federal troops and under the awful conditions of reconstruction it was impossible to rebuild and operate the University. Little was done to- ward rehabilitation. During the eighties a beautiful quadrangle of buildings and several laboratories were erected with funds derived from a grant of 46,080 acres of public lands by Congress as com- pensation for the destruction wrought by the Federal troops. The state had some years before loaned the University 70,000 to assist in the rebuilding of its plant. During the past twenty years the University has had a mar- velous growth. The scope of its work has been broadened so as to meet the multitudinous demands of modern society upon a state university; the teaching staff has been enlarged and the stu- dent body has increased from a few hundred persons to more than 4,000 in the regular session, 3,500 in the extension school and approximately 2,000 in the summer school. The physical plant has been greatly expanded and improved. The progress of the University has resulted largely from the fact that it has integrated itself with the life of the people of the state. At the turn of the century a new conception of the function of a university should not only give academic training, but should also help the people in the solution of the problems of a worka- day life and should train its young men and women to that end. The conviction grew that the University of Alabama must be an active agency in the upbuilding of the state and in the enrichment of the lives of the people; that is, it must be a university of the masses to which they could look for training and guidance. ■ = vS

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