University of Arizona - Desert Yearbook (Tucson, AZ)

Page 23 text:

Assemblies were held at which the students read papers on literary and scientific subjects. The first intercollegiate debate was held in 1906 with the University ot Southern California. But while the life on the Campus was very busy, it did not reach beyond, as it does today. It was not intercollegiate as now. The students today can indeed be proud of this year’s debates with the University of Southern California and with the University of Texas; of the football battles with Pomona, Whittier, and the New Mexico Aggies;and the Southwestern Track Meet; and, what will always remain as a record of student activity, the big “A” on Sentinel Peak. With this growth and exceeding it has come that in collegiate standing. Because of the funds which have been available to the University as a State institution, the growth of collegiate standing has been possible far in excess of what might be expected of an institution in a pioneer region- When this Uni-veisity was first organized, the instruction was mainly in the field of agriculture. Later, opportunities were offerred for the study of mining. Now the work has so broadened that there are the three distinct colleges of Agriculture, Mining, and Liberal Arts. In the beginning years a Preparatory Department was found to be necessary because of the lack of high schools in the Territory. In 1914 this department was abolished, so that today the registration includes only college students. The requirements for receiving a degree have been so raised that our graduates are prepared to compete with those of the leading institutions of the country. For among our Alumni are those holding such positions as Director of the Bureau of Mines, Pittsburgh, professorships in mining schools, responsible commercial positions in mining; and the Liberal Arts College is represented by the two Rhodes Scholars of distinction, Alumni in the American Consular Service, and a number holding instructorships. While material growth, increase in Faculty and students, advanced educational standards, are essential to the development of a University, there is yet another element—the confidence of the people. Without this the others are impossible. The people of the State, many of them graduates of Eastern colleges, have heretofore felt that their sons and daughters should go back to those colleges. But more and more this idea is vanishing and a feeling of confidence and trust in the worth of this University is constantly growing. In the words of President von KleinSmid, “This increasing trust is one of the most encouraging signs for the University’s future growth. ”

Page 22 text:

UNIVERSITY HALL

Page 24 text:

LIBRARY