University of Chicago - Cap and Gown Yearbook (Chicago, IL)

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The William Rainey Harper Memorial Library One of the great developments of the year in the life of the University has been the completion of the fund for the erection of the general library building as a memorial 0f the life and work of President Harper. This is the culmina- tion of a movement inaugurated by the Trustees, soon after the death of President Harper, in response to suggestions from many quarters that such a memorial should rise in the quadrangles. It may be said, indeed, that although the Uni- versity itself is President Harperis monument, it was, from the day of his death, universally felt, that, as a matter of course, some special memorial must rise that should beat his name. Various suggestions-were made as to the nature of the memorial. In hxing upon the general library building, as, on the whole, the most appropriate and fitting, it was considered that this building would be the laboratory of the Whole University, the center of its life, frequented by all instructors and all students, Where the choicest treasures of the University would be gathered, the object of greatest interest to all visitors, a visible symbol of the intellectual life of the institu- tion and thus of the great teacher, student, scholar and leader of whom it would be the memorial, while'it would, at the same time, in its proportions and archi- tecture, be in and of itself monumental. Something over $800,000 has been raised for this memorial. It is under- stood that the building will cost $600,000 and that the rest of the fund will be 12

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instructor is aiming to do two things: Teach his subject and contribute to the liberal education of his students. The marks he gives are incidental, but they are necessary if we are to have educational attainments expressed at all in degrees. Shall he discriminate between students Who do work of varying quality? T 0 ask the question is to answer it. Shall this discrimination influence a studentis progress toward a degree? Manifestly so. The value of a degree is determined by the lowest grade at Which. it may be won. Is an easily won degree worthy of the University of Chicago? Is it desired by the students? Will not the sin- cere student welcome anything Within reasonable limits Which enhances the value of the degree Which he hopes to Win? But What if a student gets conditions and failures in his first quarters? He not only fails to win his majors but gets minus honor-points and at the end of the quarter is farther away from the degree than when he began! That may be one way of looking at it; but the honor-points are merely a method of averaging grades. If the student can do better, he ought to. If not, he owes it to him- self to drop out and get better preparation or go into some other work. If he resumes his studies later he can overcome the early record. What about student activities? Is the system so severe as to limit the average student here? Careful investigation would probably show that only a few students Who have been prominent along these lines would have had to relinquish them under the present system. It would have been to the advantage of these few to do so. Probably not a few would have had to handle their college work more seriously. The value of these things as a part of ones college career is great, but it is secondary. The student makes a serious mistake Who conhnes himself Wholly to his classwork, but he makes a greater mistake Who treats his classwork as only a means of staying in the student community for the sake of its other interests. Some applications of the system may be modified in the light of experience, but we may well expect that a few years trial Will show a distinct advance in they esteem in which a bachelofs degree from the University of Chicago is held. F. J . GURNEY.

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permanently invested and the income used for the maintenance of the building, and in case there is a balance for that purpose, for the increase of the library. Of the total fund the Founder of the University, Mr. John D. Rockefeller has contributed $600,000. The remainder has come from about twenty-two hundred contributors. Fifteen hundred alumni and former stuglents have made subscriptions. It was the hope of the Trustees that the NIemorial to President Harper should be the offering, not of one man, nor of a few men, but of a very large number of his friends. This hope has been realized and the most gratify- ing thing mnnected with the movement is the fart that lwoethirds 0f the whole number of givers are alumni and former students. THOMAS W. GOODSPEED.