University of Georgia - Pandora Yearbook (Athens, GA)

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Report Of tiii-: Legislative Committee of 1912 on the Law Department OF THE UNIVERSITY OK GEORGIA. Law School of tin University of Georgia whs established in 1859. £C From this date until the present time the law school has been eontinu-l J ously in session except for the interruption during the war between the states. Today the law department is conducted in three rooms.on the second floor of what is known as the Academic Duilding. Two of these .rooms are used as lecture rooms and the third room, being about 25 feet long by 15 feet wide, is used as a library for the school. For years the state furnished absolutely nothing to the law school of this institution, not even the state publications. A number of years ago an act was passed providing that the state publications should be furnished by the librarian to the school. The law school struggled for many years without even the pretense of a library. Later on the library .consisted of 40 or 50 volumes, and this condition continued until several years ago. when the Denmark library was presented to the law department. 'Phis library was a fair working library for the average practitioner. Two years ago the Trustees of the University appropriated the sum of $1,000 with which to make some additions to the law library, and for the last two years this body has appropriated two hundred and two hundred and fifty dollars, respectively, for the purchase of books. At present the small room used as a library is filled. It is furnished with a few cheap chairs, an old table that was discarded by one of the other departments. and with the exception of tin unit bookcase in which the Denmark books were placed the shelving consists of rude, cheap shelves nailed to the walls. The The recitation rooms arc furnished with ancient desks and cheap chairs, the larger number of the chairs being of the cheapest variety. These rooms are dark, poorly ventilated and poorly heated, and are as ill-suited for the purposes for which they are used as could be imagined. Despite the abominable quarters in which the school has struggled for years, despite the lack of proper library and all modern equipment and facilities, this school has steadily improved. Its curriculum has been enlarged, it has been raised to a two years school, admission requirements have been advanced, and in every way it has grown. This year it had an enrollment of 75 pupils. Today the school is making every effort to continue upward and make its course and diploma really worth something. It seems an exaggerated statement, but nevertheless it is true, that during the existence of this school extending over a period of fifty-odd years, the State of Georgia has only contributed to it the small sum of .$4,800.69. It is remarkable that, under such adverse circumstances and with such niggardly treatment, it is alive today and doing the character of work which it is. If this department had received the proper assistance from the state which it has deserved, it would be difficult to calculate the results which it might have accomplished. As the school is situated today the so-called library will hold no more books. The room is now so crowded and unattractive that but few men can avail themselves of research work.

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sor T. J. Wooftcr ami Chancellor David C. Harrow, who made the til’s! presentation to the Peabody Hoard of Trust. advocating that Schools of Education in Southern State I’niversities be favored by their fund, and. as a result, the Uni-versitv of Georgia received the first appropriation of this kind. Purposes. In this building will la conducted the courses in Education with the cooperative courses in Psychology. Philosophy, and Sociology. An office and class room will lie loaned for a while to the new School of Commerce organizing this year. During the Summer School the department of Home Science and Art will lie in rooms in Peabody Hall equipped for this purpose. George Peahodv Hall will thus he the central home of the social sciences in the University. Peahody School of Education will la a normal college for men, a school for the special study of education as the greatest social factor, and for the development of the social or human sciences. Organization for 1913-14. David Crenshaw Harrow. LL.D.. Chancellor and Lecturer in Education. Thomas Jackson Wookter. A.M.. LL.D.. Dean and Professor of Philosophy, Philosophy of Education, and School Administration. Joseph Spencer Stewart. A.M.. Professor of Secondary Education and High School Visitor. Ludwig Kkiniioi.d Geissler, Pli.l).. Associate Professor of Psychology and Education. Howard Y. Odum, Ph.l).. Associate Professor of Educational Sociology and Rural Education. Leroy Collier Hart. H.S.E.E.. Instructor in Manual Training. Professor of Farm Mechanics in College of Agriculture. Howell Hkna.iaii Peacock. H.S.. Instructor in Physical Education. Director of Alumni Hall Gymnasium. A Scholar in Psychology. (To he selected.) Other members of the University Faculty in the Pedagogy of Their Subjects.

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Illlllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll NINETEEN muiiimimiimiiiimiiiimni The recitation rooms are crowded and neither one of them will hold comfortably tho two classes when assembled together. Should there be any additions to the faculty or any growth in the school, all of which is confidently expected, the present quarters simply could not accommodate the school. Your committee considers this one of the most important departments of the University of Georgia. In the past the other departments of the state institution have been enlarged, handsome sums of money have been expended in buildings and in various lines of development. and looking back over the past, it is almost incomprehensible that the great state of Georgia would permit the law school to tight for one half-century and give it. during all these struggling years, only about $4,000. It is the opinion of your committee that it is of great importance that the future lawyers of this state be given the best of training. No class of men has exerted a greater influence on the history of the state and the nation than the lawyers, and to continue this extreme policy in reference to the law school would be highly prejudicial to the best interests and future development of our state. In the last few years this treatment of the law school has been commented upon and criticised by various boards of visitors, committees from the student body and others familiar with the situation. A great awakening has taken place among the students and the alumni of the University of Georgia as to the condition and needs of this school. Committees have appeared before the Board of Trustees for the last three years calling attention to the present condition of afTaris and urging a rectification of the same. The faculty of this school are very much alive to the situation and are doing and have done much hard work to improve the school and get the proper recognition from the state. Your committee believes that it is exceedingly urgent that sufficient appropriation be made to provide a proper building for this growing school and recommends that the sum of $50,000 be appropriated by this legislature to erect this most needed building. Your committee has looked into the conditions of the law school carefully and submits this recommendation after this critical investigation and hopes that this assembly may he able to assist this most neglected department of our great University. The prediction of the legislative committee has been abundantly fulfilled in the scholastic year of 1912-13. The enrollment this year in this one department has been 103—one-seventh of the total enrollment at the institution in Athens; and no room of the three in use will hold both classes assembled together and permit all to be comfortably seated. There has been a substantial surplus from the tuition fees after all expenses of the department have been paid.