University of Illinois - Illio Yearbook (Urbana Champaign, IL)

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Gregory Introduces Student Government, Elective System The legacy of Gregory at Illinois reaches into all aspects of University life, but especially at the level of student rights. Gregory advocated measures such as the elective system and student government. He brought forward these innova- tions when most of the colleges in the nation closely followed the English model of education in severely regulating the life of the student. This regulation extended beyond the classroom and was needed, thought its proponents, to insure proper moral instruction. The curriculum was rigid. Typically, the student marched lockstep through four years of prescribed work. Gregory sought to change the system, while still working within it, to give students training which would be valuable in their later years. Gregory effected these changes while strug- gling with financial and administrative problems and while he was constantly under attack by those feeling that a university should stress low rather than high utilitarianism. These innovations were not successful. The elective system broke down soon after its intro- duction. This collapse was partly due to criticism charging that by offering electives college offi- cials were attempting to lure students away from agriculture. The main reason, however, was that the students were not mature enough intellec- tually to decide what they should profitably pur- sue. The intellectual immaturity of these early students is shown by the fact that one third of the enrollment in 1871 was committed to the sub-collegiate preparatory courses. Even when these students had progressed enough to take the regular university courses, they were not quali- fied to choose the ones they should take. Afte r its fourth year of existence, the elective system was replaced by a less flexible one. The students could now only choose which of the thirteen se- quences they wanted to follow. In 1870 Regent Gregory offered the men in the dormitories their own government. He made this offer since by then more than half of the students were living in private housing. Parties emerged and campus politics were lively. Gregory's plan was only partially successful. The elections on campus turned into brawls, and the students soon lost their respect for student government. When the new University Hall was finished, there were large rooms on the top floor for stu- dent activity. Regent Gregory was responsible for them. These facilities brought the literary so- cieties, which students formed five days after the University's opening, to full activity. Though Gregory's plan for student govern- ment was only partly successful and his elective system was a dismal failure, his work in these two areas was ahead of its time. Under different conditions these plans blossomed and became fundamental to American colleges. Opened in 1873, the Art Gallery displayed plaster rep- licas of famous works. Regent Gregory purchased them while he was in Europe. Since much of the statuary was broken in transit, young Lorado Taft repaired them.

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An 1874 photograph shows the Elephant and the Dnl Hall. Fences were needed to keep stray cattle off the campus. EXERCISES Commencement Week, lLUM0» IhIWSTHUI. UlllVU hx I Im QiS industrial $niver$ity, 4 UNIVERSITY CHAPEL. 7 Tuesday Evening, March Uth, 1873, 12

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Thomas J. Burrill, acting regent in 1891-1894, lifted the fraternity ban and abolished compulsory military drill. Burrill's botany classes were using microscopes in 1869. I.I.U. Is Early Burdene Two Systems By 1873 all of the promised departments, which were included in Gregory's report, were functional. This was vindication of Gregory's so hotly debated plan of studies. A turning point had come in 1870 when a convention in Bloom- ington appointed a committee to report on the condition of I.I.U. This report was favorable, marking the beginning of general acquiescence to the aims of the University as conceived by Gregory. At the outset the University was burdened by two systems which hindered rapid academic growth. These were the systems of manual labor and of sub-collegiate training. By Gregory's plan students were to spend two early afternoons in labor. Criticisms caused the system to become voluntary and later to be abolished completely. The need for sub-collegiate training for many of the students who arrived with inadequate aca- demic training produced the Academy. Most of the instructors had to teach some of these courses. And in the early 1870' s, one third of the enroll- ment was required to take preparatory courses. In 1872 entrance requirements were raised to elevate the level of University work. As a fur- ther step, the Illinois high schools were accred- ited so that their students would not have to take the entrance examinations. And by 1876 students pursuing a sub-collegiate program were sepa- rated and were taught by recent graduates. The Academv was not dropped until 1897. Civil engineering was one of the most popular depart- ments of a college, enrolling 42 percent of all students by 1887. Here derbied engineers are surveying. tF n H