University of Michigan - Michiganensian Yearbook (Ann Arbor, MI)

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CA NINETEEN-TEN MICHIGA.NENSIA.N m ism m m m m m m m m m

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MICHIGA.NENSIA.N m 11 Meditation One night I sat in dreamy mood And smoked my pipe reflectively. When, breaking through the solitude. The Campus clock boomed vibrantly. I counted twelve the midnight hour. And meditation like a cloud Enveloped me with all its power. Shut out the world with its soft shroud. I dreamed of all the golden days That in the halls of Michigan Had passed as in a golden haze A glamor one can ne ' er forget. The ivied walls rose in my view As dear, as old familiar friends. And tho ' I loved them, yet I knew That such a friendship sometimes ends. I knew that when my fourth brief year Had hurried to its sudden close. Despite the sudden parting drear; Through all my life I ' d smell that rose That rose of College life that mounts Like incense through our future lives. And, rain or sunshine, ever counts To him who knows the world and strives. And so I dreamed; and, dreaming, thought Of all the mem ' ries. sacred, dear. That only living them has brought What will not die for many a year; Within our hearts a bud is set, A bud of love that breathes and grows The love we bear to Michigan. Surpassing every flower that blows. E. P. CASE. iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiaa [14]

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I- W NINttXRKN-TEN MICHIGANENSIA.M The Past Year By ARTHUR J. ABBOTT, ' 09- ' ll L. R. EDWARD E. SLOSSON in his treatises on American Universities speaks of the situation at Michigan. Harvard and Minnesota as, in a certain sense, critical, owing to the significant changes in the administration of these univer- sities during past year. However this may be, it is certain that from a Michigan stand- point at least, nineteen hundred nine has been pre-eminently a year of transition in all departments of University activity. A general awakening of alumni interest leading to the appointment of a permanent alumni improvement committee ; a well defined extension of faculty influence in the direction of more adequate control of under- graduate activities; a general progressive spirit in the administrative councils of the university; and, lastly, the initation of great projects for the betterment of undergraduate life the enumeration of these is but to indicate the general trend of events in a year re- plete with change. By far the most significant change in American Universities during the past year, was the retirement of the three oldest and most experienced University presi- dents, Eliot of Harvard at the age of seventy -five after twenty-five years of service; Northrup of Minnesota at the age of seventy-five after twenty-five years of service; and Dr. Angell at the age of eighty-one years after thirty-eight years as President of the University of Michigan. During Dr. Angell ' s administration, Michigan has grown to be the greatest commonwealth university and at the present time has more undergraduate students in its regular session than any educational institution in the United States. Its alumni body numbering approximately thirty thousand, is the largest in the country and has representatives in the United States Supreme O ' ourt, in the highest state tribunals, in the chairs of great universities and in places of high responsibility in every walk of life throughout the world. The alumni arc the back bone of a university and it is therefore of extra- ordinary significance to chronicle the fact that a definite plan of alumni organiza- tion has been evolved during the past year, along lines such as were discussed by Professor James R. Angell at the Michigan Union Banquet of last fall. The scope of this article does not permit of an extended survey of the service which may inure to the University from the organization of Michigan Alumni; but among the benefits which may and should readily flow from such an effort are: First, the formation of public opinion leading to more favorable appreciation of the needs of the univer- sity in the legislature; Second, the awakening of alumni to the need for gifts and endowments from wealthy graduates: Third, suggestions for improvement in the organization, administration and instruction of the University; Eourth, the insur- ance of alumni aid in great student enterprises, such as the raising of funds for the proposed Union CMub House. President Lane of the Alumni Association has m m m i [161