University of Minnesota - Gopher Yearbook (Minneapolis, MN)

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N I 5 X J

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Fourteenth Avenue feels the difference between the old, slovenly, unkempt appearance of the broad sweep of Campus and the present order and beauty, prophetic of even better things to be. The fence is a great success. Dress a child in white and it will take pride in keeping clean. Everyone con- nected with the University has a sense of pride in its more attractive surroundings. The fine old oaks, the pleasant walks over the green, the picturesque view of the grand Nlississippi flowing southeast under the high bluffs will leave an everlasting impression on the minds of those who from day to day and year to year pursue their life of study here. These charms, these memories will sink into our minds, will become a part of our lives, and we too shall have a poet to sing: Ye distant spires, ye antique towers, That crown the watery glade. '. . . - ' sp . -LATURE is the cleverest landscape gardener. lt , Q: I t was she who directed the Father of Waters to x cut his way throu h the vlain and leave the ' 5 wifi 5 i' high bluffs' on whigh the haind of man has built ,I Q Q the halls of the University, The distribution ' X of the buildings over the Campus has not been A g :T made with forethought. They have been ' A placed by hazard rather than by law. Such ' -' costly and excellently planned structures as the new Physics and lVlining buildings have lost their potential beauty by their unfortunate location. University Avenue should have been made the back door of the University. The Campus should have been left to face the river. One great building, planned to contain all the laboratories and recitation halls, should have been erected along the avenue. The entrance to the Campus should have been made by passages through this long building, passages built like great gateways surmounted by towers. Passing under the great building by these vast portals one would then enter the Campus and find himself facing the river, the distant city, and the setting sun. Such famous sites as the Victoria Embankment on the Thames, the Riverside Drive of New York, and Summit Avenue of St. Paul, would have paled before the splendor and grandeur of the Campus of the University of lVlinnesota. We shall build anew some day, the present structures of brick will not endure forever, some Augustus will come and leave it of marble. Naturally he will adopt the plan just outlined. The day is not far distant when University Avenue, at least that part of it opposite the Campus, will be a sort of annex to the University. 14

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Already four fraternities have taken up their residence here, namely: Chi Psi, Beta Theta Pi, Alpha Delta Phi, and Delta Tau Delta. The most valuable building sites remaining have been secured by such other fratern- ities as Alpha Phi, Psi Upsilon, Phi Kappa Psi, Delta Kappa Epsilon, and the University Catholic Association. Possibly, here too may be located the much desired Woman's Building. This last improvement is not an idle dream, it is a present necessity. There is nothing more ugly, more in- consistent with education and with the culture supposed to follow education, than the way in which the young women of this University are left ex- posed to the cheapness and commonness of the average boarding house. An investigation of the surroundings in which many women students find themselves placed here would form an interesting chapter in the history of University life. lt should not be left to the Woman,s League to remedy this. lt is a duty for the authorities of the University itself to perform. The refinement that comes from beautiful environments-is more valuable to the people of Nlinnesota than a four-year course in the history of art. Education should never be separated from sanitary and elevating con- ditions of life. .:f.:: ' ' - , . A H ILE these visible forms of outward growth ,Q V56 -L' - have manifested themselves, other import- ' ' ant, though unseen, developments have lg taken place in the many objects and inter- ests that combine to make the so-called life of the University. These objects and ins terests are the evidences of culture, of the scientific passion for knowingf of the increase of academic consciousness. They are the tap-roots that strike vigorously downward into the soil and procure nourishment and stability for the plant above. One of these more recent developments is the increased interest in debate. A few years since there was no such thing as a debating team. The establishment of the inter- collegiate debate at first seemed to arouse no special enthusiasm among the literary societies and debaters of the University. But through the heroic efforts of instructors and the ready response of students this has all been changed. To obtain an appointment on one of the teams is now held an honor, to win one of the championships in an intercollegiate debate is regarded as a victory second to none. lmmense gain could be made in one line of University interests, namely, in the literary organizations, could they have a habitation and a 1 ,, U' r VIE-, 3-aj-:. 3., 1-'f-3 ,Q-' 16