University of Nebraska Lincoln - Cornhusker Yearbook (Lincoln, NE)

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-iTl ' LIBK KV FROM UNIVERSITV HALL LIBRARV FROM ADMINISTRATION lUlLniNf. LNIVERSITV HALL THE FAMrilAK APPROACH NEBRASKA HALL

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elirn anii IX ' nut 25 clone. 1 knew the Chancellor once to ask th professtjr of linglish literature to look after the building of a specimen case for one of the scientific departments. There was no telephone on the campus, ncr was there any mail service. There was no football, no basketball, no tennis courts, no athletic board, no gymnasium work, no glee club, no fraternities, no university yell, and yet the old days were not dull. There was fun, plenty of it, and rivalry and contests and occasional bitter feeling, too. just the same as today, and, what is better than pll that, there was a great deal of good hard work by the hoys who are now making good ' in many places in the State and in the Nation. The original charter of the Universit} ' . passed February 15, i8Cv ), provided for six colleges, namely, i, a College of Ancient and Modern Literature, fathe- matics and the Natural Sciences ; 2, a College of Agriculture ; 3, a College of I-aw ; 4, a College of Medicine ; 5, a College of Practical Science, Civil Engineering, and lechanics ; 6, a College of Fine . rts. Eight years later the second and fifth of these colleges were united into the Industrial College, the paragraph being changed so as to read: i. a College of Literature, Science and Art; 3, an Indus- trial College, embracing agriculture, practical science, civil engineering, and me- chanics ; 3, a College of Law; 4, a College of Medicine ; 5, a College, of the Erne Arts. The Regents have fully organized all but the last named, and have added the Graduate School, while very recently they have authorized a College of Education. For fully twenty years a preparatory department was maintained. The first college to open was that of Ancient and iModern Literature. iSIath- ematics, and the Natural Sciences, now called the College of Literature, Science and Art. It swung its doors open September 6, 1871. Coimting those in the preparatory department there were less than one hundred students present at the beginning of the year. The Faculty consisted of the Chancellor and three pro- fessors, who held the chairs of ancient languages, English Titerature. and natural sciences. A little later an instructor in chemistry was provided Who were these pioneers who taught the young Nebraskans of thirty-six years ago, and marked out the pathway over which have traveled hundreds of tutors, instructors, professors of many grades, and doctors of philosopihy ? There was first the scholarly and dignified Chancellor Benton who added the teaching of mental and moral philosophy to his other duties: then came Professor I ' lanley, the first classical teacher: Professor Dake. the teacher of English liteiature: Pro- fessor Aughey. the natural sciences ; while the first chemist was Instructor Dailey. Truly, that was the day of settees, as Oliver Wendell Ffolmes called them, rather than college chairs. The preparatorv department was practically an appendage of this College, and was usually called the Latin School. It received students from the country schools and prepared them for entrance to the College of Literature, Science and Art. It set the standard for the high schools of the State, and was maintained until they were able to do the work of preparing students for college. It laid spe- cial emphasis upon Latin. Greek, and mathematics, and gave an excellent training to its pupils. The hope on the part of University men that the high schools could be taught to do equally good work has been realized in but few places. It is still true that the LTniversity Latin School afforded the best training in secondary school subjects that has ever been reached in Nebraska, and while it was impos-

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alnnt anil IX ' mu - sible to retain it as a part of the University, it was a distinct educational loss to the State when it was discontinued, liefore bidding iarewell to llie Latin School we may note the fact that it included in its faculty many instructors of marked ability, as Church, Ellen Smith (afterwards University Registrar), Bennett ( nf)w of Cornell), and Lees (our Professor of Greek). For many years the College of Literature, Science and Art manuainei! three courses of study, — the classical, the literary, and the scientific, each leading to its particular degree. In those ilays the conditions for admission were different for each course, so that if an applicant was rejected from the classical course, he might be accepted for the literary, or if he failed there he might squeeze into the scientific course. If, however, he was so poorly prepared as to fail of entrance to the scientific course there was always the opportunity open to him of getting into the Industrial College. In fact, it was nearly impossible to escape getting into the latter, anil naturally this low standarc ' reacted disastrously upon the Col- lege and its courses of study. For, after all, the students in this University re- spect and prefer the courses with high standards. For a long time it was the impression on the campus that this College was the University, and that the Industrial College was an apfiendage. In fact, the Regents themselves seem to have had rather hazy notions on this subject, for when I was elected to my present position, including the Deanship of the Indus- trial College, I was assured that I was also a professor ir. the University. Nearly twenty years ago the scientific course was transferred from the Col- lege of Literature, Science and .Art to the Industrial College, and about the same time it was decided to give but one degree in each college. During a considerable period there were from eighteen to twenty courses of study leading to the degree of A.B., and ten to a dozen leading to B.Sc, and then a little later came the period of free electives, which, with a little n:odification, is what we now have. When the Faculty committee brought in its report in favor of the elective system, the report was adopted by the literary Faculty, but when an licur or two later it was laid before the industrial Faculty it was rejected by a large majority. There were many fears that the Industrial College would soon have no students if it main- tained its regular prescribed courses of study in competition with the vei liljcral elective system of the other college. It was thought that students wanted the freedom of choice of studies .so much that they would not go into the prescribed courses, but this fear has been shown to be groundless. On the contrarv, the In- dustrial College has prospered and increased most rapidly in the number of its students. In the literary F ' aculty there is a growing feeling that the elective .sys- tem should be greatly restricted, at least by a considerable extension of the powers of advisers. A notable development of the College of Literature, Science and . rf has been its increasing feminization. Men are going into the sciences and their ap- plications in increasing numbers, and so are swarming into the Ir.dustrial College, while in this latter college there are fewer women year by vear. Thus while one college is becoming more and more a man ' s college, the other is ten:ling in the opposite direction. The establishment of strong courses in sociologv. political science, and economics should check this tendency by ofTering men opportunities for the studv of subjects which bear tlirectly upon their life work.