University of Nevada - Artemisia Yearbook (Reno, NV)

Page 23 text:

THE FORWARD LOOK T ' is the sunset of life gives me mystical lore, And coming events cast their shadoivs be fore. CAMPBELL ' S lines have always had for me a fascination that I would not change if I could. If these be true, then the following quotation from Tennyson show the spirit of the age : Through the ages one increasing purpose runs, And the nations do but broaden with the process of the suns. When the writer first saw the University it had but one building, now known as Morrill Hall. It was the old-fashioned structure, high ceilinged and mansard roofed, that was deemed peculiarly fitted for a college acces- sory. You will see the same style in far-off Maine. It is perhaps well that students are active young athletes so that they can climb the steep stair- ways to third stories, and so use the illy adapted structure. It is unfor- tunate that a careful study of the architecture of college buildings has not yet been made. The public school buildings are receiving needed attention in this respect and there are many splendid examples of what school buildings should be. The coming of the gracefully efficient Mackay building promised a complete change in the building plans of the Nevada institution, and the suggested plans for the future expansion of the campus group of buildings, mark a welcomed change. This beautiful building has been and ever will be an incentive for better architecture and for more efficiently arranged buildings for University work. The student who passes through the portals of the Mackay School of Mines receives an inspiration that means better work, and more respect for things educational. Other buildings may be useful, but if they are dingy and ugly, they do not appeal to young or old. The casual visitor to the University gets his first impression from the older buildings that occupy the front positions, and he is not impressed, but when he gains the first sight of the beautiful lawns in front of the Mackay building, he changes his mind and thinks the effort worth while. When in the rear of all the structures he gets a glimpse of the Mackay athletic field and building, he is sure the last shall be first in his remem- brance of the University. It is almost impossible to rebuild or reform the older buildings on the campus, because they serve their purpose in sufficient degree to warrant thirteen

Page 22 text:

; SSaSS iL 1 . ' ' S9 1 ' J f • mm m ' - , Pi W ' ' T ' S te« • Jj[ le mt • Sftf ' Tv O a ' % » . af - fes- ' ' =! SITMMER OX THE CAMPUS twelv.

Page 24 text:

their retention; but the more good buildings erected the sorrier the old ones look, and the sooner they will fade away. The general appearance of the old buildings could be tolerated if they served their purpose well. Four walls and a ceiling do not make a school room, for these may be accom- panied by bad lighting and poor appointments for the particular work to be done. The general plan that has been suggested for the University of the future calls for a large administration building in the foreground over- looking the Truckee valley and the magnifient mountains in the distance. Its enduring stone pillars will give it the appearance of permanence and solid worth. In this building will be housed the administration offices, the library, and many class rooms, all adapted and contrived for efficient instruction for the young people who will come in increasing numbers as the years roll on. I see in these class rooms all the apparatus that can be used to make clear the principles of art and science, and I can see rooms specially arranged for moving picture demonstrations of useful and inter- esting subjects so that the lectures and demonstrations used by the leaders in educational work may be heard in many classrooms outside of their own particular ones. Then too, I see on each side of the administration building two grace- ful buildings devoted to university work, adding their individual im- pressiveness to the scene, and promising an opportunity to every Freshman that may come. Somewhere on the grounds I see a building devoted to physical culture for young women, and containing a magnificent swimming pool and proper appointments for athletic work and for all work that may come under this head. In this building I can see a fine auditorium for the meetings of the young women, and also study rooms and rest rooms. In this building also would be rooms that the graduates might call their own and where they might meet the co-eds who are still in the University and tell of their experiences as co-eds in the long ago. Of course I must see the same thing for the young men of the future, because it makes life a little more pleasant and work a little better, and gives the older student a better opportunity to give sound advice to the younger students. And above all that it makes the real life of the Uni- versity. One part of the education the students get is from the professors and the books ; but the most impressive parts comes from their experience in dealing with one another. The first chemistry classroom and laboratory, provided for the teach- ing of the new science in this country, was put forty feet underground so fourteen