University of North Carolina Chapel Hill - Yackety Yack Yearbook (Chapel Hill, NC)

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Y A C K E T Y Y A C K Edwin Anderson Alderman impetus to scientific studies at the University. In 1824 the trustees sent President Caldwell to Eur- ope to purchase scientific apparatus for the labora- tories. Thus the natural sciences were given a place in the curriculum on terms of equality with the humanities. The second line of development was in the study of such subjects as were designed to prepare men for public service. History, law, rhetoric, public speaking and debating were especially en- couraged. The two literary societies — Dialectic and Philanthropic — whose history is coincident with that of the University, took an active part in student life. In 1843, President Swain organized at Chapel Hill the North Carolina Historical Soci- ety, and in 1845 established a department of law. The ideal of public service over-shadowed general culture prior to 1860. The result is seen in the long list of public officials who were University alumni, including before 1860, one President of the United States, one Vice-President, seven Cabinet officials, ten United States senators, forty-one representatives in Congress, fifteen state governors, and state judges and legislators too numerous to be counted. To the learned pro- fessions, business, agriculture, and war, the University ' s contributions were no less notable. President Swain ' s wide acquaintance in the state, coupled with his per- sonality and policies, wrought a change in public sentiment toward the Uni- versity and popularized the institution. When he became ' resident in 1835 the enrollment was 104; before 1860 it reached 430. Its student body was drawn from the entire South; of the 576 graduates between 1850 and 1859, 159 were from other states than North Carolina. In common with all other southern colleges the Civil War wrought havoc with the University of North Carolina, although it managed to keep its doors open throughout the war. In 1860 its student body represented every southern state, and as Dr. Battle says : As each state passed an ordinance of secession, its citizens at the Univer- sity hurried home fired with zeal to take up arms. Of the Freshman class of eighty students but one individual remained to graduate, and his services had been declined by the army for physical dis- ability. In 1864-65 only sixty-fiVe students matric- ulated. In the meantime one-third of the members of the faculty had entered military service. In 1863 the Conscription Act threatened to close the University. President Swain urged the President of the Confederacy to exempt students until after graduation. They can make no appre- ciable addition to the army, he wrote, but their Francis preston Venable [6]

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HISI ' ORICAL SKETCH Kemp Plummer Battle emonies were held, but the first student did not appear until February 12. Before the end of the term the faculty of two professors found their time fully occupied with their forty-one students. The founding of the University was North Carolina ' s first real step in the process of modern state-building. In his Plan of Study, Davie, whose services gained for him the title Father of the University, declared that it was designed to form useful and respectable members of soci- ety — citizens capable of comprehending, improving and defending the principles of government, cit- izens who from the highest possible impulse, a just sense of their own and the general happiness, would be induced to practice the duties of social morality. It was this conception of public service as the chief function of a state university, rather than the ideal of general culture, that character- ized the University of North Carolina before 1860, and from it came the inspiration for the various movements from 1815 to 1860 which became the foundations on which the modern state has been built. The University struggled for existence against active opposition. Nu- merous causes were responsible for its unpopularity, — public disappointment that it had not met early expectations; the indiscretion and misconduct of students ; the common laelief that it was a hotbed for skepticism and infidel- ity ; and the belief in Republican circles that it was the fountainhead of Fed- eralism in North Carolina. For a decade after its establishment the University ' s work was di- rected by a presiding professor. In 1804 the need for stronger measures of internal discipline and for defense against external attack led to the decision of the trustees to elect a president. Rev. Joseph Caldwell was chosen and served until 1812. His successor was Rev. Robert H. Chapman, who resigned after four years of unsuccessful eff ' orts to cope with a rebellious stu- dent body. Thereupon the trustees persuaded Caldwell to accept the presidency again. He served until his death in 1835. David L. Swain, who had just completed his third term as governor and wished to retire from politics, was the next presi- dent, serving until he was dispossessed of his office by the Reconstruction government in 1868. Before 1815 the University was a typical liberal arts college, laying chief emphasis upon the classics and mathematics. After 1815 two other lines of development are noticeable. One was the introduction into the curriculum of the natural sciences. In 1815 professorships of chemistry and of geology were established, and gave a tremendous george tayloe Winston

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HISTORICAL SK1 :TCH Edward Kidder Graham withdrawal may very seriously affect our organi- zation, and in its ultimate effects cause us to close the doors of the oldest university at present acces- sible to the students of the Confederacy. Presi- dent Davis agreed to the suggestion, saying that the seed corn should not be ground up. But within the year the necessities of war required the rescinding of his order and every student in the University capable of bearing arms immediately joined the colors. Of the fifteen members of the class of 1865, fourteen enlisted and the fifteenth was rejected because physically unfit. Nevertheless, the University continued its work. To prevent the suspension of exercises, the faculty offered to serve without salary. Even after the Confederacy had fallen and the University buildings had been turned into barracks and stables for the 4,000 Michigan cavalry that occu- pied Chapel Hill, the college bell was rung daily and a dozen students attended classes. In 1865 four seniors, three of whom were battle-scarred veterans of Lee and Jackson, received their diplomas. The University survived the war; Reconstruction closed its doors. The causes of this catastrophe were two — poverty and politics. The war wiped out the University ' s endowment, leaving it with liabilities amounting to $100,000. An appropriation of $7,000, made by the Legislature and small sums from other sources enabled it to keep going until it was strangled by partisan politics. In 1868 the Carpet-bag state government turned out the old non- political, self-perpetuating Board of Trustees and replaced it with a political board. The new board was composed entirely of Republicans and included some of the most noto- riously corrupt carpet-baggers in the state. Par- tisan politics dictated its policies. At its first meeting it ousted President Swain and soon made a clean sweep of the old faculty. The new presi- dent, Solomon Pool (1869-1870), and certain of the new professors were near and needy relatives of prominent politicians who were also trustees. The new professor of Greek, who was formerly head of a negro school in Raleigh, advocated the conversion of the University into a negro college, promising that funds for its support would be forthcoming from the North at once. Sorrow and indignation at the use of the Uni- versity for political spoils filed the breasts of its alumni and other friends. Oh, how I sorrow for Chapel Hill ! lamented Zeb Vance. How worse than desolate it must look under the oaks! For two sessions the new faculty waited in vain for harry Woudbukn Chase [7]