University of Southern California - El Rodeo Yearbook (Los Angeles, CA)

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Illnivcv6it of Soutbcvn Calitovnia. €fT is a credit to Los Angeles tliat it lias located within its borders such an institution as the II University of Soutliern California. lilch has achieved a name and a place for itself as II one of the best educational institutions on tlie Pacific Coast, its work being credited in lull by the State Uni ersit ' at Berkele -, and its science work by such schools as John Hopkins University, the University of Pennsylvania, and other leading institutions in the east. Being under the auspices ot the Southern California Conference of the Methodist Episco- pal Church, it makes a sound moral training a special feature of its educational work, but it is in no sense a sectarian school. All of its departments are in Los Angeles, except Chaffey, which is at Ontario. The College of Liberal Arts offers to undergraduates the choice of four courses of study, covering a period of four years. They embrace ancient and modern languages, English litera- ture, philosophy, including pedagogy, the sciences ot chemistry, physics, biology, including bac- teriology, botany, and geology, mathematics, including astronomy; history and political science, and Bible study. This college of the University has a well-equipped library and reading room, together with very extensive and well-furnished laboratories in its departments of physics, chemistry, and biol- ogy, including bacteriology. The University Academy is open to all students who have completed the eiahth grade in the public schools of California, and prepares for the freshman year in any college or university. To students who are not desirous of taking a college course the academy also offers many ad- vantages. The McClay College of Theology was founded and endowed in 1885 by the Hon. Charles McClay of San Fernando, Cal. The design of the college is to afford suitable training for minis- ters, teachers, evangelists, missionaries, and lay workers. Students from other denominations are admitted, but with the understanding that the instruction will be in conformity with the Methodist faitli. With the exception of an incidental fee of $5 per semester, tuition in this college is free. The College of Medicine is now in its twelfth year. It adopted a high standard from the outset, requiring a three-years ' graded course when many other colleges required only two, and later increased the time to four years. There is also a newly-established College of Dentistry, which is conducted-in connection with the College of Medicine. The College of Music is divided into two departments, the elementary or preparatory, and the collegiate or graduating. The School of Art is designed to offer every facility for the study of all branches of the graphic arts. The course provides tor the wants of architects, scientific investigators, newspa- per artists, etc., and is thorough and practical. The course of studv in the School of Elocution covers two years, a special feature of the course being the two private lessons given weekly to each student. The Delsarte system of phvsical culture and light gymnastics are taught throughout this course, using the ladies ' gym- nasium for that purpose. The Chaffev Preparatory School is an endowed institution, and is open to all who have completed the eighth grade in the public schools of California. Connected with the school is the College Home boarding hall for boys. A new ladies ' boarding hall has been recently erected. The corps of teachers in the faculty is a strong one, both in point of numbers and in ability, there being sixtv-four members of the faculty, everv one of them being graduates of some college or universitv ' , in addition, in many cases, to having had post-gr.aduate training m the best universities of this country and Europe in the particular studies w hicli they teach. As the aim of the Board of Trustees of the University is to make it a first-class institution, none but teachers of the highest rank are employed; yet the tuition charges are low. The University is possessed of a large museum, but another addition to it has recently been put in bv Dr. C. B. Pattee of this city. Another friend, Mr. A. M. Peck of Compton, Cal., has endowed the University Library with enough to produce a perpetual fund of $500 annually, for increasing its efficiency, although it is already very excellent. The College of Liberal Arts is making a specialty of high grade science work in advanced physics, chemistry, biology, and assaying. It is the only college in Southern California having a well-equipped bacteriological laboratory. Although this college has a good deal of property given to it for endowment purposes, not much of it is in productive condition. Hence the Presi- dent is now engaged in a hopeful effort to secure enough additional productive endow ment to en- able this school to sustain its high grade work with increased efficiency.