Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1885-06-08
TO THE REGENTS OF THE USIyERsrr


On Tuesday next the Regents Of the West
Virginia University meet at Morgautown.
Probably there will be presented for consid-
grafton q number Of important matters
touching the future prosperity of the insti-
tuition. Ifsleh matters DO not come up for
consideration, then there is a woeful want
Of reasonable perception on the part OF
somebody, OF the absolute needs Of the col
Nege to make it success and q credit to
the State.
While the REGIsTEE cannot go into de-
talk, 1t can draw conclusions from results,
- As results have followed from mis-
taken policy on the part Of the varying fac,
tons and politicians who have been running
this State school at cross purposes. There
are general conditions existing, and sufi-
cient public opinion sAost to direct needed
criticism quite accurately. and to that end
the REGISTER proposes now to say few
words:
What is the condition of things to-day at
MorgantoTu2 There are several schools,
Any of which the pupil enters as suits his
taste and capacity. As he generally has
had no preparatory education for the more
advanced studies, he takes the preparatory
course. That is, insofar as he chooses to do
81 There being no curriculum, or no
President the freshman does pretty much
as he pleases, and if he has the ambition
and energy to learn, he does reasonably
wen. as he would do anywhere,
and if he is ike most boys,
/, Q goes through, or gets through in some
way quite unsccountable to himself, and
perhaps quite reReetively upon the diseiP-
line and reputation of the institution. At
Al events when this graduate Bullets the
world for some time and begins to look
around for q place to put his own boy, does
ks not recall to mind the loose careless
practices in yoge when he went through col
IeVe, and whether he got the mental train
ing and moral care his time and place were
entitled tor 10 substance are there not
better and more desirable places to send my
SON than Morgantown2 These are questions
that not only rise in the minds Of parents,
but in the minds Of all thinking people who
are interested in the welfare Of their young
friends. These statements and opinions
win be considered in certain quarters as
unjust and tending to mshgn the
Faculty and former Boards of Regents,
or both. Nothing of the kind is intended.
1t is to arouse the powers that be to sense
Of their responsibility and Of the necessity
aty of dealing with things as they
End them. The public understands
fun well that the institution is not thriving
as il should. It's enemies and the political
mountebanks that are indigenous to every
soil and would create disSension in Para
disc If they could, to make a point, have
not hesitated to take advantage Of the nina
ture mistakes Of the past, and to forge them
into mountains of wrong doing. Friends OF
The University have quietly stood around
and permitted exaggerated stories to circu-
late because they thought some powerful
cddseEng was necessary to correct the
srors. The result of all this is, there is 8
general feeling of suspicion and doubt IN
the public mind that must be regarded and
active and immediate steps taken to sllAy
N and to restore that wholesome public
ouinion throughout the State concern
inc the University that must exist before
success IL possible.
What is the situaiOn2 There are less
than IOa matricnlAtes in the college when
snan able ssnd consistent man,
III lh2ks oaght to be triple
s6ls hat number. If there
dsn2 to the institution hs
k}Sd . corps OF professors
I'd d hearty accord with bis
Aw kcurieulum would be e.
and boys made to toe the mark or
back. Discipline would Dc
y sxpulsiOn follow. A strong
zee that the moral status Of
'~gs were 20