The western sentinel. [volume] (Winston-Salem, N.C.) 1887-1926, 1888-12-06
WORK or THE UNIVERSITY.
A Man Speaks Right Out In Meetin' for
His Alma MateF.-Read lit Will
DO You Good.
CHAPEL HILL, N. c., Dec. 1.

CHAPEL HILL, N. c., Dec. /.
To the Editor of the Sentinel:
SIR In response to your recent
favor inviting the discussion OF several
topics concerning The University, l
have found time to express my views
very briefly. It may be well to say
that my opinions are entirely personal
and without any claim to authority
You ask first, Do WE NEED UNI
vERsITy IN N. c.? The State has
needed and possessed a University for
nearly one hundred years. When
population and scant and wealth had
not been accumulated, when the learn
ed professions were filled by handful
of men, when the press and the pulpit
were unknown to most of our people,
when political and social problems
were few and simple, when popular
education was dreamed of by some
and considered impossible by many
even then a few wise men who loved
their State and foresaw its future Sc
cured the establishment OF the Univer-
sity. From that day to this the Uni
versity through its faculty aud gradu-
ates has been potent factor IN all
that is honorable or useful or glorious
in the history of North Carolina Its
work has gone beyond our borders
into the south and south west. What
Harvard and Yale have accomplished
for New England and the North-we
has beeu done for the Southwest by
the Universities of North Carolina
and Virginia. Within ten years after
the Pilgrims landed on Plymouth
Rock, provision was made for the es-
tablishment of Harvard University.
Under similar circumstances OF pow
srty and doubtful uncertainty Prov
sion was made for the establishment OF
our University. To day the destinles
of million and a half people united
in one commonwealth need to be guild
ed by all the wisdom that education
can give. If ever clear .intellects and
we'll trained minds and wise under
standings were needful to North Car
DINA in the pulpit, at the bar, in pub
lie life, in journalism and in the school
room, they are most needful now.
You ask secondly, "HAvE WE A
UNIVERSITY p The answer to this
question depends upon what you mean
by "a University" If you employ
the world in the senEe usually accept
ed in America, as when we speak of
the University of Michigan, or OF
Pennsylvania, or of Cornell University
or Harvard University, unquestion.
ably we have University. Our Uni
versity has the same general plan, or
ganization and work as the University
Of this type. Orr requisites for ad
mission are higher than those OF some
Universities and lower than those OF
others, while our courses OF study and
requirements for graduation will com
pare..favorably with the average stand
ard. 1t will be found, think, that
we graduate smaller per centage of
our matriculstss than is the average.
We have not as many. special schools
as some Universities; Harvard, for ex,
ample, having a very large dental
school; Columbia, a fine school OF
mines; Yale, a theological school /;
and the University of Virginia, a
Medical school This is matter of
expansion and growth, of quantity
mainly. These schools will come to
! us in time, as soon as there is sufficient
demand. Some of them require a
large and costly equipment, which we
cannot as yet afford. 1t is somewhat
question of economy whether for
special education in certain lines a
State shonld allow its young men to
90 abroad or should furnish the neces-
sary instruction at home. There is no
University in the world that furnishes
complete instruction in all the arts
and sciences. The question is one of
degree. In my opinion our Univer-
sity needs q Medical school and a
School of Pharmacy, which must be
established before many years. The
Agricultural College and the Mechan-
zeal College were separated from the
University by the Legislature; and
the establishment of separate Nor
NAL College is necessarily near at
hand. In some States all these Col
leges are grouped together and help to
swell the size and work of the Univer
sity. / believe, however, that the dis
tinctive work of Normal Colleges, of
Agricultural Colleges, and of Mechan-
ical and Industrial Colleges can be
carried on separate and apart from
law schools, medical schools, literary
schools and scientific schools with
mutual advantages to them ALL
You ask thirdly "IF WE HAVE NOT
A UNIVERSITY, WHAT IS NECESSARY
TO MAKE oNEY We have Univer-
sity, but it may become better Uni
versity than it now is. The things
needed are money and Students
More money will provide better faci-
lities for education; more books, more
apparatus, more teachers, more de-
partments of instructions More stu
dents will provide more talent for
training; more material, better mater
ial and more varied material for
educating.
Money alone will not do the work,
nor will students alone. The expert
ence of nearly all the States is that
money must be given by the State to
support its higher institutions cf learn
ing. Tuition fees alone do not sup
port any great University. IF all in
come except from tuition fees should
be cut off, Harvard University, the
Johns Hopkins University, Columbia
College, Yale, Princeton, the Univer-
sity of Virginia and every other Uni,
versity in the United States would
have to close its doors or dismiss half
its faculty.
Let us cease talking about ..Dear