Evening star., 1901-07-12
The Topic of Discussion at the N.E.A.
Today.
LAST SESSION OF MEETING
Dr.. Th~ing, r. 3. Fulton and
Commissioner Harris, Speakers.
SMALL AUDIENCE PRESENT

DETROIT, July 12.-This Is the last day
Of the National Educational Association
convention, and when the morning session
was called to order in Light Guard Armory
by President Green the smallest audience
Of the week was present. Higher Educd-
ton" was the topic of the morning. papers
being read by President Charles F. Thwing
of Western Reserve University. Cleveland;
Robert B. Fulton. president Of the Univer-
sity of Mississippi. and w. T. Harris. ma
tional commissioner Of education.
President Thwing. who was the first
speaker. discussed The Functions Of a Uni
versity In Popular Democracy" He said:
DR.. Thvving on Universities.
Charles F. Thwing, LID, of Cleveland.
Ohio. spoke of 1.-The Functions of a Uni
versity in Prosperous Democracy" He
said, in part:
There is one special respect in which the
university proves to be of great advantage
to organized religion. The university helps
to show to the world the relative worth OF
the church and the relative lack or the
worth of churches The church Is founded
upon the primary belief IN the existence of
a personal God. and upon the derived belief
that the will of this Being is made known
to the will of man. and also upon the de-
rived belief that the will OF this Supreme
Being Is to be obcyed by man. Churches
are founded upon some adaptation of arpli-
cation or corrallary of this fundamental
conception. The university is concerned
with truth in large relations. 1t therefore
investigates and presents the primary con-
ceptfon on which the church rests. 1t
therefore Is an aid to the support OF the
church in a democratic community But
it's relations to the divisions of the one
great church are, on the whole. remote.
For cisms it has not only contempt. but
also Indifference: for heresy, while it may
give approval to the motives Of the hereto,
hos 0,lxy t~1; 10 fr1rf nc
which she endeavors to corrolate and to
transmute into the system Of orthodoxy,
usually seem to ii slight and untmportant,
The larger therefore a university becomes.
the less significant to it denominatfOnal
and Sectarian relations appear. y sectarian
university is misnomer. The larger and
stronger a university becomes also the
more impressive and stronger becomes it's
allegiance to the fundamental doctrines Of
religion.
Public opinion In a democracy is usually
tyrannical. and those over +'hom it rules
are commonly it's willing subjects 1t Is the
tyranny of the majority. and 1t is hard to
find a tyranny more tyrannical than the
tyranny of the majority. 1t is the power
of tyrant raised to the highest degree. To
public opinion the university holds three
duties: First, 1t should give enlightenment
in order that public opinion may be rightly
formed; second, it should teach the right
of dissent; and third. it should teach and
give an example of fairness and modera-
ton.
Concerning all these elements. truth is to
be the basis. Absolute freedom in the
teachings is to be allowed, and even to be
required. The judge of what is allowed and
what is the truth is not to be the civil. nor
of course the ecclesiastical power, but the
university itself. The university is of all
bodies the best qualified to be the Judge.
1t has no political government to conserve
or to perpetuate; it has no doctrine to i'm
press: it has no purpose to perform. except
ing the discovery of the truthfulness of
truth q a of human hatt tprr
l. for one. would not say that in some
American universities the freedom of teach
Ing is not so great as 1t ought to be. l
would not say that chairs have not been
declared vacant the ground that their
occupants presented opinions which did not
have the approval of boards of trustees
but L do say that such instances are far
less common than is usually believed The
reasons for the removal of professors have
often been reasons of personal character
or OF general inefficfency, reasons of which
the public knows nothing at all. Such rea-
sons are far more frequent than reasons
arising from lack of freedom in teaching
In fact, I should not hesitate to say that
except in one instance has freedom of
teaching been absolutely interfered with
by the governing authorities
In point Of intellectual condition the
higher classes in a prosperous democracy
are subject to the temptations of material
ism and sensualism, the middle classes to
the temptation Of mediocracy and common
placeneSs, and the lower classes to the
temptation OF brutalism and Of contempt Of
all knowledge In point of manners and
social condition the higher classes are omen
to the temptation Of arrogance, the middle
classes are open to the temptation of pet
tiness and the lower classes to the tempta-
ton OF bestiality. To each of these classes
the university owes special duty. To the
higher 1t owes the duty of teaching spirftu-
ality. to the middle the duty Of teaching
the reiattytty of the masses of knowledge
and Of the truths of personality and OF
things. and to the lower the duty Of teach
ing gentleness and humility. American
scholarship, through its ministry in the
universities through It's teachings and its
teachers, Is to remove evil, instruct the
ignorant. humanize the brutal, uplift the
sensual. broaden the narrow. enrich the
poor, elevate the low make natural tn. nm
natural and the human divine.
F. b. FuIton's Address.
President Fulton's paper on Federal and
State Interest in Higher Education" was
in part as follows:
"A reeiew of the development of the
state systems of education including
schools of all grades, shows that in most
cases the initiative lay in grants of land
made by Congress. Through the stimulus
thus given the newer states have been
able to make more rapid progress than the
older states, especially In the work of
higher education Through the co-ordina-
ton and cooperation of schools of all
grades belonging to the state systems there
of the work of the state universities The
total number of students enrolled In
twenty-six state universities located in all
parts of the Union, excepting the north
Atlantic states, in 1894 was IA 943 students
The same twenty-six institutions in 1901
show total enrolment of % 5S3 Students
an Increase of fully 100 per cent In seven
years. The reports of the commissioner OF
education show an increase of about ID
per cent in the total of students attending
all colleges and universities throughout the
United States within the same period.
The remarkable growth of the work of
the state universities is the natural result
of their coordination with the public
school systems in the several states
To meet the requirements of the work
Of these institutions larger means will be
needed. A proper coordination of the ed
ucational work of all the states calls for
federal assistance. This should take the
form Of aid for the more advanced work.
Provision should be made in Washington
for such graduate work by students from
state universities and all the colleges of
the country as can not be thoroughly done
by these separate institutions.
Congress should give further aid to edu-
cational work in the states, and this should
best take the form of maintenance of min
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