Omaha daily bee., 1902-10-26

as We may to make ourselves believe that
there Is no competition between our col
leges and universities, It is none the less
a fact that each depends upon its peculiar
characteristics to maintain its strength and
attract support from both students and
benefactors. The great state universities,
drawing their sustenance from taxes i'm
posed upon all cSizens alike, must in the
very nature OF things keep strictly along
the straight path OF nonsectarianism. The
same is substantially true with reference
to the great privately endowed universities,
which, II they are to serve as monuments to
philanthropic patrons, cannot well refuse
benefactions that come from men of a
different faith than the founder. The life
Of an institution like Northwestern, how
ever. which is part OF a great church or
ganization and a beneficiary OF the intrl-
cate church machinery, must cling to the
bosom Of the church and live in its atmos-
phere. Its religious discipline and Chris
tian supervision, as the distinguishing
marks of Northwestern, came in, therefore,
for a repetition of praises, perhaps as much
because the speakers we're chosen largely
from other denominations or religious col
leges or universities as from the fact that
they are counted among the chief elements
OF strength Of the institution installing its
new president.
What was equally noticeable and still
more significant was to be found in the
notes Of protest several times sounded
against the agitation for a shorter college
course and curtailment Of the require
ments for the baccalaureate degree with a
view to graduating young men and young
women through college and professional
acbo01 uffhOut rOnuuunIn0 too much ~ the
time that should be utilized in self-support.
While no names were mentioned in this
connection, either OF persons or ~institu-
tions, 1t was plain that the remarks we're
directed at President Ellot's Tecommen-
dalton of a three-year course for Harvard
and President Buffers recent suggestion in
his report to the trustees of Columbia, for
granting the bachelors degree at the end of
two years, and substituting the masters de-
degree for the diploma now given in rec
ognition of the four years college work.
President Benjamin Ide Wheeler of the
University of California, more plain spoken
than the others, declared that in California
their university had been built up in COM
p~arative isolation, working out its own SAL
walton and that it proposed to follow its
wi methods OF teaching and to insist on
four years work for a bachelors degree.
VIC propose, ne Salu, TO require much
Latin and more Greek. We have found
that the university is not a mill and that
1t cannot be run successfully on strictly
business methods. We believe education
is to be derived from the men who con-
stitute the faculty rather than from the
buildings or equipment, and that It is not
the degree but discipline and character that
is to be taken into account" The reception
accorded this declaration showed clearly
that 1t struck a sympathetic chord. Yet II
must be remembered that the great ma
jority of those present represented institu-
tions centered exclusively about under
graduate work, or in which the under
graduate work far outweighed the ad-
vanced and professional instruction. 1t
must be remembered, too, that the state
universities and smaller colleges Of the
west have not yet reached the point where
they need puzzle over the problem of the
length Of the collegiate course; they have
been working faithfully, but slowly toward
the point where their bachelor degree repre-
sents as much as that granted by the older
and wealthier institutions of the east, and
they are certainly not ready yet to follow
any radical change in the curriculum.
The banquet rendered by the Chicago Bar