Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1905-01-12
lust WHAT DID
GOVERNOR MEAN
State University Supporters
Think His Utterances Were
Not Well Founded.
BY REGENTS
rhe Present Course of Study at State
Institutions Are Established by
misunderstanding" is
Not Believed.
BY REGENTS

N"rmiilion, :. D., Jan. Just what
Governor Elrod had IN mind when he
declared in his message that there is
90 much Latin taught at Brookings
md too much mechanical engineering
~ Nefmi!lion" no one %hereabouts seems
% know, but the majority of fair-mind-
ID citizens declare his utterances in
! "egard to 'trespassing" as not being
we'll founded.
Two years ago, after material inves-
-igation and careful elaboration, the
BOARD OF regents, in which is vested the
are and upbuilding of the state edu-
,at1onal institutions, decided to eStab-
ism IL department of engineering at the
University. Necessary equipment was
purchased and the department. now in
is second year. is Il lusty infant. hay
ng thirty students. not including the
many u men who are taking pre-
paratory studies leading to AN engi-
neering course.
The state university has in no way
t~respassed upon the rights of the agri-
cultural college I'm making such depart.
ure. but is merely proceeding along
ines laid down in sister states. For ex.
ample Minnesota and Nebraska. in
which states university and agricul.
tural colleges are combined. maintain
N''S hth ,Votf '' M W.T.
nection with h university department
and have separate engineering courses
in h agricultural departments. The
idea followed I'm these instances and
others that might be cited is that it is
within the province of the university to
develop and train engineers and in the
scope of agricultural college work to
produce and educate the artisan.
Michigan, Kansas and Colorado are
prominent examples of sister states
having engineering departments In both
university and agricultural colleges.
The courses i'm the universities are
along the lines taken up by the Uni
versity OF South Dakota. Now that the
department mas been established. cur
tailInent of its funds and usefulness
would NEAR radical retrogression
of the university from its present place
among state universities.
We might suggest that the new gov
ernor is %treading upon ground with
which he is unfamiliar. Upon investi-
CATION he will find many other courses
on the curriculum at Vermillion that
are duplicated at Bookings. The va
rious groups = economics. history,
mathematics and national sciences.
foreign languages. business course. mu-
sic. etc. are taught at both institu-
tons, II the great majority of these
subjects are peculiarly the subject mat
Ter or Il university.
Surely Governor Elrod cannot believe
that the regents nave trespassed upon
the rights of the Brookings institution
any more than they have upon the
rights of the state university in giving
Instruction in languages. not only
Latin, but French and German, and
various other courses that neither us
tom nor the Morrill, act place upon
the curriculum OF an agricultural col
lege.
The regents. however, when deter
mining departments n courses of
study at the various state Institutions
are not actuated by desire to benefit
any particular institution to the exclu-
sion of another: rather they desire to
conserve the best interests of all con-
cerned. The rights of Brookings or the
rights of Vermillion neither deferred nor
actuated the regents in the establish
ment of the engineering department at
the state university. The regents are
planning an institution that. as South
Dakota grows, and financial
become greatr. will be the pride Of
every citizen.
There Is ample room for the univer-
sity and agricultural college along the
plans laid down by the regents. ZACH
has It's own field and the regents are
e~ndeavoring to Increase the sphere of
its influence. The step of the regents
thai actuated the seeming protest OF
Governor I;lrod against trespass was
merely an effort by them to place the
university in the field of education al
lOtted 1t by ali precedent in the history
of university development.