The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.) 1883-194?, 1905-05-26
THE UNIVERSITY OF FL0REDa.


dent, stated that at the beginning of
The scholastic year there was a total
enrolment of 225 students. At present
there are on hand i'll course of instruc-
ton 140 to $50 students. Since the be-
ginning of the scholastic years there
has been a loss of as students. Your
committee then inquired of Dr. Sledd
how many of the 40 students now in
attendance at the University were resi-
dents of the county of Columbia. To
this he replied az.
The salaries of the instructors range
president of the University is $500.
Your committee then visited the
known as Chapel Hall. This building
was found to be in a frightfully diIap-
idated condition, absolutely filthy, walls
falling down, and the class rooms
where the students are instructed alb
as good in equipment as the average
country school. Many country schools
decently kept.
Your committee then visited the
gymnasium, the funds for the building
of which were furnished by Mr.. Flag
Ter, and found. while it is a very beau
tiful building, with every equipment,
that it is already in a dflapidated con-
dition, showing serious defective con-
struction.
Your committee would ftf-ther state
that upon investigation they find that
the faculty of twenty referred to is
composed in the large percentage of
young men, scarcely one of whom is
apparently more than thirty years of
age. excepting in one or two instances.
Your committee asks you to take no
tice that there are now twenty instruc-
tors for 40 students, or an average of
one instructor for every seven stu
dents.
We find that the building erected
out of the $500 appropriation made by
the last legislature for the veterinary
department of the University was so
inconveniently located and so entirely
unadapted to the uses intended that it
has been wholly abandoned and is no
longer in use
We find that a large number of the
students are studying branches prop
erly belonging to public county high
schools. and to- private commercial coll
leges, thus depriving the young people
of this state III q measure of the faciIl-
ties for education which the institution
was intended to provide.
The United States government funds
for supporting the experimental sta
ton have been used for purposes con-
trary to the national law AS result
IF this practice the agricultural inter-
eSts of the state have suffered and the
state will be deprived of part of the
$3.50 appropriation to which it will be
entitled for the next fiscal year, the
United States Department of Agricul-
ture having recently ruled to this eff
feet.
The mana cement of the station farm
is not such. as in our opinion, would
commend itself TO intelligent thrifty
farmers There is an abundant evil
dence Of inafficiency and wastefulness-
In connection with The examination
of the farm management of the Uni
versity. your committee took especial
pains to inquire into the number of
students taking an agricultural course
in the University. We find that there
is today but one student in attend
ance. and that he is a student If Co
lumbia county. And We find many of
the citizens of Lake City opposed to
the. way the institution has been man.
aged in the past, believing that too
much politics had been injected into
the management for the good of the
institution. We also believe and think
that an institution of this kind should
have at least one farmer on the board
of trustees. as it is an agricultural and
mechanical college. We are sorry to
state that the farm has been in bad
condition for a number of years.
We wish to say that we offer this
report in the most friendly disposition.
| and our object is to benefit and not to
damage.
We hope that the University of Flor
ida will outlive its critics by a thous-
and years. and that the mistakes and
! blunderS of the past will serve as a
! lamp to light rs through the mist and
/ mirage of the present to a beautiful
| and unclouded dawn of a glorious day
| when the lovely little city of lakes