Omaha daily bee., 1905-08-06

dormitory system II Will rapidly be eN-
tended
How state Universities Are Run.
Most Of the state universities are now
provided for, as far as their running eN-
penses are coucerned, by certain definite
proportion Of the tax income Of the state,
but for the development Of all new depart
ments and the erection Of new buildings
they arc stu dependent upon special acts
Of the legislature. a legitimate state pride
obliges the Legislature 20 be generous in
these matters. In the east we are some
times made painfully aware Of desire in
certain communities to tax the colleges.
What a curious and unpleasant contrast
this presents 10 the willingness OF the
new states OF the west to tax themselves
for the support Of their educational institu-
lions. Consider the attitude Of certain
citizens OF Cambridge or New Haven who
want to exact few thousand dollars each
year from Yale and Harvard. and contrast
II with the attitude OF the citizens OF
Kansas or Nebraska who tax themselves
for hundreds OF thousands of dollars for
their universities
A state university is governed by board
OF regents. In some states the regents are
appointed by the governor, in others elected
by the legislature; in others elected by
popular vote on the party ticket As
rule II can be stated with sufficient ac-
curacy that the appointed boards are the
BEST and those elected by popular vote
the weakest. This is accounted for by the
fact that the regents Of the university are
the last candidates to be nominated in the
party conventions. The places are. there
fore, too often given to some disappointed
candidates for the higher offices without
regard to their fitness TO administer an
educational institution. The nomination is
kind Of consolation prize, and the board
is in some danger of becoming a sort Of
political hospital. As rule, however, judi
cious, intelligent and successful business
men. with a comfortable sprinking Of law
yers and journalists, serve on these boards
but one still hears comical and tragical
stories Of the "hayseed politicians who do
sometimes get elected and who make no
end Of trouble for an enlightened president
OF chancellor and for the heads of depart
ments. The regents are rarely experts in
education and their tendency is to spend
money freely for the plant and to cut their
expenditures for teaching too low. They
rarely make any provision for the promo
ton of research as apart from learning and
teaching. The regents and the faculty find
common meeting place in the functions
of the president, and the state universities
are remarkably fortunate today in the char
acter and ability of their executive chiefs.
Very Able Teaching Corps.
The salaries Of university professors in
the west are deploraby small and It is al
ways difficult to secure or retain the serv-
ices of good teachers and administrators.
The heads of departments are not only
poorly paid, they are allowed very few as
sistants and are obliged to undertake them
| selves a great deal Of the drudgery that
ought to be assigned to others. Conse-
quently the changes in the teaching stan
are frequent. The faculty seems to be as
much of a procession" as the student body
| itself. Nevertheless the universities have
profited greatly by the self-forgetting serv-
! ice OF devoted scholars and administrators,
and the public confidence which they enjoy,
as we'll as the efficiency of their service, is
! largely due to the patient and long-con-
tinued effort of men like Dean Currier and
Prof. Mcbride at Iowa, Vice Chancellor
Carruth at Kansas and Presidents Baker
and Slocum in Colorado; men who have re-
fused offers of higher pay in the great east
ern colleges and stuck to their posts for
! periods of fifteen to thirty years in order
that they may place on firm and lasting
foundations the higher education of the
new west. These men and their colleagues
/
fish patience, inspired by their love of
learning. their zeal for teaching and their
interest in the fascinating problems of a
progressive institutional life.
The multiplicity of educational institu-
lions supported by public taxation in the
states of the Missouri valley is well
known source OF weakness. The state OF
| Nebraska, following the good example OF
Wisconsin and Illinois, Is concentrating all
the state educational institutions at Lin
coin, but Kansas Iowa and Colorado have
followed the bad example of Ohio and the
majority OF the older states OF the Missis-
sippi valley, and scattered the educationa
| Institutions In different localities and placed
them under Independent boards OF govern
ment. Thus in Colorado the State uinver.
sity is at Boulder, the Agricultural college
at Fort Collins, the Normal school al
Greeley, the School of Mines at Golden, anC
so on. The result is not only an inJudicious
diffusion Of energy, but real waste and
sometimes deplorable rivalry. Doubtless 4
is now too late to rectify this mistake
Provincial jealousles and sense of loca
ownership are too strong to permit of de
sirable concentration, and these states ar,
probably permanently burdened with the
necessity of sustaining half dozen insti
tutions which must often duplicate equip
ment and courses Of instruction. In Iowa
for instance, the State university and tn,
State College Of Agriculture and Mechanl,
Arts, which enjoy equally the bounty o.
the legislature, are hardly to be differen
tiated in the work they do They are in
deed widely separated geographically, an,
1t may be held that Iowa is big enough ant
rich enough to support two universities, bu
the duplication is plain. There is a con
slant tendency and pressure at the agricul
tural and technical schools to introduce in
struction In the liberal arts, and eveI
courses leading to the degree OF bachelor o
arts, and there is an equal pressure at tn,
state universities TO emphasize technica
and scientific instruction. The most obyi
Gus tendency, indeed at the state univer
stiles is the increasing demand of the younl
men for technical instruction. The crowde,
courses In these universities are the course
in civil electrical and mining engineering
and most OF the great new buildings tina
are in process Of erection are for the engi
neering or the scientific departments Tn
liberal arts courses are in too many case