Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-10-18
ALUMNI MAKE GOOD
Prosperity of University of
Illinois Unprecedented.
HAS OVER 1000 STUDENTS
Offers Certain Advantages to Be
Obtained Nowhere Else.
ENGINEERING MOST POPULAR
ripino1 Work CorrioS an All the
HAS OVER 1000 STUDENTS
ENGINEERING MOST POPULAR
Original Work Carried on All the
Time-Institution Is Supported
by State Appropriations.
CHAMPAIGN. H., October I, 19t
BY WILLIAM z. CURTIS.
Special Correspondence of The Star and the
Chicago Record Herald.


prosperity and prospects at the University
| of Illinois. The number of students al
ready registered is greater than ever be-
| fore, and has passed the 1000 mark. Last
year there were 1919 students enrolled,
an increase of almost 800 per cent in ten
years, which is accounted for by Dean
David Kinley partly because of
growing demand for the kind of educa
ton the institution offers and partly be-
cause of new departments.
ut is true that there are plenty of COL
leges,' said Dean hinley, but no other
offers exactly the kind of education that
student can find here in the liberal and
practical subjects. The smaller colleges
are offering the so-called old-fashioned
education. No one, even of the larger
colleges, offers the advantages we pro-
vide in engineering, agricultural and IL
brary science. This institution does not
draw the life from the smaller colleges,
however-their enrolment is increasing
also. Even If it did, the fact would show
that they are not giving the kind of
education the people demand
Where do your students come from :?
Where the Students Come From.
I'm the enrolment for the last univer
sty year fifty-two states and territories
and fourteen foreign countries were rep
resented. including the Hawaiian Islands
and the Philippines. OF the foreign coun-
tries India and Mexico We're represented
by four each, the Argen Inc republic by
three, Norway, Japan and Canada by
two each. while Spain, Russia, Holland
New Brunswick, Italy, Syria and Colom-
bia had one each. The attendance from
outside of Illinois was between 10 and IL
per cent of the whole. If the depart
ments in Chicago are included, 10 per
cent of the students enrolled in all de-
partments were from outside of Illinois
1T is sometimes said that the state
universities are not representative or ma
tional universities" continued Dean Kin
ley. For example. President Hadley is
reported to have remarked in an address
last winter that Yale was the true ma
tional university because 1t had a larger
proportion of its students from outside
of Connecticut than was the case with
any other educational institution in the
country. 1t Is unscientifIc, however, to
try to decide this question on mere geo.
graphical lines. Whether or not a UNI
versity is representative of nation de-
ponds on how representative its students
are of the various social and political
groups, class and influence of a country,
rather than on the fact that they come
from beyond a geographical line, which
may happen to inclose, as in the case
of Connecticut, very restricted area.
Haven with radius of $50 miles and a
similar circle around Urbana 1t is safe
to say that the students at the latter
place would represent a greater diversity
of social. Industrial and political interests
than those at New Haven. And 1t would
doubtless be found also that a larger
proportion of those in attendance at Or
bana came from outside the circle than
would be the case at New Haven.
large proportion of our students, Of
outside Of
excepting in the medical and dental
schools. Nevertheless, a considerable
proportion of those in engineering are
from Chicago and other cities of the
state.
The University's Object.
THE object of the University of Illinois
is to fit men for office, for professional
life and as specialists in various lines of
industrial activity, as well as to do a
general work, furnishing whatever in
struction a man wants. There are forty
different departments of instruction.
These are organized into seven under
graduate colleges-literature and arts.
science. engineering, agriculture. law,
medicine and dentstry-and six schools
library science, music, education, COM
merce, graduate and the school of phar-
macy
LAS to subject matter, the instruction
includes in its scope agriculture, engineer
ing law, preparation for technical and
scientific ca,lings,- such as that of ana
lytical chemist, preparation for teaching,
courses of training preparatory for bust
ness life, professional courses for libra
rians, general and professional training
In music and art. medical. pharmacal and
dental courses, and architecture. The ag
ricultural work includes agronomy. or
field agriculture, dairy husbandry, animal
husbandry. veterinary science, horticul-
ture and household science. The college of
engineering includes the department of
civil engineering, electrical engineering,
municipal and sanitary engineering, rail-
way engineering, mechanical engineering,
architecture and architectural engineer
ing. The colleges OF liberal arts include
the natural sciences. mathematics. polit-
ical and social sciences. philosophy, edu-
cation and psychology With reference to
from that of ordinary freshman character
to research courses required for the de-
gree of doctor of philosophy.
Engineering Most Popular.
THE largest department is the engineer
ing, and in that a larger number of stu
dents take civil engineering than any
other branch. The next largest depart
ment is liberal arts. These are the largest
because of the growing demand for gen.
eral and technical education in Illinois.
Prosperous times stimulate the demand
for engineers, and the number of people
who are able and willing to take liberal
education is, of course, increasing. With
in the last few years there have been
added a library school. business courses
colloquially known as the School of
Commerce. the division of ceramics and
the graduate school,"
In what particular does the institution
excel others of the kind?'
I'VE think that it excels in engineering,
agriculture and certain lines of scientific
work, especially chemistry and entomol-
ogy."
How are the state universities of the
west making progress compared with the
| great eastern institut:ons?'
They have been rapidly overhauling
| them in attendance. scope and quality Of
work. TIE center of gravity of education,
we believe, is moving westward. 1t has
| been prophesied by some eastern educa-
| tors that the University of Illinois will
! soon be the Harvard of the west Some of
| the western institutions are already well
| equipped and doing as good work as any
| in the east. 1t is not necessary any longer
| to send a young man to the MasSachu-
| sets Institute of Technology to be a
| first-class engineer nor to the University
of Pennsylvania to be first-class doctor
Chicago is really the medical center of the
world. man can get as good training
| in mining engineering in the west as he
can at Columbia. The University of, ILL.,
nois has no mining courses but Missouri
has and SO mas Michigan. I ey are both
excellent"
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