Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-03-17
CENTURY-OLD UNIVERSITY
Buildings Now Occupied Erected in
1904.
STRUCTURES ARE DILAPIDATED
Institutions for Women Well
Heused-Provision for the Col
ored>Race.
BY WILLIAM f. CURTIS.

| COLUMBIA, s. c., March S. 1905.
| Columbia abounds in schools. colleges
and universities, and there used to be
| a female college, here. but they nave
| changed it to a college for women. That
| ugly word female" is used generally
| throughout the south to distinguish those
institutions in which women and girls are
| taught There are female colleges. female
sen1inaries female schools of all KINDS.
| There are no male" colleges or univer-
stiles that l have discovered. and 1t is
| difficult to see why any of them should
| be female" 1t would be good to wipe
| that inappropriate term out of the educa-
| tional reports but one of the officials Of
| that department told me that it couldn't
be done without amending the charters Of
| four-ffths Of the schools for women in
the south Nevertheless, no man wants
his mother, or his wife. or his sister called
female in the charter of col
lege or a table of statistics.
South Carolina University.
The University of South Carolina, which
stands in the center of the city of Colunr-
bia. not more than three minutes walk
from the statehouse, is one OF the Oldest
shrines of Minerva in this country. 1t
was chartered in 1901; the. buildings now
occupied We're erected in 1904, and were
opened for the reception of students IN
1865. It's centennial was celebrated with
appropriate ceremonies in January. 1900.
and the alumni of 2,0N We're well repre-
scented. During it's century Of existence
the institution has had a checkered ca
reer. 1t was closed in 1868 because all
the students went into the Confederate
army and the buildings We're used for
military hospitals. Exercises were re-
sumed in 1866, but We're suspended again
in 1877 because of political reasons. The
charter has been amended and revised
several times: the scope of instruction has
been changed frequently, and finally re-
organized in 1904, on its present basis as
co-educa tionai university" and now
has 213 students, of whom ~ are women;
1 Is i'm the academic department. b in the
law school and ca in the normal school.
Last year ~ young men and women re-
ceived bachelors degrees.
The state appropriated $6403S for its
support, of which S4,1OO was intended to
pay the tuition of students in the normal
school. The president is Benjamin Sloan.
who Is assisted by faculty of twenty
nine professors. including four women.
Class System Not Used.
The class system. which is univeral
elewhere in American colleges and uni
versities. has been abolished here; each
student selects his own course of study.
subject only to his qualification, and to
a general regulation requiring certain
amount of work. He may recite one hour
with what we cali the seniors, and the
any study in the curriculum and
when he has mastered Csuff1-
cient number Of studies he is given
a degree. This arrangement Is intended
for the benefit of what the catalogue
calls that large and increasing class who
can spend only year or two in study
and who should find the largest possible
advantages in that limited time The
vanced and the requirements for admis-
sion will be raised hereafter as rapidly as
circumstances will allow.
The buildings are old. ugly and dilapi-
dated and form rectangle around a
beautifully shaded campus. with the
presidents mansion, that is much out
of repair and needs coat of paint bad
ly. at the narrow end. / asked gentle
man who happened to be passing how it
was that the University of South Caro-
lima was compelled to remain In such
inferior buildings when the cotton fac
tories of Columbia were models of
architecture. comfort and convenience.
Because the factories were built by
rich corporations, he replied, land the
university is supported by the state. which
is poor"
But i notice that the legislature is doing
something in the way Of repairs and the
appropriation for the current year con-
tains an item of $500 for new roofs for
four Of the buildings and $4,000 for
three new houses for professors.
Colleges for Women.
Columbia College for Women-a sensi-
BILE name-occupies a fine row of brand
new buildings on conspicuous site just
outside the city, and q An be reached by
the trolley cars fromsthe statehouse in
| fifteen minutes. 1t was formerly situ-
ated in the residence portion OF the city,
but in 1894 the old buildings were sold to
| q hotel company for sum sufficient to
erect the new ones which seem to be ad-
| mirable in every way. although the cam
pus is bare and it will take some years
for the newly planted trees and shrub
| berry to mature. The new dormitories
| have 224 rooms occupied by ia students.
and the standard of scholarship is as
| high as that OF any school for women in
| the south. The institution is prosperous
and will soon have to be enlarged to ac-
commodate its patrons. 1t dates back to
| 1854. but was closed during the civil war.
| like all other private institutions OF learn
| the Methodist church. and the Rev DR..
w. w. Daniel Is president. assisted by a
faculty of twenty-one-hve men and six
teen women
There is another college which used to
| be for females" but Is now for women.
Miss Euphemia McClintock Is the presi-
dent, and she has faculty of eighteen or
| twenty professors, with 277 students, who
occupy the venerable Preston mansion;
one Of the most beautiful and stately resi-
dences In the south. There is pretty
| bit of history connected with its earlier
| life. When Gen. Sherman invaded Co.
| lumbia the mother superior of the Column
| bia convent found her way to headquar-
| ters were in a similar institution in the
property and pupils. AS his own daugh-
| tiers were | ma similar institution in the
north, he was very prompt in giving the
necessary instructions, but was not
| prompt enough. The convent caught fire
| from other buildings and was burned.
] Sherman confiscated Gen. Preston's man
sion and assisted her to remove there
| what she had saved. She occupied it for
| time and then returned it to the owner.
| who afterward sold it to its present &C.
cupants The grounds show perhaps the
| most elaborate example of landscape
gardening in South Carolina. and con-
| tain many rare plants.
There are two Catholic converts and
| several other schools for girls and young
| women. and the Presbyterians have a
! theological seminary which was founded
| in 1928 and has since graduated ia min
! listers. 1T has an income OF about $11Uo
year. a faculty Of five professors. and
| at present twenty-five students. under
the Rev. w. NJ. McPheeters, D. d.
Misuse of Term "University"
There are two excellent schools for
| colored men and women. One of them
| is called university. although it is very
| far from what We understand by that
term. Numerous '.universities' in the