St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1910-11-09
PRESS COMMENT.
Loyalty to the State University Idea.

Loyalty to the State University Idea.
We spoke yesterday of the mean
ing of a State university as organ
lied in different States and it's in
fluence in developing natural re-
sources, particularly the young man
hood and VIC manhood thereof and
through these the cultivation of a
spirit of thorough loyalty to the
highest interests of the common
wealth.
Having discussed the subject of
loyalty of a people to State univer-
sity as chief essential to the great
est usefulness and efficiency of such
an institution, we now desire to con-
slider the question whether the Uni
versity of Vermont, in turn, has been
loyal to the State university idea. In
considering this topic we have pur-
posely refrained from questioning
any official, professor, or alumnus of
that institution, in order that we
might speak, not as special pleader
re-voicing the sentiment of alma
mater, but as a representative of the
State university idea as developed
outside of Vermont, applying gen
eral standard to a local institution,
and speaking from personal observa
ton of it's workings through a series
of years.
We note, first, that the founda-
mental idea of the closest possible
official relations between the state
and the State university is faithfully
carried out by the University of YER
mont. The governor of Vermont is
always a trustee of the State univer-
sity by virtue of his Office, no mat
ter who he may be, just as the presi-
dent of the university is a trustee
ex-officio. Moreover the Vermont
Legislature elects four additional
trustees of the State university and
agricultural college, as noted recent
ly at Montpelier, while the alumni,
representing the people in still an
other capacity, elect certain num-
Der of trustees. The combined effect
is, therefore, to keep the institution
thoroughly in touch with the people
of Vermont, and if there is ever any
lack of fealty to duty and the inter-
ests of Vermont as a whole on the
part of the institution, the official
representatives of the people of the
State can be held accountable in no
small degree. We have noted also
that the trustees representing the
people of Vermont keep in close
touch with the institution, holding
frequent meetings for that purpose.
In the second place, we turn to
the working out of the State univer-
sity idea as exemplified by the Uni
versity of Vermont. Now State uni
yersity having for one of it's chief
purposes the development of the
youth of it's own State and the pro-
duction of a high grade of citizen
ship and usefulness on their part, is
peculiarly charged through it's OBJ
legation to the State with the duty
of maintaining high standards of
scholarship as we'll as lofty ideals.
We have observed with no little
satisfaction that the University of
Vermont has refused to pander to the
theory that mere numbers make
university and that numerical
strength is to be secured even at the
cost of lowered standards of admis-
sion. We have not learned how
many students sought admission to
the university in vain this year, but
we discovered incidentally a year or
two ago that no less than thirty-one
applicants for admission were re
iected at one time because they could
not meet the high requirements es-
tablished for admission to the Uni
versity of Vermont. We have won
dered where those thirty-one stu
dents went and how many of their
number managed to get into some
other New England institution con
ditioned' with the privilege of MAX
ing up later on their studies that
should already have been taken in
preparation, holding their fellow
students back and lowering the gen
eral average of scholarship.
We also congratulate the people of
Vermont upon the fact that their
State university has insisted upon
being honest as well as exacting in
it's standards of graduation. We
have heard of students choosing a
university outside of our State in
preference to the University of YER
mont because they could secure at
that rival institution the degree of
Bachelor of Arts without taking the
Greek course.
On its face this seems a small
matter, but when one stops to think
that this degree of Bachelor of Arts
! is accepted generally to mean that