Omaha daily bee., 1910-03-06
SCHOOL NEEDS OF OMAHA
DR.. D. E. Jenkins Tells College Club
Greatest is New University.
ONE FOUNDED ON BROAD LINES
Youth of City should Have Another
Institution within Easy Reach
that VIII Give Higher
Education.

I'VE want a university with Protestant
ideals, Protestant ideas, something that
will emulate the splendid institution that
the Roman Catholics have built up in the
city-an institution that it seems to me the
Protestants might well emulate. try to
equal and II possible in time surpass.''
With these observations, Or. u. f..
jenkins, acting president Of the University
Of Omaha, introduced his talk at the Young
Mems Christian association TO the College
club on the subject Of the new university.
Speaking OF the value Of higher educa-
ton, he said, there was only one college
for Protestant students In this part OF the
state. That was at Bellevue and II was not
really accessible because OF its distance
from the city.
Therefore we have no institution for
higher education that is accessible to the
youth Of the city, who do not go away
from home. That fact and the fact that
the great problem Of education Of today
centers in the city and that the great
problems Of our civilization center in the
city rather than any where else has led
quite a number of gentlemen representing
various denominations of Professionalism to
come together and organize and incor-
porate the University Of Omaha."
A beginning had been made, DR.. Jenkins
said, at Redick hall and the idea was to
proceed gradually with the erection Of
the buildings thai would be required for
the institution. They had now some
twenty-seven students and they were pro-
ceeding on the usual lines Of college work.
work in Small Glasses.
Commenting on the fact that they had
only a small number of students, DR..
Jenkins said he did not think, because an
institution was small, 1t must a. poor
work. IF you want to make a universal
rule" headed, ''the best work is absolutely
always done in small classes and that is
becoming so recognized a principle in the
education of the country that in our great
universities they are now adopting as best
they can the plan which was in
augurated by DR.. Wilson Of princeton
called the preceptorial plan, a plan which
means the breaking up of large classes
into small groups. Necessity oompels us
to work on that plan now because OF the
number Of our students, but when the time
comes that the university has grown, we
shall hope to continue it. One of the most
valuable things in education is the close
personal contact OF the teacher with the
pupil"
The staff of the university, said Dr.
Jenkins. was composed Of experienced
teachers, teachers capable of doing as good
a grade of work as was to be found in
any college. They had hopes, he mentioned,
of getting help from the Rockefeller fund
and In support Of this statement he quoted
the reply given to B~ellevue-by the secre-
tary of the educational committee-"If your
institution was in a city 1 would take
an interest in it."
Untveraity ON Broad Lines.
The idea, he said, Of the founders of the
new university was to nave an Institution
not under the control of any church; a
university that was to be built on broad
lines, free from ecclesiasticism, while at
the same time religious at its core, not
under the control of any church, but a
Christian institution, founded for the pro-
motion of sound and practical learning un-
der such influences as would lead to a
higher Christian citizenship.
Less than 16 per cent, said DR.. Jenkins,
Of the high school students Of Omaha
go on to a higher education. He thought
the reason was that the higher education
was not to be found within a five cent
street car fare. What they wanted to do
by the new university was to bring higher
education within reach OF the children Of
those parents who could not send their
children to colleges out of the city.
But we want to show we want It and
that we are ready to do something for
it and to stand by 1t when it is founded.
I am sure you young men to whom I
am speaking will in a comparatively short
time see in the city of Omaha a splendid
Institution for the advancement Of higher
education, an institution that you will not
be ashamed of in after years to own as
your alma mater"