The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1912-09-25
UNIVERSITY IS
IN FULL. SWING
Big Institution Officially Or
ened This Morning With
Address by President.

Declaring that his ambition for the
University of North Dakota is to
make 1t a place where everybody
works. both faculty and students,
where character is developed, and
from which men and ome go forth
into their life work, honest. square
and Industrious. President McVey Of
fcially opened the big state institu-
ton this morning when he addressed
the students and faculty in the GYM
nasium.
If the university carries out his
aim 1t will be doing the biggest
thing that it can do for the conf
monwealth which supports II. assert.
ed the president.
MIR. McVey called attention to the
interesting fact that in twenty five
years the University of North Dako-
IA has grown from an institution Of
n building, a score of students and
a Few instructors, to one with six
teen buildings. 1000 students and
LOO instructors. He said:
"A university is a place where men
and women come together to study
truth. Fol- the purpose Of admins
tering this teaching and studying
body, 1t Is organized into colleges,
""N" "ASit W. o1S SdllCu l1UGFdl arts.
education. law. medicine and engi-
neering. Each of these colleges Of
fers n or more courses of study,
leading to different degrees. which
are evidence only of work done when
they are conferred. Consequently.
men and women of many minds are
here brought into contact with each
other, and an unusual opportunity
is thus afforded to become acquainted
with different types of individuals, In
fact. q university is the world cpl
tomized, and the student who enters
1t has an opportunity afforded no
where else of becoming acquainted
with men and things.
Wonderful Growth.
I'm twenty-five years the University
of North Dakota has grown from an
institution of ol-e building, a score of
students and a few instructors, to one
with some sixteen buildings, one
thousand students and one hundred
instructors. In such an organization,
regulations are necessary, but it is
the purpose to limit them to only
those that are necessary. To en-
phasize scholarship. the university
council confers degrees only after a
student has maintained an average
record Of G in his or her work. The
course which the student follows is
divided into prescribed work, into
electives within groups, and free cleo
tiVes. The first of these is to furnish
the necessary tools of learning, such
as languages, and the elements Of sci
ence n mathematics; the second
tests the students inclination toward
special lines of study. while the third
steadies his purpose. A careful study
OF the university catalogue is some
thing that should be taken up by ey-
cry student. because it will give him
a clearer notion of what the univer-
sity is, of what its purpose is, and
what opportunities are open TO him
as a student.
Get Acquainted.
I get the best out Of his course
the student ought to come into close
contact with n or more of his in
structors. This. is a. relationship
which cannot be developed by official
act. but must come about through
the medium of friendship. 1t is
probably true that freshmen ought
to have special advisors, and 1t is
the purpose to provide them here,
but upper class men should make it
Il point to form a friendship with
some members of the faculty. There
80 'uAS iCoooiIo lOI 0HlS. ne Is like
~ to acquire 81 wider outlook than
the student atmosphere alone will
furnish him; he will in all likelihood
avoid a tendency to hurry his pro-
fcssional training. for too many peo-
pie are entering the professions with
inadequate preparation. Perhaps
nothing brings it's punishment more
surely than inferior preparation in
the field of education. because with
out adequate preparation the profess
sional man finds himself Mt cea again
and again.
Every student will be brought in
contact with outside activities at an
early period in his college course.
They are an important factor in his
development and In the life of the
institution but they may easily he
over emphasized. 1t is essential, then.
at the beginning hat the student
should choose what he is going to do.
He cannot. and ought not to try t do
everything; So the wisdom of select
ing is evident at once. Certainly the
student ought to be identified with a
literary society, hut these societies
ought to be strong and capable of
producing real literary work.
Social Life.
The social life of a university is
complicated. but it should be subor-
dinated. and in the minds Of the best
n women 1t Is subordinated.
There exists here what might be term
ed a real democracy. regardless of
certain material conditions. and it
should be one which constantly seeks
to promote intelligence. Among the
factors which lend themselves to the
development Of this democracy are
the university commons. where stu
dents meet together three times a
day. and which affords n special and
unusual opportunity for discussion.
The mems union and the womcn's
league are organizations which pro-
vide for geenral association and give.
students an opportunity for meeting
each other on an equal basis. The
Y. NJ. c. A. and the Y. w. c. A. fur
nish a means for working out the
higher ideals. while the literary So
cieties give opportunity for express
sion In oral and written language.
THE recognition of merit should
mark in every the attitude Of
the student toward his fellow stu
dents. and the democracy thus estab-
lished Is further developed through
the life In the residence halls and
on the athletic field where students
meet each other in contest. Athletics,
ought to be n means by
which every one can have an oppor-
tunity to enter into interclass sports.
While this is someW hat at variance
with the idea that the university
ought to have mi great football team.
nevertheless, II all are playing that
will take car Of itself,