Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1919-01-09
THE UNIVERSITIES OUTLOOK

A January opening for the college year
at the University of Vermont is de-
cidedly unusual. but so far as enroll
ment Is concerned. 1t promises to prove
much more successful than was at first
anticipated. The first days enrolment
alone brings the attendance up to that Of
a normal college year. The entering
class is the largest in the history of the
institution POI. and the end is not yet,
according to indications.
Few colleges are opening with an at
tendance up to normal, and the Uni
versity of Vermont is to be congratulated
upon the suspicious outlook at the open
ing of the year 1919. The fact that the
entering class is so large augurs we'll
for the future, for it is with these young
people of the class Of 1922 that the real
strength of the university will lie in
the next few years. They are the rep
resentatives of the new order stimulated
to greater effortS for educational ad-
vantages through. the lessons of the
great war. 1t is they who will carry for
ward the traditions of the university to
even greater glory, building upon the
splendid record which the university
has made in the service Of the nation
during the conflict which has Just closed
Many of the entering class were for
| merly enrolled in the Students Army
Training Corps at the university, and are,
therefore, familiar with things on the
hill. This should mean a rapid rise of
college spirit and an enthusiastic leap
into the middle of college life from the
beginning, profiting b. the excellent ex-
periences which these men have al
readyobtaned. May the class of 1922
live up to it's record of being the great
est class which has yet entered the
university.
1t is not to be expected that so many
Of the upper classmen would return at
this time. Many of them are still in
the service. while others have gone in
to lines of work which will be permanent
for them. Those who have returned,
however. have broader outlook on life,
especially those who have seen service
for their country. and this should re-
act to the good of the undergraduate
body as a whole For these older men will
be the leaders and their guidance Of I'M
dergraduate affairs should be doubly VAL
liable at this time.
We see another result of the war in
the greatly increased enrolment in the
college of engineering. The minds of
the young men of the country have been
turned toward this line Of work by the
remarkable field which has been
opened up for engineers by the war and
the reconstruction work which will fol-
low. Many of the entering students
have become familiar with the excel
lent engineering course offered at the
university through their experience here
in the S. A. T. c.. This SHOWS that the
advantages Of turning the university
over to the government for training
purposes were not all one-sided.
The young ladies of the university. al
SO. have shown already that they hav'
broader outlook as the result Of thu
war spirit which has pervaded the coun
try during the past year. They will d.
their share in the upbuilding Of thu
} New Vermont" which is bound to conn
as the outgrowth of the war activities
in which the university has engaged an
as the result OF the combined force
which the war spirit has brought int
play. We of Burlington firmly believ
that the next five years will see tn
J greatest progress in the University o
Vermont that ever has come 20 the in
stitution in any similar period Of II
existence