The Birmingham age-herald., 1922-09-17
HAS STUDENTS IN PLANT DESIGNED
 ID CARE FOR 600
Phenomenal Growth Requires Special Effort to Care For Alabama Youth Seeking
 Education

this page and been informed by the headlines that the university Is about to start a campaign in which it hopes to induce the people of Ala bama to give 1t the rather large sum of s1.O00, ,000
 Very handsome" you may have remarked to yourself, looking over the pictures. YouS may have been impressed by the architectural de- signs and the size of some of the buildings.
 And then you noted that the mii- l1on dollars the university is ask ing for is to to be spent for more buildings. and then 1t was that you may have remarked succinctly-
 How come?"
 It is true that the University of ! Alabama is beautiful place with wide reach of level campus. grass covered and shaded with the broad spreading branches of southern oaks and it is true that several of it's buildings are architectuarlly impres- sive.
 But it is equally true that more building. are needed: many more of them; that unless these buildings are erected at once some one will suf- fer for it, and that there Is no hu- nan way by which they. can possibly be erected unless the people of Ala bama. realizing the importance of the state university to the progress of the state. recognizing their re- sronsibility to support it and appre- ciating their opportunity to make an investment that will pay large divi- ocnds, give s1,000.000 to finance this expansion.
 Problem Simply Stated
 The problem of the university which resulted in the inauguration of the Million Dollar Campaign can be simply stated. It is the same problem as that which confronted the old lady who lived in shoe and had so many children she didn't know what to do. The University of Ala bama has so many children 1t doesn't know what to do with them. Nearly 1,s00 young men and women of Ala bama. seeking to prepare themselves for life by education, and training. are today crowded into an institu tion with a normal capacity of 500. The state university already has three times as many students en- rolled as it has accommodations for. The number Is steadily increasing, and will continue to increase in the future unless it Is stopped by an arbitrary limitation of the enroll ment.
 The buildings at the state uni- yersity are attractive in appearance, they are admirably suited to the training Of Alabama S young men and women--admirably suited to the j gaining of GOO of them. inadequate and insufficient for 1,s0o of them. tctaly incapable of handling the 5000 or 4,00O of them who will wish 0 attend few years from now.
 Some one will suffer unless this condition Is relieved. Many will suf-
 .1Axx %f President Denny and the students TOW attending the university.
 The university will suffer inc r- tably The institution. which for more than 90 years has been the pride of the state, which has been a., leader among southren universities which is linked inseparably with the educational, material and industrial life of the state from the earliest pioneer days to the present hour, will suffer seriously and vitally.
 Danger of Suffocation
 Worse than that. 1t faces death by suffocation. It will continue to at- tempt to perform it's duty to the peo- ple of the state. It will continue to attempt to receive every student who knocks at it's gates. It will continue, as it has for the past 10 years. to crowd them into buildings
 
 adjust and adapt and change policies and buildings and methods in the hope of finding space for the addi- tjonal numbers which continually pour in. It will continue to place classes in buildings where they logi- cally do not belong, as a matter of expediency and because no other place can be found. It will force professors to run from building to h,,;l 4Q- es, and will place more students in each of the dormitory rooms than trey can properly accommodate. It will continue doing these things as 1t has been doing in the past until the limit had been reached with an ineyi- table impairment of efficiency and lowering of standards of an institu- tion which must be kept at its high est state of efficiency if AlabAmas progress Is not to be blocked.
 Further congestion and crowding will continue or the enrolment will have to be limited unless the Million
 Campaign succeeds. But the campaign would never have been proposed if the situation had not al- ready become intolerable. The fact that 1,s00 students are being taken care of right now in an institution with a capacity of 500 Ia proof that herculean work has already been done by President Denny and his as- scciates In handling a steadily moro difficult situation. When they had exhausted what appeared to be the last resources and used the last ex- pedient the campaign was inaugu- rated as a last resort.
 The state of Alabama and every community in the state will suffer If the university suffers Elevation of educational standards of the state and development of Alabama's nat ural resources are the two most im- portant factors which will bring fu- ture progress and prosperity to the people of Alabama. In each of these the University of Alabama has vi- tally important part to play.
 Illiteracy is the bane of Alabama and the southern states. Recent years have witnessed an awakening to the importance of education in Ala bama. New schools are being erected everywhere; high schools are being established in communities which to their children. Adult education is making steady but slow inroads upon the multitude of illiterates The number of high school graduates Is Increasing at tho rate of 20 per cent a year. The number of students in high schools Is 20 times greater than it was 20 years ago.
 Cause of Rapid Growth
 It is this growth in high school at- tendance which has caused the growth of the state university at rate of 10 per cent year, which has caused It's attendance to increase from about 250 twenty years ago. and less than 400 ten years ago, to nearly Ia q