Evening star., 1940-04-14
Universities in attn America
Take Culture to the Masses
By JESSIE FAINT EVANS.

BY JESSIE FAINT EVANS.
With Europe plunged still deeper
into the vortex of war, the COM
memoration of the 50th anniversary
of the Pan-American Union takes
on added significance in its celebra-
ton of half century of friendship
and solidarity between the 81 Ameri-
can republics
1t has been said, "Great epochs in
history have conceded with the
periods of greatness in the evolution
of the university"
To many of us of the continent
OF North America it will be news
that universities were not only
established but flourishing in what
are now our sister republics Of Latin
America before the, Pilgrim fathers
landed.
Scarcely had the Spanish conquer
ors completed their subjugation of
Azetc and Inca power than the
clergy who followed in their wake
turned to the task of recreating in
the New World the medieval univer-
sity as it existed in Europe. In many
instances their pattern for the new
universities overseas was that IA
nous Spanish center of tearing. the
University of Salamanca.
University Founded in 1851.
At the University of San Marcos
at Lima, Peru, created by edict of
the King of Spain on May II, 1851
81 years before the Mayf1ower landed
Its famous company of settlers upon
the mainland of North America,
classes are being held today in q
building occupied for classroom pur-
poses since 1922.
BY similar royal edict. the Univer-
sity OF Mexico was authorized on
September l, 1851. The formal
opening of its classes, in 1858. which
actually outdated those first held at
San Marcos, was exactly IS years
before Harvard opened its doors and
173 years before William and Mary
in the Colony of Virginia had come
into existence.
Other early universities in Latin
America were established by papal
bull. Among these was the Univer-
sity OF Santo Domingo, set up at the
request of the Dominicans in 1888
by the bull of Paul III and given
legal existence in 1883 by Philip nv
of Spain. -
There followed the University of
San Fulgencio at Quito in 1886 under
the direction of the Augustinian
fathers by the bull of Sixtus v.
Not only did the Jesuits set up a
university in Chile in 1893, but the
Jesuit college at Cordoba del Tucu-
man. founded in what is now the
Argentine Republic, is today one of
the three national universities in
the Argentine.
Invaluable Service.
While the principal object of these
early universities was in many in
stances to train clergy to minister
to the spiritual welfare of the white
settlers and to evangelize the Indian
tribes, their faculties and students
also rendered an invaluable service
as explorers, historians and medical
missionaries. Many of them even
attained international regulations
as classicists, jurists, linguists and
historians. In this distinguished
company was the Bishop of Panama,
Fernandez de Piedrahita, celebrated
historian of New Granada, who was
doctor of the University at San
Luis, founded in 1892 as the Xaverian
University.
Flourishing under the joint aus
pices of church and state, many
other institutions, similar to these
cited, arose all over Latin America
during its colonial period, rejecting
and shaping the pattern of its
colonial society.
Toward the end of the 18th CEN
tury in Latin America deep changes
began to take form in its university
life. academic and philosophic dis
content gradually merging with two
other great currents of the day,
political and economic rebellion. The
result was that its universities gave
many of its master minds to the
movement which finally resulted in
the emancipation of the countries of
Latin America from the dominion
Of Spain.
Today, according to figures sup
piled by the Pan-American Union,
there are 81 universities in Latin
America. OF these, Al are under
national control, 10 under state or
local governments and the others
privately controlled.
In most cases the supreme au-
thority is vested In the university
council. This consists of the rector,
who is the equivalent of our presi-
dent or chancellor; the deans Of
the faculties, the directors of the
various schools and institutes and
the elected delegates of the teaching
staff and students. Each separate
faculty has its own council, presided
over by its dean.
A democratic procedure, which is
not an innovation but has come
OOWu tllA OuSA1 VIC CCAAOuAA ACo, 40 WIG
participation of an elected repre-
sentative of the student body in
both the faculty and university
councils. .....
Rectors Elected by Council.
The rector Of q university in
Latin America, In the great ma
jority Of instances, is elected by the
university council. He is not always
chosen because of his administrative
abilities, as may be the case in the
selection of a university president
in the United States, but may be
elected purely because of his
scholarly attainments. Consequently,
the list of rectors of any important
university in Latin America almost
inevitably includes the country's
most outstanding names in diplo-
macy, medicine, law or the arts and
sciences. Full -fledged campaigns,
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