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About Hesperian student / (Lincoln [Neb.]) 1872-1885 | View Entire Issue (March 3, 1884)
THE HESPERIAN STUDENT tor than no course, but as tlmo and circumstnnccR cltnngc, so also changes llio rigidity or tiio discipline Further, ns tho spirit of i mi c pent! an no was strong in lite students there cropped forth a tendency to do outside work, and to construct opportunities for learning tho thoory and art of politics and other things not in the college cur riculum. This tendency also, wise professors wisely allowed to crop. Again it was seen that, as providence had ventured to place men and women in the same world it might be well to allow them in tho same college. Possibly it will occur to you that I am talking about western colleges and not about the University of Ne braska. So, to avoid tho error of the clergyman who preached on infant baptism from tho text "Allllcsh Is grasp," I would wander back to my subject and say that what has born said about western colleges in gen eral is also true of tho University of Nebraska in partic ular. This school like all its western brcthcrn has been conectly stated. Wo cannot tell what revolutionsin its methods will bo effected by the future but for tho pres ent the great busmes of tho University lu to grow. Tho principles upon which it already rests aro capablo or a far mightier development than any they have ct achieved. Let us glance for a moment at the lines along which this development may be expected to take place. (1) Departments will multiply. When all tho colleges for whichour charter calls shall have been organized, when at the head of each depart ment in ooch college there shall be a specialists intent upon developing and extending his particular branch farther with each ensuing year then shall this school increase as a tree of the forest grows- each branch and twig reaches out farther.and farther, but all contributing by tho very process of their growth to the extension of tho trunk that upbears them a.ll. In this development, the Industrial college shall lind a great and growing duly to perform. I believe that a time will come when those who have to work their way in part need not ex pend their timo in currying u doctors horse or sawalng a lawyer's wood; when the work that they do shall bo for tho stale and in the direction of learning some use ful trade. Strong" is he who can go forth from college not only with a head full of formulas, but also with a hand trained to wield a composing slick, a blacksmith's hammer or other implement with which man wars on nature. (2) The government of the school will change, but not radically. The causes that have produced tho present absence of rules in this Institution will lead, not, perhaps to greater liberty for that were hardly possible, but to better S3 8temntizing of the means througn which stu dents govern thimselvcs. Aheady in some colleges thcro is a senate of students, before which arc tried tho ' various cases of disciplino that arise. Possibly some such plan will become general, and surly it would be well, if, besides considering usual eases of discipline, it could act under established rules, as a court of arbi tration whoso decision eaven Jl prjudlced should bo final for settling questions and etc. in tho societies. At piescnt we need but very little discipline' and the t ac uity knows it, we aro happy. (8) Let us consider the spirit that docs and shall ani mate the institution. While Americans are Americans In whatever thov may do lliey will bo practical. In refcringto a collego course I do not uso tho word prac tical In its would bo technical sense. It is now goucr all understood Hint it Is ultimately usoful for a student to hunt for Greek roots as lor roots matiiematlcal orbotaui cal and that It goes as far toward c-duco-atlong n man for him to flounder through dictionary and grammar hun ting up some rnra form, as It doos fu him to seolc a slrango species of polywag In n puddlo of rnin-watr. When Isiiythatour collego courso will be bractlclo I mean that thero will never bo hero that sort of study which takes ono down Into tho graves of departed lan guages until he can see nothing else; I mean that what--ever study may be pursued shall bo considered, not d8 an end, but as a weapon to bo used In some part of tho world wide strife that rages in tho eternal now, I mean that all the efforts put forth either by students or professors shall come from, and tend towards ideaB as broad as our pria. rics; I mean finally, that, all tho conscious or unconscious influences of the school shall be such as teud to fit the tdntnetso receive worthily tho prowd inheritance of American citizenship, that complete American citizenship which is already the birth-right of half our people, and shall be made the birth-right of them all. ' ADDRESS OF WELCOME. Three years ago to day wo met in this room for the first real celebration of Charter Day, asido from the usual holiday. Since then it has become a rogular cus tom, each returning your, so far, seeing a new method ot . of celebration. Wc have been groping, rather bliudly for that expression of our feelings best suited to the, birth day of our alma mater. This year however, there s no doubt as to what Charter Day should bring to us! We all desire a closer acquaintance with tho misd that is in the ; future to regulate the workiug of our University and no day can be more appropriate for the ptrrposo than this. Tho close of the school year of 1881-2 saw this insti tution deprived of its leader. In tho intervening sessions this decapitated condition has entailed many disadvanta ges which may never be made up to us, for whilo wc recognize the fact that tho double work assumed by some members of the faculty w8 us well done as double work can be, wo know further that waste of power is inevit able when new functions arc added to accustomed duties. Nevertheless I think I express tho feeling of all in say ing that wc do not regret the long hesitation of t .e Regents before lilling the vacant place, since it shows that those who have our University in charge felt the immense rcsposibility resting upon them, the grave con sequence, depending upon their decision. Our feeling for the University is not merely solflisli as studontp, nor oven personal as its children, but wo feel in addition to both, tho interest of citizens of this state and of tho United Slates. Even at the present timo Ne braska begins to reap tho benefits for which she has sown and labored. Tho first decade of the existancc of this college has supplied graduates to high positions in the press, the bar, tho legislature' the regency, in the public schools a. id local government. It has given to tho Uni versity two professors and a half dozen tutors. In addi tion to the graduates and perhaps more important th in