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About The courier. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1894-1903 | View Entire Issue (March 22, 1902)
V k A h- FOL. JTFH7, 2V0. XT LINCOLN, NEBRASKA, SATURDAY, MARCH 22, 1902 ESTABLISHED IN 1886 E. BENJAMIN ANDREWS, 4 EDUCATOR Besides which he is Author, Orator, Divine, and Soldier, and in his Keeping, as Chancellor, is Entrusted the Destiny of a Great Western University. When the dust of ages has dimmed the lustre of successful authorship, E. Benjamin Andrews, chancellor of Ne braska university, will still be remem bered with undiminished regard among educators. For he has emancipated the college professor from the role of stilt ed silence and made it possible for teachers to be men and women of af fairs. It is not the first time in the history of the human race that a man has ac complished a grand and noble work simply because he was not afraid of a little trouble, a little dissension. Acidulous applications are often neces sary but woe speedily engulfs the physician who has not the nerve to rub .on the, proper medicine, despite the , wrlthy??, of the .patient. TFiwnuUie fracas at Bvtwif university,1 . Chancellor Andrews emerged, placid, undisturbed. The trouble gradually faded away but there remained a pre cedent never -to be erased. An edu cator may have an opinion and with i force and clearness express it. Uncompromising sturdiness, a care ful observation of details, energetic toil and an overshadowing love for young men and women are the domi nant traits In the character of Chancellor- Andrews. He is a man who looks upon com promises with impatience. A policy, a theory, a principle is either right or wrong, false or true. Justice and truth determine his course and there 'is no middle ground. And back of it all there' Is a-lurking suspicion that Chancellor Andrews is not in the least afraid of r trouble. Di plomacy and deceit are trails which cannot be detected in his character. There is no doubt where he stands on a proposition. You can find out, too, by asking questions. Of course when people cannot tol erate an adverse opinion they are apt to become ruffled at Chancellor An drews. On the other hand he will never betray the least annoyance at opposition if he ever feels It. He rea lizes that folks are very liable to dis agree with him. And Ih such a "case he Is apt to forge right ahead leaving the opponents of his .policy" to follow at their leisure. , Twenty-five hundred students at tend the state university. Between four and Ave hundred employes are on the pay roll. There are faculty meet ings without number and sessions of the board of regents at stated times, besides scores of weekly happenings when the chancellor of the university must be present. .Visiting educators from other col leges drop in for friendly or semi professional chats. Entertainment must be afforded in all cases. And then there is that time honored custom which takes so much of the chancel lor's time at the close of the school year. He isexpected to journey about the state, make commencement ad dresses to graduating high school classes and Invite them to the portals of the university. AH these matters make vast Inroads Into the time of the chancellor. But there are scores of other duties more exacting in their nature. Professors in charge of class rooms and departments require a great deal of diplomatic attention. And then, too, professors are sensitive. Executive pressure must be applied judiciously and with extreme care. Politics are always rampant In some be mastered. Strict economy is Im peratively demanded. There Is something else, too. At regular Intervals the chancellor must plunge into the corridors of the legis lature and extract from politicians and amateur legislators the necessary reve nues with which to provide for the In tellectual wants of the students of the state. He Is a chancellor, an ideal man, an exponent of purity In politics. Yet he must combat the selfish hangers-on of the average legislature and win. (3 .?: :.te -J-!--. --TVrli . fl&5,k-SL.-i, ,A VI eJ& & fete- - KKmmWm It.-- - ,, BliHPpMF & - i -a '; fjgMZ'i'i CHANCELLOR E. BENJAMIN ANDREWS. faculty meetings. Of course not the base partisan strife common In the realm of parties but politics of the subtle, wearying, exasperating sort, the scheming between rival depart ments, the petty clash of small ambi tions. The Ideal chancellor must be shrewd and discerning, always candid, never afraid to apply an iron hand with a velvet touch. All the details connected with the' Inner workings of the institution must The university campus Is a minia ture democracy. Few rules restrain the students. The hot headed, the rash, the misguided call for executive guidance that can only be furnished after a careful study of the specific cases. Class feuds and troubles such as are exaggerated and heralded abroad cause misapprehension In the public mind and call for prompt sup pression. The chancellor is the autocrat' of the educational world about him. His power Is unlimited, his burdens oner ous. Besides ail this tedious routine he must keep a little In advance of the times In the department of learning to which he formerly devoted his time and attention. Probably the most surprising fact about the chancellor Is his comprehen sive grasp of details. Students, erring slightly and at the same time compli menting themselves that they are un detected are startled by suddenly re ceiving an invitation to call. Petty offenders are reached through those more directly in charge and never rea lize that the hand of the executive is back of it all. Subordinates are also spurred on at times when the chancel lor displays an unusual knowledge of their particular line of work. "He la a tireless and discriminating executive, securing the maximum of action with the minimum of friction. After the selection of Chancellor An drews there were graduates and friends of the institution who declared the newcomer would make trouble. He could not grasp the spirt of western progress, could not understand the brusque ways of the people of a com paratively new state. These emana tions, while created In good faith, were groundless. Alt of the pessimists who have taken the trouble to study the situation would unqualifiedly declare their first impressions erroneous. Fads and frills find no favor with Chancellor Andrews. He does not in dulge In educational legerdemain or sham methods to deceive the young and make them believe he has an open sesame to budding intellectual fields by a newly found route. Instead he In dulges in the good old fashioned prac tice of closely questioning his pupils, encouraging mental wrestling matches as It were between learner and Instruc tor. In the world of pedagogy there are too often mushroom educators wor shiped as intellectual deities by young and doting minds. They exploit freak methods by all the devices known to disreputable advertising. Like the tawdry attraction at the vaudeville show they appear behind the educa tional footlights accompanied by a crash of music and enveloped in the false glare of superficiality. Students bow before instructors of this sort with all the blind faith of a Buddhist devotee. They depart disappointed and forlorn. Chancellor Andrews cannot be num bered with even the least suspicious of these. Breadth of scholarship and loftiness of ideals have led him to suc cess. From his pupils he demands conscientious, faithful work. He ex pects his professors to labor just as hard as he does himself. The chancellor comes of stern New England ancestry. He was born In Hillsdale. N. H.. In 1344. Both his father and grandfather had been Bap- --
