t raf
oe os

 

  

- Harvard University, are selected in

pointed out that the\privately endowed
©

‘gin to discover in school in what di-

- foundation on which he can build: he

- ticular ways,”
- dent the opportunity to become “ex+

Page Four

THE COLLEGE NEWS

 

 

Private Colleges Are |
: National Institutions

donpesfeansin
- (These excerpts ifrom: the épeneh of
James Bryant Chhaint, president of

coéperation with the Alumnae Bul-
letin.) : ‘
I have elected to consider the more

country in the coming years.

Now in most respects the privately
endowed inStitutions for higher edu-
cation are on.exactly the same basis
as those supported by the states or
municipalities, but in regard to ce
tain educational phases of their aie
sion I believe they are in a somewhat
special situation.’ In the first place,
there is the much-discussed question
of the so-called liberal arts college and
its curriculum. It has been repeatedly

colleges have a privilpge in this regard
ys be accorded to
the publicly controlled institution.
They have both the privilege and the
heavy responsibility of carrying on
the ancient traditions of the liberal
arts college free from entangling alli-
ances with modern schemes for voca-
tional training and ee in-
struction.

While almost everyone recognizes
the importance of continuing the tra-
dition of the liberal arts college, it is
not an easy matter to translate this
aspiration into the concrete terms of
a college curriculum. We can easily
say what a liberal arts college should
not do, but it seems to be much more
difficult to say just what it should do.
The many articles which appear each
year on this subject illustrate the com-
plexity of the problem, and the variety
of answers which are beipg offered
testify to the ingenuity of those who
are concerned with higher education.
Without minimizing the importance of
all this experimentation I should like
to suggest that at times we. seem to
lose sight of the simple fact that the
first concern of any educational insti-
tution must be the calibre of the men
and women who compose its profes-
sorial staff. It is on their shoulders
that the liberal arts tradition must
be sustained and carried forward. .

If I understand the American col-
lege tradition correctly, the liberal
arts colleges today should not. worry
too much about whether to require a
knowledge of this or that, but. should
rather direct their energies primarily
to providing a faculty which ensures
the continuation of the university
spirit. What, after all, determines
whether a given course is part of a
liberal education or is merely pre-
vocational training? Clearly, the out-
look of the teacher. It is the spirit
of the faculty which counts, not the
size of the institution or the number
of degrees given. A college to be in
the university tradition does not have
to have around it a collection of
graduate and professional schools; it
does not even have to call itself a
university. If there be any who doubt
this let them examine and admire
what has been accomplished here at
Bryn Mawr in the past fifty”years.

A century and more ago there was
a standard academic discipline of
which the classics and mathematics
constituted the principal parts. All
those who had been exposed to a col-
lege education had been given the pre-
liminary part of a scholar’s training.
The importance of this has been re-
peatedly emphasized. It gave a solid
intellectual background to the college
graduates and made it possible for
them to feel that they had gone at
least part way down the sth avenue
of learning.

Our problem is to ‘continue’ the
ancient tradition in a modern spirit.
The future college student must be-

 

réction lie his or her intellectual gifts,
however modest they may be. His
courses must provide him with a sure

must be certain that in those precious
years he does not fail to acquire the

ticular subjects he should study.. I
believe that the essence of the liberal
arts college is: concentration and that
as a counteracting force to- what might
become a narrow specialized interest
we must set the “conversation with
men eminent in all the several parts
of learning.” This may seem too

‘| Vague to some educators, but I for one

am firmly convinced that when stu-
‘dents are provided with suitable con-

general question of the réle of the
“pttvately. endowed colleges in thi a» i ewercommunity life,

they can best acquire around the din-
ner table that breadth of interest
which we all desire. In this way will
come the realization that education is
not’a matter of taking courses, but
rather a point of -view which should
continue long’ after one pes left the
academic walls,

There is a second and still more
important special function which the
privately endowed colleges must fufill.
They have the opportunity of being
national institutions in a sense which
is all but impossible for the publicly
supported colleges dependent on local
taxes, the chief concern of which is
quite rightly with the boys and gifls
of the city or state in which they are
located. The privately endowed col-
lege, on the other hand, may draw its
students from all the forty-eight
states in the Union and provide a
milieu where the east and west, the
north and the south, may come to
know each other and understand each
other’s problems. Sectionalism is the
bane of any country and in spite of
the improved means of communica-
tion is still a powerful force. In our
colleges it may be largely overcome;
in our academic communities we have
the privilege of accomplishing that
synthesis of local tradition and pride
which must be the basis for a healthy
national federalism. If our privately
endowed colleges extend their scope
sufficiently, they: may assist in solv-
ing what might otherwise become once
again an ugly political problem.

We need in -this far-flung demo-
cratic country of ours not only a meet-
ing of men and women from all points
of the compass, but an intermi ng
of students from different econ
and social backgrounds. Whether we
approve of it or not, a great many
factors probably will force the na-

.| tional life during the next few decades

to become more highly stratified. The
frontier vanished some time ago, the
population promises soon to be con-
stant, and even without being a pessi-
mist about the future one can predict
that we are not likely to have anothér
great adventurous period when every-
one who was born on a farm could
look forward to dying in a fashionable
residence in a large city. Now, un-
less promising talent is given every
opportunity for higher education, our
democracy will fail to realize the
great potentialities which are inherent
in our widely developed public school
system. Our colleges and universi-
ties, therefore, must extend their tap-
roots until they reach all classes of
society. The country needs the ser-
vices of the best minds and the finest
characters. We cannot afford to let
the accident of birth cripple the edu-
cational opportunities of youths of
promise.

My plea would be that for a certain
number of carefully selected students
we increase this contribution from the
public expense up to a point, if neces-
sary, where not only the whole tuition
fee but the cost of room, board and
books be met for: the entire college
course. Our privately endowed col-
leges, if they are to be the educational
mixing pots of the country, must see
to it that a considerable number of
scholarships’ with large stipends are
provided for the boy or girl with great
ability but no money. Only thus can
the road to the top through these edu-
cational institutions be kept open ‘and
the spirit of democracy as well as
healthy nationalism prevail in our
halls of learning.

 

Bowman Cites Women’s
New, Admirable Abilities

 

mastery of subjects he will need later |’ (These excerpts from the speech by

on. . Without forcing him “into par-
we must offer our stu-

asl in any art, science or lan-
” and in this process of becom-
ng ‘execlieht he will necessarily con-
in one area of the academic

 

Isaiah Bowman, President of Johns
Hopkins University, were selected in
codperation with the Alumnae Bul-
letin.)

So long as men write the histories,
women will continue to lament the ab-
sgnce of the feminine perspective. In
spite of their fame as talkers—ahd
far be it for me to disparage the gift
—women have talked too little in
print. The facts of the world that
are piling up for analysis by the next

generation of historians are cast in
the, masculine mould.
In. the letter from your President
requesting me to address yout «today
there is reference to the. cordial. re-
lations existing between Bryn Mawr
and the Johns Hopkins University. In
the face of that kind allusion \I am

ready .to concede everything that she |’

or others may claim for the edueatioh
of women. _The- greatness of women,
their magnanimity, their generosity
was never §
in the history of the relations of these
two institutions. For she need have
gone back but a little way in history
to find material that might have~ led
her to’ phrase her ihvitation in quite
different form. To the present Dean
of the Johns*Hopkins Medical School,
Dr. Alan M. Chesney, I am indebted
for the following resumé which will,
I am sure, interest Miss Thomas and
so interest all of you likewise.

The. Johns Hopkins university
opened its doors in 1876 and one year
later the trustees of that institution
were brought face to face with the
problem of the admission of women
as students, As is not unusual, a spe-
cific case which had to be.settled was
the means; of bringing the general
problem squarely before the authori-
ties of the university.

A young Baltimore woman, then but
twenty years of age, who had just
received her A. B. degree from Cornell
University, applied for admission to
the Johns Hopkins University, seeking
to study for the A. M, degree under
the late Professor Gildersleeve. This
young lady was Miss M. Carey
Thomas, a member of a well-known
family of Baltimore and herself a
daughter of one of the trustees of the
university. Miss Thomas’ request was
considered at a meeting of the Board
of Trustees on November 5, 1877, and
the board voted to grant it, but in
so doing, attached an extraordinary
condition, to her admission. In the
board’s own words, she was “to have
direction of studies by the university
professors, and the final examination
for degrees without class attendance
in the university.”

“To the Board of Trustees: of the
Johns Hopkins University, Gentle-
men:

“A year ago by your kindness I was
admitted into the Johns Hopkins Uni-
versity! as a candidate for a second
degree.) I naturally supposed that
this would have permitted me to share
in the; unusual facilities afforded to
post graduate students under the able
instruction of Professor Gildersleeve.
But the condition ‘without class at-
tendance’ has been understood to ex-
clude’ me from attendance upon the
Greek seminarium and the advanced
instruction given to the other post
graduate students of the university.

“T have thus found myself dependent
upon such assistance as Professor
Gildersleeve could give at the expense
of his own time and which, notwith-
standing his great personal kindness,
I hesitate to encroach upon. My ob-
ject in entering the university was not
so much to obtain a degree, as to profit
by the inestimable assistance Profes-
sor Gildersleeve gives his pupils. A
trial of a year, during which I re-
ceived no help other than advice in
reference to my course of reading and
the privilege of passing an examina-
tion, has convinced me that the assist-
ance referred to cannot, under the
present regulations, be obtained. I
make this explanation to you, in order
that my withdrawal may not be
prejudicial to any other applicant and
because, as far as I have been in-
formed, the only official recognition
of my relation to the university exists
upon your minutes. Respectfully,

“M., C. THOMAS.”

To the credit of the Board of Trus-
tees of the university it should be said
that Miss Thomas’ letter was _ not
pigeon-holed, but was incorporated in
the minutes of the board and thus
became a part of the formal records
of the Johns Hopkins University, a
‘fact which, so far as I know, has not
been revealed to Miss Thomas until
this moment. :

The attitude of the authorities of
the university at that time forced Miss
Thomas to go to Europe to pursue her
studies and in 1882, four years after
she left Hopkins, she received the de-
gree of Doctor of Philosophy summa
cum laude at the University of Zu-
rich. Two years later she set about
organizing Bryn Mawr College. It
is to the-everlasting credit of Miss
Thomas that she did not allow the
Hopkins incident to abate in any way
her warm friendship for the Baltimore

 

strikingly revealed as:

institution, as we shall see later when.
“we come to the opening of seal Medical

School.

Mikes ond. and again unsuccessful at-
women to breach the walls of | t

the Johns Hopkins University :was

made in 1880, two years after Miss

‘Thomas’ departure.

In spite df these two set-backs, how-
ever, the women kept up their siege:

ality, the ladies bought off the trus-
tees of the Johns Hopkins University
for the sum of $500,000, the price
being set by the trustees. themselves!
It is true that the women did not get
a complete and unconditional surren-
der, but they got -a most’ important
concession, namely, their admission to
the Medical School on the same terms
as men. They gave the university a
half million dollars for a Medical
School and attached that condition to
their gift. The trustees of the uni-
versity, no doubt weary from their
struggles to preserve the ifstitution’s
finances, and tired of postponing the
opening of the Medical School, wisely
capitulated at once and with good
grace. This opening of the Medical
School to women paved the way for
the later opening to them of other
schools in the university:

In the matter of securing a Medical
School for the Johns Hopkins Univer-
sity, Miss Thomas played a most im-
portant part, and demonstrated there-
by her warm friendship for the uni-
versity. A national committee of
women had been formed for the pur-
pose of raising a sum. of money in
order to secure in the United States
opportunities for medical education
for women. The Baltimore committee
engaged in this task was headed by
Mrs. Nancy Morris .David. By the
year 1890 it had gathered together
$100,000 and ‘the committee proceeded
to offer this sum to the trustees of
the Johns Hopkins University for a
medical school if the trustees would
agree to admit women to the school
upon the same terms as men. The
trustees accepted the money and the
condition, but stipulated that the
school should not be opened until a
total of $500,000 was actually in hand.
The committee kept on working and

‘| by the latter part of 1892 had gath-

ered together $193,023, all told. On
December 22 of that year Miss
Mary Elizabeth Garrett, of Baltimore,
informed thé trustees of the university
that she would give the balance of the
half million dollar fund to make pos-

Medicine. MissiGarrett’s gift was re-
ported at a special meeting of the
Board of Trustees of the university
held on Christmas Eve, 1892, and the
resolutions passed at that meeting
leave no doubt as to the satisfaction
occasioned by the receipt of such a
magnificent Christmas present. There.
is no doubt that Miss Thomas, who
was Miss Garrett’s most intimate
friend and advisor up to the time of
her death, played a major role in in-
teresting Miss Garrett in the cause
of medical education for women and
in influencing her to give her splendid
donation for this purpose to the Johns
Hopkins. University.

W. R. Smith Discusses
Europe In Ethiopia

 

 

Tri-Partite Scramble of France,
England, Italy In Abyssinia
: Is Long, Bitter

BRITAIN ABETTED ITALY

 

 

Common Room, Oct. 30: In his lec-
ture to the members and guests of
the International Relations Club, Dr.
Smith traced the history of European
relations with Ethiopia and discussed
the effects of the present situation on
Great Britain. The scramble for co-
lonial possessions in Africa began at
the time of the completion of the
Suez Canal, and Britain’s policy has
been in a large measure to check the
imperial ambitions of France by en-
couraging Italian activities in Ethio-
pia. This is one reason why the Ital-
ians today are so bitter against Eng-
land’s support of Ethiopia. One of
the most disastrous results of the war
already has been the increased racial
feeling; England with her many pos-
sessions in Asia and Africa is par-| i
ticularly threatened ‘by this. In the
past she has 1 affected, especially
in India, by Italian defeat at
Adowa in 1896 and by the Russian

 

defeat at the hands of the Japanese.

and finally won out. ee ae
money that carried the day. In re-]

The three European powers most
interested in. (Ethiopia, England,
France and Italy?have all had oppor-
tunities to establish ‘dominion over
this part of Africa, but the present
war is the first which is intended to
make a colony of. the Abyssinian Em-
pire..
been dependent on her interests in
Egypt. With Egypt secure, her aims
are. tn maintain her territorial pres-

through the Red Sea, and to protect
the water supply of Egypt. The Blue
Nile arises in foreign territory, and
today with modern engineering meth-
ods available, Italy or any power con-

river at» its source. ~ This..is, fortu-
nately, a remote possibiliy, but a very
real one to the British. 6

Before England got possession of
Egypt following the uprising in the
Sudan in 1880, she had invaded Ethi-
opia as a result of the “strong-arm
methods” of the Emperor Theodore
II, who in 1855 had imprisoned and
maltreated the British Ambassador
and the envoys who were sent from
England. An expedition under Lord
Napier in 1868 practically annihilated
the Ethiopian Empire, but this enor-
mous advantage was not followed up
by the British. They were not yet
interested in colonial expansion.

At about this time France bought
the port of Obok in the course of her
war in Indo-China, but she did not
immediately build up a colony.
in 1869 bought the port of Assab
which remained unoccupied for some
time. With the completion of the
Suez Canal in 1880, however, the
powers began to extend their interests.
England had scarcely approved of the
building of the Canal but she soon
realized the great importance of such
a passage to the East. Italy occupied
now not only ‘Assab but a large region
around it, now-known as Eritrea.
France made a treaty -with the local
rulers to get Djibouti-and began to
build up French Somaliland.

These activities alarmed Great
Britain who acquired Zeila, closing in
upon the French possessions. France
was thus forced to turn inland instead
of expanding along the coast, and she

Abyssinia to make up for this limita-
tion of her territory. England, at all
times eager to prevent France from
attaining importance in Africa, wel-
comed the activities of Italy in build-
ing up the Italian Somaliland. Actu-

sible the opening of the School of iplly by a treaty it was assumed that

Ethiopia should become an Italian
protectorate; and’ when the Italians
were defeated at Adowa by the Ethi-
opians, England was so alarmed that
she began at once to reconquer the
Sudan. She also was instrumental in
arranging an international board of
directors for the railroad which
France wished to build between
Djibouti and Addis Ababa.

In 1906, when it was clear that
neither of the three powers could have
sole control of Abyssinia, a tri-partite
treaty was signed, guaranteeing the
political and territorial integrity of
the Empire of Ethiopia. This was
practically nullified by the inclusion
of a clause providing for certain
“spheres of influence,” should any un-
toward event occur; Italy should get
the belt of land joining Eritrea and
the Italian Somaliland, making a half-
circle around French Somaliland,
France should have certain economic
interests in the hinterland and Britain
should get control of Lake Tsana, the
source of the Blue Nile.

England actually violated this
treaty by making another with Italy
in 1925, without consulting France.
A third was signed in 1928 by Italy
and Ethiopia, providing that all dis-
putes between them during the next
twenty-five years should be arbitrated.

As always, England is determined
to support the League of Nations. A
recent plebescite of the British people
upheld this principle and drove out of
office Sir John Simon, whose fre-
quently vacillating policy sometimes
tended to give the idea that England
would not interfere with Italy’s con-
quest of Ethiopia—an idea which the
Italians at present are emphasizing
with great bitterness.

 

Correction
The News wishes to announce that
it was in error last week in regard
to the publication of Dr. Kirk’s new
book, Mr. Pepys and Mr. Evelyn. The
book has been published, and is not
awaiting penteetion,, as the News an-

 

ened Fe

He
he

Britain’s concern has always ~

 

URRyl .cep clear thetrade route ~~

trolling the territory could dam the ©

Italy...

secured some trade concessions with ae

 

 

 

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