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Universities Vs. Church Colleges

Universities Vs. Church Colleges image
Parent Issue
Day
29
Month
December
Year
1897
Copyright
Public Domain
OCR Text

(By permlssiou of HÓughton, MilllinA Co., we give a good portion of Frof. Keltjey's paper, and ask thé reader's earneat attentlon to the points brought ont.) The growth of state universities, especially in the West and South, witliin receit years, is one of the most noteworthy facts in the progresa of higher education in our country. Tlie nutnber of studente in elght representatiye Western state universities - those of California, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, NebrasUa, and Wisconsin - in 1885 was 4280; in 1895 ft was 13,500. This was au increase of inore tlian threefold. During the same period tlie increase in the nutnber of studente in eight representiiüve "denoininational" colleges (colleges under church control) in Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Iowa was less than fifteen per cent. The ncrease during the same decade in the attendance at eight New England colleges and universities (which are not state schools nor under direct church control; was twenty per cent. At all the state universities, last year, there were nearly twenty tbousand studi Quite as remarcable as tlio iucreased attendanee atthe these institutions havo been tho large approprations made for them bv the States. ín Illinois, for instaiicc, large sumís have been appropriatcd for buildings anti permanent iniprovcnieiits; in Michigan and Wisconsin, tho universities receive every year, without special enactment, the income of a tax hearing a fixed ratio to the wealth of the state. From other snurces than tlie state they have received donations which in the aggregate already exceed three and one-half millions of dol'ars. I do not propose to discuss the canses which have contributed to the growth of the state university, bnt a mere glance at the subject will couvince any onethat this-growth is in keeping with óur national development. Under existiiifí conditions, it is hardly possible to imagine that these causes will become inoperative. On the contrary, every indication points to still further increase in the size and influence of the educatioual institutions maintained by the States ; and their rapid development involves a readjustment of the state university, as an educational type, to its environment. It would be easy to poiut out results of far reaching importance that are directly due to the comrnanding position which some of these institutions have reached, as the stone of the system of state education ; but at present no chaiige of the okl relations is more important tlian the clianging relation of the state university and the great religious sects. The peculiar conditions of our life, wlien the need of higher education first began to e generally feit in the United States, naturally caused schools and colleges to e established either directly under the ontrol of the religious bodies, or under he inspiration of their teachings ; and t seems then as if our higher education were to be left almost entirely to pri'ately endowed universities, most of vhich would be immediately suseeptile to denominational influence. The moral and religious atmosphere f every university is determitied to a reat degree by its students. The charcter and convictions of the student )ody play the most important part in iving tone to the religious life of any ollege. At the beginning of the colleiate year 1S96-97, President Angelí, of ie UAiversity of Michigan, invited the residents of the different state nniverities to cooperate with him in taking a eligious census of the students. The esponse was prompt and cordial, and iatistics have been obtained for sixteen ;ate universities. A fund of informaon has thus been eollected which eems valuable and convincing. We wiH first examine the distribution, uaong the religious denominations, of ie students in a group of five state nniversities, selected as representatives in regard to size and geographical distribution, - the universities of Iudiana, Kansas, Michigan, Washington, and West Virginia. The total eurollment of these five institutions was 5173. There were 211 students, counted as "unreached," whose religioua status was not ascertained ; a considerable number of these were absent. Of the 49G2 whose ecclesiastical status was ascertained, 4407 placed themselveson record as affiliated, b}' nieinbership or attendance, with some religious body; and 2S51 (flfty-five per cent of the whole' number enrolled) were church inembers. Among them, the Methodist Episcopal church had 1098 members and adherents; the Presbyterian church, S54 ; the Congregational church, 612; the Episcopal church, -184; the Baptist church, 352; the Church of Ohrist or Disciples, 227; the Unitarian church, 166 ; and the Roman Catholic church, IGö.t It is to be regarded that President Angell'a duties as Minister toTurkey have 1 1 1 ; n : it imossible that hu siiouUl discuss thia "oensus11 himsell. 'I'in: sUitistieal tables will bepub lished In f ti n in a piimpblet, copies ot wbicti niay be obtained by addressing tlie Secretary of tlie Student'a christian Associatiou, Aun Arbor, Michigan. H-The other deuominations represented were : Ëngllsh Lutheran,63; Frlends. 57; Jewish, a Germán Lu theran, 48; Seven Day advent, 86; Universallst. 21; Kef orraed Cburch, 2-J ; Latter Uay Salnte, li; Duukard, 6: and miscellaneous sects, 150. In point of numérica! represen tation, the eight denomitmtions jnst mentioned bear nearly the saine relation to one another, if we exteud the cotnparison to all tlie state univeráities in which a religious censúa was taken. In the sixteen states uníversitíea with a tota) at.tendance of ]4,i:;7 studente, 10.517, or i little more than-seventy per gent, were chürch mepibera of adherrnis, as follows: the Methodist Episcopal' "ehurch was credited with 2669 iftembers and adliereutB, the Prenbyterian with 2284, tl ie Gongregational with 173Ó, the Episcopal with 1215, the Baptist with 1063, the Churcli of Christ witli 607, the Roman Catholic with 52S, and the I 'nitanaii with 431. In these universities, taken together, eveiy sixth student beloDgs, by inembership oraffilialion, tothe Methodist church, every seveirth to the Presbyterian, and every niiitl, to the Congregational church. About one-half of all the students reached by the census were reported as members of the so-called evangelical churches. It would be interesting to make a cotnparison of the number of students of eaeh of the iarger religious denominations in attendance at tlie state universities and at the denominatíónal colleges. It must be remembered that more state colleges than denotninational colleges have professional schools; but in tliein all thecollegrateis farthelargestdepartment, and in som e cases tlie uinber of professional students is so smal] th they hardly need to be taken into con sideration. I have selected the Pres byterian church as representative, part ly becatise of the large number an wide distribution of its colleges, an partly because of their generally broa curricula and high Standard. Forthes reasons even the smaller Presbyterian colleges may properly be couipared with the state universities. In the United States, at the presen time, there are thirty-seven Presbyter ian institutions of advanced education in which 3679 students of collegiat rank were enrolled in 1896-97; Princeton University heading the list with a tota registration of 1045 students. EigliD o these institutions are for men only, th attendance of tvvo being restricted to colored men ; se ven are women's colleges ; and twenty-two are open to both men and women. In these thirty-seven colleges, with the exception of one (Lincoln University), a religious census was taken contemporaneously with the census of the state universities. The returns (includiag a fair estímate for Lincoln) give a total of 2388 Presbyterian students in attendance. Of this number, more than three-fourths were members of the church, and the rest were "adherents." In sixteen state universities tliere were enrollec 2284 Preshyterian students ; in all the colleges under the control of the Presbyterian deuomination there were at the same time only 2388. We are thus brought face to face with the fact that the majority of Presbyterian students of collegiate rank in the United States are no longer in Presbyterian institutions. If we take into account the 150 members and adherents of this church reported at the University of California, there are in seventeen state universities more Presbyterian students than in the thirty-seven Presbyterian colleges taken together. Is the spiritual welfare of the Presbyterian students at state universities less a matter of concernjto the Presbyterian church than the spiritual welfare of the students at church colleges? The age uumber of Presbyterian students in each of the denomiuational colleges is a fractionjess than 65 ; if , we exclude Princeton TJhiversity frotn the reckoning, 49. The average nuuiber of Presbyteriaa students in the sixteen state uuiversities is a trifle above 142; or leaving out of consideration the six state universities having less than one hundred Presbyterian students each, we may look upon the remaining ten as containing ten Presbyterian colleges with an average of 205 students each. At the University of Michigan alone, last year, there were more than three-fourths as many Presbyterian students as at Princeton, and exactly fifteen times as many as in the Presbyterian college in Michigan. At the state umversities of Indiana and Illinois there were more than twice as many Presbyterian students as at the four Presbyterian colleges iu the two States ; at the TIniversity of Iowa, more than in the five Presbyterian colleges in the sanie state The case of Ohio is exceptional : there were nearly twice as many Presbyterians students in the ehurch collegee as in the state university. The service whicli the Presbyterian colleges have rendered, and are reudering, to iiigher êducation is of incalculable Valué. They are placed, íor the most part, at "strategie poiuts," and most of them have been generously supported. Especially have the newer institutions been wisely planted with fereuce to the future developinent of the states in which they are situated. Last year the Presbyterian Board of Aid for Colloges and Academies reported more (hun $70,000 fiiven to its aided institutions, mostly for theircurrent expenses; sixteen of them beiiig small colleges, the rest academies. The endowments of the older Tresbyterian institutions . compare favorably with tlie endowments of tlie colleges of any other denominadon, lt is possible fora Presbyterian student, in any of tlie sixtecn states in Indi tlie state universities of our list are sitnated, easily to reach a college eitlier of the PreBbyferian denqmination or of some church holding substantially the same creed. Wliy, then, do Preabyterian studente attend the state universities? A certain proportion g because some state univ'i:itii's possess departments wholly lacking in tlic deiiominational schools, but most of them because they are attracted by the wider range of studies and the better equipment of tlie state institutions. To equip and to maintaiu ten colleges wbich should provide for tlie 2053 Presbyterian sludents, in the ten state universities having more tlian one hundred eacb, educational facilities approximately as extensive as they have at the state universities, wonld require, at the lowest estímate, an investment of tvventy seven millions of d( pllars, or $2,700,000 for eacli institntion. If the Presbyterian students were tlms to be segregated in sinall schools, they would still lose much, for only silies wit h large numbers of students can afford to make provisión lor work in the more minute subdivisions of the special fields into which true university iustruction is now everywhere divided. Students do not chose their colleges aiinlessly. Many of them obtain information about a nuniber of universities, and parents in most cases consult the wishes of their children in regard to the choice of a college. In those states in which the high school system is fully developed, it is natural to pass from a high school inaintained by the town to a university inaintained by the state. It is to be expected that most students for the ministry will attend denominational institutiocs, botli by preference and because of the substantial assistance usually offered by these schools. But the number of students in the state universities who are studying for the ministry is greater f ban one would be likely to guess. In the half-century ending in 1894 the University of Michigan sent out 301 clergymen and missionaries, an average of six for every graduating class. Of 252 ministers 40 belonged to the Presbyterian cliurch. Within the past few years the number of students preparing for the Presbyterian ministry who have eutered the University of Michigan has shown a decided. increase. What has been said of the Presbyterian colleges in relation to the state universities is true, in a greater or less degree, of the higher educational institutions of the other religious denominations as well. If the young men and women of any particular sect attended only the professional departments of the state universities, we should be justified in assuming that denominational preference played a much more important part in the selection of a college than it does play. But there is still another fact to be taken into consideration. Moat of the larger and stronger universities, including those maintained by endowment as well as those maintained by the states, are rapidly growing larger. Many of the smaller colleges iïnd it increasingly difficult to liold their patronage. In some cases their falling back is due not so much to a lack of resources as to a lack of students. In much of their work the state university and the denominational college are brought into competition by force of circumstances, particularly in the western states. At present the state universities are gaining. No oue can for a moment doubt that the denominational schools have a mission of the highest importance to society ; but "there is no hope that the state will ever withdraw from so ical and extensive a proportion of the educational field as that occupied by collegiate education." It would be the part of wisdom for all concerned to waste no more time [in fruitless discussion, but rather, facing the facts as they stand, to make serious effort to solve the problem how these apparently conlicting iuterests may be reconciled to .h e greatest good of those for whoin all ur institutions of advanced education ïave been established. Most of the state universities are in ie western states; their student life ïas the freshness and vigor of the west. 'he standard of conduct is high. The reedom of life stimulates religious ffort on the part of the students. The earliest Students' Christian Associatiou was founded at the University of Michi-, pin; the second at the University of Virginia. Assoeiations for religieus work flourish in the state universities, directed and supported in large measure by the members of the faculties. As President Draper well says, "The fact doubtless is that there is no place where there is a more tolerant spirit, or freer discussion of the religious questions, or a stronger, more unrestained, and healthier religious life than in the state universities." At all iustitutions of higher education, small as well as great, there will be found some weak or vicious young men who will go astray ; in most cases their evil tendencies are settled - often without the knowledge of their parents - before they enter college. Ou the other hand, it is the :estiniony of those who have a direct cnowledge of the facts tbat tlie state iniversities have sent forth a able proportion of the students stroüger morally and religieuslv, as well as intefcleetuallv, thau when tliey entered., ' [ntensity of intellectual Mie, from the véry friction ál minds nterested' in maiiy fieídá of thonght, bnt all bent apon hke erids, increases with the size of universities. The oppoitunities for specialization aflbrded by the development of the elective system in the larger universities permit the more advanced student to devote liimself wlmlly to that branch or subject in whicli lie is interested. But surely no oue would affirm that students in great nstitutiona of private endowment are less sulnect to tliis fttrophy of the spiritual nature than those in state universities of the same size. Denominational control of state universities is not j)ossible nor desirable, but tliey need the vitalizing toucli of spiritual forces, whicli can be assured only by contact with the living church. At all great centers of learning there should be a concentration of spiritual light, a Kathering of the forces that make for righteousness. Cant and timeserving ecclesiastical connections are not likely to lo encouraged in theatmosof freedom and frankness in a state university, but no class of students anywhoro are more npen-heartéd or niore ready to respónd to the quickening and ui, Uiting inflaence of the highest moral and spiritual idi The churches havo a duty toward the state uiiiversities. It grows nut of the general duty of the cburehes as guardians of the highest interests of society. Do not Christian peopie pay taxesV Even if it were granted tliat the state universities have in irrelisious atmosphere, to whom sliould we look te cliange it? .Should the churches approach the state universities in a spirit of eritieism, or witli a deep feeling of responsibility and a willingness tocoperate in the promotion of the suprema nterests of youth? At the very least, it is reasonable to ask that the religious bodies see to it that men of marked spiritual and intelleetual power be placed in the pulpits of university towna. But in more than one university town cliurches fail to keep. their footing, not because of mi unfavorable environment, but because the work is left in charge of men who are not equal to it. The most vital interests of the churches are at stake in the state universities. These are strategie points. The greater part of their students come from the religious denominations. Is it expedient for a church to give attention to the spiritual ■welfare of ttiose only who are affiliated with it in the denominational schools, and to neglect perhaps a far greater nntnber of members and adherents in a state university ? If students come from the churches to the great universities, and are there weaned from the things of the spirit, and through an unsymmetrical develop ment permit the training of intellect to choke out the spiritual life, who shall justify the churches for their indifference and neglect ? In the classroom of a state university sectarian instruction can have no place. Thomas Jefferson "thought that it was the duty of each sect," at the University of Virginia, "to provide its own theological teaching in a special schtool, to which students might go for special instruction as they did to their various denomiuational churches." But this subject is toolarge to enter upon here. The first condition of a solution of the problem must lie in the willingness of the churches thernselves to consider the matter. From the nature of the case the initiative must be taken by them.

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Old News
Ann Arbor Courier