Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

When at length a president was elected, Dr. Marcy resumed the duties of his professorship. He had served as acting president from 1876 to 1881.

THE ADMINISTRATION OF DR. CUMMINGS

the

Before Dr. Joseph Cummings was chosen as president on June 21, 1881, University had passed through five years of severe financial retrenchment and painful anxieties. "During the larger part of the previous administration," says Professor H. F. Fisk, "the resources of the University had been threatened with confiscation by the State, and taxation charges had accumulated to the amount of over forty thousand dollars. In the courts of Illinois successive decisions had been rendered against the University, but on April 7, 1879, the Supreme Court of the United States declared the provision in the University charter enacted by the Legislature of Illinois, February 14th, 1855, to be a valid contract. This amendment exempted perpetually from taxation 'for any and all purposes all property belonging to the University of whatever kind or description.'

The financial aspect of the affairs of the University began greatly to improve about this period, and the new administration of Dr. Cummings was marked as a "transition from a period of solicitude to one of confidence." Several advances in expenditure were made possible by the new conditions of prosperity, salaries were increased, and new professorships provided. Science Hall was built at a cost of forty-five thousand dollars, through the liberality of Mr. Daniel B. Fayerweather, and Dearborn Observatory through that of Mr. James B. Hobbs.

Dr. Cummings was a large man physically, tall and broad shouldered, and was called, like another great man of the time, "the Grand Old Man." Dr. Fisk says of him, "Dr. Cummings was a great man, and he greatly fulfilled the functions of every office he assumed." He seemed indeed to inspire a kind of hero worship among those around him, and it thus becomes difficult to get an estimate of his administration, as every one who has written upon the subject seems completely preoccupied and spellbound by his attractive and impressive personality.

He

Dr. Cummings died on May 7, 1890, at the age of seventy-three years. was held in high esteem by every one who knew him in the community, and, as we have seen, was venerated to an extraordinary degree by his students and associates. The temporary management of the institution passed into the hands of Professor Marcy, who once more after nine years, was placed at the head of affairs. He remained in charge until the following February.

PRESIDENT ROGERS

From 1890 to 1900 was one of the most important decades in the history of the University. It was a period of transition and change, and the full measure of President Rogers' service will be better appreciated with the lapse of time. "The far-seeing policy of the Board of Trustees had naturally been a conservative one;" writes Professor William A. Locy, in the "History of the Northwestern University," "the property of the University had been increased and all her financial affairs had been managed with a wise discretion. The time had arrived for a new step, and a man of exceptional qualifications was needed for it."

At the time of his election to the presidency of Northwestern University, in

September, 1890, Henry Wade Rogers was the Dean of the law school at the University of Michigan. At the time of his inauguration, he made a good impression, and his address was an able paper on university ideals, in respect to courses of study and the qualifications of professors. "It is to be said," says Professor Locy, "that the standard of his selection of professors, and the expressed requirements as to their activities, did more than any other factor in bringing the University into general recognition." His ideas were generally diffused throughout the atmosphere of the University, and greatly influenced the teaching faculties. Towards the close of President Roger's administration, in 1900, he called attention in his annual report to the fact that during the ten years under review the property of the University had advanced from about two millions of dollars. in value to more than five millions, and that tuition receipts had advanced from $66,977 in 1889, to $171,429 in 1899. During the same period there had been made permanent improvements to the amount of $457,000. The gifts made to the University during the period under consideration aggregated the sum of $659,580. In June, 1900, President Rogers resigned, having held the office of president for a longer period than any previous incumbent. "The good results of his administration will long be felt," says Professor Locy. "He left the University in good condition for his successor. He carried it through a critical period of reconstruction, and brought it to the threshold of a new advance." Mr. Rogers, soon after his resignation, became a member of the faculty of Yale University, and, in 1903, became Dean of the department of law in that institution.

ACTING PRESIDENT BONBRIGHT

Dr. Daniel Bonbright was placed in charge of the University in July, 1900, soon after the resignation of Dr. Rogers. His long time connection with the faculty, having become a member in 1856, his familiarity with the history and development of the institution, his high character and the maturity of his judgment, combined to give him a high place in the confidence of the trustees. "The two years of his service as acting president," says Professor Wilde, "were a period of energetic and well directed activity. The problems of administration that came to him were attacked with penetration, and solved with rare discretion." Dr. Bonbright gave his particular attention to the Evanston departments of the University. The "professional schools" of the institution, located in Chicago, were effectively administered by their deans in close relation with the business office of the University.

During this period the University purchased the Old Tremont House in Chicago, and after extensive alterations installed the general offices there and provided space for the professional schools. The election of President James, early in 1902, permitted Dr. Bonbright to retire to the more congenial duties of the class room. He now accupies the honored post of Dean Emeritus of the Faculty.

PRESIDENCY OF DR. JAMES

When the Board of Trustees elected Edmund Janes James as president of the University, on January 21, 1902, an old and familiar friend, known by the people of Evanston from the early time, returned to the scenes of his former activities.

Dr. James had been a student in the University in 1873, but had completed his college studies in Germany. From 1877 to 1879 he was principal of the Evanston High School, and later a professor in the University of Pennsylvania. In 1896, he became a member of the faculty of the University of Chicago. "The brilliant achievements of his earlier history," writes Mr. William A. Dyche, in the "History of the Northwestern University," "justified the friends of Northwestern in believing that great results would follow his administration. Each day of his service strengthened their faith."

"President James at once displayed evidence of leadership in his work with the various faculties of the University," says the same writer, "and it soon became clear that he understood the needs of the institution and its possibilities better than many who had been studying them for years. He gained the confidence and loyal support of every faculty; he completed the work which his predecessor, Henry Wade Rogers, began, of making each of the colleges feel that it was a real part of the University; he developed the true University spirit."

He

A new and in some respects a larger field, however, was opening in the career of this remarkable man. The University of Illinois was at that time without a head, and the Regents of that institution invited him to become its president. accepted the new post, greatly to the regret of the authorities of Northwestern, and his resignation was written on the 27th of August, 1904. Henceforth his history belongs to that of the State of Illinois.

ACTING PRESIDENT HOLGATE

On the 27th of September, 1904, the Trustees appointed Professor Thomas F. Holgate acting president of the University. Professor Holgate was already a member of the faculty, of which he was the Dean, when he assumed the duties of the position, and, during the period intervening between the resignation of Dr. James and the election of Dr. Harris, he acquitted himself with credit and marked ability. After his term of service was over, the faculty of the University, at one of its meetings, made a record in these words: "They take occasion to give expression to their grateful sense of the devotion and resourceful ability with which the difficult office of Acting President has been administered by their colleague, the Dean of the College of Liberal Arts, Thomas Franklin Holgate, LL.D."

It is easy to understand that such a position, indeed, requires tact and prudence of a kind altogether different from, and in some respects superior to, that of one who exercises the independent functions of a chief.

PRESIDENCY OF DR. HARRIS

The next president of the University was Abram Winegardner Harris, who was elected on February 1st, 1906. Dr. Harris had already served as a college president, and was well equipped for the responsibilities assumed on this occasion. His scholarship and ability had been recognized by various institutions of learning, by whom the degree of LL.D. had been conferred upon him. Dr. Harris is now in the full tide of his activities, and is proving himself one of the ablest of the long line of presidents of the Northwestern Universitv.

[graphic][merged small][graphic][merged small]

FISK HALL, THE ACADEMY OF NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY

At the right is the United States Life Saving Station

[merged small][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][merged small]
« AnteriorContinuar »