The University of Michigan Part 3

The answer was:

"He went up on Buff and Leo, Safe now in the Promised Land."

President Tappan was not fortunate in his appearances before the State Legislature to ask for appropriations. He was too good a speaker not to command a hearing, but his repeated references to the German prototypes of the University were resented; while the opposition of the smaller church colleges, who represented the unsectarian character of the University as "G.o.dless," was very evident in the indifferent and even discourteous att.i.tude of the individual members of the Legislature.

Finally President Tappan became disgusted and as he left, never to return, he made the memorable prophecy: "The day will come, gentlemen, when my boys will take your places, and then something will be done for the University." Within a decade this began to come true, but not in time to save to the University the services of Dr. Tappan.

It was one of the University's greatest misfortunes that her first President was not permitted to work out his plans. The story of his removal is a sad one, though fortunately the issues were largely personal and did not involve fundamental University policies. When Dr.

Tappan came to Michigan he found the Faculty and Regents entirely ready to co-operate with him; glad, in fact, to have a strong hand at last at the helm. The Board sympathized with his ideals and the Faculty seconded him loyally in all his efforts. This happy state of affairs continued from 1852 to 1858, when, in conformity with the const.i.tutional provision of 1850, a new Board of Regents succeeded the one which had chosen him as President. This Board was not only entirely new, but it was composed of men who lacked what would seem to be the elementary qualifications for such a task; in fact, few if any of them had had any academic training whatever. Nevertheless this did not in the least embarra.s.s them, and they proceeded at once to take a very active part in University life. It soon became evident that there was a great difference between their views as to the duties of the President, and those of Dr. Tappan, who a.s.sumed that, as executive officer, his authority in the internal affairs of the University and over the Faculty was, under certain limitations, comprehensive and effective. He could not see how the University could properly develop otherwise.

The new Regents, on the contrary, seemed to feel that not only the administration of the University finances but a great share of the legislative and administrative power rested with them; and they proceeded to act upon that a.s.sumption. They prepared a set of rules for the conduct of the University without consulting President Tappan, and appointed a series of executive committees which seriously limited his control. Certain of the Regents were particularly aggressive, especially Levi Bishop, the Detroit member of the Board, who for a long period wrote anonymous articles on the University in a Detroit paper, giving his biased view of all that happened in the Regents' meetings. The Ann Arbor Regent, Donald MacIntyre, whose banking office became the unofficial center of University affairs, also proved himself unfriendly to the President.

The Faculty, unfortunately, was divided in its sympathies. It may be said that Dr. Tappan possessed the defects of his qualities. He showed a certain lack of fellowship and understanding in dealing with some of his a.s.sociates and a.s.sumed, perhaps unconsciously, an air of authority and an att.i.tude of superiority which was resented. Where his pre-eminent position was unquestioned, as in his relations with the students and with the people of the State, the charm and graciousness of his manner and his parental kindness won him universal friendship and respect.

Moreover Dr. Tappan was courageous, generous, and direct in all his dealings, in spite of that touch of condescension. He insisted strongly, however, on what he regarded as his prerogatives and exhibited a certain lack of diplomacy and forbearance in dealing with the Regents and Faculty, which under ordinary circ.u.mstances would have been regarded as the personal idiosyncrasy of a great man. But with a majority of the Regents definitely opposed to him from the first and with a growing Faculty cabal in support, it weighed heavily against him. His every action was criticized. Though he was a clergyman of the Dutch Reformed Church, and was affiliated with the Presbyterian church in Ann Arbor, he emphasized the University's non-sectarian character, and paid no attention to the denominational affiliations of the candidates in making appointments to the Faculty. He carried this policy so far that he took no active part in the affairs of his own church in Ann Arbor, a course which was resented by the Presbyterians, while it won him no friends in the other churches which he attended impartially. His European habit of serving wine at his table also was severely censured, particularly by the local Regent, who was a Presbyterian and a strong prohibitionist.

Finally, his efforts to maintain a high standard in the Faculty by holding in subordinate positions men who had not proved their ability did not increase the number of friends among his colleagues.

A change was antic.i.p.ated in 1864, when a new Board of Regents offered promise of a different order. Dr. Tappan therefore, in spite of many temptations to resign, continued to hold his position, largely because of the appeals of his friends, particularly students and alumni, to "stick it out." But certain members of the old Board, it was said, had stated that they would bring about his removal before the end of their term. The event proved their intention, for the retiring Board, on June 25, 1863, without warning, and only giving him a few hours to offer his resignation, summarily removed him from the offices and duties of President and Professor of Philosophy. At the same meeting Dr. Tappan's son was also removed from the position of Librarian, which he had held most successfully for some years, while Dr. Brunnow, who had married his only daughter, was dismissed from the Professorship of Astronomy, where he had contributed so much to the reputation of the University. The Board then elected to the Presidency and the Professorship of Rhetoric and English Literature Dr. Erastus O. Haven, who had served as Professor of Latin, and later of History and English Literature, from 1852 to 1856, and who had afterward been engaged in the publication of a religious paper of the Methodist Church in Boston. Dr. L.D. Chapin, Amherst, '51, pastor of the Ann Arbor Presbyterian church, who was among those considered for the Presidency, was elected to the Professorship of Moral Philosophy.

Dr. Tappan never returned to Michigan. He spent the rest of his life in Europe and died in Vevey, Switzerland, in 1881. He had come to Ann Arbor with high hopes, the fulfilment of a desire to take part in the "creation of an American University deserving the name," and his disappointment and disillusionment was a crushing blow. His spirit still lived, however, in the inst.i.tution he loved and served, for we know now that no man has had so large a share as he in shaping the course the University was to take or insuring a proper direction of the first steps. When he came he found a small struggling college of 222 students; when he left there were 652 students in three flourishing departments and the beginning of a real University. Were he alive today he would realize that his great work was not in vain. The earnest invitation of the Regents that he be the honored guest of the University at the 1875 Commencement, which was declined because of failing health, must have softened bitter memories, particularly as the message of acknowledgment included a statement renewing the invitation for the following year and incorporated a resolution erasing all criticism from the Regents'

record.

The situation which faced his successor was a delicate one. The removal of Dr. Tappan had created a storm which grew rather than decreased, and President Haven found an unfriendly community and a hostile student body awaiting him. Every effort, in fact, was being made to secure the re-election of Dr. Tappan as soon as the new Board of Regents was in authority. President Haven, however, who had known nothing of the circ.u.mstances which led to the removal of Dr. Tappan when he accepted the Presidency, showed great wisdom and tact in this emergency. He won the respect of every one by an announcement that he did not intend to stay unless re-elected by the new Board, and appealed for harmony and good feeling in the face of what was to all a difficult situation. At their first session the new Board of Regents considered the recalling of Dr. Tappan. Floods of letters had been received from alumni, students, and friends of the University, advocating such action, but the Regents felt that this course would be unwise as it would have involved practically a reorganization of the whole Faculty. The personal character of the trouble which resulted in the removal of Dr. Tappan, emphasized later by an injudicious statement issued at the suggestion of some of his friends, would have rendered such a course almost inevitable.

Dr. Haven was not a man of the powerful caliber of his predecessor but he proved a most satisfactory administrator during a trying period. Of a more conservative temper, he devoted himself to caring for the immediate affairs of the University rather than the problems of future development. He was born in Boston, November 1, 1820, and was graduated from Wesleyan University in 1842. After a few years spent in teaching, he entered the ministry of the Methodist Church, but resigned in 1852 to accept the professorship of Latin in the University. Like his predecessor, he had an extraordinary ability as a speaker, though he was more given to epigrams and felicities of expression, with which his speeches fairly sparkled. His characteristic humor, quoted by Professor Winch.e.l.l in his Memorial Address, is ill.u.s.trated by the following pa.s.sage:

Might not a parasite on the back of an ox ... having found out by actual measurement the circ.u.mference of the ox, and by mathematical calculation, the diameter of the ox, and having ascertained that as he inserted his proboscis into the hide of the animal, say the sixteenth of an inch, it gradually and regularly grew warmer, infer, in like manner (as the geologist) that the center of the animal was red hot lava!

[Ill.u.s.tration: HENRY PHILIP TAPPAN, LL.D. (1805-1881) The first President of the University, 1852-1863 (From a bas-relief by Karl Bitter in Alumni Memorial Hall)]

[Ill.u.s.tration: ERASTUS OTIS HAVEN, LL.D. (1820-1881) President of the University, 1863-1869]

[Ill.u.s.tration: HENRY SIMMONS FRIEZE (1817-1889) Professor of Latin, 1854-1889 Acting President of the University, 1869-1871, 1880-1882]

Dr. Haven, in spite of his active denominational ties, was a strong supporter of the non-sectarianism of the University. "I maintain," he said, "that a State University in this country should be religious. It should be Christian without being sectarian," and again, "Those questions upon which denominations differ--however vital they may appear--should be left to their acknowledged teachers outside the University."

In his general policy he faithfully followed the paths which had been laid out for the University's development; and despite predicted disaster he saw a great increase in her material welfare and her standing in the academic world during the six years he was President.

Within four years the attendance practically doubled from 652 in 1862-63 to 1,255 in 1866-67. This was due to the great and somewhat disproportionate growth of the two professional schools, which were now well under way, and to the reaction following the falling off of students during the Civil War. In 1864 a School of Mines was announced, but it did not prove successful and was soon absorbed in a Department of Mining Engineering which in turn failed to survive. In 1867-68 a Latin and Scientific course was established, subst.i.tuting modern languages for Greek as cultural studies, an innovation which speedily proved popular and widely imitated. A course in Pharmacy was first given in 1868, though it did not become a Department for some years. The Library also grew from 13,000 volumes in 1864 to 17,000 in 1869, including one gift to the law library of 800 volumes. Other gifts increased the scientific resources of the University.

This growth in students and in the scope of the curriculum made additions to the buildings and equipment imperative. The Medical Building was enlarged by a new section, erected at a cost of $20,000, one-half of which was raised by the townspeople of Ann Arbor by general taxation; while an addition to the Observatory and its general renovation cost $6,000, an expense again defrayed by Ann Arbor and Detroit citizens. A much needed addition to the Chemical Laboratory was also made, and one of the dwelling houses on the Campus was made into a Hospital.

The financial situation during most of this period, however, was threatening. The great increase in the cost of living which followed the Civil War was making existence difficult for the whole University. The total income was but $60,000, while the average professor's salary was only $1,500. Up to this time the State had contributed nothing to the University for its support, aside from the loan made in 1838, though it was glad enough to bask in the reputation which the great and growing inst.i.tution brought to the Commonwealth. The University, in fact, had grown beyond its resources, and something had to be done. The Regents accordingly took the University's case to the Legislature, which granted, in 1867, a tax of one-twentieth of a mill on each dollar of the taxable resources of the State, yielding a prospective income of about $16,000 annually--provided, however, that a Professor of Homeopathy be appointed in the Department of Medicine and Surgery.

This actually proved worse than nothing, for it increased tenfold the difficulties of the University and precipitated a long and violent discussion which nearly disrupted the Medical Department. The Regents were not compelled to take the money; so they postponed action and sought to evade the issue by proposing to establish a Department of Homeopathy in some other place than Ann Arbor. But this was held illegal by the Supreme Court and the matter was again postponed. At the end of two years, partly at least as a result of President Haven's masterly statement of the University's plight before the Legislature, a new law was finally pa.s.sed giving the University not only an annual subsidy of $15,500 for the two ensuing years, but granting also the sum that had acc.u.mulated for two years as a result of the first Act. Thus was the University saved once more. The Board was not only enabled to bring the University's facilities into correspondence with its rapid growth; but more to the point, it could now increase the salaries of the Faculty so that full Professors in the Literary Department at last received the $2,000 originally provided in 1837. This relief was of the utmost importance. Still more significant was the fact that a new policy was inaugurated by which the necessity of state support for the University was recognized; support which has never since been withheld, for the tax was successively increased to one-sixth of a mill in 1893, to one-fourth in 1899, and finally in 1907 to the present three-eighths of a mill. At last Michigan, in the fullest sense of the term, became _the_ University of the State of Michigan.

This was the culmination of President Haven's administration. A few weeks later he resigned to accept the Presidency of Northwestern University, a school maintained by his own denomination, where he doubtless felt there were wider opportunities in his chosen field. His resignation was accepted by the Regents with regret and the declaration that the success of the University during the preceding six years "to a large extent had been due to his learning, skill, a.s.siduity, and eminent virtues," a statement which was given added force by an unsuccessful attempt to have him return during the interregnum of two years that followed. He died in Salem, Oregon, August 2, 1881.

The Regents were not able at once to find a successor to President Haven, so Professor Henry S. Frieze, who held the chair of Latin, was appointed Acting President. This position he filled so successfully for two years that he was asked informally whether he would accept the Presidency. The choice, however, fell in turn upon Professor Julius H.

Seelye of Amherst College and President James B. Angell of the University of Vermont, both of whom visited Ann Arbor but afterward declined the appointment.

Meanwhile the good fortune which led to the selection of Dr. Frieze as Acting President was shown by two important measures which were the outstanding features of his administration. For many years there had been a growing sentiment in favor of the admission of women to the University, which had been steadily resisted by the students, Faculties, and Regents. President Haven had come to see its inevitability, particularly in a state inst.i.tution, and perhaps its advisability, but successive discussions had only postponed action from year to year. So it was not until January 5, 1870, that the great step was taken in the following innocuous resolution:

_Resolved_, That the Board of Regents recognize the right of every resident of Michigan to the enjoyment of the privileges afforded by the University, and that no rule exists in any of the University statutes for the exclusion of any person from the University who possesses the requisite literary and moral qualifications.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE TWO MAIN BUILDINGS OF THE UNIVERSITY ABOUT 1860 (From an old photograph)]

Great was the opposition, particularly from students and Faculties. The Medical Department was especially concerned and even organized an elaborate duplication of courses with an increase of $500 in professorial salaries, measures which later proved unnecessary. One month later, on February 2, 1870, the first woman was enrolled in the University; Miss Madelon L. Stockwell, now Mrs. Charles K. Turner of Kalamazoo. She was the only woman student until the fall term, when eleven others entered the Literary Department, three the Department of Pharmacy, eighteen the Department of Medicine, and two the Department of Law, with four graduating the following June. Tradition has it that they had a hard time at first. They were treated with indifferent courtesy, college journalism had its fling at them, many boarding places were not open to them, and in fact life was made as unpleasant as possible. But they had good friends in the President and in many members of the Faculties; they asked no favors, and they gained the education on a masculine plane they sought. The experiment proved successful, as the roster of Michigan alumnae will show; and it was not long before co-education became the rule in all American colleges save the older inst.i.tutions of the East.

Michigan now, as we have seen, was a state inst.i.tution in reality as well as in name; but the educational arch of which she was the keystone was not yet completed. The earlier close connection between the University and the schools of the State, contemplated when the branches were established, had proved impossible of realization, and the union high schools which soon succeeded them were tied to the University only incidentally and indirectly through the influence of such teachers as had been students at the University. Their graduates came in increasing numbers, it is true, but they were admitted by examination upon the same basis as the graduates of any school.

The Acting President saw the need of a closer relationship, which would not only strengthen the high schools, but would relieve the University of its elementary courses by eventually making the high schools the equivalent of the German Gymnasia; in effect the present junior colleges, the establishment of which we are now witnessing in all the larger high schools. Professor Frieze therefore proposed that special faculty committees be sent to examine the character of the work in the high schools of the State. If this were approved, a certificate stating that a proper preliminary course was satisfactorily completed, would admit any student to the University without examination. This simple plan was severely criticized by some educational authorities of the time as revolutionary and as a lowering of standards. It soon justified itself, however, and has come to be the general practice; in fact, it has also been extended to cover a reciprocal arrangement on the part of all the leading state universities as well as many of the privately endowed inst.i.tutions. Again Michigan led the way.

The growth of the University continued undiminished, and soon the need of a large auditorium became increasingly apparent, to say nothing of more offices and cla.s.s rooms. The Legislature therefore voted in 1869 the sum of $75,000 for the erection of the present main section of University Hall lying between the two original wings, the first buildings of the University. This included a large auditorium, seating nearly 3,000 persons, with a chapel and the necessary offices and recitation rooms on the first floor. The tower, which was the striking feature of this building, was replaced in 1898 by the lower and much safer dome of the present time.

The ability and success with which Dr. Frieze had conducted the affairs of the University was publicly recognized by the Board of Regents at the end of his term, and it was on his advice that the invitation was once more extended to his former pupil at Brown University, Dr. James B.

Angell; this time with successful results.

CHAPTER V

PRESIDENT ANGELL AND PRESIDENT HUTCHINS

Dr. Angell, fresh from his work in the East as Professor of Modern Languages at Brown University, war-time editor of the _Providence Journal_, and President of the University of Vermont, came to Michigan eight years after the departure of President Tappan. The Faculty of thirty-five which greeted him was a brilliant company, though small in comparison with a roll over ten times as long when he resigned his office. The catalogue of 1871 shows 1,110 students in the University at that time; at the end of his term of office there were 5,223. The thirty-eight years of his administration not only covered a significant period in the history of American education but it was as well a critical time in the life of the University. In the years between 1871 and 1909 the University showed, once for all, that the experiment involved in its establishment, the popularization of education and the maintenance of a school system and a university by the State, was not only justified but even more, it was extraordinarily successful.

While the University might have developed much as it has without the guidance of President Angell, it may be questioned whether it would have been as effective as a leader in the new movement. The principles which underlie the state university system were stated well by the founders, who incorporated the fundamental idea of popular education in the first const.i.tution of the State, and Michigan's first great President, Chancellor Tappan, tried his best to make them practical. But he was ahead of his time, and it was not until President Angell took the helm that there was progress towards a true University. When he came Michigan was still in many respects little more than a collection of colleges. It was the work of Dr. Angell to build, and to build well, upon foundations already laid; to harmonize, with practical idealism and diplomacy, the advanced ideals of the University with the slower progress of the Commonwealth. While it has come to be no reproach upon the fame of Dr.

Tappan that he failed in just this particular, it is the great achievement of Dr. Angell that he succeeded. He made Michigan the model for all succeeding state universities.

The new President was born in Scituate, R.I., January 7, 1829, of good New England stock. Throughout his youth he lived the simple life of a country boy, attending the village school, the academy of one Isaac Fiske, a Quaker pedagogue,--until he was ready for more advanced studies at the academies of Seekonk, Ma.s.s., and North Scituate.

This early training, in his later estimation, furnished the best possible instruction, because it involved personal attention from special instructors, a good old-fashioned method which the rapid development of this country has made almost impossible, yet a practice for which he stood consistently as far as possible throughout his whole career as an educator. In speaking of his early schooling he said that "no plan had been marked out for me; being fond of study and almost equally fond of all branches, I took nearly everything that was taught, merely because it was taught."

His health as a boy, however, was delicate, giving small promise of his hale and hearty fourscore years, and he spent perforce two years, from fourteen to sixteen, on a farm. As to the value of this experience, far from uncommon in the lives of many men eminent in the history of this country, he said, "I prize very highly the education I received then. I learned how much backache a dollar earned in the field represents." He prepared for Brown University at a "grammar school" in Providence, where he studied under Henry S. Frieze, destined to become his immediate predecessor in the Presidency of Michigan. He was graduated from Brown, with highest honors, in 1849.

This early New England training was particularly fortunate for one who was to come into such close relationship with the pioneer settlers of Michigan,--New Englanders to a very large extent. Equally fortunate was his later training. His first residence abroad, where he acquired the familiarity with modern languages which fitted him for his first professorship, had been preceded by a year as a.s.sistant in the library at Brown University; then he became tutor, and later a student of civil engineering in the office of the city engineer of Boston. In fact, he spent this period to such advantage that later, upon his return from Europe, he was given the choice of a professorship either in civil engineering or modern languages, an evidence of the wide range of his interests. He finally chose modern languages as his subject, and entered upon his career as a teacher, where he developed the highest qualifications. He remained at Brown for seven years.

Many articles and reviews published in the _Providence Journal_ justified his selection in 1860 as the editor of that paper, a position which he held throughout the Civil War with singular distinction.

In 1866, Dr. Angell was offered the Presidency of the University of Vermont, and he accepted it. He took charge of the University when its fortunes were at a low ebb, and the future was not bright. It was due to the administrative ability of the new President as well as to his ripe experience and culture that the day was saved and Vermont prospered, intellectually and financially, during the five years of his administration.

Of his decision to come to Michigan, Dr. Angell said twenty-five years later: "While, with much embarra.s.sment, I was debating the question in my own mind whether I should come here, I fell in with a friend who had very large business interests, and he made this very suggestive remark to me: 'Given the long lever, it is no harder to lift a big load than it is with a shorter one to lift a smaller load.' I decided to try the end of the longer lever."

James Burrill Angell was inaugurated President of the University of Michigan in June, 1871. From that time his life was the life of the University except for interludes of diplomatic service in China, Turkey, and upon various commissions. His diplomatic career, though only incidental to his life work as an educator, showed that he possessed the necessary qualifications for what might well have been a very distinguished career in other fields. At the time of his appointment to China as Minister Plenipotentiary, diplomatic relations in the East were decidedly indirect and characteristically Oriental. It had just taken Germany two years to conclude a rather unimportant commercial treaty, and upon his arrival at Peking his colleagues in the diplomatic service laughed at him for supposing that his one year's leave of absence would suffice for his far more important mission. Yet the revision of the Burlingame treaty, restricting the importation of cheap coolie labor into this country, which he sought, was accomplished within two months.

Another important commercial treaty relative to the importation of opium was likewise completed at the same time. He was also successful in his mission to Turkey in 1898 and as a member of the Alaska Fisheries and other international commissions.

But his heart was in his work at Ann Arbor, and thither he always returned despite flattering temptations to enter diplomatic life. A great opportunity lay before him when he took up his new duties and he recognized it. It was his task to bring the State, exemplified in particular by a not always sympathetic Legislature, and by a Board of Regents of continually varying complexion, to a realization of the true function of a university supported by the State. He must arouse the enthusiasm for education and learning which he knew lay deep in the hearts of the people of Michigan. As Professor Charles Kendall Adams, later President of Cornell and Wisconsin, said: "What was called for first of all was the creation and dissemination of an appreciative public opinion that would produce, in some way or other, the means necessary for the adequate support of the University." So well did Dr.

Angell accomplish this purpose that of late years he loved to dwell, in his speeches before the alumni, upon what he chose to call the "pa.s.sion for education" on the part of the people of the State, forgetting utterly the yeoman service he performed all his life toward bringing about that same regard for popular education.