Tuesday, August 27, 1963
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
Tuesday, August 27, 1968THE MICHIGAN DAILY
15 1year-old
'
from
confluence
By STEVE WILDSTROM-
Managing Editor
The University of Michigan was
born out of a confluence of
dreams in the early 19th century
First of all, there was a great
dream, the American Dream, the
dream of the Confederation Con-
gress of a vastly expanded coun-
try and an improved Northwest.
Congress took a step toward
realization of this dream in 1787
when the Northwest Ordinance
was passed, wisely declaring that
"schools and the means of edu-
cation shall forever be encour-
aged."
Pioneer settlers in the village of
Detroit also had a dream of cre-
ating an institution of higher ed-
President Tappan
ucation in the Territory of Mich-
igan.
Father Gabriel Richard, a Ro-
man' Catholic priest; the Rev.
John Monteith, 'Michigan's first
protestant minister; and Judge
Augustus Woodward, .a man of
fertile mind and fantastic imag-
ination, were three men who felt
that Michigan should have a pub-
lic school system. They persuaded
and badgered the territorial gov-
ernment until they received per-
mission to proceed with their
plan. 4
Any project that the good judge
undertook bore the clear stamp
of his highly original mind. lie
laid out the first street plan for
Detroit - strongly influenced, by
L'Enfant's plan for Washington--
and is still remembered by the
maze of streets in downtown De-
troit.
Clearly, a new school in the
West required a new terminology
anid Judge Woodward generously
Sprovided it. The. school was to be
called the Catholepistemiad of
Michigan, to be made up of 13
"didaxiim" of professorships with.
the "didactor of Catholepiste-
mia," or universal science, to serve
as president.
Even the local Indian tribes
were caught up in the dream.
They gave the school three sec-
tions of land "because their chil-
dren might want to go to college."
It seems a shame that until this
year, these founders of the Uni-
versity were all but forgotten by
their dream-child. While later
University builders-Haven, Tap-
pan, Angell--are well-remember-
ed, no fitting monuments to the
Rev. Monteith, who has a college
named after him at Wayne State
University, Judge Woodward, who
is recalled by Detroit's main
street, or Fr. Richard, who has a
park in Detroit, has ever been
erected at the University.
For the most part, the Cathole-
pistemiad remained little more
than a dream. It was chartered in
1817 but was constantly on the
verge of bankruptcy. It held very
few classes of any sort and never
offered any courses on the college
level.
In 1821, the Catholepistemiad
folded and the territorial govern-
ment created a university in De-
troit as its legal successor. 1Iow-
ever,, like its predecessor, the uni-
versity never got off the ground
and never offered any college-
level courses.
Finally, in 1837, the University
as we know it was born in Ann
Arbor with the admission of Mich-
igan into the Union and the es-
tablishment of the Board of Re-
gents.,
The new school needed a site
and some enterprising local land
speculators offered two' 40-acre
tracts to the Regents. One was in
the gentle hills along the Huron
River, now the site of North Cam-
pus, and the other was a squa're
of spent, farmland just east of
the tiny settlement. For reasons
of their' own, the Regents chose
the barren piece that is now the
Diag.
The perennial financial prob-
lems still plagued the school and:
no construction was started until
1840 when four houses for pro-
fessors were built. One of these
forms the core of the President's
House on South University, mak-
ing that the oldest building on
campus and one of the oldest in
the state.
It was 1841 when the University
of Michigan finally got down to
the business of educating stu-
dents. The first class consisted of
seven students taught by a faculty
of two. For a $10 entrance fee,
these first students were entitled
to be awakened every morning
at 5:30 for compulsory chapel.
In the summer of 1825, an event
that was to have a lasting effect
on the development of the Uni-
versity took place. A distinguished
Eastern educator, Dr. Henry Phi-
lip Tappan, became president.
commitment to the Prussian sys-
tem of education, a system dedi-
cated- to lectures and research
rather than the English system
of tutorials and residential col-
leges.
Tappan was convinced that re-
search was a vital part of a uni-
versity, largely a new concept in
Michigan. He also abolished the
residential arrangements that had
been in effect since 1841 and stu-
dents were given their introduc-
tion to Ann Arbor landlords.
The 19th century was largely
a period of quiet, steady growth
for the University. The major
controversy was a long-running
feud between the Legislature and
the University over the teaching
of homeopathy, a, long extinct
forh of medical practice.'The Le-
gislature insisted that that a chair
of homeopathy be established In
the medical school and the Uni-
versity, ignoring annual threats
of being cut off without a penny
steadfastly refused. The chair
never was established.
Although political protests were
virtually unheard of until World
War I, the students were not
funds, a major
physical plant
work was begunc
Main campus as it appeared in 1855
really a passive lot. Their favorite Also in 1890, a group of dissi-
stunt was crashing the gates of dent non-fraternity men left the
any circus that dared to come to staff of the student newspaper,
town and raising as much hell as The University Chronicle, and in-
they could get away with. itiated a new, sports oriented
In 1871, 42-year-old James Bur- paper, T1Ie Michigan Daily.
rill Angell became ' University Although progress was inter-
president. He started younger and rupted somewhat by the firstj
served longer than any other World War, the period from the
president and under Angell, the 1890's until World War II was
University grew from a "rather marked by great physical growth.
backwoodsy institution into one of Most of the buildings on central
the country's major universities. campus date from the most active
In 1890, the University became period, the 1920's and 1930's.
the largest school in the United The 30's were tempestuous years
States with 2,692 students. Until everywhere and the University re-
1871, the president had served as flected the international unrest.
a sort of super-professor. Angell The Spanish Civil War created
made the job a purely adminis- deep divisions both within the
trative function and the Univer- University community and be-
sity entered into a period of great tween the University and 'outsid-
growth. During Angell's 34-year ers. The Daily strongly supported
t e n u r'e, the University first the Loyalists, while many others
achieved a formidable reputation in the state, most notably the
for acade'mic excellence. Roman Catholic Church, strongly
supported the Fascists. Much:
pressure was brought to bear on
the Board in Control of Student
Publications and, eventually, the
policy of signing editorials in The
Daily began.
After the outbreak of hostilities
in 1939, a deep split between
isolationists and interventionists
added ,fuel to campus political
fires. As part of a national mag-
azine poll, University students
voted 2,818 to 463 against bearing
arms if the United States invaded
another country.
In 1941, the war was suddenly
transformed from a question of
academic debate into a hideous
reality. Pledges and polls were
forgotten and University life was
sharply curtailed as the men went
off to war.
The war was only a temporary
damper to the tremendous growth:
of the University. At the end of
the war, the federal government
entered university research in
earnest and the growth of Univer-
sity research facilities mushroom-
ed, until, in 1966, the University
became the country's second larg-
est recipient of federal research
funds, getting over $58 million in
grants.
The growth of both the student
body, spurred by the GI Bill, and
research, spurred - by federal
In 1951, Harlan H. Hatcher
came to the University from Ohio
State to serve as president.
Hatcher took his new position as
another national political storm
was brewing. McCarthyism was
sweeping, the country and the
University was not spared its ex-
cesses.
In 1954, the House Un-Ameri-
can Activities Committee, chaired
by Michigan Rep. Kit Clardy In-
vestigated alleged subversive ac-
tivities at the University. Three
faculty members refused to testi-
fy and were summarily suspended
by President Hatcher. Although
two were later reinstated, the in-
cident left a scar which has never
really healed.
The remainder of the 50's
passed in relative quiet with.. -
steady growth both of student
body, and plant. It was not until
the middle of the 60's that there
was any real revival of political
activity on campus.
Having gained experience, either
personal or vicarious, through the
civil rights and anti-Vietnam war
movements, students in the fall of
1966 exploded into a series of pro-
tests against a wide range of ad-
ministration policies. Although the
"student power" movement of 1966
accomplished little in terms of
practical results, its very exist-
ence is bound to have a lasting
effect.
In early 1966, President Hatcher
announced plans to retire by the
end of. 1967. After an extensive
search,' Robben Wright Fleming,
chancellor of the University of
Wisconsin, was selected by the
Regents to succeed Hatcher.
Fleming formally took office
January 1, 1968. Since that time,
Fleming has faced several crises-
a black student lock-in at the
present Literature, Science, and
Arts Building and the abolition of
dormitory regulations.
Up tosnow, Fleming's adminis-
tration has been marked by prep-
aration - new appointments and
creation of new departments. A
cloud has appeared'over Fleming's
generally positive relationship
with students in implementation
of the Hatcher Commission Re-
port and the wording of the by-
laws used to do this.
Generally, however, the Fleming
administration is considered a dis-
tinctly new administration -- too
new to pass real judgment.
f
--(}
11.
d Y"
A
new world
of
softness
afoot
r
'/
expansion of the
was needed and
on North Campus.
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