Repository: UIHistories Project: Board of Trustees Minutes - 1868 [PAGE 96]

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of physical exercise. The'experience of other institutions shows that, in thus cultivating a martial spirit among our young men, and affording proper means for its development, we supply, in a great degree, the place of the gymnasium, and withdraw students from a class of amusements scarcely beneficial, sometimes injurious. The drill room will serve for an armory for the deposit of arms and accoutrements, when not in use. The necessity for field music, the drum, fife and bugle, is obvious. It is indispensable to discipline, and will lend a cheerful and inspiring influence to the routine of college life. Whether furnished by the government, under the proposed bill, or provided by employment in the usual way, a volunteer band, composed of students, could soon be organized, fully competent to the service. It is recommended that there be adopted a uniform, to be worn by students, a style or fashion of dress which will be genteel, comfortable and economical for all occasions, of suitable material—that for summer use being of a lighter texture. A University button, with appropriate devices, should be manufactured expressly for the purpose. Economy would dictate that the uniform be the habitual costume of students, since it would save the expense incident to variety and change of fashion. It would secure personal neatness, and place all students upon a footing of republican equality—the sons of the rich and the poor meeting upon a common level, with nothing in their apparel to stimulate the pride of the one, or wound the self-respect of the other. The experience of all institutions which have adopted the uniform shows that the distinction which is thus conferred awakens an honorable ambition to excel, refines the manners, gives a manly tone to the character and, in some sort, makes each individual student feel that the reputation of his class and the honor of the institution are in his keeping. It is recommended that the course of military study, in classes, etc., and the required drill, field exercises and parades, be established by University authority, and enforced by the usual marks of merit and demerit, which shall stand to the credit or discredit of the student, and be taken into consideration, as in other departments, in fixing his grade as a scholar, on examinations for advancement and graduation. The term and extent of theoretical studies should be subject to modification and abatement, at the pleasure of the Faculty, in deference to the time which students expect to remain in the institution and to their chosen occupations in life. The daily martial exer. cises should, however, be rigidly enforced, except when remitted by the Regent, by reason of conscientious scruples or physical debility. The reason for this is found not only in the necessity for uniformity in hours of practice and the value of the discipline which military drill imparts, but that every student may, at proper intervals, be drawn from his dormitory and his overwork of brain, and put through a course of physical effort, healthful and invigorating, which will rescue him from the rust of inaction, and secure the " e r e c t carriage, the firm, graceful, manly bearing, the expansion of chest, the harmonious action of every limb and muscle; in fine, that perfect physical development, without which mental vigor, in its highest type, can never be long maintained." The race of wretched dyspeptics, consumptives and hypochondriacs, which crowd the learned professions and go trembling to their graves before the work of their lives is half done, are eloquent witnesses against that system in which the education of the mind is sought in violation of the laws of health. It is time that this glaring defect in academic education is remedied. Athletic and gymnastic sports have, in many institutions, been resorted to with success. By substituting military exercises, we accomplish the same end, aid college government, and furnish the militia of our State with men of their own households, able to make soldiers of them when the country calls them to rally round the flag. It may be already inferred, that it is intended to place the institution so far upon a military footing, as to bring all the students under the care of the professor of the military department, whose duties and authority shall be that of military commandant—this authority not to include the time devoted to classes, nor to come in collision with other departments of study. Its recognized subordination to the authority of the Regent, and its subjection to proper rules, will make the workings of this department easy. The usual regulations of Mie camp, as to exercise, recreation and sleep, the reveille, the