Repository: UIHistories Project: Course Catalog - 1867 [PAGE 23]

EXTRACTED TEXT FROM PAGE:

NOTE.—TIME

OF

OPENING.

It was the earnest desire both of the Trustees and of the Regent to open the University for students, as early at least as next September; but a careful consideration of the character and extent of the preparations necessary to be made, in order to the successful inauguration of an enterprize of such magnitude and importance, convinced the Board of the necessity of some delay. It was accordingly voted that the opening be deferred till the first Monday in March, 1868. It was found that important alterations were needed to be made in the University building, requiring several months for their completion ; the University grounds, which are a portion of an open and unsettled prairie, were' to be graded, and this grading will leave the soil naked, to be turned into an expanse of mud by the autumnal rains ; fences were to be built, walks laid, sewers constructed, out houses erected, blackboards and other apparatus and furniture to be made or purchased, and the institution to be equipped for service. Financial considerations of much importance also forbade haste. The sale of the scrip, which could not be made for several weeks, was uncertain. No interest would accrue on the funds till the first of May, 1868, and the expense of the repairs and equipments, together with nearly the entire amount for salaries and current expenses would have to be taken fro^n the principal of the University fund, thus seriously diminishing the means needed for the permanent support of the institution. But even if these difficulties could be overcome or safely submitted to, the selection of a faculty could not be wisely made in a time so limited. To ripen the working plans, to select and appoint a suitable faculty, to allow the professors, when chosen, time to close their present engagements, and to remove their families and effects to the seat of the University, to properly advertise the opening, and to diffuse every where through the state clear and definite information of the proposed courses of instruction and conditions of admission, to carry out the plan for the examintion of candidates' for the honorary scholarships ; and to do all this well and thoroughly, required much more time than could be gained in a single summer. In an institution which is to last-through ages, the delay of six months in the opening is of little consequence if it avails to make that opening successful and auspicious. It was believed that the opportunity afforded by this delay to the Regent to visit the different counties of the state, and by public addresses and personal interviews, to diffuse information concerning the plans and purposes of the University, would pave the way for a much more successful inauguration of its career.