13. That its possibilities are such as to warrant corporate effort to extend its advantages to those who would be otherwise deprived of any advanced educational opportunities;
14. That such a corporation is entitled to be called a School of Liberal Arts;
15. That it allows tests of the student’s acquirement, as rigid as can be desired by the highest standard of educational excellence;
16. That the student who has submitted to such tests, and successfully borne them, is entitled to the reward of a diploma and a degree;
17. Finally, that the corporation or institution which can prepare the student for such an ordeal is entitled to confer such diploma and degree.
The claims which we have now presented are sufficient to show the spirit and belief which have led to the incorporation of the Chautauqua University. We have attempted to state them logically, clearly, and forcibly. There is in them no element of disputation.
We appeal to a vast, an eager and earnest constituency. To know, only to know, is the earnest cry of multitudes of our fellows. Lament for lack of early opportunities, and consequent self-depreciation, is the undertow that sweeps to ruin the possibilities of many a life. High purposes and noble ambitions have been thwarted on life’s threshold by the cruel limitations of circumstance. Mistaken views of life’s best aims, in days when opportunities were possible, have been dispelled when the opportunities have long been left behind. To each of these classes the Chautauqua University brings the correspondence system of teaching, and says: for you, it is possible to supplement the lack of early years; for you, to realize your ambitions, even within the bond by which circumstance has bound you; and for you, in the new light which experience has given, to see other opportunities for obtaining that culture which, years ago, you neglected and passed by.