The University of Michigan

by Wilfred Byron Shaw

It has always been one of the sources of the University's strength that this fact was understood, almost from the first, and that the claims of true scholarship and research have been increasingly recognized. It has been shown that in its first years Michigan was to all intents a replica in the West of the older and conservative colleges of the East; though there was a certain idealism and progressive spirit that tempered even then this recognition of long-established precedent. The West was liberal and disposed to create its own institutions upon a new basis, so that when the new ideals in education began to make themselves felt, about the middle of the nineteenth century, Michigan was ready for them.

With the coming of Dr. Tappan the movement, already foreshadowed by the Legislature in the very terms under which the University was organized, gained a new impetus and effective guidance, and it was not long before a remarkable series of constructive measures in the interest of higher education began. Most of them have been mentioned elsewhere, but it may not be amiss to suggest some of them once more; such as the emphasis on modern science, with the parallel classical and scientific courses within the academic department; the wide range of elections eventually introduced; the early inauguration of professional and graduate schools; the introduction of seminary and laboratory methods; the admission of women; the diploma system of admission from the high schools; and the recognition of the claims of special students.

Until within recent years also, the University had no marking system. The students were merely "passed," "not passed," or "conditioned." This undoubtedly stimulated interest in study and scholarship for its own sake in the case of many students, though, in the absence of any of the usual college honors it encouraged a certain level of mediocrity in others. The change in the system and the introduction of the Phi Beta Kappa Society and similar organizations after 1907 resulted in a marked alteration in the attitude toward study and has undoubtedly raised appreciably the general level of scholarship.

Thus, though the University throughout its whole history necessarily has had to recognize the first claims of the students for instruction, often of a somewhat elementary character, there have always been influences which have kept the ideals of higher scholarship constantly in view. In the older days the idea of research in its modern sense was hardly understood; but as the atmosphere of European learning began to pervade American academic life the double function of a true university came to be more clearly recognized. Not only were facilities for research developed, but the scientific spirit, which refused to accept the limitations long established, and sought new truths, or new interpretations of old principles, became the order of the day.

This was the ideal of Michigan's first President. But in his time the need for less advanced work was too pressing, the foundations had to be laid; though his efforts bore fruit long after he left, the victim in part of his high ideals of scholarship. Even in his time, however, certain steps were taken, aside from his effort to inaugurate true graduate study, which had a vital bearing on the development of research work in the future. These came through the establishment of the Astronomical Observatory and the Chemical Laboratory. Dr. Brünnow, the first Professor of Astronomy, came to Michigan inspired by a prospect of scholarly leadership and the results of his investigations and those of his pupil and successor, Professor Watson, gave to the University a world-wide reputation among scholars. The same was true, though perhaps to a lesser degree, of the Department of Chemistry, whose little Laboratory, the first separate building for that purpose in America, attracted advanced students from all quarters—the enrolment of special students sometimes reaching seventy, of whom at least some were doing work corresponding to the graduate courses of the present time. The students of this department as a whole have had a profound influence upon the development of the industrial and commercial resources of the State.

With the succession of Dr. Haven to the Presidency, the emphasis was thrown almost entirely on the immediate and practical problems of general instruction. He was not a scholar in the modern sense, as was Dr. Tappan, and the University's first requirement was fairly obvious. But the higher function of the University was not forgotten by the leading men of the Faculty. President Hutchins tells how he was drawn to Michigan in 1867 from his hillside farm home in Vermont by the reputation of Michigan's Faculty. He had become greatly dissatisfied with the educational facilities offered in the East, though he did not know exactly what he wanted to do. Just at this time his father returned from a business trip in the West and reported that he had found the right place for him in the University of Michigan. The young man replied, "Oh, I know about Ann Arbor." The father was somewhat surprised and asked how that happened. "Well," said Michigan's future President, "I have noticed that the editor of the Virgil I study is Professor Frieze, at Ann Arbor, and in Greek there is a Professor Boise; my French textbooks are by Professor Fasquelle; while in mathematics my books are by Professor Olney. It seems to me that must be a pretty good university." So despite dire warning, from his grandmother as to the dangers from the desperadoes of the West, to say nothing of the Indians, he came to Michigan; drawn by the scholarly work of the men of that early Faculty, as were hundreds of other students.

It will of course be suggested that this work on the part of the Faculty was not "research" in the modern sense, though it was just as truly "productive scholarship." And it was what was so regarded in those days. Besides it was evident that the University was amply fulfilling one of its great functions in laying the foundations for the present system of higher education. The teachers of the secondary schools as well as the colleges looked to these strong men for guidance and they found the support they needed. Their books were the necessary basis for the training of future scholars.

The gradual broadening of the University curriculum and its effect upon graduate study has already been mentioned. There was one development, however, which deserves special mention here. This was the inauguration of the so-called "University System." President Tappan had laid down the principle that a student should be able to study "what he pleases, and to any extent he pleases," and gradually the University had made such a course possible through the introduction of electives and the admission of special students, a privilege that was greatly appreciated by many students of mature years, who, after entering as special students, often remained to take a degree. In 1882 there came a third step in the removal of any fixed requirement as to the last two years of work. Such students as elected to follow the new plan known as the "University System," were permitted to select, subject to approval, the general lines of study to be pursued during this period with a prescribed examination at the end. This work was to be in charge of a committee composed of the Professors in the subjects chosen, and was designed to give the students the advantages of such specialization as was suitable, as soon as practicable. The plan, however, did not prove popular, most of the students preferring the credit system; but the scheme "constituted for a time the constitutional basis of the Graduate School, in so far as that School had any real existence." Probably the same general purpose, as far as preparation for the professions was concerned, was served at a later period by the combining of the literary and medical, and later, the law courses, enabling the student to begin his professional studies after his second year. Elsewhere such specialization as seemed desirable was attained after 1901, through the regular elections, when practically the whole curriculum was thrown open to general election, subject of course to a certain sequence of courses.

The professional departments have had a marked influence upon the University's standing as a center of learning. This is particularly true of the Medical School, which naturally emphasized the value of scholarly training and investigation from the first. It is probably not an exaggeration to say that it was the impetus given by the Medical Faculty which was responsible for the high reputation the University enjoyed from the first, particularly in the sciences. To this fortunate development the two recruits from the Literary Faculty, Dr. Sager, who had been Professor of Botany and Zoölogy, and Dr. Douglas, who served as Professor of Chemistry in both departments, contributed especially, though the influence of the other members of the Medical Faculty, more interested perhaps in the strictly professional aspects of their work, cannot be overlooked. These men were alive to the value of original investigation, their field offered too many opportunities to be neglected by scholars of their caliber, and it was therefore in the Medical School that the first research laboratories were developed. As the numbers in the Medical Department and its prestige increased, this influence grew, so that it may be said that for many years the strongest impulse toward research and the highest scholarship, particularly in the new fields of science, came from the men of the Medical Faculty. Nor has this influence ever weakened, though the eventual establishment of advanced courses and the recognition of research in all departments has tended to make it less conspicuous than in the early days.