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'^^ The Duty of the Churches
to the State University:

By Charles Kendall Adams, Presi-
dent of the University of Wisconsin

THE

DUTY OF THE CHURCHES

STATE UNIVERSITY

A PAPER

READ AT THE STATE CONGREGATIONAL CONVENTION
HELD AT RIPON, SEPTEMBER 23, 1897

CHARLES KENDALL ADAMS

PRESIDENT OF THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN

MADISON WIS.:

FRACY, QIBBS & CO., PRINTERS

1898

PRIVATELY PRINTED

Sbe M$ of tbc Cburcbcs to tbe State Ultiivcrsit).

From the first, the smaller institutions of higher learning in
the United States have sought and secured the sympathy and
the active support of the several Christian denominations under
whose encouragement they were founded. Nourished by this
fostering influence the colleges have done a work of unques-
tionable importance.

But while the churches have very properly kept alive their
interests in the colleges, they have always been inclined to
pursue a course towards the State universities which inevit-
ably invites comparison with those ancient ecclesiastics whom
the Savior described as passing by on the other side.

This method may have seemed for a time not unnatural.
The State universities in this country have all had rather fee-
ble beginnings, and to many persons it long seemed doubtful
whether they would have any permanent strength or pro-
longed existence. While this uncertainty continued, it doubt-
less seemed questionable to many good people whether the
perpetuity and influence of such i-nstitutions ought to be en-
couraged, or whether, on the contrary, they should be assisted,
in what was supposed to be a facile path, to ultimate aban-
donment and annihilation. But that day is past. There are
now few who do not recognize the fact that the State uni-
versities are a permanent and a very considerable ele-
ment, in our educational system; and furthermore, that they
unmistakably have the knack of perpetuity. They not only
stubbornly refuse to perish, but they insist upon growing
at a prodigious rate. It is not necessary here to consider the
causes of this remarkable growth, it is only necessary to rec-
ognize it as a fact. "Yes, we know they are growing," some
of you perhaps will say; but do you know how fast they are
growing.? Let us look for a moment at some of the figures

given in the catalogues and the reports of the Commissioner
of Education. I have not myself verified the figures; but I
present them as gathered from easily accessible sources by
Chancellor McLean of the University of Nebraska in his in-
augural address about a year ago, and I assume them to be
correct.

During the ten years from 1885 to 1895 ^^ the eight New-
England colleges: Amherst, Bowdoin, Brown, Dartmouth,
Harvard, Williams, Wesleyan, Yale, the increase in the num-
ber of students was 20 per cent. In the eight representative
colleges of the North Central States: Beloit, Carlton, Cornell,
Hillsdale, Iowa College, Lawrence, Ripon, St. John's, the in-
crease during the same period was 14J per cent. In the
eight representative State universities: of California, Illinois,
Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska and Wiscon-
sin, the total number of students in 1885 was 4,230; in 1895,
the number was 13,500, an increase in ten years of 320 per
cent. Thus it appears that the rate of growth in the State
universities during the past ten years has been sixteen times
as great as the rate of growth in the New England colleges
and universities, and twenty-two times as great as the rate in
the colleges in the North Central States.

If we were to look into the matter of income and equip-
ment, we should probably find the difference nearly or quite
as great as in the matter of attendance; but, as I wish partic-
ularly to call attention to the student body only, I omit all
other comparisons.

There is another phase of the matter, however, which is
no less worthy of attention. I refer to the revelations made
by the census of the State universities recently taken to ascer-
tain the number of members and adherents of the several
churches among the students of these institutions.

In several of the State universities, especially in those which
have Christian Association buildings, and are consequently
well organized for Christian work, efforts have been systemat-
ically made for some years past to ascertain the church mem-

bership and the religious preferences of all the students. In
other universities the religious census has been less complete;
but, for the purpose of obtaining approximate information, a
careful census of the students in representative portions of
the cities or towns has been taken, and the results have been
applied for the purpose of estimating the numbers in the ag-
gregate. It has been found that the results thus approxi-
mately obtained have not varied by any considerable amount
from the proportions reached in those institutions where the
census has been exact and complete. We are thus able to
estimate with considerable confidence the number of mem-
bers, and the number of adherents, of the several ecclesiasti-
cal denominations in all our State universities.

Professor F. W. Kelsey of the University of Michigan, has
recently brought these figures together, and I am indebted
to his generous courtesy for the use of his tables in advance
of their publication. These tables relate to sixteen of the most
prominent of the State universities of the country. Of course,
it is not possible even to summarize these tables in any compre-
hensive manner. But a few illustrative facts may be presented.
The census includes: (i) church members; and (2) church ad-
herents: i. e. those who, although not members, have been
accustomed to attend a certain church and still avow an
adherence to it.

In general, it may be said that according to Professor Kel-
sey's tables the proportional numbers of church members in
the State universities, varying slightly in the different insti-
tutions, amounts to an average of 57^ per cent, of the
attendants.

Here then is the intensely interesting and very important
fact that among all the students in the State universities more
than one-half are members of churches. To specify with a
little more particularity, we find, for example, that in Illinois
the percentage is 5o| per cent. ; in Indiana, 63!^ per cent. ;
in Iowa, 60 per cent.; in Kansas 55| per cent.; in Minnesota
57 per cent.; in Michigan 57J per cent.; and in Wisconsin

58| per cent. In the University of Wisconsin the Congre-
gationalists by profession are, according to these tables, 198
in number; the Roman Catholics, 118; the Baptists, ^6'^ the
Methodists, 124; the Episcopalians, 126; the Presbyterians,
148. Members of several other denominations are found in
smaller numbers.

In the University of Michigan the total number of church
members, when the census was taken in 1895, ^^s 1,310, be-
sides 686 additional adherents. These proportions are not
exceptional; they are simply typical.

Now, to sustain, to encourage in their religious life, what
has been done by the churches for these vast bodies of Christian
young men and women?

In most of the States, beyond what is done by the local
churches, ABSOLUTELY. NOTHING.

What occurs in Wisconsin occurs in a majority of the other
States. The Christian students are left to such voluntary and
unaided associations as they may themselves organize for
their mutual benefit. Students often come to the university
with no letters of introduction from the pastors of their old
churches to the pastors of their new churches; and if they
bring letters, if often occurs that in the whirl and turmoil of
the first weeks in college they neglect to present them, and
drift into other associations that absorb or distract their atten-
tion, and too often monopolize their interest.

In every State university there is a voluntary students' Chris-
tian as<iociation. These beneficent organizations have for
their object the gathering together of the religious forces in
the university for religious companionship and religious work.
The oldest and the largest of these is the one in the Univer-
sity of Michigan, and is in some sense the model of all the
others. Its object is expressed in these words: "The pur-
pose of this Association is to lead men to an earnest study of
the Scriptures; to a renunciation of sin; to a knowledge of
Jesus Christ as their Divine Lord and Savior; to the accept-

ance of His words and the Holy Spirit as the guide of life;
and to the cultivation of Christian fellowship."

These associations bring together a considerable proportion
of the Christian young men and women, who are desirous of
working earnestly, and of allowing no distracting allurements
to beguile them from the general objects of their organization.
The one in Madison has well attended meetings Sunday after-
noons; during much of the year it holds a daily prayer meet-
ing in one of the university rooms; it has eight or ten com-
mittees appointed to look after the different phases of the
work; it canvasses the student body for the purpose of keep-
ing alive and encouraging every religious sentiment and as-
piration; in short, it is the head and center of religious life
and work in the university.

It would be strange indeed, if, under existing conditions,
these voluntary organizations should be invariably efficient and
successful. They ordinarily have no building or room of their
own; consequently they have no encouragement to provide
either a library or those other attractions which gradually ac-
cumulate sacred and attractive associations. They receive
no pecuniary assistance from outside, and consequently even
the salary of the secretary has to be raised by assessment and
by voluntary contributions of the members. But even in the
face of these discouraging features, they do an important
work in furnishing a nucleus of Christian effort and Christian
life. It has often been remarked, and it is generally true,
that, as a rule with few exceptions, students in the university
develop and carryforward the impulses and inclinations which
they bring with them. But lukewarm students are to be
found in the universities as in all of our churches everywhere;
and students of this class need to be encouraged, perhaps
even tempted into moral and religious association and com-
panionship, lest they yield to temptations of other kinds.

In a few of the state universities, Christian association
buildings have been provided, and church guild houses have
been erected. These have furnished a local habitation for

8

every kind of Christian companionship and effort. In the
spring of 1858 the first of the Students' Christian Associations
was established in the University of Michigan. The import-
ance of the work done by the association gradually gained
recognition, and in 1891 Newberry Hall, the gift of Mrs. John
S. Newberry was opened as the beautiful home of the associa-
tion. In the same year McMillan Hall, chiefly the gift of Sen-
ator McMillan, was opened as the resort of Presbyterian stu-
dents, and at about the same time Harris Hall provided by
Ex-Governor Baldwin, and named in memory of Bishop Harris,
was equipped with reading rooms, a gymnasium and lecture
hall, for adherents of the Episcopal church. Since that time the
Wesleyan Guild has begun measures for a similar care of Meth-
odist students; and the Disciples of Christ have provided two
lectureships for students of their faith. These systematic and
practical efforts have not gone unrewarded; for there is abund-
ant evidence that they have kept alive many a spark of Chris-
tian purpose and aspiration that might otherwise have been
obscured or extinguished. Not to mention other less tangi-
ble evidences of Christian activity among the students, it may
not be out of place to note that the number of clergymen
shown in the catalogue of the Michigan alumni is no less than
299, and of these as many as 57 have gone as missionaries
into foreign fields.

The University of Wisconsin is twelve years younger than
the University of Michigan. It has a larger number of stu-
dents than Michigan had twelve years ago. It has a slightly
larger proportion of Christian students than is to be found in
the University of Michigan. Professor Kelsey's figures show
that the proportionate number of Baptists, Congregational-
ists, Presbyterians and Roman Catholics is greater at Madi-
son than is the proportionate number at Ann Arbor. And
yet for the Christian encouragement and nurture of these
Christian sons and daughters of the churches what has been
done either by the churches of Wisconsin, or by their repre-
sentative members.? I ask this question in no fault-finding or

captious spirit; but I should be glad to have the conditions
understood by the churches of the State, especially by our
own branch of the church universal.

This presentation ought not to be closed without a word of
caution against certain erroneous impressions. The notion
is more or less prevalent that in a large State university the
predominant influences are inimical to the development and
preservation of Christian character and Christian activity.

If there is any foundation for this impression, it must be in
the fact that large associations of any kind furnish distracting
opportunities. The very moment a young man leaves the re-
straint of home and church, and is thrown into the compan-
ionship of a broader life, whether in business or in education,
whether in town, in city, or in a university, he undoubtedly
encounters the allurements, as well as the advantages, of the
larger life. Unless the boy is to be forever "cribbed, cabined
and confined," the possibilities of evil must inevitably come
sooner or later. Are the temptations to evil in a university
greater than the temptations to evil in ordinary life.-* Are we
to admit that a course of hard and exacting study sharpens
the appetite for self-indulgence.'* It is impossible. Reason
and experience alike show that such is not the case. The col-
lision of ideas and the ferment of expanding germs of thought
undoubtedly sometimes in the university, as in life at large,
results in modifications of belief, and in changes of purpose.
But these are the inevitable incidents of growth everywhere.

We must also bear in mind the fact that youthful human
nature craves and demands occasional relief from the contin-
uous strain of hard application to study. A generation or
two ago this demand showed itself in the feeling, often on the
part of the best students, as President Canfield recently said,
**That one must die, if one could not occassionally assist in
putting a calf into the belfry." But thanks to the modern gym-
nasium and to the better organization of athletic sports, this
inevitable redundancy of animal spirits and youthful energy
and activity has now found a better way. Two or three gen-

lO

erations ago these pent up energies burst forth in brawls and
carousings without number. To any one who has any fami-
liarity with the collegiate conditions of the past and the pres-
ent, it is a commonplace item of knowledge that such explo-
sions of pent up energies have very greatly diminished within
recent times. That they have entirely disappeared cannot,
of course, be claimed; but the great fact should not escape
our acknowledgment, that the vast body of our students work
industriously and energetically at their studies, and that, in
the course of their career at the university, they improve in
character as well as in ability and knowledge. While one
student in a hundred may perhaps attract widespread atten-
tion by his boisterous irregularities, the ninety and nine who
need no repentance, are rapidly, but so quietly as to attract
no attention, laying in those stores of knowledge and char-
acter which are to give them power and usefulness in after
life. It is the old story which Burke so well formulated when
he said that a single grasshopper under a fern could make
more noise than a thousand kine industriously chewing their
cuds under the oaks on the hill sides.

But however much the conditions of student life in our
large universities have been improved, it cannot be claimed
that this improvement has been the result of efforts on the part
of the Christian churches, or of Christian wealth. While the
churches have been gathering their skirts about them and
passing by with averted faces, the sons of Belial have been
improving their own peculiar opportunities and flaunting their
peculiar temptations. What the universities all need is the
general establishment of counter attractions and rival recrea-
tions. Young men, and young women as well, are gregari-
ous. They crave companionship in their recreations, and
they will have it. They ought to have it. Some of them at-
tempt to satisfy these demands in the gymnasium; others, in
the fraternity houses. But for the great mass of students
living in isolated boarding houses, what is there.? There ought
to be places of resort and recreation where students of ele-

II

vated tastes and aspirations can come together and in a ra-
tional way satisfy all these rational demands without danger
of contamination. This brings us to the question as to how
these ends can best be attained.

1. By the erection of a Christian Association building
which shall be the home and rallying point of Christian effort
and Christian recreation. A beginning at Madison was made
in this direction a few years ago. A valuable lot near the
university has been secured and paid for. Not much more
has been done. Experience has shown that it is practically
impossible for the Christian forces within the university to do
fnore than defray the current expenses of the Association-
The building for the Association in the University of Wis-
consin^ as elsewhere, must come from the outside.

Nor do I think that such a building is likely to be secured
by any system of small contributions. The churches as a
rule have all they can do to defray their current expenses and
furnish the needed support of the societies dependent upon
them. It seems to me, therefore, doubtful whether it is wise
to call upon the churches for any general contributions. But
the project should have the earnest and active sympathy of
Christian public opinion. More than that, it should enlist the
practical benevolence of such men and women of abundant
means as are desirous of giving support and encouragement
to Christianity, in the largest and strongest of our educational
institutions. It is to such men and women that the appeal
must be made.

2. The establishment of Denominational Guild Halls. This
class of buildings has been more generally and more success-
fully adopted in Canada than in the United States. In con-
nection with the universities at Toronto and Montreal
large buildings have been provided by several of the denom-
inations, and these have been so endowed as to insure perma-
nent success. In our own country, efforts in this direction
have not, as yet, met with the response which, it seems to
me, the project deserves. What could be more appropriate

12

than that the great religious denominations of the State should
establish at Madison schools for instruction in the theology
of their respective denominations? Much of the instruction
given in every theological seminary is non-theological in form
and spirit, and is precisely of the same nature as much that is
now given in the university. We already have prosperous
courses in Hebrew and New Testament Greek. Students
could receive all such instruction in the university itself, leaving
for the affiliated schools the subjects of a denominational
character. For such an arrangement the advantages offered
by the libraries and museums of the university, as well as by
the non-sectarian courses of study, must be apparent to all.

But even if so much should not be attempted, the advant-
age of having properly supported Guild Halls, or Guild
Houses would be unquestionable. Students under proper
guidance could then organize themselves in such a way as to
secure desired results.

How far and how rapidly the Guild Hall system is likely to
be adopted at the State universities the future only can deter-
mine. If it shall not meet with general favor, reliance must
be placed upon the Christian associations.

// is impossible to believe that the Christianity of the State
will very long leave the Christian young men and women of
the university to no other encouragement than that offered by
the local churches.

The churches at Madison do their work admirably; but the
most and the best they can do is small indeed compared with
what would be practicable under other conditions. The re-
gents of the university under the constitution and the ruling
of the supreme court, can do nothing; the professors and stu-
dents can scarcely do more than they are doing at the pres-
ent time. The appeal must be made to those outside the'
university to whom the highest interests of Christianity in the
State are a matter of vital concern. The importance of the
subject is immeasureable. The power of the alumni of the
university in all public affairs is already very great. It must

13

increase as the years go on. Whether that power shall be in-
spired by high ideals of thought and character depends very
largely upon the ideals that are implanted and encouraged at
the university. Whatever can be done to improve these ideals
will be a help, not simply to individual souls, but, through in-
dividuals, to the State and to humanity.

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