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 THE 
 
 WORK OF A UNIVERSITY 
 
 INAUGURAL ADDRESS 
 
 AT 
 
 LAKE FOREST, ILL, JUNE 1?, 189? 
 
 BY 
 
 JOHN M. COULTER 
 
 PRESIDENT 
 UNIVERSITY OF ILUN0IS 
 
 AUG 1 1915 
 
 PRESIDE T'SOHCt 
 
 MADISON, WIS. 
 
 TRACY, GIBBS & CO., Printers 
 
 1894 
 
THE 
 
 WORK OF A UNIVERSITY 
 
 INAUGURAL ADDRESS 
 
 AT 
 
 LAKE FOREST, ILL, JUNE 15, 189? 
 
 BY 
 
 JOHN M. COULTER 
 
 PRESIDENT 
 
 MADISON, WIS. 
 
 TRACY, GIBBS & CO., PRINTERS 
 
 1894 
 
THE WORK OF A UNIVERSITY. 
 
 I can assure you that the numerous expressions of confidence and 
 encouragement to which I have listened are sufficient to stimulate to 
 the highest endeavor. However, every feeling of elation is swallowed 
 up by the overwhelming thought of responsibility; but this responsi- 
 bility shall always stimulate, never discourage. Facing the future 
 boldly, hopefully, should be the normal attitude of every man; for 
 everything that remains to him lies in that direction. Every past 
 achievement, however great, is but the preparation for a greater one. 
 But such a future lies not in the words or strength of any one man; 
 else I should never utter the word or dare the deed. The promise 
 and potency of any such prophecy lies in the earnest work, the 
 loyal service of a host of friends. I wish I could send a thrill of hope 
 and confidence tingling along the nerves of every friend of the Uni- 
 versity to-day; a confidence not born of desire alone, but the irresist- 
 ible conclusion that comes from a calm survey of our present high 
 vantage ground and the signs of the times. To my vision, all things 
 are possible with us. Let me, however, commend this thought to you 
 in the outset. The trustees and faculty, by virtue of their positions, 
 are pledged to constant thought and action for the interests of the 
 University. But with you, representing the great background of al- 
 umni and well-wishers, rests the greatest influence for success. Upon 
 you depends the cultivation of public sentiment in favor of the Uni- 
 versity, which will find its expression in ample endowments and 
 crowded halls. 
 
 Perhaps it is expected, at this time, that I shall present to you a 
 policy, a sort of presidential message, that is intended to mark a new 
 era in the history of the University. However, it is not prudent to 
 outline a policy, and to profusely pledge one's self to many things 
 that he may never be able to accomplish. It is far better to be chary 
 of promises, and to turn one's whole attention to doing what he can. 
 If, therefore, you are asked what line of policy the new President pro- 
 poses to adopt, what he proposes to do to signalize his entrance into 
 the University, please say for him that he has no other policy than to 
 do the very best he can for its interests. In my study of the develop- 
 
ment of a plant in size and strength, I have not observed that it has 
 any other policy than to draw all it can from its environment, watch 
 every change that may be for its advantage or disadvantage, make the 
 best of what it gets, push out in this direction, probably withdraw in that, 
 in short, strive to become a perfect example of a strong inward vitality 
 adapting itself to and using its surroundings, until, unconsciously, it 
 gains in size and strength and spread of limb, and many come under 
 its shelter. Any specific policy outlined to-day may run athwart one's 
 best interests to-morrow. Like the course of a vessel crossing the 
 wide ocean, the only policy of a University is the purpose to reach 
 eventually some distant point; but what tack may be taken to-morrow 
 or next day who can foretell? "for the wind bloweth where it listeth; 
 thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh or 
 whither it goeth." 
 
 However, I have a few things to say in reference to the "work of 
 a University" which may help us to a better acquaintance with each 
 other. 
 
 I. THE UNIVERSITY IS A PLACE FOR THE EMANCIPATION OF THOUGHT. 
 
 If called upon to express my conception of a University, I should 
 say that in the largest sense it is a place for the emancipation of 
 thought. The thought of man, fettered by ignorance or superstition, 
 superstition which may co-exist with a high degree of intelligence, is 
 the great mission field of all educational institutions. It has often 
 occurred to me that the mission of a University is more a crusade 
 against superstition than against ignorance. Its work is to cultivate 
 not so much the power of thinking as of logical thinking. It is 
 very hard for us to realize how much the wings of our thought are 
 tied down by hereditary or thoughtless beliefs. The world contains 
 untold attics-full of heirloom rubbish, and it needs an incendiary fire 
 now and then to get rid of it. Second-hand opinions are by far the 
 most common kind, and the whole effect of a University should be to 
 make men think for themselves. The spirit of a University is there- 
 fore necessarily iconoclastic. There is an iconoclastic spirit which 
 attacks existing beliefs simply because they are existing beliefs; and 
 this is far enough removed from the spirit I would commend. The 
 true iconoclastic spirit, which it is the mission of a University to 
 foster, is not one that attacks but undermines all existing beliefs in- 
 consistent with truth. Its destructiveness is incidental, of necessity, 
 not premeditated. Habits of investigation and resistless deduction 
 are the things to be cultivated and insisted upon; and when these 
 
5 
 
 tempered weapons are turned upon any subject approachable by the 
 intellect of man, they pierce straight through the mail of preconceived 
 notions and reach the heart, the truth. From my point of view, this 
 was the secret of the tremendous power of the greatest teacher of the 
 principles of right living who ever lived. His clear statements of 
 ethical principles pierced like sunbeams through the dust that men 
 had raised about themselves. And so, I have said, the University is 
 a place for the emancipation of thought, a place to encourage the 
 spirit of true iconoclasm. 
 
 2. THE UNIVERSITY MUST RECOGNIZE THE INDIVIDUAL. 
 
 The truest idea that has found its way into modern University 
 methods is the recognition of the individual. Sowing the same seed 
 in all soils, of whatever diversity of soil or climate, surely commends 
 itself no longer as a rational system of education. The old methods 
 of education fitted pupils as contract clothing fits an army; it was 
 full of misfits. The problem is not one of an undifferentiated mass, 
 but of highly differentiated individuals, and if training does not rec- 
 ognize this individualism its adaptation becomes only a thing of 
 chance. One kind of sound vibration may call forth a sonorous re- 
 sponse from properly attuned strings; but the other strings remain 
 silent and unresponsive. The duty of a University is to strike every 
 note, that every string may respond; and this response is the evidence 
 of awakened thought. I regret to say that there are still advocates of the 
 patent medicine system, who claim that the same dose is suited to 
 every ailment; and their sole argument is to point to the illustrious 
 cases that have been benefited. Where, it is said, can you discover 
 grander results of training than in the intellectual giants of the last 
 generation? Have we any such in these degenerate days? It must 
 be remembered, however, that men only appear gigantic when their 
 associates are small; and I look upon these ancient giants, not so 
 much as an evidence of fine educational methods as an evidence of 
 terribly inappropriate methods which left them so many small men 
 as associates. The seed that falls on good ground might well argue 
 concerning the beneficent provisions of nature; but what of the 
 myriads of seeds that fall by the wayside or on the rocks? The testi- 
 mony of the one must be corrected by that of the other before any 
 correct conclusion can be reached. To make every pupil think for 
 himself is the sole mission of the University. In his St. Andrew's 
 address upon "Education," Froude aptly puts it "that the backbone 
 
of education must always be the ability to do something, and not 
 merely to answer questions." 
 
 From my point of view, when Universities abandoned the old 
 patchwork curriculum, and substituted for it elective courses of 
 study, they changed from a false to a true theory of education. By 
 means of it even the intellectually poor student of to-day is doing 
 more, is developing more utilizable brain power, than the brilliant 
 one of a few years ago; and we have no longer a race of giants and 
 pigmies. Besides, it is not stating the whole result to say that even 
 intellectually poor students can do much; but also students intellect- 
 ually rich in certain directions have now a chance to cultivate their 
 peculiar powers. The old system not only held down all the dullards 
 but also repressed many of the gifted. It simply roused to great in- 
 tellectual activity those whose cast of mind was adapted to the only 
 kind of training given. 
 
 The change to elective courses', which is sweeping rapidly through 
 our American colleges, is one of those cases in which there was a 
 revulsion in the public sentiment long before it obtained a hearing 
 among the colleges, encased as they were and are in mediaeval pre- 
 cedent. It is curious, that in this day and generation, when every- 
 thing is making such marvellous progress and completely upsetting 
 our old notions, that there should still be some to claim that the edu- 
 cational methods of one hundred years ago are still appropriate. To 
 be consistent, such individuals should only ride in stage coaches and 
 read by tallow-dips. If the University of the 20th century has not 
 outgrown many of our methods of to-day, I should consider it a sorry 
 record. The general public long since recognized that there was 
 something out of touch between the old-fashioned college methods 
 and the needs of the world. Of course the public could not formu- 
 late the difficulty, or suggest better methods. Only by sneer or 
 flippant joke could it express its dissatisfaction. What the public 
 said about college methods was little to the point, and it would have 
 been absurd to have followed such suggestions. But the feeling in- 
 dicated by this tongue-tied expression did mean that they were not 
 getting from the colleges what they needed. It was a blind hunger 
 that did not know how to satisfy itself, and could only grumble. 
 Those who have recognized this demand for men and women with 
 more utilizable brain power have suggested elective, individual work; 
 and that is the answer given to this demand in Universities to-day. 
 
3- THE UNIVERSITY IS TO PRODUCE SCHOLARS WITH CLEARNESS OF 
 VISION. 
 
 If there is any one thing that the world needs now more than any 
 other it is the ability and the courage to see things as they really are. 
 We -have discovered that seeing is not always believing, and how 
 much more uncertain must be our reasoning. One of the most diffi- 
 cult things to make people understand is the enormous and often im- 
 passable hiatus between a cause and effect which they have coupled 
 together. This is the very essence of superstition. You would be 
 surprised to know of how many common beliefs of mankind it must 
 be said "it does not follow." This finds exemplification all the way 
 from beliefs as to the effect of the light or dark of the moon upon 
 sublunary affairs, to those concerning "Providential interferences." 
 It permeates all business, makes demagoguery possible, and is the 
 foundation of the most of religious cant. It is used to confuse 
 judges and juries, runs rampant in the divine art of healing, and per- 
 verts the religious instinct. Surely there is a wide field of usefulness 
 here for the trained intellect; not for fierce denunciation, but for pa- 
 tient teaching. Denunciation masses and organizes opposition, and 
 the fierce polemic blunts his sword .at the first stroke; he really 
 sheathes it in the act of drawing. But the voice of friendship dis- 
 arms opposition and is on the highway to conviction. The effect of 
 this leaven of scholarship is already apparent, and that it is "work- 
 ing" throughout society is evidenced by the demolition of many old 
 idols and the tottering condition of many more. Many more people 
 are beginning to smile at unfounded claims, and to demand a more 
 evident relation between cause and effect The flood gates of doubt 
 have been thrown open, and in the first mad rush doubtless many 
 things are thrown down that deserve to stand, but out of this whirl 
 and confusion the truth will emerge. 
 
 In this connection "scholarship" should be defined. There is a 
 •certain kind of training which masks as scholarship and has no right 
 to the claim. An old superstition is apt to eive way to a new one, 
 and both are to be alike condemned. That scholarship which does 
 not see and acknowledge the good in all things deserves not the name. 
 That scholarship which does not keep the mind open and receptive 
 for all truth, from whatever quarter, has fallen short of its meaning. 
 That scholarship which assumes that all that is old is false is still in its 
 swaddling clothes. None of these attitudes of mind have an outlook 
 broad enough to bring into view the whole sweep of truth. Too many 
 scholars look out upon the world from the bottoms of their own par 
 ticular wells, rather than from mountain heights. 
 
8 
 
 I am free to confess that this mental attitude does not yet inspire 
 the respect of the world as it should. It is too often accused of stand- 
 ing for indecision or mental flabbiness. For instance, there is still a 
 spirit abroad which is inclined to decry those who venture to hold in- 
 dependent opinions in regard to matters of church or state. The de- 
 crying is just enough, if the victim is "independent" simply for 
 effect, for an expression of independent views does not always mean 
 unusual clearness of vision. Many a man is attracted to this position 
 simply because it smacks -of originality. Such light folk, "tossed 
 about by every wind of doctrine," are not worthy of consideration; 
 but the honest thinker, who is not posing for effect, but really has his 
 doubts about many a hoary belief, is not to be accused of mental 
 weakness. It is said that doubt will land one in a fog-bank, and that 
 this is not clearness of vision. To recognise a fog-bank when it is 
 present is surely seeing more clearly "than not to have discovered it. 
 The knowledge of one fact may lead to belief; another fact suggests 
 doubt; a multitude of facts brings bewilderment. Certainty may 
 often be an indication of scant knowledge or distorted vision; uncer- 
 tainty may be indicative of vast knowledge and clear vision. Our 
 lives are cast in surroundings which compel us to deal with num- 
 berless facts, and the clearest vision sees that we must grope our way, 
 and that our best theories are but a temporary knitting together of 
 the few facts in our possession. There is nothing more evident than 
 as knowledge advances views must change, and that while three points 
 may determine a curve, such a paucity of facts can never determine 
 a true theory of the universe. The argument from common consent 
 has long since fallen to the ground, for we recognise that one man may 
 be right and all his fellows wrong; and that this has generally been 
 the method of the introduction of epochs in the history of belief. The 
 love of consistency in expressed beliefs has always been a bar to pro- 
 gress. That I believe one thing to-day and another thing to-morrow 
 may indicate mental weakness; but it may indicate mental progress. 
 "God offers to every mind," says Emerson, "its choice between truth 
 and repose. Take which you please, you can never have both. Be- 
 tween these, as a pendulum, man oscillates. He in whom the love of 
 repose predominates will accept the first creed, the first philosophy, 
 the first political party he meets, most likely his father's. He gets 
 rest and reputation; but he shuts the door of truth. He in whom the 
 love of truth predominates will keep himself aloof from all moorings 
 and afloat. He will abstain from dogmatism, and recognise all oppo- 
 
9 
 
 site negations between which as walls, his being is swung. He sub- 
 raits to the inconvenience of suspense and imperfect opinion, but he is 
 a candidate for truth, as the other is not, and respects the highest 
 law of his being." 
 
 The striking at meaningless things, the relegating to a common 
 limbo shadows which have no substance, the rigid demand that the 
 relation between cause and effect shall be apparent, such is a part of 
 the mission of the man of clear vision, and such a vision it is the 
 duty of the University to cultivate. 
 
 4. THE UNIVERSITY MUST PRODUCE SCHOLARS WITH LARGENESS OF 
 
 VIEW. 
 
 The world expends most of its force upon trifles. That largeness 
 of view which gives a true perspective and brings a true estimate of 
 the size of things is largely wanting. The things with which we may 
 occupy ourselves contain essentials and non-essentials; to recognize 
 the former means large-mindedness, and their cultivation tends to 
 liberality, to see only the latter is the province of short vision and per- 
 sistent attention to them will surely cultivate narrowness. 
 
 The Jewish Rabbinists played with the trifles of their temple wor- 
 ship until their writings became an enormous tissue of absurdities. 
 This concentration upon unessentials, which acted as a harmless con- 
 ductor to regions of dissipation for an immense amount of intellec- 
 tual force, if turned upon the eternal verities of their religion would 
 have shaken the world with the thunderbolts of truth. It was left 
 for a Nazarene to deal with the essentials, and the effect of his single 
 force, thus vitally directed, is seen in a world-wide revolution. 
 
 The philosophy of the middle ages amused itself with senseless rid- 
 dles, and has left a record of its folly in folios as bulky as they are 
 inane, chiefly serviceable to bibliophiles, and as a record of the most 
 stupendous devotion to non-essentials. The well-known result was 
 absolute intellectual stagnation. A few brave souls rebelled and led 
 the mind of man face to face with realities, and there followed such a 
 leap and rush of progress, such an awakening from death to life, that 
 the world is said to have been born again. 
 
 For generations the divine right of one set of men to lord it over all 
 the rest passed unquestioned, and the meaning of this leadership was 
 entirely lost sight of in contemplating and perpetuating the empty 
 fact. Presently the right was questioned, and political liberty be- 
 came a universal doctrine. Shreds of the ancient belief may still be 
 
IO 
 
 seen hanging upon the rapidly attenuating forms of their debilitated 
 wearers, but the mighty strength of the modern idea, which deals 
 with substance and not semblance, pays them but the scant courtesy 
 of a smile. 
 
 It is hardly a century since nature was considered but a mass of 
 miracles, whose phenomena were to be wondered at but not questioned. 
 Beneficent or destructive, she was a fickle goddess, and her variable 
 moods only suggested the whims of a passionate but omnipotent be- 
 ing. Tempest and plague marked her wrath, which senseless incanta- 
 tions strove to placate. Sunshine and dew indicated her smile. 
 Matter and life and this great globe itself were toys, to be hastily 
 made and thrown aside. How man could have held this chaotic be- 
 lief and retain his reason can only be explained by the stupor of 
 insensibility. Thus phenomena, which presented themselves in 
 myriad forms, and were really but unessential external expressions 
 of deeper essential truths, were the only things seen or thought of. 
 
 Into the minds of certain gifted men, men of large vision, there 
 gradually crept a notion of secondary causes. It must be that phe- 
 nomena could be explained in a way that men could understand; at 
 least the problem was worth the effort at solution. You all know the 
 result of this attention to essentials. Chaos was reduced to order; 
 whimsical government gave place to continuous, impartial law; mat- 
 ter and life fell into proper place and sequence; the scattered toys 
 were found fraught with deep meaning; an awful majesty was breathed 
 into the universe; and the race of man, freed from its shackles, sprang 
 forward to such conquests over nature that to live a single generation 
 now is more than to have existed during all the millenniums of the 
 past. 
 
 I have brought forward instances of world-wide movements which 
 have followed an escape from non-essentials. But the world is yet full of 
 this stagnating spirit. Even in Universities, how much of the energy 
 of student life is turned upon trifles, upon meaningless things, a process 
 which must lead away from a broadness of mind, from a largeness of 
 vision; in schemes of education, how much slavery to the letter still 
 exists, the spirit, the real purpose of the system being forgotten; in 
 medicine, how often does the divinest of all arts trip itself in the meshes 
 of meaningless professional etiquette; in politics how often does self- 
 interest rather than desire for good government obtrude itself; in so- 
 ciety, how rampant are false notions of classification, in religious 
 systems, how often is the divine soul-life strangled by theology. This 
 
II 
 
 undue attention to non-essentials not merely narrows the vision and 
 has its reflex effect upon the mind, but it is also the fruitful source of 
 most of the jarring among mankind. The bitterest strifes the world 
 has ever seen have arisen from meaningless things, Eternal truth?, 
 the essentials, are never in conflict; and it is the largeness of vision 
 which has learned to recognize them that the University must culti- 
 vate. 
 
 5. THE UNIVERSITY MUST PRODUCE MEN OF CHARACTER. 
 
 The scholarly qualities that have been suggested can all be 
 measured by their external expression. The utterance gives expres- 
 sion to the thought. From the mob of thoughts that come trooping 
 to every thinking man, the scholar makes his selection for public 
 presentation. He tries to choose his best and may create a false im- 
 pression of his usual self. His house is bedecked for a reception, and 
 all the finery he owns or can borrow is on display. This is perfectly 
 proper, but it serves to illustrate the fact that in addition to the pub- 
 lic, the display self, there is the ordinary, the real self, nor can the 
 one be taken as any measure of the other, I am familiar with au- 
 thors through whose writings there breathes a purity»and a charm, a 
 clearness and sweep of vision, that is absolutely contradicted by their 
 lives. Expression may reveal glimpses of a man's habit of thought. 
 but may be entirely at fault as a revelation of his character. Char- 
 acter is that impalpable thing which cannot be communicated to an- 
 other. You have perhaps met those who, you felt, possessed some- 
 thing finer than they ever said or did; a sort of reserved force which 
 acts by its presence and not by any outward expression. This extra- 
 ordinary force is one of the most powerful at work to-day among 
 mankind. You feel its presence, this presence of the unspoken self, 
 but cannot explain it. It is as real as the human form, but as impal- 
 pable as air when one tries to touch it. Why is it that you can feel 
 one man's presence and not another's? What is it that gives you the 
 impression of weight, of upward-looking, in the presence of some? 
 The thing is purely relative, for your neighbor may not be so im- 
 pressed, his channels of communication are not open to the influence. 
 The scholar's contribution to society is but half made, and its effect- 
 iveness vastly enfeebled, if to his keen, discriminating mental powers 
 he does not add that vast reserve of soul-force known as character. 
 The momentum that this adds to influence is immeasurable. If you 
 would have your thoughts make their fullest impression, they must 
 
12 
 
 have behind them the strong projective force of character. It is a 
 perfecity familiar experience that the same thought uttered by two 
 persons may be potent in the case of one and impotent in the other. 
 Character is the letter of recommendation which calls favorable at- 
 tention to the thought. With many, the effort is finer than the man; 
 with a few the man is always finer than the effort. Almost any one 
 can utter noble sentiments, but when you feel that the real self is 
 mocking at them, of what force are they? Perhaps you have read 
 enough of geology to know of the law which controls the transporting 
 power of running water. Double the velocity and the carrying power 
 is said to be increased 64-fold! I have often thought that the force of 
 character doubles the velocity of any thought, and the effect seems 
 out of all proportion to the increment. There must be concurrence 
 of expression and character; and I would- warn you my friends, who 
 so hopefully are about to contribute* your influence to society, that 
 you must gird up the loins of both mind and soul, if your presence is 
 to be felt, if you wish your effectiveness to be at all commensurate 
 with your preparation. In conclusion, I must say that no University 
 has any right to exist, that does not seek to strongly impress upon 
 its students the exceeding beauty and strength of right living. There- 
 fore, while all the varying beliefs and disbeliefs must meet here on 
 perfect equality, as is befitting an intellectual community seeking for 
 truth in every direction, we must all unite in one belief, that the 
 only kind of life worth living is that one which is governed by the 
 highest moral principles. As for myself, I find the best statement of 
 these principles in the utterances of the great Nazarene. 
 
 This leads me to emphasize the well-known fact that it is personal- 
 ity that educates. Emerson says that "character teaches over our 
 heads." A recent speaker has well said: "It is always the teacher 
 rather than the subject taught that makes the deepest and most per- 
 manent impression on the life. No science can be so exact, no phil- 
 osophy so abstract that the teacher will not give something of him- 
 self in giving the subject. The Athenians were all astray in thinking 
 that Socrates was corrupting their young men, but they were not 
 astray in recognizing the fact that it was Socrates himself who was 
 working what to their minds was mischief. 'Twas not enough to ap- 
 point a censor over his teaching. The man himself must be put out 
 of the way; that would be striking at the root of the matter. 
 
 It is, I repeat, personality that educates. The moment one realizes 
 that fact in its fullness, then his chief concern as a parent or a citi- 
 
13 
 
 zen will be with the characters of those who are set to teach. The 
 teacher must know his subject to be sure, but unless that knowledge 
 is molten by the passion of love and sympathetic interest in a human 
 soul and borne on in the swift current by the energy of will, the equip- 
 ment of knowledge is meager and inadequate indeed." 
 
 I greet you as members of a great community, with common inter- 
 ests, and presenting to the world a single aim. I have now cast in 
 my lot with yours, for weal or woe; and I have come, not with the 
 spirit of a ruler, but as the friend and companion of you all. From 
 this time my welfare is yours, and yours is mine. I pledge you my 
 most loyal and faithful service, not only collectively, but individually; 
 and if with the same heartiness I can have your undivided support, 
 the future has great things in store for us. With the fullest confi- 
 dence in you, my friends and associates, and relying for wisdom upon 
 its only known source, I now take up the burden laid upon me. 
 
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