e present main section of
University Hall lying between the two original wings, the first
buildings of the University. This included a large auditorium, seating
nearly 3,000 persons, with a chapel and the necessary offices and
recitation rooms on the first floor. The tower, which was the striking
feature of this building, was replaced in 1898 by the lower and much
safer dome of the present time.
The ability and success with which Dr. Frieze had conducted the affairs
of the University was publicly recognized by the Board of Regents at the
end of his term, and it was on his advice that the invitation was once
more extended to his former pupil at Brown University, Dr. James B.
Angell; this time with successful results.
CHAPTER V
PRESIDENT ANGELL AND PRESIDENT HUTCHINS
Dr. Angell, fresh from his work in the East as Professor of Modern
Languages at Brown University, war-time editor of the _Providence
Journal_, and President of the University of Vermont, came to Michigan
eight years after the departure of President Tappan. The Faculty of
thirty-five which greeted him was a brilliant company, though small in
comparison with a roll over ten times as long when he resigned his
office. The catalogue of 1871 shows 1,110 students in the University at
that time; at the end of his term of office there were 5,223. The
thirty-eight years of his administration not only covered a significant
period in the history of American education but it was as well a
critical time in the life of the University. In the years between 1871
and 1909 the University showed, once for all, that the experiment
involved in its establishment, the popularization of education and the
maintenance of a school system and a university by the State, was not
only justified but even more, it was extraordinarily successful.
While the University might have developed much as it has without the
guidance of President Angell, it may be questioned whether it would have
been as effective as a leader in the new movement. The principles which
underlie the state university system were stated well by the founders,
who incorporated the fundamental idea of popular education in the first
constitution of the State, and Michigan's first great President,
Chancellor Tappan, tried his best to make them practical. But he was
ahead of his time, and it was not until President Angell took the helm
that there was progress towards a true University. When he came Michigan
was s
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