“ T E A C H I N G AT A U N I V E R S I T Y O F A C E R TA I N S O R T ”
54
a new college instructional building on the south campus should be given very high priority, since it “appeal[s] to me very strongly” and would “serve as a rallying point and unifying center for all Undergraduate life. . . . In my judgment such a building is an indispensable means of bringing about that unity of undergraduate life as distinguished from the life of the graduates which is desirable and which is entirely consistent with that measure of undergraduate participation in the life of the whole University which is itself also highly desirable.”92 Burton juggled his priorities repeatedly over the next two years, as he sought to fund a new medical center and to cover rising faculty salaries, but his commitment to a large-scale investment in the University’s undergraduate program was consistent, and in one proposal submitted to the board of trustees he allocated almost $2 million, out of a total to be raised of $10.7 million, to improving undergraduate education and new residence halls.93 Many years later, Harold Swift recalled about Burton’s support for undergraduate education that some senior faculty “reproached and reviled him for his emphasis upon the College. Mr. Burton won the battle but only after great difficulty.”94 What problems faced the colleges? First, rapid growth of undergraduate and graduate enrollments stressed the faculty after 1918 and in the Junior College level led to the appointment of a greater number of graduate-student teachers and other temporary instructors, whose performance in the classroom was often sub par. Second, student opinion 92. Burton to Swift, February 9, 1924, HJB Administrations, Box 60, folder 12. 93. “Needs of the University,” Sheet 3, February 9, 1924, ibid. 94. “Eighth Session,” p. 54, Lakeside Planning Conference, March 4–7, 1954, Office of the President. Kimpton Administration, Box 252, folder 1. Hereafter cited as Kimpton Administration.