FRATERNITIES AND STUDENT ACTIVITIES
Clubs and societies, organized for almost every conceivable purpose, lay
and academic, have always played an important rôle in undergraduate
affairs and have formed the most characteristic avenue for
self-expression outside the class room. Many, if not most, of these
organizations have had only a brief existence. Others, in one form or
another, have continued through long periods, and have often exercised a
strong, though not always an obvious, influence in the whole fabric of
university life. Within the last twenty-five years, too, athletics have
come to have a predominant interest, but this aspect of student life at
Michigan will be discussed in a separate chapter. Aside from the
organizations which have accompanied this overwhelming preoccupation of
the masculine student, probably the most conspicuous evidence of the
gregarious tendencies of the undergraduate have been the fraternities,
and following the introduction of co-education, the sororities, as they
soon came to be called. After the great struggle between the Faculty and
the fraternities which culminated in 1850, the fraternities came to have
an acknowledged place in undergraduate affairs. New chapters soon
followed after the first three had made their place secure and within
thirty years or so several of the older societies had grown sufficiently
in prestige, and particularly in alumni support, to begin the practice
of owning their own fraternity houses that has now become the rule. The
first thought, nowadays, of any newly established fraternity is to find
ways and means for building or buying a chapter house.
At first, nearly two-thirds of the students were fraternity members; but
the extraordinary growth of the University soon reduced the proportion
of fraternity men. This came partly as a result of the relative slowness
of the national bodies to establish new chapters in competition with the
societies already on the ground, and partly because of the reluctance of
the fraternities themselves to increase the size of their chapters or to
take in students from the purely professional schools. For these reasons
the percentage of fraternity men was reduced to about one-third the
total number of students, a proportion which remained fairly constant
for many years. The rise of fraternities in the professional schools and
the comparatively recent establishment of many new fraternities,
however, has brought the percentage up somewhat, though the growth in
general attendance during the same period has prevented any marked
increase in the relative numbers of fraternity members over the
"independents."
Following the establishment of the first three fraternities, Chi Psi and
Beta Theta Pi in 1845 and Alpha Delta Phi in 1846, whose early
adventures have been noted, some twenty-eight other general fraternities
have been established. Among the first of these were Delta Kappa
Epsilon, 1855; Sigma Phi, 1858; Zeta Psi, 1858; Psi Upsilon, 1865; Beta
Theta Pi, which had lapsed and was re-established in 1867; Delta Tau
Delta, 1874, re-established 1900; Phi Kappa Psi, 1875; Delta Upsilon,
1876; Sigma Chi, 1877; Phi Delta Theta, 1864, re-established in 1887;
Sigma Alpha Epsilon, 1888, and Theta Delta Chi in 1889. Since 1890 this
list has been more than doubled and includes the re-establishment in
1902 of Phi Gamma Delta originally established in 1885, and Alpha Tau
Omega first established in 1888 and re-established in 1904.
[Illustration: THE TUG OF WAR ACROSS THE HURON
The Freshman losing in the annual Freshman-Sophomore Contests]
[Illustration: FOUR SOCIETY HOUSES
Psi Upsilon
Sigma Phi
Phi Delta Theta
Collegiate Sorosis]
There are now thirteen sororities in the University. The establishment
of the first one caused great amusement among the fraternities. This was
Kappa Alpha Theta, which came in 1879 but fell by the wayside six years
later and was not revived until 1893. The second arrival on the scene,
Gamma Phi Beta, came in 1882, followed by Delta Gamma in 1885, and
Collegiate Sorosis in 1886. The first professional fraternity to be
established was Phi Delta Phi, a law fraternity, which organized its
parent chapter in the University in 1869. It was not until 1882 that the
medical fraternity, Nu Sigma Nu, and the dental fraternity, Delta Sigma
Delta, established their Alpha chapters at Michigan. Since that time
fourteen more professional fraternities have appeared.
These fraternities, together with the three house clubs, Trigon,
Emerites and Monks, which in effect are maintained as fraternities,
bring the total number of these organizations in the University to
sixty-four, with an estimated active membership of something over 2,000
University men and women.
The first fraternity to establish a chapter house was Alpha Delta Phi,
which occupied in the college year 1875-76, the old "Octagon House,"
later the home of Professor Winchell, on the site of the present Hill
Auditorium. The present Psi Upsilon chapter house on the corner of South
University Avenue and State Street was, however, the first chapter house
built for that purpose. It was erected during the year 1879-80 and
preceded by four years the erection of the old Alpha Delta Phi house,
the second fraternity house to be built. Sigma Phi occupied, in 1882,
the old home of Professor Moses Coit Tyler, on the beautiful site of the
present chapter house. The Delta Kappa Epsilon house was built in 1889;
the old Governor Ashley property on Monroe Street was bought by Delta
Upsilon in 1887; Zeta Psi bought the property on which the present house
stands in 1890; while Phi Kappa Psi bought, in 1893, the picturesque
Millen property on the triangle between Washtenaw and Hill streets they
had occupied for ten years, one of Ann Arbor's landmarks which has only
recently been removed to make way for a new chapter house. At the
present time practically all of the fraternities either own or rent
chapter houses; ordinarily purchasing the property with alumni
assistance, and issuing mortgages, largely held by the alumni, or the
national organization, for any unpaid balance.
A comparison of this record of fraternity establishment with similar
figures from other universities will show that Michigan was one of the
first of the larger institutions in which the fraternity system took
deep root. Student life at Michigan has always been colored by it, and
the mass of students, from the first, has been divided into fraternity
and non-fraternity elements; an unofficially recognized distinction
which has had far-reaching effects in all student affairs, particularly
class-elections, student athletics, journalism, and general society
membership. The "independent" suffers no particular social disability,
save as he misses the pleasant club life of the fraternity. Often, if he
is a man of marked ability, he finds his independence a distinct
advantage in college affairs, for non-fraternity men have always been in
sufficient majority to see that the choice positions go to the
"independent" representatives. Within the fraternities, too, there has
always existed a division between the older and the more recent
organization which was, for a long time, almost as marked as the
division between fraternity and non-fraternity men. This came through
the rivalry that arose between two groups of fraternities. The first,
known as the "Palladium," took its name from an annual, first published
in 1859, which came to represent the interests of nine fraternities in
college up to 1876, while a second group was made up of the fraternities
established after that date. The break came through the establishment of
an "anti-secret" fraternity, Delta Upsilon, which the older fraternities
refused to recognize though it later assumed a passive rôle, and became
merely non-secret. This organization, however, with the addition of the
new fraternities as they were established, formed an opposition to the
older societies who stubbornly maintained their control of the
_Palladium_. This continued until 1891 when the _Palladium_ finally
absorbed the _Castalian_, the annual of the independents, and _Res
Gestae_, the law annual, and became at last a representative University
publication.
Although in 1897 the name was changed to the present _Michiganensian_,
the spirit of the old "Palladium," as an inner ring of fraternities,
still existed, particularly in the administration of the annual Junior
Hop, which had been a definitely organized student event at least as far
back as 1877, and had been preceded by a similar ball given by the
Seniors since 1868. The older fraternities long maintained an exclusive
control of the Junior Hop. But in 1896 the out-fraternities and the
independents protested to the Regents, who sustained their contention,
that the Hop, given in the University buildings, should include
representatives from the entire Junior class. The Palladium fraternities
refused to participate, and that year two "Hops" were given, one by
eight fraternities in Toledo, D.K.E. not being represented, and one in
the Gymnasium by the more recent fraternities and the independents. The
question arose again the next year but was eventually settled by a plan
of organization admitting representation upon the committee from all
fraternities and the independents in rotation.
The establishment in 1914 of an Inter-Fraternity Conference marked a
further step in the relations of these organizations to the University.
For some time "the fraternity situation," as it was usually spoken of,
had been increasingly unsatisfactory. Ideals of scholarship were low, or
non-existent, in practically all of the fraternities. The Junior Hop had
become so uncontrolled and extravagant that the Faculty had abolished
it,--while "rushing" methods, particularly the practice of pledging boys
long before they were ready for college, called for drastic action. This
was strongly recommended by the Committee on Student Affairs in its 1913
Report, and the fraternities were accordingly given notice to "clean
house." The result was the establishment of the Inter-Fraternity
Conference and the adoption of a constitution just in time to avoid
decisive action by the University authorities, but not without great
opposition from the Palladium group. The most striking provisions of
this constitution are: the abolition of premature pledging through a
provision that all pledging must be done in Ann Arbor and not before the
tenth day previous to the opening of classes; the prohibition of any
freshman living in a fraternity house, a rule since modified; and most
important of all, a provision that no initiate shall have less than
eleven hours of credits of at least C grade, and that no student on
probation or warning shall be initiated. The sororities took similar
action in a provision limiting the amount and character of the rushing
and establishing a fixed day for the extending of "bids" to be sent out
from one central office.
These efforts have all had a most favorable effect on fraternity
scholarship and general deportment, which has been further stimulated by
the publication of a scholarship chart showing the exact relative
standing of all the fraternities and house clubs in the University. This
has revealed a gradual rise in the average of fraternity scholarship,
though few fraternities, it must be acknowledged, have ever exceeded the
average for the whole student body, which is between C and B grades.
There is significant evidence of the success of co-education, too, in
the fact that few sororities have ever fallen below this average. The
publication of this chart has at least had the effect of establishing a
healthy rivalry among the fraternities as regards avoiding the last
place on the list, whatever their attitude may be as regards first
place; while the scholastic standings of the various fraternities proved
their value immediately as an argument with prospective initiates,
something almost inconceivable fifteen years ago. The unequivocal
evidence furnished by these charts has also led to numerous
investigations and subsequent action on the part of the alumni of many
of the fraternities.
Student journalism, though it reflects in the rise and fall of paper
after paper the changing complexion of successive student generations,
is, after all, one of the best mirrors of undergraduate life. It is no
surprising matter, therefore, even though it is to be regretted, that no
student journal has survived from the University's earlier period,
although the _Michiganensian_ has a gallery of ancestors which, at
least, establishes its lineage. In the very earliest period, whatever
literary efforts there were, were lost or preserved only in the
manuscript papers of the early literary societies, which provided the
only practical outlet for the student who wanted to write. Paper and
printing were too expensive for actual publication, so it was not until
June, 1857, that the first real student paper appeared, with the
impressive title of _Peninsular Phoenix and University Gazetteer_, a
semi-annual four page sheet whose first page was devoted to lists of
University officers and secret-society members, while its existence as a
gazetteer was justified by a very few "connubial" items.
The title of this publication was truly prophetic for its successor,
_The University Phoenix_, arose from its ashes the following
November,--in the form of an eight-page monthly, the first number of
which was largely devoted to a long editorial, an article on the
University Museum of Arts, and another on the Detroit Observatory. This
was published by Green and Company, an organization which consisted of
one S.B. Green, a student of the class of '60 who was a printer, and a
non-existent company, though it was supposed to have the support of the
three literary societies. Another publication which had appeared between
the two issues of the _Phoenix_ was the one issue of the University
_Register_.
Though a list of fraternity men was published in all of these sheets,
the fraternities were not satisfied and decided to establish a paper of
their own. Thus was born, in 1859, the _Palladium_, a four-page paper
which for some time appeared semi-annually. As the first issue was
apparently listed as number 2, it is probable that it was considered the
reincarnation of the _Phoenix_. In the issue for December, 1860, the
editor reveals the fact that 800 copies were printed at a cost of $85.
It was then a booklet of less than 50 pages, bound in glazed paper, with
almost no literary matter included, although the first number did
contain a "Freshman Song," the first bit of Michigan undergraduate
verse. Eventually, as we have seen, it became part of the
_Michiganensian_.
The _Palladium_ was not long without a rival, which came with the
establishment of the _Independent_, "a small quarterly of some forty
violently written pages," illustrating "not only the bitter feeling
between the societies and the independents, but also the hostile
attitude of students towards the Faculty." It lasted for just four
issues and was succeeded by the _University Magazine_, which quietly
died after one gasp, leaving the independents with no representation
until 1866 when the _Castalia_ appeared. This survived through five
issues, not to appear again until 1890 when the independents revived it
as the _Castalian_, also merged in 1893 in the _Michiganensian_.
A combination of two publications which followed the old _Castalia_ in
1867, the _University Chronicle_, an eight-page fortnightly of sometimes
"rather hot discussions," and the _University Magazine_, which had been
a most creditable student enterprise, produced one of the long-standing
student papers, the _Chronicle_, the first number of which appeared in
September, 1869. For the first few years of its existence, it was one of
the best college papers in the country, though it made great capital of
the hostile attitude of the students towards the Regents and Professors
and undertook to speak boldly of "the evils that have crept into the
University through the mismanagement of the Regents." It appeared at
first as a large 16-page pamphlet, three columns to the page. At the
same time the _Chronicle_ was established, a sophomore annual appeared,
_The Oracle_, which had a long and checkered career as a champion of
co-education.
This triumvirate of student journals held sway with only occasional
rivalry until a disputed election in 1882 resulted in the establishment
of a new fortnightly, the _Argonaut_, as a rival to the _Chronicle_.
This journal became a weekly in 1884. The two soon became the organs of
opposing fraternity factions, and assuming a political rather than a
literary character, lost ground rapidly. An eventual consolidation did
not save them and the last number of the combined journals appeared in
1891. They were succeeded by two new ventures, the _Daily_, which was
started in September, 1890, still with us as an institution in
undergraduate life, and the _Inlander_, whose long and honorable, if
somewhat spasmodic, career as a literary magazine only came to an end
finally in 1918. _Wrinkle_, Michigan's first humorous paper, appeared in
1893 and was immediately popular. It survived until 1905, when it also
died of inanition, to be succeeded after a few years by the present
_Gargoyle_ of varying merit. With the first discontinuance of the
_Inlander_, about the same time _Wrinkle_ died, the student body was
left with only the _Daily_ and the _Michiganensian_ as unsatisfactory
vehicles for purely literary efforts, save occasional fugitive sheets
which usually passed away almost before they appeared. In 1916 the
_Inlander_ was re-established but seemed unable to make a place for
itself and was succeeded in 1919 by the present _Chimes_. Of
departmental publications only the _Technic_, established by the
engineers in 1885, is still in existence and thus may honorably claim to
be the oldest student journal in the University.
Uncertain and varying as the careers of most of these publications have
been, they have filled their place in the student scheme of existence;
at least they have given valuable experience to their amateur editors
and publishers and have been a needed vehicle for the expression of
student opinion. The long list of editors includes the names of many
alumni who have made their mark, not only in the world of letters, but
in many other fields. The papers that survived longest usually lived by
virtue of their independence; those that died, did so because they
filled no recognized need or were too crude or too conscientiously
academic. Of the present-day publications, the _Daily_ and the
_Michiganensian_ are apparently fixtures. The _Daily_ sometimes tries
all too apparently to ape the defects and not the merits of the greater
journals and suffers from a constantly changing personnel and lack of
experienced editors, but it is improving and benefiting through a
certain degree of co-operation with the classes in journalism in the
University. The editor and business manager are given a salary and are
subject to close supervision by the Board in Control of Student
Publications, which has so wisely administered the affairs of the
various papers that a fund of some $30,000 has been saved towards the
establishment of a University Press. The same is true of the
_Michiganensian_, which has come to be of impressive bulk, and is
usually on the whole a well edited and printed annual reference book
with numerous illustrations and data concerning all of the student
organizations. A directory of students in the University is also
published under the supervision of the Board in Control as well as a
tri-weekly paper, the _Wolverine_, by the students of the Summer
Session. The alumni publication, the _Michigan Alumnus_, which first
appeared in 1894, will be mentioned in a later chapter.
Interest in public speaking and debating has existed almost from the
first days of the University, though it was only after the establishment
of the Department of Oratory that instruction began to be given
systematically and consecutively. Before that time, some elocutionary
training had been given by Professor Moses Coit Tyler in combination
with his work in English Literature, and later by President Hutchins,
then instructor in Rhetoric and History, who introduced what was then
known as the Junior Debates. These were continued by his successor,
Isaac N. Demmon, who was to become in a few years Professor of English
Literature. The great increase in the work in composition and public
speaking which came with the broadening of the course of study in 1878,
however, led to the abandonment of these debates and instruction in the
subject fell to a low ebb until Professor Trueblood came in 1884 to give
one-third of his time to this work. His success in this field eventually
led to his appointment as Professor of Oratory in 1890.
But if the powers that be were slow to recognize the desire of the
students for instruction in public speaking, there were many more or
less unofficial avenues for those who desired to give vent to their
oratorical impulses. Two escape valves existed almost from the first,
the old literary societies, and the class exhibitions and Commencement
programs which have been mentioned. The first literary society, Phi Phi
Alpha, was organized in 1842, to be followed, after an internal struggle
in the older society, by Alpha Nu, which has survived to the present
time and has long been the oldest of student organizations. Adelphi, the
other existing society, was not started until shortly before the demise
of Phi Phi Alpha in 1860. The traditional programmes of these societies
were largely orations, essays, and concluding debates in which such
momentous questions as,
_Resolved_: That the benefits of novel reading will compensate for
its injuries.
_Resolved_: That we have sufficient evidence for belief in ethereal
spirits.
_Resolved_: That brutes reason.
_Resolved_: That woman has as much influence in the nation as man.
_Resolved_: That students should not form matrimonial engagements
while in college.
These societies also maintained literary papers. Phi Phi Alpha had the
"Castalia," Alpha Nu, the "Sybil," and Adelphi, "The Hesperian." In 1868
they established a series of prize contests, debates for sophomores and
juniors, and orations for seniors. For these first and second prizes
were awarded at public exhibitions, which never failed to arouse great
interest. This traditional emphasis on public speaking has been
maintained consistently down to the present time, and many distinguished
alumni of the University have been numbered among the contestants.
For many years the two societies Alpha Nu and Adelphi have occupied two
rooms on the fourth floor of University Hall, the only student
organizations entirely independent of Faculty patronage thus recognized.
Why they have not come to occupy the prominent place that two similar
organizations hold at Princeton, the Clio and Whig societies, whose two
marble temples are one of the distinguishing marks of Princeton's
Campus, is a matter for speculation. Probably the fact that Princeton
long remained a college while Michigan early became a university with a
more inclusive curriculum, will best explain it. As it is, however,
these societies have in the past done a great service for the University
and deserve to survive. They are not, however, the only student
organizations which have had exercise in public speaking as their reason
for existence, for many such have come and gone, only to be remembered
by their own student generation and by the heavy weight of their
classical names. Such were a multitude of debating clubs which sprang up
in the "60's" under such impressive titles as "Homotrapezoi,"
"Philozetian," "Panarmonian," or, in the Law Department, the less
pretentious "Douglas," "Clay," and "Lincoln" Societies which were the
forerunners of the present Jeffersonian and Webster Societies. A
latter-day organization has been the long popular "Toastmaster's Club"
which aims to perpetuate the doubtful joys of after-dinner oratory.
Other means of self-expression for those oratorically bent, were those
formal exhibitions of which the long-popular annual Junior Exhibition
was the most prominent. Nowadays, the only vestige of student
participation in programs of this character remains in the annual Class
Day Exercises.
Another organization which stimulated interest in platform speaking was
the Students' Lecture Association, which was until recently one of the
most successful undergraduate enterprises. It was organized in
September, 1854, and continued for nearly sixty years to bring
distinguished and sometimes, judged by later-day standards,
undistinguished speakers before student audiences. It ceased to exist in
1912, but only after the broadening interests of the University began to
attract to Ann Arbor many prominent visitors whose addresses have been
usually given free of charge, while at the same time the multiplication
of other forms of entertainment lessened the attractions of the
traditional lecture course. But an association which, in its day,
brought to Ann Arbor such men as Emerson, Bayard Taylor, Horace Mann,
Wendell Phillips, Theodore Parker, Henry Ward Beecher, Winston Spencer
Churchill, Henry M. Stanley, Wu Ting Fang, and Presidents Harrison,
McKinley, Cleveland, and Wilson, played no minor rôle in University
life. That the privilege of hearing some of these speakers was not
always properly appreciated is shown by the comments of the editor of
one of the local papers on a lecture by Emerson.
The subject of the lecture was "Human Beauty," rather a singular
subject, it strikes us, from so homely a man as Mr. Emerson. Mr.
Emerson is not a pleasing speaker--in fact, is an awkward speaker,
and yet he demands the utmost attention of every hearer.
With the gradual organization of the Department of Oratory, public
speaking soon came to have a recognized place among student interests,
and eventually inter-collegiate debates and contests were organized to
stimulate student interest. These were first inaugurated by the
Oratorical Association, which, soon after its establishment in 1889,
issued an invitation to neighboring universities to form an Oratorical
Union. This resulted in the Northern Oratorical League, which has long
maintained an annual series of inter-collegiate contests and debates.
The representatives of the University are selected only after several
contests and preliminary debates in the various societies, with an
average of at least fifty candidates participating. Michigan has always
maintained a leading position in this form of undergraduate activity and
of the twenty-nine inter-collegiate contests in which she has taken part
she has won nine first honors and four second honors. The University has
also participated in some sixty-four inter-collegiate debates, of which
she has won forty-two; her nearest rival being Northwestern, with nine
victories. Eleven of these debates were won in succession, and
twenty-four by the unanimous decision of the judges.
This form of inter-collegiate rivalry has been greatly stimulated by a
medal and testimonial of $85 given to the winner of the annual
University Contest by the Chicago alumni and by similar prizes to the
winners of the inter-collegiate contests and debates.
Interest in the drama on the part of the students was of comparatively
slow development, though in recent years it has come to be one of the
most conspicuous "student activities." While a "Shakespeare Club"
existed as early as 1860, the stage did not hold a particularly high
place in public regard in the University's earlier years, and good plays
were seldom seen in Ann Arbor. The celebrated actress, Mrs. Scott
Siddons, gave several recitals in the seventies, while a performance of
_Hamlet_, given in 1879 by Lawrence Barrett, was received with the
highest praise. His visit gave an impetus to dramatic affairs and led to
the organization of a Barrett Club which gave a performance of _Dollars
and Cents_ in 1880--the first recorded amateur dramatic performance in
the University. But it was not until two years later that the
University's dramatic history may be said to have begun with the two
Commencement plays, the _Adelphi_ of Terence, given in Latin under the
direction of Professor Charles M. Gayley, '74, and Racine's _Les
Plaideurs_, in French, under Assistant Professor Paul R. de Pont of the
Department of French.
From that time on interest in college dramatics steadily increased.
Professor de Pont, whose interest in student life never flagged, took a
leading part in the presentation of several plays, and one opera,
Gilbert and Sullivan's _Iolanthe_ (1883), by companies of students and
faculty members. Largely through his efforts a University Dramatic Club
was organized in 1885 and gave such plays as _A Scrap of Paper_ (1885)
and _The Memoirs of the Devil_ (1888), which "caused the student body to
sit up and take notice." Plays of this lighter character were all that
were attempted until 1890, when another Latin play, Plautus'
_Menaechmi_, was given so successfully under the direction of Professor
J.H. Drake, '85, that it was later presented in Chicago. This was the
last effort in classical drama until twenty-six years later, when the
_Menaechmi_ was repeated with great success in Hill Auditorium on March
30, 1916. This was followed in 1917 by Euripides' _Iphigenia Among the
Taurians_, given by the students in Greek, for which special music in
the ancient Greek modes was written by Dr. A.A. Stanley.
The old Dramatic Club was eventually disbanded in the early '90's, only
to be succeeded by another student organization, the still existing
Comedy Club, which has had a varying career. Soon after its organization
it became an exceedingly close corporation among certain fraternities
and confined its offerings to light comedies and farces of the type that
offered no great difficulties, such as _The Private Secretary_, _All the
Comforts of Home_, and _My Friend from India_. A reorganization of the
Club in 1908 made membership dependent upon real ability, and since that
time Farquahar's _Recruiting Officer_, (1908); Barrie's _Admirable
Crichton_, (1909); Gogol's _Inspector_, (1910); Percy McKaye's
_Scarecrow_, (1914), and Barrie's _Alice Sit by the Fire_, (1919), are
fairly representative of the plays given.
The reorganization of the Comedy Club came largely because of the
successful efforts of the Deutscher Verein and the Cercle Français, to
give a series of the best plays in German and French literature. The
list of these productions has been a long and creditable one, those in
German including, after their first performance, _Der Hochzeitsreise_
by Benedix, in 1904; _Die Journalisten_, (1906 and 1912); _Minna von
Barnhelm_, (1908); _Egmont_, (1909); and _Der Dummkopf_, (1911). Since
the French Circle made its début in 1907, with _Les Deux Timides_ by
Labiche, and Molière's _Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme_, several other
comedies by Molière have been most successfully given; as well as
Beaumarchais' _Barbier de Seville_, (1909); Rostand's _Les Romanesques_,
(1911); and Pailleron's modern comedy _Le Monde ou l'On s'Ennuie_,
(1912).
Somewhat different from these revivals of the best in dramatic
literature, have been the far more popular Michigan Union Operas,
written and produced almost entirely by students. Originally designed as
a means for raising funds for the Union, always needed, particularly in
the earliest days, they speedily became an institution in undergraduate
life. All the librettos, with one or two exceptions, have been the work
of students, and the same is true of the music, which has often
developed an extraordinary vein of undergraduate talent. In fact, more
than once it has been the music which has given these operas their chief
merit. Save for one war-time emergency, when University women
participated, the entire cast has always been recruited from the men of
the University and the burlesque of the "chorus girls" has always been
one of the perennial charms of the opera in undergraduate estimation.
The first opera, given in 1908, was entitled _Michigenda_ and became
instantly popular, not only because of its novelty and the excellence of
its music, but also because its plot was built about the local color of
undergraduate life, a precedent which, unfortunately, has not always
been followed in later operas. The 1920 opera, _George Did It_, was
artistically as well as financially the most successful of the Union's
productions. Five or six performances are usually given in Ann Arbor,
and of late years a trip during the spring vacation through the cities
of Michigan and occasionally to Chicago has drawn large audiences of
alumni and others, attracted by the real merit and novelty of this
student effort. Not to be outdone by the men of the University, the
junior class women have also, for some years, presented a similar
extravaganza which, though not open to the general public, is always
noted for its cleverness and real humor.
For some twelve years also a feature of the Commencement program has
been the annual play given by the senior girls, usually on Tuesday
evening of Commencement Week. The list of plays presented includes, _She
Stoops to Conquer_, (1905); _The Knight of the Burning Pestle_, (1906);
_Cranford_, (1908); Euripides' _Alcestis_, (1912), in which the
classical entrance to Alumni Memorial Hall was used most effectively;
_Prunella_, (1914); _The Piper_, (1916); and in 1919, Percy McKaye's _A
Thousand Years Ago_. Within recent years, "Masques," an organization of
University women, has given unusually artistic performances of Pinero's
_The Amazons_, (1918), and Barrie's _Quality Street_, (1919). The
Department of Oratory has also interested itself in the drama and is
responsible for several well-considered presentations of such plays as
Galsworthy's _Silver Box_; Kennedy's _The Servant in the House_, (1916);
Ibsen's _Pillars of Society_, (1917); and Masefield's _Tragedy of Nan_,
(1918).
Contemporary interest in pageantry has likewise not been without its
effect in the University, as was shown by a praiseworthy though perhaps
over-ambitious pageant, _Joan of Arc_, given under the auspices of the
Woman's League on Ferry Field in 1914, and a less elaborate but more
effective celebration of the Shakespeare Centenary two years later,
entitled _The Queen's Progress_, given in Hill Auditorium. The
Cosmopolitan Club, composed of the foreign students, has also taken
advantage of the same spacious stage to give two elaborate
entertainments in 1916 and 1917, an _All-Nation Review_, and _The Magic
Carpet_.
This brief outline of student dramatic efforts in recent years reveals a
multiplicity of interested organizations as well as a wide variety of
offerings. Necessarily this has given rise to rivalries and sometimes
inadequate preparation, though it has stimulated a vital and intelligent
interest in the drama as an actual form of artistic expression. One of
the greatest needs these student actors and their Faculty directors
experience, is a university theater which will, in effect, be an actual
dramatic workshop. These conditions have led to the recent organization
of a University Dramatic Society, composed largely of members of the
Faculty and a few students, whose aim is to correlate the work of the
various dramatic organizations of the University and to arouse interest
in the project for a Campus Theater. As a producing organization it made
its bow in December, 1919, when, with the co-operation of the Michigan
Union, it produced a most finished performance of Reginald DeKoven's
operetta, _Red Feather_.
The first mention of any musical organization in the University occurs
in some reminiscences of the class of 1846. Winfield Smith says that the
flute was very popular in those days, and that "several could be heard
in different rooms when the windows were open on a summer evening." A
quartette orchestra was organized by John S. Newberry, '47, while the
first vocal music was started by Fletcher Marsh, of the first class to
graduate, in 1844, which "rapidly developed into a good chorus." Dr.
Nathaniel West, '46, tells of the fine singing in the chapel exercises
of his time, with "excellent support from a University Band of nine
pieces." With evident pride he confesses: "This hand used to slide the
trombone and sometimes the cornet."
Interest in music apparently continued and was actively fostered by
Professor Frieze after he came to the University. An exceptionally fine
musician himself, he presided at the organ in one of the local churches
for many years, and took every occasion to encourage good music among
the students. The early numbers of the _Palladium_ and its rivals
mention many ephemeral musical organizations beginning in 1859 with a
nine-piece orchestral club, "Les Sans Souci." Evidently the name was too
much for this modest effort and the same or a similar organization
appears as the "Amateur Musical Club" the following year. The same issue
of the _Palladium_ also lists a University Choir of four persons. After
that time hardly a year passes without vocal and instrumental musical
organizations in some form; in 1863 we have the "Junior Glee Club," and
the "Sophomore Æolians," while in 1865 a "Cremona Club" appears. In
1867-68 the first "University Glee Club" of eight members was organized
and in 1870, the senior year of its members, it gave some twenty-six
most successful concerts throughout the State. They appeared in
University caps, apparently something entirely new, as some thought they
were members of a fire company, while others "mistook them for Arabs
from Forepaugh's circus." The example set by this successful club, to
which belongs the credit of elevating and popularizing college songs,
was not immediately followed, however, and there were several years when
the glee club was dormant. With its effectual revival in 1884, the
history of the University Glee Club has been continuous to the present
time. It was supplemented in 1889-90 by the Banjo Club and in 1895 and
1896 by the Mandolin Club--and after that time the triple organization
went by the name of the University Musical Clubs. The first extended
trip was taken in 1890 when the organization visited several Michigan
cities, and also Chicago, Madison, Minneapolis, and St. Paul. In 1896
the trip went as far afield as Salt Lake City, an extensive itinerary
which crippled more than one cash balance. Since that time, under more
careful management, several most successful trips have been made to the
Pacific Coast.
The various University orchestras and musical clubs supplied the
University's needs until, in 1895, the University Band was organized.
This suffered a precarious existence, though much appreciated by the
students, until in 1914 the Regents made an appropriation for its
support which enabled it to blossom out as one of the most creditable
college bands in any American University. Not only does it play at all
football and baseball games, but it has come to be indispensable during
such occasions as the annual Commencement.
Though not strictly a student organization, the University Musical
Society and the Choral Union, since their organization in 1879-80, have
had as their main object the musical welfare of the student body, and so
successful have they been in their effort, that Ann Arbor has become one
of the musical centers of the country. The modest concerts first given
by the Choral Union, composed largely of students, prepared the way for
the establishment in 1893 of the annual May Festival, which has become
an established event of the University year under the energetic and able
direction of Dr. A.A. Stanley, who has well accomplished the task he
set himself when he came to Ann Arbor in 1888, to create a true musical
atmosphere in the University of Michigan. The number of concerts given
under the auspices of the Choral Union, including the May Festival
Concerts, now totals 318.
The gregarious club-forming habit, as we have seen, began as far as the
University is concerned almost with the admission of the first class. A
list of such organizations might be compiled from old _Palladiums_ and
_Michiganensians_, but it would be to little purpose. In most cases
these societies have been ephemeral, and if they did survive their own
generations, they soon lapsed into pale shadows, or faded away, with no
one to mark their passing. There are certain societies, however, which
have been in existence some time, that serve to mark a definite trend in
undergraduate life, though most of them reflect not so much scholastic
attainment as personal popularity. The most conspicuous of these is
"Michigamua," a society which was organized in 1902 as an all-senior
organization. It has always stressed the Indian tradition in its
practices and names, and has made a picturesque ceremony of its annual
"rope-in" of new members, who are surrounded on a certain day in spring
with a howling band of painted braves. Similar societies in other
departments and classes soon followed, and we now have the "Griffins,"
another all-campus society; "Druids," senior literary; "Sphinx," junior
literary; "Vulcans," senior engineering; "Triangle," junior engineering;
"Archons," junior laws; "Galens," medical; "Alchemists," chemical
students; "Craftsmen," Masonic students; "Quarterdeck," marine
engineering; as well as several similar societies among the women,
notably the "Senior Society" and "Mortarboard."
As for the real "honor" societies, those whose membership is in itself
an academic honor, there are several whose members are selected with
Faculty co-operation. These are best illustrated by Phi Beta Kappa, the
oldest inter-collegiate organization, which was established at Michigan
only after long opposition centering about the introduction of a marking
system, the absence of which was long a special characteristic of the
University. In spite of this, many alumni were elected at the time of
its establishment in 1907, upon the special recommendation of older
members of the Faculty whose co-operation had been requested. Five years
before the time when Phi Beta Kappa was established, Sigma Xi, a similar
organization, was inaugurated as a recognition of excellence in science.
Tau Beta Pi in engineering likewise came in the field in 1906. There
followed quickly, after this auspicious start, the following societies,
most of them of national scope; Alpha Omega Alpha, in the Medical
School; Tau Sigma Delta, in Architecture; Phi Lambda Upsilon, in
Chemistry; the Order of the Coif, and also the Woolsack, in the Law
School; Phi Sigma, in Science; Pi Delta Epsilon, in Journalism; Iota
Sigma Pi for women specializing in chemistry; and Phi Alpha Tau for
students in oratory. Analogous to these distinctions are the annual
appointments to the editorial board of the _Law Review_, open to the
best senior students in the Law School.
A society organized by upper classmen in 1900, "Quadrangle," for many
years maintained outstanding scholastic ability as well as a certain
degree of popularity as qualifications for membership. Its traditions
have perhaps changed somewhat through a too great, though perhaps
inevitable instructorial complexion and the abandonment of its original
emphasis on literature and the arts. Among the women a similar
association is found in "Stylus," a society established in 1908. Similar
societies, which emphasize the literary and scientific interests of
their members, are the University Branches of the American Institutes of
Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, the "Prescott Club" of students in
Pharmacy, the "Architectural Society," the "Commerce Club," and another
women's society, "Athena."
For some years there was a marked tendency in the University to form
sectional clubs, such as the "Rocky Mountain," "New York,"
"Pennsylvania," and "New England" clubs, usually with their own house
and dining-room, organized somewhat on the example of the fraternities.
The impulse, however, has lapsed somewhat, though the foreign students
in the University still maintain the "Cosmopolitan Club," a very active
organization with national affiliations, as well as a "Chinese Students
Club," a "South African Union," and a "Nippon Club."
In the earlier years the students came almost entirely from nearby towns
in Michigan, many registering from little hamlets now almost forgotten.
By 1850, however, almost one-third of the total of 64 students in the
academic department were from outside the State, some even hailing from
as far as New England. Ten years later almost half the 526 enrolled were
from other states than Michigan, with a sprinkling from Canada. The same
was true of the 1,112 students in 1870, though by this time practically
all sections of the country were represented--even California. Less than
half the students in 1880 were from Michigan, 642 out of a total
enrolment of 1,427, a condition that also held true in 1890, when the
proportion was 1,019 out of 2,153. But by 1900 Michigan was again
sending more than half the students in the University, 2,009 out of
3,440; and the same was true in 1910 with 2,832 out of 5,383 and again
in 1920 with 5,793 out of 9,401.
Professor Hinsdale in his "History" publishes a significant little table
showing that in 1870 the ratio of Michigan students to the population of
the State was one to 2,300. This ratio was increased slightly ten years
later and then dropped to one in 1,802 in 1890, one in 1,206 in 1900,
and to one in 992 in 1910. The 1920 census shows one in 636.
The enrolment of foreign students in the University is also significant.
Aside from students registering from Canada, who came almost from the
first, the first appreciable showing of foreign students came in the
eighties, with nine enrolled in 1880. In 1890 there were forty-three
including twenty-one from Japan, but ten years later the number had
dropped to nineteen. This was due partly to the fact that there were
only seven Japanese students, while the seven from Porto Rico and two
from Hawaii were no longer "foreign." The total, excluding fourteen from
the United States dependencies and twenty-five from Canada, was
sixty-eight in 1910. Of this number eleven students were from China; a
little band which grew to thirty-six in 1919, when they formed no
inconsiderable proportion of the 140 foreign students enrolled, strongly
organized for social and educational purposes and affiliated with
similar organizations in other universities. Japan sent eighteen and
South Africa twenty-eight the same year. Aside from these, seventy-four
were registered from Canada and fourteen from Porto Rico, the
Philippines, and Hawaii. Of late years there has also been a marked
increase of students from Central and South America.