COSMOPOLIS

Evening Post, Volume CII, Issue 50, 27 August 1921, Page 7

COSMOPOLIS

COLUMBIA'S NEW HALL OF BABEL

HOME FOR FOREIGN STUDENTS.

American univeraities and other educational institutions are becoming bo famous in all parts of the world (says New York Times)- that this country is being thickly, settled with little colonies of foreign studente who wish to add the best of mod-'

em thought and learning to the stores of the wisdom of the ages which they have acquired in their native lands. Now the city is to have another inducement for foreign students. John D. Rockefeller jun., is to give 1,000,000 dollars for the construction of a home near Columbia University for the foreign students who come to<.this city to attend Columbia, New York University, City College: or /any of the many other public institutions' of learning in this city. Tfiis new hall of many tongues will be a Cos mopolis, whore Bast meets West in the field of learning. It will bo conducted by the Cosmopolitan Club, a part of tho Intercollegiate V.M.C.A. sysjfccm. For many years Columbia University has felt tho need of somo great hall in its vast educational system where newoomers to the institution could have a good place to live and get first-hand information about suoh vastly important things as the intricacies of the New York streets, our strange customs of subway travel, and that, even more strange puzzle to the correctly educated foreigner—the slang of the New Yorker. This new gift will benefit the nativeborn students of Columbia as well. Most of the foreign students at Columbia—and there were more than 500 there this yea* —wanted to live in the dormitories so that they could get close to the atmosphere of a great university and-at tho same time escape the horrors of the landlady who raised rent. The result was that there was a Chinese colony in Hartley Hall, with smaller colonies of other nations scattered through the entire dormitory system. Their departure for the new building of the Cosmopolitan Club will enable Columbia to provide rooms for scores of additional r American .students at tho low rates established by the university As for the foreign students,- they will bo »ble to _ burn incense, eat Turkish food, debate international problems in twentyeix different languages, and then get up and worship the sun—if they please. CHE COLOURFUL COSMOPOLITAN CLUB. The history of•• the Cosmopolitan Club n Columbia University ib long and pleasr uif, but now tho officers of the club look orwara to. tho expansion promised by a •apidly growing colony of foreign students tnd a. munificent gift that will tend to itimulato growth. That history began vhen the foreign students in this city yore numbered only in scores instead of mndrods and thousands. So many opportunities for acquiring cnowledgo and culture outside the regitar classrooms were offered by contact vith the foreign students in the univor-' lity that many Americans became >ers of the Cosmopolitan Club and joined he foreign students in all their quaint enertainments and ceremonials—for some of hem are very near that. Sometimes it #as a Turkish "dinner at some restaurant or tearoom near the university; or perhaps a dinner of dishes invented by the gindus, followed ;by a discussion of tho ritish naval policy by a, Chinese student, contradicted by a student from Chile and upheld by an Armenian. Or it might be a lecture by come professor from Columbia University, fallowed by a discussion jn which representatives of Columbia's forty nationalities clashed opinions and displayed various methods of handling the King'-s English. MAJORITY OF FOREIGN STUDENTS . FROM ASiA. The majority of the foreign students at Columbia University, and at other institutions in thia country, come from Asiatic oountries, and tho Columbia authorities expect that 'the number of students from the Far'.'East]will increase in "proportion to th 6 fctudents from other countries. The Bast is seeking the learning of tho West, and the gifts of Mr. Rockefeller and other philanthropists, and the work of American educators, aro making it more and more easy for them to come to America. The proposed new/home of the Cosmopolitan Club is to bo almost within the boundaneß of Columbia—the university of 30,000 students. There'will be rooms for f the students, dining halls, shower baths,; play rooms and gymnasiums, study rooms,' music rooms, meeting rooms, an assembly hall, and probably a, garden on the roof/ lhe building will be about ten stories high. Big as this place will be, it will not be large, enough to house even the foreign students at Columbia, if the present rate ot growth continues. Two years ago Columbia University'•had about 361 students from_foraign countries, or a little more than 5 per cent, of the total enrolment iv the regular schools and departments Tho number leaped to 477 last year, and this year the number is nearer 600 than 500. It is thought probable tfiat' it may go over 1000 next year, because hundreds of additional inquiries h».ve already been reoeived, with the Fall term mnuy months BULK OF STUDENTS FROM.CHINA. , In Columbia the bulk of foreign students come from China, on Chinese Government scholarships, from the income of funds set aside by this country from the Boxer indemnity, or on their own resources. About 144 were at the uni-re-ll In*. lM'/ elr Canada was second, 7q\o J, students, a great, inorease over 1919-20 w,hen only fifty-f our Canadians attended Japan was third last year, with eighty-two students, a slight deorfcase over 1919-20. Great Britain . and trance sent a dozen students each, with small* groups from about forty othe^ oountries. Many oatno from South America. vI» I¥)?. mP l. ete /Nfigures comPikd by the V.M.L.A. a Committee on Friendly R©lations Among Foreign Students show that about 10,000 foreign students aro attending college in this country this year. About 2000 are Chinese, 1000 Japan--s™' tlt° o°, from South American countries 300 Hindus, 50 Persians, 1400 Filipinos in colleges and universities and 600 in high Bohools. There are smaller groups from other countries. .. If Columbia is a typical institution, the majority of these students aro taking graduate courses and many are candidates the Doctor of Philosophy and ■?L£isil de Sre6S- O£ the 477 students m 1919-20, about 189 were taking courses in education and practical arts; about 117 were under the Graduate Faculties. and the others were Soattorod through the professional, schools and Columbia College. Now countries are exchanging students Twenty-four Belgiins come to this, country each yoar under the exchange system established by Herbert Hoover and tho Belgian Relief Commission. A Pan-Ameri-can Students' League has just been formed. Mexico wants to exchange students. The American-Scandinavian Foundation last year provided ten exchange fellowships. 'Six British sohplars are here: for their first year on scholarships provided by the Imperial College of Science and Technology, and more are coming. The number of these exchange students alone will soon run into hundreds. And are they good students? Their marks are above the average, and the places tiken by these students, particularly by the Chinese, upon their return to th«ir own oountries, prove that their training was not lost. ,Wellington Koo, a. |Columbia graduate, is Chinese Ambassador to Great Britain. • Others are prominent in banking, politics, railroading, and many other businesses in China. A Chinese graduate of the Columbia School of Journalism runs his own paper. Before the war tho Sorbonne in Paris had more than ~ .3000 foreign student*, but no other university in France had a number that would run this total within half of the present number at American universities. The number of foreign students in this: country equals the combined enrolment of Harvard, Yale, and Dartmouth last year. This makes America a world centre of education, and still they come. Who said we were provin vial?