THE UNIVERSITY

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22515, 4 September 1936, Page 13

THE UNIVERSITY

NEGLECT BY PUBLIC PROFESSOR'S CHARGES GENERAL AGREEMENT CAUSES AND REMEDIES The indictment of public apathy toward Auckland University College, made by Professor W. A. Sewell in an address to the Creditmen's Club was endorsed by several authorities whose opinion was sought yesterday. "The question which Professor Sewell has raised has been discussed many times in the past, and it is one, that should not be allowed to drop," said the president of the college, Mi*. T. U. Wells. "For my own part, I do not know why the public of Auckland seems to take so much less interest in the university and higher education than it docs in many other things." Mr. Wells spoke of the small sum of gifts and bequests the college had received. in comparison with the gerterosity lavished by Aucklanders upon charities and public amenities of all sorts. "Except for Sir John Logan Campbell's bequest of £20,000 for a chair of agriculture, now held at Massey College," he said, "the college has had no large benefactions. Of course, we possess a number of scholarships and prizes endowed by public ? spirited people, to whom we are most grateful, but there might well be more of them. Position of Local Bodies "I quite agree with Professor Sewell that the municipality is under an obligation to help us, but in the present state of the law it cannot do so. The professor's reference •to what is done in England hardly applies here, because many English municipalities are the educational authorities for their areas. For example, the London County Council, which provides tens of. thousands a year for the University of London, conducts an immense primary and secondary school system. "At the same time, we have an example of local educational work in the War Memorial Museum, which is supported by a levy on the local bodies of Greater Auckland and be3'ond. If they were empowered by law to help us in the same way, we could establish several more chairs and do a number of other things which we cannot afford to do now.

"We badly need more staff, the college library is hopelessly inadequate, and there are many other wants. Auckland people have not yet acquired the habit of being as generous to the university as they are to other good causes. If someone will give them a lead and the habit takes, root, we shall see a brighter future ahead." Separate University Needed

The president of the Auckland Institute and Museum. Sir Carrick Robertson, took the view that a separate university, if one could by any means be created, would quickly overcome the public's apathy. "I realise that a very large amount of capital would be needed to set such a university on its feet," he said, "but I feel sure that if any group of people were brave enough to start one it would get support. Under the present

system we have four university colleges competing for whatever money or advantages may be available, and- none is sure of getting its faiir quota. "Auckland is not too small to maintain a self-contained university. Brisbane has one, including a medical school, and in my vievr an Auckland university should have a medical school

in course of time, an engineering school and residential halls. ][f it were not residential it could not fulfil all the functions of a university. Perhaps it might not be too much to hope that such a scheme could be launched at the centennial." Some Searching Questions A novel line of thought was opened tip by Mr. A. M. Seaman, a past president of the Associated Chambers of Commerce and of the Auckland chamber. Mr. Seaman lately resigned from the staff of Auckland University College after holding a pairt-time lectureship in accountancy for some 16 years. "In a great degree I agree with Professor SewelPs remarks," he said, "but 1 think that the matter goes deeper than his comments would indicate. Auckland University College has been operating for over 53 years. In that time many thousands of students havf passed through it, and a large propor- . tion have been graduates of-the university. These graduates and students have taken their, place in the community, largely in professional circles, but also in commercial life. "If the product of the university, diffused through the community for over half a century, has failed to create in that community a sentiment' favouring the university and a beneficent interest in its operations, is not that a reflection on the university itself? Materialistic Education

"Does it not mean that our.system of education generally, and our university education in particular, is such that it does not create in the minds of those who receive its benefits that belief in its advantages that would inspire them, as the leaven in the lump, to leaven the mass of the community and develop in those who have not had the opportunity of university training an appreciation of its value to the individual and to the community? "As I see the problem, the whole of our system of education is on a material basis, lacking in soul firom the primary stages upward. It is governed from beginning to end by examination requirements, and to most the examination is the be-all and end-all. That is not the

true spirit of education, for education is not mere learning, and I think the university in or.r midist suffers, as it does, from lack of community interest because it has not, in itself and by itself, been able to superimpose upon the materialistic foundation available to it those qualities that go to make tip a university spirit of such: virility as to impress the with the value of the institution." The College and the Centenary With reference to his comment that the university appeared to have been omitted from the arrangements for the 1940 centenary, Professor Sewell writes: "Since speaking to the creditinen on 'The Place of the University in the Community' I have had an opportunity, through the courtesy of the Mayor, of looking through the files relating to the centenary celebrations. I am satisfied that, as far as the Mayor is concerned, the college has been represented in all the preliminary deliberations equally with other organisations. "T ascertained for the first time today that the organisation has not yet reached tho point at which the college could have the importance in the centenary to which I think it entitled. The form of organisation proposed, however, makes it possible for the college to play a central part in the commemoration of the 1940 centenary and, from the conversation I had with the Mayor, 1 am convinced that there_ is within the framework of the organisation a mechanism for that co-operatiou in the future which I hold to be essential."