Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 76.djvu/372

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368
THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY

states in its catalogue that all religious exercises which it conducts are "voluntary" such college shall not be classed as sectarian unless some stated restriction exists concerning the church affiliation of its president, or all or a part of its board of trustees.

Of the 203 colleges to be considered with reference to the above definition, the catalogues of 62 have been examined. No investigation has been made of the colleges of secondary rank listed in table 34 of the TJ. S. Rep. as "Colleges for women, Division B," of which 32 claim to be non-sectarian and one is not specified. The conclusions to be drawn for these 33 would doubtless be similar to those which we shall deduce from the remaining 70 colleges which claim to be non-sectarian. An examination of the catalogues of 63 of these 70 colleges gives the following results: In accordance with our definition, 16 of these institutions may fairly rank as non-denominational colleges. The remaining 47 out of 63, that is to say, 75 per cent., of the colleges examined, must be classed as denominational. It may be of interest at this point to state that all of the quotations made above from college catalogues, for the purpose of illustrating "denominational" practises of colleges, have been made from the catalogues of colleges disclaiming in those very catalogues that they are denominational colleges.[1]

Subtracting these from the number of non-sectarian institutions given in the U. S. Rep. and adding it to the number of sectarian ones there given, we then obtain the following more nearly correct statistics concerning the total 672 colleges and universities of the United States:

Public (52) Private (620)
National State City Non-sectarian Sectarian 461 Not Investigated
2 46 4 16 Sectarianism
admitted,
417
Sectarianism
denied,
47
Thirty-three women's colleges of secondary rank.
Seven colleges of primary rank.
7412%

What are the general conclusions to be drawn? It is evident that one of two things must be done. The denominational college must be entirely supplanted by the state college, placed in as numerous and methodical branches over the United States as are the high schools and grade schools at present. In each community of a certain number of

  1. The references for these quotations are as follows: Iowa College Bulletins, Vol. V., No. 2, pp. 7-8; No. 3, p. 4. Wellesley College Calendar, 1905-6, p. 21. Wabash College Catalogue, 1906, p. 11. Colorado College Catalogue, March, 1907, p. 120. Smith College Official Circular, Series 1, No. 2, 1905-6, p. 11. Western Reserve University (College for Women) catalogue for 1906-7, p. 59. Princeton University Catalogue, 1906-7, p. 255. New York University Catalogue, 1905-6, p. 179. Bryn Mawr Program, 1906-7, p. 45. Amherst College Catalogue, 1906-7, p. 6.