Page:A History of the University of Chicago by Thomas Wakefield Goodspeed.djvu/160

 132 A HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO they would let me stay here and teach, and if the proposal were simply to go to Chicago and organize another University just like others which are already in existence, I would not think of it for a moment. It is the opportunity to do something new and different which appeals to me." This opportunity to organize a university on a new, and, as he believed, an improved pattern, finally drew him to Chicago. For many months before his formal election to the presidency Dr. Harper had been considering, more or less seriously, the plan on which the new institution should be organized. The friends of the enterprise had urged the consideration of this problem upon him. They had reminded him that he was the only educational expert among the Trustees, that on the educational plan the Trustees would look to him for guidance, and they had urged him to have such a plan ready for the September, 1890, meeting. He was assured that he was expected to accept the presidency which would be pressed upon him, and that the submission of such a plan would, therefore, necessarily fall on him. The question, therefore, was on his mind, but he could not bring himself to the study of it in real earnest for two reasons. In the first place he wanted a university in Chicago and desired to plan a university, while a college only was at that time contemplated. And in the second place, while he felt strongly drawn toward the leadership of the new institution, he could not feel that he ought to give up his position in Yale for the presidency of a college. No sooner, however, had he agreed with Mr. Rockefeller that he would accept the presidency if, by the addition of a million dollars to the funds, the way was opened for transforming the college into a university, and no sooner was the way opened and he elected President, than his mind grappled with the question of the educational plan with all the extraordinary concentration which was so characteristic of him. The months of brooding over the question, now that the way was open for planning for the university of his dreams, came to sudden fruition. While returning to New Haven after his election in September, 1890, he began to work on the plan, and before the end of the journey the broad outlines of it had been fully drawn up. According to his own statements, quoted elsewhere, it flashed upon him, suddenly assumed shape, and gave him immense satis-