Page:A History of the University of Chicago by Thomas Wakefield Goodspeed.djvu/445

 SOME IMPORTANT EVENTS 391 the Freshman just entering the Junior College up through all grades and all departments to the man doing the most advanced work and earning at the end of it his degree as a Doctor of Phi- losophy. In 1892 such a Summer Quarter was wholly unknown. Its incorporation into the plan of organization of a university was an unheard of innovation. To institute it would be a new experi- ment in university education. And at the outset the University began without a Summer Quarter. It opened with the Autumn Quarter in 1892, and there was no Summer Quarter in 1893. There were several reasons for this delay in beginning the new experiment. It was realized by the Trustees that it would be expensive and the money it would cost was imperatively needed for other purposes. During the summer of 1893 the World's Fair would absorb atten- tion. Its grounds were immediately adjacent to the University, and it was felt that this proximity would not conduce to serious study. Moreover the entertaining of visitors to the Fair in the dormitories would not only make the University favorably known to thousands of parents of possible students, but materially assist the needy treasury. President Harper hesitated about putting what he felt to be the great experiment of the Summer Quarter to the test until all the circumstances were favorable. His heart was set on its success. He believed it would be successful. But he would run no risk of even possible failure. It was decided therefore in July, 1892, three months before the University opened, that there should be no Summer Quarter in 1893. The second year 1893-94 showed an increase in attendance over the first year of about twenty-five per cent. The University was estabh'shed and growing, and it was felt that the institution of the Summer Quarter should no longer be delayed. In the early years Convocations were held at the beginning instead of at the end of the quarter. At the Convocation held at the beginning of the Spring Quarter, 1894, the President said: When next we meet in Convocation, the most serious experiment of the University will have begun the Summer Quarter. The provision for this quarter of the year's work has been made full and complete. During the twelve weeks two hundred distinct courses of instruction will be offered in thirty departments. The number of instructors during the Summer Quarter will be over eighty. The salaries for the quarter will be more than sixty