Page:A History of the University of Chicago by Thomas Wakefield Goodspeed.djvu/516

 450 A HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO Nine months later, at the October Convocation, the President further said: Attendance is required of college students but is optional in the case of graduate and divinity students. It seems to be generally conceded that we have solved with a considerable degree of satisfaction the problem of chapel attendance. The problem was essentially solved in this simple manner. There was, indeed, no particular necessity for a student's attending a religious service every day. It came to be the rule that the chapel assembly for the men of the Junior Colleges was held on Mondays, and for the women on Tuesdays, for the Senior Colleges and the College of Commerce and Administration on Wednesdays. These assemblies were held in Mandel Hall. The College of Educa- tion held its assembly also on Wednesdays in Emmons Elaine Hall. That of the Divinity School was held on Thursdays in Haskell. The Chicago Theological Seminary, after affiliating with the University, held a chapel assembly in Haskell on Tuesdays and a devotional service on Wednesdays, and the Divinity School held a devotional service on Fridays. There were therefore eight public, official, religious services weekly, in addition to the preaching service in Mandel on Sunday morning. During much if not the whole of the first quarter-century there was a vesper service on Sunday afternoon, and other devotional meetings were being constantly held. The Young Men's Christian Association, organized the first year, persisted and became increas- ingly useful as the years went on. The Young Women's Christian Association, through a well-nigh unbelievable exhibition of narrow- ness on the part of some society which claimed that name as its exclusive possession, was compelled to change its name, and became the Young Women's Christian League. But it made the new name highly significant in the University's life, and did a splendid religious and social service for the women of the institution. There were other religious organizations representing the various Christian denominations and missionary and evangelistic interests. In the Annual Report of 1904-5, the President of the Christian Union said: A study of the detailed reports of the work of the religious agencies of the University would prove nothing less than a revelation to those who imagine