Growth and Change in American Higher Education 1893–1910

Undergraduate Curriculum and Campus Life in the Late Nineteenth Century

The transformation of American universities between 1893 and 1910 was greatly aided by the fortunate coincidence of unprecedented industrial wealth and a new spirit of philanthropic generosity. Research has shown that American giving between 1893 and 1916 involved two important trends. First, the incidence of gifts and bequests increased dramatically — more than fivefold — over that quarter century. Second, the proportion of those gifts directed to colleges jumped from approximately 47 percent to around 75 percent (Thelin, 2004, p. 114).

To accommodate this growth, campuses were developed into large, complex facilities. The arrival of serious scientific inquiry in the late nineteenth century made clear that older colleges were severely under-equipped. The early-nineteenth-century campus library had functioned much like a museum, with limited circulation and short operating hours. The university library, by contrast, became a scholarly dynamo. Journal subscriptions, acquisition budgets, rare book rooms, archives, reference services, and study rooms fundamentally transformed expectations of what a library should offer. Observatory and laboratory facilities also expanded dramatically, coming to be seen as necessary workplaces subject to constant upgrading (Thelin, 2004, p. 130).

These changes in student life and campus facilities were closely tied to corresponding changes in the curriculum. Professors sought to exert a strong academic influence on undergraduate instruction, with a new emphasis on research. Science and utility were merged with liberal culture and piety. University builders moved toward a curriculum that progressed toward specialization, with juniors and seniors selecting a major field of study. This emphasis on specialization extended into graduate studies as well, where master's and doctoral candidates declared a particular field of concentration (Thelin, 2004, p. 129).

Thorstein Veblen often infuriated trustees and presidents with his brilliant, witty writings on the theory of the leisure class and conspicuous consumption. His satirical portrayals of university trustees as misplaced businessmen earned him both praise and scorn. He also created professional difficulties for himself through his personal conduct. When students complained that he had mumbled through the opening lecture of a semester, he agreed with them and suggested they find another class. When called to account by a president over rumors of affairs with women students and faculty wives, he neither denied the charges nor expressed remorse, shrugging his shoulders as if to dismiss them. Unsurprisingly, he was hired and fired by several leading institutions (Thelin, 2004, pp. 128–129).

Thorstein Veblen's Critiques and Their Validity

Veblen was atypical in both his brilliance and his obvious personal misconduct. He stands out historically because he tested the patience and principles of even those presidents and professors who most admired him and his ideas. His reform agenda leaned toward the advocacy of a technocracy — a planned society guided by expert engineers and characterized by efficiency (Thelin, 2004, pp. 128–129).

Veblen argued in his writings that the economic system of his day was governed by price fluctuations, and he maintained that the resulting inefficiency could be corrected by placing technical experts in charge of production and distribution. His philosophy expressed a deep concern about the unchecked power of business interests. His ideas influenced the development of economic policy, particularly policy that trended toward greater social control or governmental activity at a time when business dominated nearly everything. Veblen's thinking proved genuinely ahead of its time and was valid in many important respects. Had more people taken his ideas seriously in that era, the trajectory of American economic and social policy might have been considerably different.

During this period, a new conception of academic professionalism emerged that was essential to the creation of a university professoriate. The gradations of rank and promotion — instructor, assistant professor, associate professor, and full professor — became the standard. These ranks were tied to the institution conferring tenure and the privileges of academic freedom upon professors who had earned promotion. Academic freedom was institutionalized beyond the individual campus with the founding of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP). This organization was intended to provide assurance and redress for faculty members who claimed that their academic rights had been violated by aggressive presidents or hostile board members (Thelin, 2004, p. 128).

The formation of the AAUP paved the way for tremendous change. American colleges and universities, in their development from simple institutions to complex organizations, replaced the old-fashioned generalist professor with the academician — a trained specialist who understood the rights, privileges, and responsibilities of his or her profession (Rudolph, 1990, p. 417).