Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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OCT 1 2 1908 THE GAMECOCK PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY THE LITERARY SOCIETIES OF THE UNIVERSITY OF S. C. Vol. II COLUMBIA, S. C., OCTOBER 8, 1908 No. I OUR I HE Trustees of the University last July elected Dr. Samuel Chiles Mitchell to succeed Major Benjamin Sloan, who had re signed the presidency after a service of twenty years as professor, and six years as professor and president. Dr. Mitchell comes from South Carolina stock on both sides, and was born in Coffeeville, Miss., December 24, 1864. The closing days of President Sloan's administration were up to the high standard of efficiency which had marked his career, whether as a cadet at West Point, an officer in the Con federate army, or the head of the State University, and yet one, perhaps unconsciously, recognizes in these two men distinct types of the old and the new South. When Dr. Mitchell first saw the light, Major Sloan, in the full vigor of manhood, was serving in the doomed armies of the South with conspicuous gallantry. Major Sloan now retires to his Sabine farm with the love and good will of perhaps a thousand South Carolina collegians. Dr. Mitchell, hailed .by eminent au thorities as one of the leading "work ing idealists of the South," and as an eminent representative of "the new Southern statesmanship," will take ac tive leadership in the great campaign of education in South Carolina next June. -Dr. Mitchell received the degree of M. A. from Georgetown (Ky.) College in T888, was a student of the Univer sity of Virginia 1891-'92, Ph. D. Uni versity of Chicago 1899, L.L. D. Hampden-Sidney College 1905, D.,D. Furman University 1905. He was elected professor of history and Greek Mississippi College in 1889-'91, professor Latin Georgetown College 1891-'95,' professor history Richmond College since 1895. Dr. Mitchell's ac NEW PRES tivities, however, have not been con fined to the classroom; he has been as sociate editor of the Rcligious Herald, Richmond, president Anti-Saloon League of Virginia, 1901-3; member Richmond School Board, 1904-6; was rector Virginia Normal and Industrial Institute; president Co--operative Edu cational Association of Virginia ; trus tee Richmond Woman's College, Jeanes Fund; member advisory Board Association for Preservation of Virginia Antiquities; member Ameri can Historical Association; member Executive Committee Virginia Bible Society; Virginia Historical Society; Southern Education Board. He is the author of articles in the Enevelo pedia Americana and numerous contri butions to magazines. I)r. Mitchell married Miss Alice Virginia, daughter of the eminent Baptist theologian, the late Rev. Dr. John A. Broadus, at Louisville, Ky., on Junle 30, 1891. They have several children. Prof. W. H. Hand, who has for a number of years been intimately asso ciated with Dr. Mitchell in the new Southern educational movement, has IDENT0 kindly furnished this appreciation of his friend: "The Board of Trustees did an excel lent piece of work wlien it elected Dr. S. C. Mitchell to the presidency of the University of South Carolina. Dr. Mitchell is one of the strongest men in the South today. He is a man of the finest moral fiber, a fine scholar and a vigorous thinker, energetic and progressive, yet a man of very simple -tastes. To my mind he is peculiarly tted for the head of this institution. Any institution as old as this one, has its time-honored traditions. which go so far toward giving it a healthful growth or a wasting death. It is ever a serious question what to cherish and what to let die, what to cultivate and what to prune away. Dr. Mitchell is young enough to be vigorous and pro gressive, vet old enough to be sea soned and conservative. He has had upward of fifteen years' experience and training among a people noted for their conservatism and their respect for wholesome traditions. He is well able to recognize what is healthful here, and well able to graft upon it what is necessary to make the institu tion of the highest service to all classes of people in the State. He has very clear-cut ideas of the functions of such an institution as this-its obligations to every class of citizens, and its vital relationship with the common schools of the State. In the common school work he has for several years taken a leading part in the State pf Virginia. In a recent public address Dr. Mitchell emphasized the education of the neg lected white child and the democratiza tion of the ideals of our colleges as two of the most marked advances in education in the South. This utter ance has an excellent ring about it. It augurs good for the University and for the State." "C