KANSAS STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 15 



of all students, was established, and most of these were given by 

 Professor Will. The students for the most part regarded him as 

 a hard student and forceful teacher, who presented all sides of 

 controverted questions, and who exacted hard work from the 

 members of his classes. 



President Pairchild made no notable change in College policies 

 after 1890, although minor alterations in the course of study and 

 the entrance requirements were adopted. It was a period of 

 anxiety when conservatism seemed wiser than to open the doors 

 to changes that might not be progress. Whether or not this was 

 really wiser cannot be said, and one's judgment will depend upon 

 his point of view. 



In 1897, the legislature passed a law reorganizing the Board 

 of Regents of the College and providing for new appointments to 

 it. The president of the College was taken off the Board, an ex- 

 officio member of which he had always been previously. When the 

 new Board organized, it held that the new law terminated, on the 

 first of the next July, the period of employment of every employee 

 of the College, from the president down. President Pairchild 

 declined to be a candidate for re-election and Professor Will was 

 elected president. 



The Will Administration 



The administration of President Will began July 1, 1897. 

 Nine members of the old Faculty were not re-elected, and two who 

 were re-elected declined to stay, leaving twelve of the old members 

 in service, with eleven new ones. The new Faculty revised the 

 course of study to a certain extent in July, increasing the opportu- 

 nity for specialization in agriculture and in engineering. 



During the fall term, after the new Faculty had gotten fairly 

 to work, a thorough reconsideration of the curriculum was made 

 and three courses of study were formulated, which were designated 

 as agricultural, engineering, and general. Each of these courses 

 required a greatly increased amount of work in history, economics, 

 and political science. The general character of each was indicated 

 by the name. In the spring, a four-year course in household 

 economics was prepared, and the catalogue for 189 7-' 9 8 shows 

 these four courses, which, with modifications and further specializa- 

 tions, have continued to the present. 



The beginning of systematic instruction by means of short 

 courses, for which very low entrance requirements are demanded, 

 was made in the offering of a course in dairying for the winter 

 term, 1898. This was received with much favor and served as a 

 starting point for the campaign which brought an appropriation 

 for a "dairy building" that gave ample quarters for the agri- 

 cultural department at that time. This building was not actually 



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