1889-1907: Before the First Student Came
The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign was one of the 37 public land-grant institutions established after the Morrill Land-Grant Colleges Act. The act was signed by Abraham Lincoln on July 2, 1862. The Morrill Act granted each state in the United States a portion of land on which to establish a major public state university.
At that time, Illinois was one of seven commonwealths that had not formed a state university. The grant established eligibility for 480,000 acres of public scrip land valued at $600,000.
According to the act, a land grant institute could teach agriculture, mechanic arts and military training, without excluding other scientific and classical studies.
From the day one as the university regent, Gregory firmly believed that:
“Education must fit for society and citizenship, as well as science and industry.”
“Man should be primarily educated as a human being and only secondary for his occupation.”
Gregory called for a university to produce “clear-headed, broad-breasted scholars, men of fully developed minds who would be valuable citizens capable of taking their places in legislative assemblies or other positions to which they might be called from their normal occupations.”
(Quoted from Harry Kersey’s book “John Gregory and the University of Illinois,” published by the Illinois University Press in 1968).
Gregory’s desire was to establish an institution firmly grounded in the liberal arts tradition. Therefore, the first three colleges he established were the College of Agriculture, Consumer and Environmental Sciences, the College of Fine and Applied Arts (then called the College of Literary Science), followed by The College of Engineering in 1868.
Essentially, Gregory’s proposed curriculum promoted the establishment of a classical liberal arts education in addition to the anticipated industrial and agricultural education.
The following is when the University of Illinois founded various Urbana-Champaign Colleges:
Agriculture, Consumer, and Environmental Sciences (1867)
Fine and Applied Arts (then called the College of Literary Science) (1867)
Engineering (1868)
Medicine (1882)
Library and Information Science (1893)
Applied Health Sciences (1895)
Earliest Chinese immigrants in Champaign/Urbana:
The earliest record of Chinese citizens living in Champaign-Urbana is in the 1890 census. In the 1900 census, there were only four Chinese residents in Champaign/Urbana. Champaign's 1910 census records only 16 Chinese community members (6). Although there was not a big population at the time, the relationship between Fang and James created a strong bridge for Chinese International students to attend UIUC. They were able to host 963 Chinese students between 1907-1954 and had over 200 Chinese PHD students between 1911-1960 (6).
The Era of Edmund James 1904-1920:
The ambition of President James for the university knew no bounds.
Global Positioning and making connections was very important.
James’ appointments, by 1920 had raised the number of faculty members to nearly 1000, were distinguished, scholarly, and youthful.
The enrolment had almost tripled in James era from 3734 to 9249 and by 1920 1/27th students came from out states.
On campus expansion, James encouraged the location of the State Geological Survey on UIUC campus; his goal for a new library “big enough to house a million books”; the Uni High Lab School opened in 1921;
James’ appointments, by 1920 had raised the number of faculty members to nearly 1000, were distinguished, scholarly, and youthful, such as,
Gustaf Karsten, who founded the Journal of English and Germanic Philosophy before, came to UI; William Noyes, from US Bureau of Standards to head UI Chemistry Dept; Henry Ward, gave up the deanship of Nebraska College of Medicine to head UI Dept. of Zoology, and Roger Adams, a chemistry scientist and scholar from Harvard University, and more.
Global Positioning and making connections
An international flavor characterized James era.
World famous scientists and scholars came to campus for several flourishing lecture series.
German, Chinese, Japanese, and Argentine ambassadors appeared at commencement programs.
Forging the Connection
The China-UI connection was initiated under rather unusual circumstances:
“In the opinion of the Government of the United States the coming of Chinese laborers to this country endangers the good order” —Chinese Exclusion Act (1882)
The federal Chinese Exclusion Act had made it almost impossible for ordinary Chinese to come to the US.
1900: The American and international forces took Peking, subdued the Boxer Rebellions and required the Qing government to pay a large reparation to them.
However, UI President James (who led UI from 1904 to 1920) had very different view.
Boxer Rebellion Indemnity - the overture of Chinese students coming to the United States
The Boxer Rebellions in 1898:
In 1898 groups of peasants in northern China began to band together in a secret society known in Chinese as Yi-he Quan (meaning Righteous and Harmonious Fists) commonly known in the West as the “Boxers”. At the first, the Boxers wanted to destroy the Qing Dynasty, which had ruled China for over 250 years, and to get rid of all undesirable foreign influences in China, which they considered as threats to Chinese culture. When the Qing Empress Dowager backed the Boxers, the rebellions turned solely toward removing foreigners from China. On June 18, 1900, Qing Empress ordered all foreigners to be killed and several foreign ministers and their families were executed before the international force could intervene. But on Aug. 14, 1990, the international force took Peking and subdued the rebellion and the international force required the Qing government to pay a large reparation to them.
The Boxer Rebellion occurring during 1898-1900 was crushed by an international force of British, French, German, Japanese, Russian, and U.S..
Facing such a strong force, the weak China government was forced to sign a final settlement agreeing to pay about $330 million in damages in 1901.
1905: President James and Minister Wu first met in Washington, D.C.
To ease Chinese resentment over the Exclusion Act, UI president, Edmund James, promoted an open door policy for all U.S. campuses.
1906: President James wrote a letter to United States President Theodore Roosevelt:
“China is upon the verge of a revolution. The nation which succeeds in educating the young Chinese of the present generation will be the nation which for a given expenditure of effort will reap the largest possible returns in moral, intellectual and commercial influence."
On receiving James Memo, US President Roosevelt replied on March 3, 1906:
Also in 1906, a pioneer American missionary and a Beloit graduate of class of 1867, Arthur H. Smith (明恩溥), suggested a Chinese Student Educational Plan to President Roosevelt. The main point of the plan was to return part of "the Boxer Rebellion Indemnity Fund to the Chinese government to be used to develop higher education in China, particularly by sending Chinese students to American colleges, where they would study American institutions and practices which, upon returning to China, they could help inculcate into Chinese life." (The Round Table, November 8, 1918, p.2)
On receiving Arthur Smith proposal, US President Roosevelt replied on April 3, 1906
UI President James’ effort with others’ successfully convinced the US government to use some of the surplus reparation money for scholarships and for creating a preparation school in Peking for the Chinese to come to study in the US. This school was initially called the American Indemnity College and later developed into and became the Tsinghua University.
Becoming very interested in this plan, President Roosevelt conferred with Chinese authorities and suggested it to Congress. In 1908 (May 25) a bill was passed by the U. S. Congress "authorizing the president to modify the Boxer indemnity from $24,440,778.81 to $13,655,492.69." (The Round Table, October 27, 1917, p.3) The balance was returned to China and used for Chinese students' education in the United States.
UI President James’ effort with others’ successfully convinced the US government to use some of the surplus/over claimed reparation money for scholarships and for creating a preparation school in Peking for the Chinese to come to study in the US. This school was initially called the American Indemnity College and later developed into, what it is known as now, the Tsinghua University.