t
open to them, and in fact life was made as unpleasant as possible. But
they had good friends in the President and in many members of the
Faculties; they asked no favors, and they gained the education on a
masculine plane they sought. The experiment proved successful, as the
roster of Michigan alumnae will show; and it was not long before
co-education became the rule in all American colleges save the older
institutions of the East.

Michigan now, as we have seen, was a state institution in reality as
well as in name; but the educational arch of which she was the keystone
was not yet completed. The earlier close connection between the
University and the schools of the State, contemplated when the branches
were established, had proved impossible of realization, and the union
high schools which soon succeeded them were tied to the University only
incidentally and indirectly through the influence of such teachers as
had been students at the University. Their graduates came in increasing
numbers, it is true, but they were admitted by examination upon the same
basis as the graduates of any school.

The Acting President saw the need of a closer relationship, which would
not only strengthen the high schools, but would relieve the University
of its elementary courses by eventually making the high schools the
equivalent of the German Gymnasia; in effect the present junior
colleges, the establishment of which we are now witnessing in all the
larger high schools. Professor Frieze therefore proposed that special
faculty committees be sent to examine the character of the work in the
high schools of the State. If this were approved, a certificate stating
that a proper preliminary course was satisfactorily completed, would
admit any student to the University without examination. This simple
plan was severely criticized by some educational authorities of the time
as revolutionary and as a lowering of standards. It soon justified
itself, however, and has come to be the general practice; in fact, it
has also been extended to cover a reciprocal arrangement on the part of
all the leading state universities as well as many of the privately
endowed institutions. Again Michigan led the way.

The growth of the University continued undiminished, and soon the need
of a large auditorium became increasingly apparent, to say nothing of
more offices and class rooms. The Legislature therefore voted in 1869
the sum of $75,000 for the erection of th