The bulletin of Atlanta University, 1909 no. 193

              Number 193                                      Atlanta, Georgia                                     October, 1909 THE FORTY-FIRST SCHOOL YEAR A Forecast and an Appeal Enrollment Atlanta University commences the first year of its fifth decade with an enrollment of unprecedented numbers. Before the first week of school came to a close the boarding department had almost reached the limit of its capacity, and the total number of students amounted to about three hundred and sixty. It has been necessary to engage an additional instructor and to enlist the services of students of the higher courses to provide teachers for all the classes. The study-room in which the High School students sit accommodates one hundred and ninety, while the number to be seated exceeds this by forty or fifty; the entire Senior Preparatory class have therefore been assigned to seats in another room. The Chapel Through the kindness of friends who responded to our appeal of a year ago the walls and ceiling of the Ware Memorial Chapel have been repaired and painted. The walls, pillars and great beams supporting the ceiling are a dull olive green and the squares of the ceiling marked out by the beams are a cream color. The effect is beautiful beyond our highest expectations. The preparation used gives the walls the appearance of a beautiful soft texture, and the rich purple, blue, green and yellow of the memorial windows stand out with fine effect in their dark-green setting. Never before has the chapel been so filled with students at the regular morning exercises as this year, and all seem to be impressed and affected by the beauty of the room in which they worship. We wish to express our sincere gratitude to those who made possible by their generosity this great improvement in our chapel. It is a blessing to the whole school. Finances We are sorry to report that, owing to unexpected city assessments for improving the streets and the inability of some of our friends to respond as usual to appeals for the maintenance of our work, we were obliged to bring the fiscal year to a close without payment of all the current expenses. The debt brought over to the present school year amounts to $2,947.15. This is so notwithstanding the fact that our students' payments amounted during the year to $1,000 more than their payments the previous year, and that the expenses not including the improvement tax closely approximated the budget authorized by the Finance Committee at the opening of the year. Heavy Assessments The financial outlook for the current year is not encouraging. The city of Atlanta has decided to improve and pave Beckwith Street, which borders the full length of our campus on the south, a distance of 2,000 feet. Already the University has been assessed $1,800 for the laying of the sewer. The improvement of this street is greatly needed, and it will increase the value of our property in that vicinity. We are, nevertheless, at a loss to know how we shall meet the inevitable assessments. In course of time it is proposed to erect dwellings for investment on our outlying property. This will bring us some return for property that is now idle; but for the present"we have only the bills for improvement to contemplate. Campaign for the New Year The present year is the fitting time for the celebration of the fortieth anniversary of the opening of Atlanta University. Under ordinary circumstances we should undertake to gather our friends from far and wide and arrange an appropriate programme; under present circumstances, however, we feel that the year should be marked in some other way. The year of the fortieth anniversary of Atlanta University should be marked by a strenuous effort to raise an endowment adequate to maintain the institution at its highest degree of efficiency. We therefore earnestly appeal to our friends to help us in this endeavor. May we not hope not only to receive the money needed for current expenses, but also to receive in addition large gifts for the permanent funds? Our present endowment amounts to $72,000; we need ten times that amount. The Building of Homes The unimproved property referred to above is sufficient in amount to afford building lots for as many as fifty comfortable homes. This could be used without encroaching in the least upon the campus proper. What better investment could be made than the building of comfortable sanitary and attractive cottages for rental to the better class of Negro people in Atlanta? By this means a two-fold good would result: Atlanta University would profit by the income and the people of the city would profit by the opportunity of good homes at reasonable rental. Moreover, we should attract to our neighborhood a desirable class of people. Will not some friend give us fifty thousand dollars to use in building such homes ? We have plans submitted by Negro builders in Atlanta which we shall be glad to show to anyone interested. The Sentiment of the Negro South Atlanta University was represented this summer at several conferences and gatherings in -the South. Everywhere our delegate found great interest among the colored people in the work of this institution and, as its representative, was accorded much honor. No one who is familiar with the Southern communities where our graduates live can fail to be impressed by the high regard in which Atlanta University is held. Perhaps our greatest single asset for practical service is the place this school holds in the hearts of the Southern Negroes. We enroll students this year from Texas and Virginia and from most of the states intervening, though naturally the majority are Georgians. The thirty-five young people who completed their studies last May have, almost without   exception,   been    engaged   as Continued on second page