History of the School of Social Work

CHAPTER ONE: THE FIRST THIRTY YEARS Social work education as a degree program at the University of Michigan began in 1921, some 104 years after the university's founding in 1817. This chapter covers social work programs at Michigan from 1921 to 1951. During the first fourteen years of this period a Curriculum in Social Work was offered at the undergraduate level in Ann Arbor in the university's College of Literature, Science, and the Arts. In 1935 the university opened a graduate program for social work in Detroit, where the program leading to a master's degree remained until 1951. In 1951 this graduate program was moved to the Ann Arbor campus, where it has continued its master's program, with the Joint Doctoral Program in Social Work and Social Science initiated in 1957. Part One, Historical Context, presents highlights of the early years of the university as a context for this history of social work education at Michigan, especially in regard to university goals, such as teaching, research, and service. The activities of faculty members at the university who were active prior to 1921 in connecting the fields of economics, philosophy, and sociology to "charity work," philanthropy, social work practice, and social work education are noted. As a historical context, early "training" schools and programs in social work education in the United States are cited. Part Two, Curriculum in Social Work: 1921-35, describes features of the university's program in social work education at the undergraduate level in Ann Arbor from 1921 to 1935. Part Three, Graduate Social Work Programs: 1935-51, covers the graduate program in social work offered by the university in Detroit from 1935 to 1951. PART ONE: HISTORICAL CONTEXT The University of Michigan The founding of the University of Michigan in 1817 was the result of an education law developed by William Woodbridge, secretary of the Michigan Territory, Judge Augustus B. Woodward (appointed to this position by his friend Thomas Jefferson), Judge John Griffin, Father Gabriel Richard, and Reverend John Monteith. The governor of the territory at this time was Lewis Cass. Judge Woodward was the principal drafter of the education law. He had published A System of Universal Science in 1816, a "classification of all knowledge by departments, classes, orders, and specifics, to each of which he gave original names," based on a Napoleonic concept of a university (Peckham, 1994). The model for the new university was "the Imperial University that the first Napoleon gave to France in 1806–08, which was not, in fact, a University at all, but rather a highly centralized organization of State instruction, having its centre in Paris" (Hinsdale, 1906). The draft of the education law became a territorial law on August 26, 1817. 1 It is to this date that the University of Michigan traces its origins. There was created a "Catholepistemiad, or university, of Michigania," to be composed of thirteen didaxiim or professorships, including Universal Science, Literature, Mathematics, Natural History, Natural Philosophy, Astronomy, Chemistry, Medical Sciences, Economic Sciences, Ethical Sciences, Military Sciences, Historical Sciences, and Intellectual Sciences. In subsequent acts passed that day and later, the tongue-fluttering Catholepistemiad was omitted and "University" or "University of Michigania" was used as the name of the public organization in the Territory of Michigan over all grades of instruction. Two weeks after the establishment of the University, the Territorial government appointed the Rev. John Monteith as president and gave him seven professorships, or courses. Richard was named vice president and was given the other six professorships. (Peckham, 1994) According to Hinsdale (1906), the Act of 1817 establishing the university stated that the president should receive an annual salary of $25.00, the vice-president, $18.75, and professors, $12.50. In another reference to salaries some fifty years later, in 1869–70 the president of the university was paid $3,000 and a house, full professors in the Literary Department, $2,000, assistant professors, $1,300, acting professors, $1,500, and medical and law professors, $1,300. Fr. Gabriel Richard, a native of France and a graduate the Sulpician Seminary at Angers, had arrived in Detroit in 1798, creating a parochial school for boys, a school for girls, and a school primarily for Native American children at Springwells. "By 1808 he reported that he had eight schools operating in the area and petitioned for a school building. Then he went East and brought back an organ, a piano, a printing press, and a printer to publish bilingual textbooks of his own selection" (Peckham, 1994). After the founding of the university, "The good French Father could be heard on various Saturdays yelling, Allez les bleus" (Gavrilovich, 2001). Rev. John Monteith was a graduate of Jefferson College in western Pennsylvania and of the new Princeton Seminary. He came to Detroit in 1816 at the call of the Protestant residents. "Incidentally, these Protestants, to whom Richard had preached occasionally, held their first services in the new Ste. Anne's Church . at the invitation of the priest!" (Peckham, 1994). Shortly after its founding, "the University" (Monteith and Richard) established public primary schools in Detroit, Monroe, and Mackinac Island, and a classical academy in Detroit. As university historian Peckham (1994) observed, These were not free schools; a small fee was charged, although poor children could attend at public expense . presumably after declaring their poverty. On October 3, 1817, the University bravely established . or, more accurately, called for the establishment of . a college in Detroit, which was also to have a board of trustees and visitors. At the treaty of Fort Meigs which Governor Cass was conducting while the university got underway, he persuaded the chiefs, who still owned most of Michigan, to grant six sections—3,840 acres—half to Ste. Anne's church and half for the new college at Detroit. (Peckham, 1994) Peckham also observed, 2 The vision of Woodward, who drew the plan, and of the young minister and the older priest was remarkable. They had given substance to the clause in the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 that read: Religion, morality, and knowledge being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged. While the University of Michigan dates its founding back to 1817, in fact, only education at the primary and secondary levels was offered until the university moved to Ann Arbor in 1837 (Peckham, 1994). It was in this year that the State of Michigan was admitted to statehood by Congress, the state legislature reorganized the university as a state university, and a plan was approved for purchase of forty acres of land in Ann Arbor as a site for the university. The town of Ann Arbor had been planned in 1824, with John Allen as the town's principal founder. Governor Cass established Ann Arbor as the "seat of justice in the new county of Washtenaw" (Bidlack, 1998). In naming Ann Arbor, John Allen "had chosen the word 'arbour' to follow his wife's first name, it being commonly used in Virginia for a bower of trees" (Bidlack, 1998). By the time the university moved to Ann Arbor in 1837, the town had a population of about 2,000 people (Peckham, 1994). In 1837 control of the university became vested in a Board of Regents, which "had power to grant degrees, regulate courses, and prescribe textbooks; they could appoint and remove professors and erect buildings; and they could recommend to the superintendent and legislature the branches that should be established in the counties" (Peckham, 1994). Henry Philip Tappan was appointed president of the university by the regents, making him, arguably, the first president of the University of Michigan. At this time, the regents set about borrowing money to erect buildings for classes and for homes for four professors. By 1840 some buildings were completed, and, as Peckham (1994) noted: At last, courses at the collegiate level were offered beginning in September 25, 1841, with six freshmen and one sophomore and twenty-three in the preparatory school. The ratio of one professor to 3.5 students was never achieved again. The freshmen had been examined for admission in mathematics, geography, Latin, and Greek and made to furnish satisfactory testimonials of good moral character. Each had paid an entrance fee of $10. The regents declared that: The fee of admission to the University should never exceed $10 and the institution should be open to all persons resident in the state who might wish to avail themselves of its advantages without charge of tuition, and to all other persons under such restrictions and regulations as the Regents should prescribe. (Hinsdale, 1906) Admission to the university was limited to men until 1870, when the regents took the following action: Resolved, that the Board of Regents recognize the right of every resident of Michigan to the enjoyment of the privileges afforded by the University, and that no rule exists in any 3 of the University statutes for the exclusion of any person from the University, who possesses the requisite literary and moral qualifications. (Hinsdale, 1906) Miss Madelon L. Stockwell was the first women to enter the university as a student in the Literary Department, as well as the first female graduate in 1872. As a part of the university's reorganization in 1837, three departments were established, including the Departments of Literature, Arts, and Sciences; Law; and Medicine, each with a number of professorships. The Department of Law did not open for students until 1859. Throughout these early years various departments, schools, and colleges were established, sometimes linked together (such as Engineering and Architecture) and often beginning with professorships, moving to departments, and then to schools or colleges.

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