The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1922, Page 30

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30 The Lutheran Pioneer.
DEE — —

-The Needs of Immanuel College.

I.

Many pages would be required to tell all that
Immanuel College needs to make it an efficient mis-
sionary factor. Immanuel College stands in need
of countless things. Appearances often deceive, it
is said, but we have no appearances with which to
deceive. When a teacher at this institution con-
siders under what conditions he is obliged to work,
he can scarcely realize how he succeeds in accom-
plishing as much as he does.

Usually an instructor takes pride in showing
visitors the institution in which he teaches, but Im-
manuel lacks so much that is usually deemed indis-
pensable in a higher institution that we must almost
feel ashamed to take visitors around, since we have
to make excuses for so many things which the col-
lege ought to have and yet has not.

Immanuel College is an educational institution
of the Lutheran Church situated at Greensboro,
N.C., whose object is to provide the Church with
pastors and teachers and to help to uplift the Negro
in general. It is not controlled by Negroes, but by
the Evangelical Lutheran Synodical Conference of
North America, the largest body of Lutherans in
the United States. This college is the only institu-
tion of its kind in our country; that is, the only
Lutheran theological school for Negroes within our
borders. This its peculiar character will impress
itself upon the mind of any one that visits the
school.

But what is it that this institution needs so
very badly? In order that the kind reader may
fully appreciate our many wants, it will be neces-
sary to describe conditions as they exist at the time
of this writing.

To provide living- and sleeping-quarters for the
female boarding students, the building that was
erected for an elementary school had to be changed
into a dormitory. The former classrooms have been
cut up into a number of small improvised rooms
that cannot be heated. These little rooms serve the
girls as living- and bedrooms. And how crowded
they are! Yes, and I must not forget to add that
two girls are compelled to share each of the single
beds with which these tiny rooms are furnished.
Need I add more to convince you that this former
school-building is inadequate properly to serve its
present purpose?

The attic of the college building proper has been
converted into a temporary boys’ dormitory. ‘The

walls of this makeshift dormitory of twelve yooms
were not very substantially built, since the under-
standing at the time was that new quarters would
soon be furnished. Since there is no room for desks
in these rooms in the attic, because they are crowded
to their full capacity with beds and cots, the class-
rooms must serve as living- and study-rooms. This
under circumstances might not be a very great hard-
ship, but as these classrooms were not originally
intended to serve this dual purpose, the proper arti-
ficial lighting was not provided, and this circum-
stance is one much to be deplored. The so-called
faculty-room must serve as a depository for the pro-
fessors’ books, as a dining-room for those teachers
who live in town, and as a reception-room for those
parents who come to visit their sons and daughters.
Should a professor want to speak privately with his
students, it would be a most difficult matter for him
to find a room to carry out his purpose. The girls’
toilet-room must also serve as a cloak-room for them,

‘since a special waiting-room cannot be provided.

The library must also serve as the theological class-

room, thus making it during a great part of the day

more or less inaccessible to the general student-body.
F. C. Lankenau.

Items of Missionary Interest.

A Noreworrny Grrer.— We are sure that the
kind donor will not take it amiss when we call at-
tention to the gift of Student Schulze for the dor-
mitory at: Greensboro. Mr. Schulze is .serving as
supply at Bay Village, near Cleveland, and we know
that his gift of $25.00 represents a substantial part
of his savings and constitutes a sacrifice for the
young man. We wish to refer to this fine donation,
however, not so much to express our appreciation to
Mr. Schulze, as rather to take the opportunity to
say this: If this interest in missions as shown by ~
this young man is a sample of the spirit to be found
in our students preparing for the ministry, then we
have reason to rejoice, for the dawn of a better and
more glorious day is breaking. In this connection
we wish to call attention to,a request that came to
us a few weeks ago from another student, assistant
at one of our colleges, the newly founded institu-
tion at Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. He wrote that
they were including the study of missions in their
course, and for this reason desired some material
on our Colored Missions. Among other things he
also asked for maps of our various fields. We sent