According to the essay "Law and People" (Shunjusha Publishing Company educational library, 1943) written by Yorozu ODA, a scholar of administrative law, who was from the same province as Okuma and favored by him, he was satisfied with the speech Ito gave at the opening ceremony of Waseda University in which he said, 'although I have been in conflict with Okuma over various matters, the fact that he built this educational institute by himself is beyond reproach.'
大隈と同郷で、かれに目をかけられた行政法学者織田萬のエッセイ集『法と人』（1943年、春秋社教養叢書）によると、早稲田大学開学式典で伊藤が「大隈君とはいろいろ競ってきたが、教育機関を自ら作ったという点ではかなわない」と述べたことに満悦したという。