tures had unity in themselves, and the course which he delivered here in successive years, while not supplemented by the study of text-books and recitations, constituted a valuable series, upon a subject of importance to every citizen, when the resources of the university were insufficient to equip the necessary chairs of permanent instruction.

A university in which adequate provision has been made for instruction by eminent scholars in all departments of learning which form a part of its curriculum will not need external assistance. If its means are not ample, and its teaching force inadequate, the use of its resources for costly attractions from without is not justifiable. The province of all courses of extra lectures should be to supplement the established curriculum, and not in any sense to be a substitute for it. Superficial and merely popular knowledge cannot take the place of the accurate and scientific training required in a university. The most illustrious professors lecturing to minds unprepared would be a waste of intellectual power. Where students are specially prepared, the work of eminent scholars may be added to present brilliantly some phase of knowledge. Modern courses of study are, however, so crowded that the introduction of additional subjects can often only divert, or be done at the expense of essential and systematic work. At the time of the introduction of these lectures here, the means of the university were so limited, and the faculty were so restricted in facilities for essential instruction, that criticism of any system which impaired the success of the work in required courses was natural and universal.

CHAPTER IX

1. UNIVERSITY ADMINISTRATION.

TATION ON THE BOARD OF

2. ALUMNI REPRESENTRUSTEES. 3. RELATION

OF THE UNIVERSITY TO THE CHURCH

T

HE plan of organization presented to the trustees two years before the opening of the university must be regarded as an expression of the views of a single trustee. It is signed by Mr. Andrew D. White in behalf of the committee on organization. There is no reference in the records of the trustees to the appointment of such a committee, and Mr. White himself states that the plan of organization as presented was prepared at the suggestion of Mr. Cornell. Mr. Cornell studied it carefully, gave it his approval, and a copy with the notes in his own hand is still preserved. There is no evidence that, at the time this report was prepared, Mr. White was even a prospective candidate for the presidency. He states that he did not know the purpose of Mr. Cornell to present his name for such an appointment until he was formally nominated for election on October 21, 1866, by Mr. Cornell. The report, however, was published under the authority of the trustees, and may be regarded, in connection with the election of Mr. White as president at the same meeting, as receiving the endorsement of the board and as an expression of its views regarding the proposed form of the university. The charter was bestowed upon a corporation of ten persons, viz., Ezra Cornell, William Kelly, Horace Greeley, Josiah B. Williams, William Andrus, John McGraw, George W. Schuyler, Hiram Sibley, J.

Meredith Read, and John M. Parker, who were, to constitute a body politic and corporate to be known as the Cornell University, having the rights and privileges necessary to the accomplishment of the object of its creation, and subject to the provisions and with the powers enumerated in the revised statutes of the state of New York as regards college corporations. This is a general grant or bestowal of power, without the specification of details, such as is made in the charter of other universities in the state and elsewhere in the country. Similarly, there is no specification of the duties or province of the faculty in regard to the consideration and determination of important questions in the educational policy of the university. The question of the establishment and approval of courses, the requirements for admission and graduation, the settlement of questions of discipline, or any specification of the important functions which, by common university law and tradition, are possessed by the faculties of other institutions of learning, were not specified in the charter. A delimitation of the respective powers and prerogatives of the two bodies was not made until a formal codification of the university statutes by a committee of the trustees, of which Judge Douglass Boardman was chairman, was adopted on May 19, 1891. We find in the early history of the university the executive committee exercising functions which later, and naturally, were assigned to the faculty, such as changing the standard of requirements for admission, prescribing the uniform to be worn by the university students, and even inflicting discipline. An amusing, but not serious, difference of opinion arose at one time between these two bodies as to the expediency of requiring all students of the university to wear a military uniform. The faculty were by no means united in the belief that the university should be transformed into a

military school. They saw that in the very nature of the university it would be impossible, as well as undesirable in its future growth and development as a seat of advanced study, to enforce the universal obligation of military drill and dress. The expense of such a costume, as well as a reluctance on the part of students to invest themselves permanently in a costume which was without beauty or variety, raised serious opposition on their part. Finally, as a compromise, it was enacted that as a distinguishing badge all students should wear a military cap. The faculty seems to have raised some objection to even this compulsory badge, but the trustees claimed authority to dictate and determine a general policy, and directed that the rule should be enforced.

There is no specification of the distinct province of the faculty and trustees, the latter of whom have certain duties provided for in the charter, and a wide scope of undefined powers attaching by common academic law to their office. In order to avoid stagnation and lack of initiative, which often prevails in bodies whose power is self-perpetuating, it was distinctly recommended that the term of office of trustees should be fixed at five years, and that it should require a vote of two-thirds of the electing body to re-elect a former trustee. The active interest and participation of the alumni in the government of the university, in accordance with the established usage at the English universities, and as had been recently done at Harvard University, by which the alumni, in place of the legislature, chose the members of the Board of Overseers, was to be secured by permitting the alumni of the university, whenever they reached the number of one hundred, to choose one trustee.

The relation which the faculty should sustain in the administration of the university was so conceived as

to give great dignity and importance to their deliberations. That system of college government was criticised, in which the president appropriates the main functions of administration, originates action, and is responsible to the trustees alone for whatever he may do, while the faculty have no share, or only a limited one, in determining the courses of study and the character of the work that shall be done in the university. The faculty" are not merely advisors, but legislators," they should have stated meetings for the purpose of conducting the general administration of the institution and memorializing the trustees, discussing general questions of educational policy, and presenting papers upon special subjects in literature, science, and the arts. The entire faculty should constitute an academic senate, in which all members of the teaching staff should have the right to speak, but the right of voting should be confined to resident and non-resident professors, and assistant professors representing departments in which no full professor has been appointed. The division of the faculty into groups according to departments, each presided over by the president or a dean, was also recommended.

From the formal discussion of the constitution of the new university, the report proceeded to discuss its equipment, and it was proposed that the agricultural department should include a model farm for the study and illustration of scientific agriculture, and that a museum of models of agricultural implements, products, etc., should be formed. The department of mechanic arts should be equipped with collections of drawings, casts, sectional and working models, in general character like those in the Conservatory of Arts and Trades in Paris. The illustrative collection should be first, and the model workshop second. For the experiments in agriculture one farm would be suffi