192 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



COLLEGE OR UNIVERSITY? 



By De. STEWART PATON 



PKINCETON, N. J. 



WHAT is the difference between the college and the university? 

 There is no blinking the fact that many of the students, most 

 of the alumni, as well as a large proportion of the members of the 

 faculties and administrative boards, including presidents, have very 

 nebulous views in regard to the fundamental distinction that exists 

 between these two classes of institutions. The successful administra- 

 tion of a college or university depends upon the recognition of the 

 existence of a vital principle which distinguishes the functions of one 

 from those of the other. Many colleges during the last thirty years 

 have assumed the title of " university," having first given a promissory 

 note to the public expressing their intention some day to make good 

 their claim to the title. Thinking people have already begun to express 

 doubts as to the satisfactory fulfilment in many cases of such a promise 

 made before the conditions and, responsibilities of the trust had been 

 fully understood by either faculties or trustees. 



The time has now come for a clear understanding of the nature of 

 the difference which distinguishes the university from the college. The 

 evils of the laissez-faire policy of administration which to-day prevails 

 in the councils of our universities have at last aroused more than one 

 faculty and not a few trustees to a realization of the fact that while a 

 ship at sea without chart or compass may, if the fates are propitious, 

 be brought safely into port, the mere accomplishment of such a difficult 

 task does not increase our sense of confidence in those responsible for 

 providing for the safety of the voyagers. A trustee of one of our 

 eastern universities has recently affirmed that the greatest need of these 

 institutions is not money, but the services of men who have just and 

 definite ideas of the essential characteristics of a university. If our 

 higher institutions of learning are ever to keep pace with the intellec- 

 tual progress of the nation (the question of actual leadership can not 

 yet be considered), there is immediate need of a statement emphasizing 

 the distinction existing between university and college, in order that 

 such an institution may develop a healthy independent existence. 



What is a university? There are two ways of attempting to 

 answer this question. First there is the method usually employed of 

 approaching the subject by indicating the lines of historical develop- 

 ment; or we may try, and this is the object for which this paper was 

 written, to define this institution in terms which will indicate the rela- 

 tions it should present to the development of human thought and 



