COLLEGE OR UNIVERSITY 201 



terical or paranoid states. When the public fully realizes that the 

 development of the spirit of intelligent criticism should be one, if not 

 the chief, end of education, it will become obvious that it is very diffi- 

 cult to attempt to bestow the elements of a liberal education in the 

 collegiate atmosphere. One may quite as well expect the spirit of 

 truth-telling to be acquired in an atmosphere permeated by falsehood 

 as to believe the acquisition of mental balance is possible in surround- 

 ings in which feeling and sentiment dominate judgment and reason. 

 The extreme partisanship cultivated in undergraduate life dominates 

 many of the undertakings of the post-graduate, and its evil effects are 

 particularly noticeable in the parochial character of administration of 

 the professional schools (theology, law and medicine). 



The entire intellectual life of our higher institutions of learning, 

 and in time of the nation, would be revivified if the administration of 

 these institutions were reorganized in order to meet the following con- 

 ditions. (1) A clear understanding of the essential difference between 

 college and university. (2) The determination by the administrative 

 boards of these institutions to adopt a policy which shall be compatible 

 with the ideals of either college or university, and not represent an 

 unfortunate series of compromises ending in hopeless mediocrity. 



(3) A public confession of faith as to the value of intellectual ideals by 

 repeated public affirmations, as expressed in words and deeds, to the 

 effect that it is always more difficult to secure the services of great 

 scholars than it is to obtain funds to be expended in bricks and mortar. 



(4) The establishment of democratic ideals of government in a form of 

 organization which shall not be dominated by the autocracy of president 

 and deans nor by an oligarchy of trustees; and finally (5) The substi- 

 tution of national ideals of efficiency for the narrow local prejudices 

 which so frequently restrict the life and sphere of usefulness of our 

 universities. 



Many of these reforms may readily be introduced by bringing the 

 trustees and overseers into closer touch with the faculty, so that there 

 may be a more direct exchange of views on important questions; and 

 by the reorganization of the former bodies, so that the members may 

 be made familiar with the aims and ideals of the university. 



If our eastern universities persist in continuing their present 

 parochial forms of administration, within the next decade we shall see 

 a multiplication of independent foundations forming the nuclei or 

 centers of university work. Half a century hence there will probably 

 be a resurrection of the older and privately endowed colleges as state 

 universities. 



VOL. LXXXII. — 14 



