THE ^^^^±J> 



POPULARSOIENOB 

 MONTHLY. 



APRIL, 1912 



ON THE NEED OF ADMINISTEATIVE CHANGES IN THE 



AMEEICAN UNIVEESITY 



By Professok GEORGE T. LADD 



XALB UNIVEESITY 



IN the first of a series of articles on the liigher education in this 

 country, which were published in The Forum during the years 

 1902 and 1903, I designated the true functions of a great university as 

 " chiefly these three : ( 1 ) The highest mental and moral culture of its 

 own students; (2) the advancement, by research and discovery, of 

 science, scholarship and philosophy ; ( 3 ) the diffusion, as from a center 

 of light and influence, of the benefits of a liberal, genial and elevating 

 culture over the whole nation, and even over all mankind." On rais- 

 ing the question whether the universities of the United States had up 

 to that time discharged these functions in a manner commensurate 

 with their opportunity and with the demands made upon them by the 

 size of their faculties and the wealth of their endowments, it seemed 

 evident to me that we were forced to the confession, " They have not." 

 And while no small part of the causes for this confessed failure must 

 be charged to the general public, with its ignorant or mistaken views 

 in respect to the interests, values and ideals of the higher education, 

 no small part of the blame attaches itself to the internal management 

 of these same institutions and involves their presidents, faculties and 

 trustees. 



Within the past ten years there has been a growing dissatisfaction 

 with the character and the workings of the system of administration 

 still prevailing in our larger and wealthier collegiate and university 

 institutions. It has been pointed out that, while this system was ad- 

 mirable in its adaptation and praiseworthy in its results as applied a 

 half-century ago to the small denominational college, it is ill-adapted 

 and far from praiseworthy in many of its results, as applied to the 



YOL, LXII. — 22. 



