The Days of a Man 1891 



Plan of 

 organiza- 

 tion of the 

 new 

 university 



applied science was to be carried on side by side with the pure 

 sciences and humanities, and to be equally fostered. Women 

 and men would be admitted on identical terms. Eighteen de- 

 partments of instruction were provided, all with equivalent 

 entrance requirements, accompanied by large liberty of sub- 

 stitution and election, no fixed curriculum of any sort being 

 contemplated. 



The unit of faculty organization would be the professor- 

 ship rather than the department. Each student, therefore, 

 must choose a major professor who should be his adviser, and 

 in whose department he must take enough courses to fulfill 

 certain requirements. As minor subjects or electives, all classes 

 would be open to any student intellectually ready for the 

 work. 



To secure the Bachelor's degree, each candidate would be 

 obliged to satisfy his major professor and to complete enough 

 of other approved work to fill the conventional four years. 

 The degree of A.B. would be given in all non-technical courses, 

 that of B.S. for work in applied science. 1 



The largest liberty consistent with good work and good 

 order was to be granted the student. Religious services were 

 to be provided in accordance with a clause in the deed of gift, 

 which prohibited "sectarian instruction, but required the teach- 

 ing of the immortality of the soul, the existence of an all-wise 

 and benevolent Creator, and that obedience to his laws is 

 the highest duty of man." 



In the beginning at least, tuition was to be free in all de- 

 partments, and room and board in the two residence halls were 

 to be furnished at cost. 



I may add that the major professor system, since largely 

 adopted but then regarded as an innovation, had been for 

 five years in successful operation in Indiana University, where 

 it originated. 2 But there the choice of major subject was made 

 at the beginning of the third year. In the new institution we 

 tried the experiment of beginning with the first. At the time 

 of this writing, Stanford has just shifted to the former plan. 



1 This differentiation was soon abandoned by the faculty, and A.B. granted 

 as the first degree in all courses alike. In time also the unit of organization 

 became, as elsewhere, the department. 



2 See Chapter XH, page 293. 



C358 3 



