658 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXVII. No. 957 



has now been delegated in many places to 

 a chaplain or a board of preachers. But 

 the change has not been applauded always 

 by those who believe in moral and religious 

 education. The increase of endowment and 

 equipment may be assigned to a special 

 ofScer, but the president is, ex-officio, more 

 likely to influence prospective benefactors. 

 So, also, with social obligations, they attach 

 to the office ; they can not be transferred to 

 another person, by executive action or by 

 vote, like the advertising department of a 

 soap factory. The president can easily turn 

 over to others all the privileges of the 

 scholar, the supervisor and the teacher; 

 but the fact that he has done so is one of 

 the present charges against him. Further- 

 more, he is loath to resign these privileges, if 

 he has any capacity for intellectual leader- 

 ship. Finally, the president might be re- 

 lieved of business management — that 

 branch of affairs which has always been 

 most foreign to the dominant interests of 

 great scholars and great teachers. But, as 

 a matter of fact, I have found the most eon- 

 fusion and the unhappiest faculties in those 

 institutions, of all that I have visited, 

 where the authority in business matters 

 has been vested in some person or persons 

 other than the president. Nobody can pos- 

 sibly make a budget satisfactory to all con- 

 cerned ; but the one most likely to take suc- 

 cessful leadership in budget-making is the 

 one most intimately and sympathetically in 

 touch with every aspect of the life of the 

 university. That person, under present 

 conditions, is the president. His other 

 duties are so intricately involved with busi- 

 ness affairs, that it seems unreasonable to 

 withhold control in this domain while hold- 

 ing him responsible in others. 



In short, the principle of centralization 

 of responsibility and adequate authority, 

 which is well established in all public school 



affairs, must be reckoned with in all new 

 plans for university control. Something 

 should be done by way of reorganization or 

 definition, to the end that a college may 

 have more than one chance in three of ob- 

 taining a successful president. But what- 

 ever is done should be based on this prin- 

 ciple of centralization of responsibility 

 with adequate authority, and on the scope 

 and the difficulties of the president's obli- 

 gations. 



The discussion of faculty control carried 

 on in Science, and elsewhere, is much to the 

 point. It should lead presidents to clearer 

 ideas of their short-comings and professors 

 to a more sympathetic understanding of 

 the causes. It should lead to greater faculty 

 control through officers elected by the fac- 

 ulty for short terms, and to faculty repre- 

 sentation at stated meetings of the trustees. 

 It should lead to a fixed plan for salaries 

 in each institution, that would go a long 

 way toward reducing the proportion of fail- 

 ures among presi^ients. Finally, I believe 

 this whole discussion should bring us to 

 some consideration of the fact that prepara- 

 tion for the office of president, in spite of 

 the excessive demands upon the office, is 

 left largely to chance. So far as I know, 

 there is not even a course in higher educa- 

 tion given in any college or university in 

 America. Nor is there such an opportunity 

 as a Kahn traveling fellowship might pro- 

 vide for prospective presidents. When we 

 consider the administration of higher edu- 

 cation of sufficient importance, we shall 

 make provision for trained leadership. 

 Meantime, let us all be charitable, — trus- 

 tees, presidents, professors, graduates, stu- 

 dents; our faults are many, and which of 

 us is without them ? 



"William T. Foster 



Reed College, 

 PoETLAND, Ore. 



