November 22, 1912] 



SCIENCE 



705 



are heads of the more important depart- 

 ments. 



This plan would give the professors a 

 share in the government of the university 

 through the voice and vote of their own 

 elected representatives, who (unless an un- 

 alterable state law forbids) should prefer- 

 ably be members of the faculty. But this 

 injection of professorial trustees into the 

 board would be a somewhat slow process, if, 

 as is here recommended, it took effect only 

 when vacancies occurred by death or resig- 

 nation in trusteeships now filled by coopta- 

 tion of the Board. There is, however, 

 another measure of relief which could and 

 should be forthwith adopted, and which 

 should continue in operation whether the 

 privilege of representation in the board of 

 trustees be conceded or denied to the pro- 

 fessoriate. 



"While the faculties of the university con- 

 trol educational affairs they have, under 

 the statutes, nothing to do with the ap- 

 pointment of teachers, the appropriation of 

 funds, or other business vitally connected 

 with the life and work of the institution or 

 the standing and efficiency of the several 

 departments. Here, again, it is true that 

 practise is more considerate than theory or 

 ordinance. For in case of appointments 

 the president makes no nominations to the 

 board without previous conference and 

 practical agreement with the professors in 

 the department or allied departments con- 

 cerned. The time, however, has now ar- 

 rived to codify this practise and establish 

 it as a matter of professorial right. And 

 at the same time the right of the professors 

 to share in other ways in the government 

 and administration of the faculties or col- 

 leges to which they belong, and so far as 

 practicable of the entire university itself, 

 needs to be specifically recognized and 

 formally confirmed. 



Towards this goal the university has been 



gradually tending for some years past. 

 There may not have been a distinct con- 

 sciousness of it in the general mind of the 

 academic community, but there has been a 

 vague yearning against a background of 

 dissatisfaction and a foreground of hope. 

 The situation will be brought to the con- 

 sciousness of itself and crystallized in and 

 through the idea and program of profes- 

 sorial participation in the management and 

 control of the university. 



The plan to be proposed has the funda- 

 mental merit of every salutary reform: it 

 is the modification and extension of an idea 

 and organization already in successful 

 operation. Professors sit, deliberate and 

 vote with the trustees in the administrative 

 boards and councils (as they are called) 

 which manage the affairs of the university 

 library and of the medical college in New 

 Tork. The professors are elected by their 

 colleagues for a term of two or three years, 

 and the trustees are similarly chosen by 

 the board of trustees. Under the statute 

 creating these councils they are merely ad- 

 visory bodies whose resolutions come as 

 recommendations to the board of trustees 

 or to the executive committee, but in prac- 

 tise these recommendations of the men se- 

 lected by the board and by the faculty to 

 keep in intimate touch with the affairs of 

 those great departments of the university 

 and to dispose of them in the combined 

 light of business and educational experi- 

 ence, are regarded by the board as expres- 

 sions of the highest wisdom available under 

 the circumstances and are regularly ap- 

 proved or, if not approved at once, merely 

 referred back in special cases for further 

 consideration in view of some new conting- 

 ency or some unforeseen bearing upon the 

 general policy of the university. 



The council of the medical college in 

 New York City consists of the president of 

 the university, who is ex-officio chairman. 



