706 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXVI. No. 934 



three trustees elected by the board for a 

 term of three years, and the dean of the 

 medical faculty and two professors elected 

 by that faculty, for a term of two years. 



The president recommends that a coun- 

 cil of substantially this type be as soon as 

 possible established for every college in 

 Cornell University (except the state col- 

 leges for Avhich councils composed exclu- 

 sively of trustees have already been organ- 

 ized). Whether the professorial members 

 of the council outnumber, or are outnum- 

 bered by, the trustee members is not a mat- 

 ter of any consequence if only it be under- 

 stood that this is a scheme devolving genu- 

 ine responsibility upon the professors for 

 the administration and government of their 

 collegiate unit of the university. If 

 these councils are in practise to be as inde- 

 pendent of the executive committee, and 

 even of the full board, as the medical col- 

 lege council in New York City, it will prob- 

 ably be found necessary to allocate annually 

 fixed portions of the income of the univer- 

 sity to the different colleges. And with the 

 existing distribution of funds as basis this 

 assignment should not be an impossible 

 task. 



This is a plan of partnership between 

 trustees and professors for the government 

 and administration of the university. It is 

 not the German system, which has no board 

 of trustees, nor the English system, in 

 which the professors are the corporation, 

 but it is a modification of the American 

 system in which the trustees voluntarily 

 invest the professors with a share of their 

 own powers and functions (devolving on 

 them corresponding responsibilities), and 

 guarantee them the maximum of authority, 

 independence and institutional control 

 which seems compatible with the Ameri- 

 can idea of university organization and 

 government. 



To these councils would be assigned the 



duty of dealing with all business of every 

 kind affecting the several colleges. What- 

 ever business now comes before the execu- 

 tive committee or the board of trustees af- 

 fecting Sibley College or the College of 

 Arts and Sciences or any other college of 

 the university would be taken up by the 

 appropriate council and settled in the form 

 of resolutions which would be sent to the 

 trustees for final approval and ratification. 

 In time the councils would undoubtedly be 

 empowered by the board of trustees to dis- 

 pose definitely of routine business and 

 minor affairs reporting only their action to 

 the trustees. But at the outset it seems wise 

 to follow in this respect the example al- 

 ready established by the council of the med- 

 ical college. 



There are, however, two deviations which 

 should be made from that model, if it is to 

 be used in Ithaca, and which indeed ex- 

 perience shows may in time be advantage- 

 ously adopted in New York. In the first 

 place not only should the term of oifice of 

 professorial members of the council be 

 limited, but professors should be ineligible 

 for more than one reelection. The object 

 of this restriction is to keep the faculty in 

 general in close touch with the council. 

 And, in the second place, the president 

 should be required (as he is not in the case 

 of the medical college council) to submit all 

 nominations for appointments to the coun- 

 cil in order that they may be voted on and 

 the record of the vote sent to the board of 

 trustees. For the reform here discussed in- 

 volves the surrender of power not only by 

 the trustees but also by the president, the 

 supreme object being to secure (by means 

 of the representative system applied to 

 faculties) effective professorial participa- 

 tion in the administration and government 

 of the univeraity. 



The president recommends that the fore- 

 going scheme for taking the professoriate 



