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SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXIX. No. 1006 



lative body of his local institution, with many- 

 questions of educational policy which are of 

 more than local significance " ; also that " he 

 is a member of a professional body which is 

 the special custodian of certain ideals, and the 

 organ for the performance of certain functions 

 essential to the well-being of society." And 

 the general purposes were declared to be " to 

 promote a more general and methodical dis- 

 cussion of the educational problems of the 

 university; to create means for the authorita- 

 tive expression of the public opinion of the 

 profession; and to make possible collective 

 action, on occasions when such action seems 

 called for." The letter was sent out by Johns 

 Hopkins professors to members of the facul- 

 ties of nine other universities, and the re- 

 sponse was favorable in all cases ; a conference 

 on the subject was held last November; and 

 now announcement is made of the names of a 

 committee, representing the chief departments 

 of learning and nearly all the leading univer- 

 sities of the country, whose task it will be to 

 take the steps necessary for complete organ- 

 ization. 



The distinctive feature of the American 

 university is the part played by the president. 

 Nothing even distantly resembling it exists, 

 we believe, in any European country. That he 

 is not the absolute monarch he is sometimes 

 represented as being is true enough; but the 

 limitations upon his jxiwer are often of the 

 same nature as those which have as a general 

 rule obtained in the case of what are usually 

 designated as absolute monarchies in the his- 

 tory of nations. No university president 

 thinks of setting up his personal will as the 

 sole guide of his policy. Apart altogether 

 from such check as may be exercised by the 

 board of trustees, or other formal governing 

 body, he usually consults the chief professors 

 in any matter relating to their respective de- 

 partments; and moreover there exists in every 

 university some form or other of faculty 

 organization. Nevertheless, the president, in 

 most American universities, is the center of 

 power, the chief fountain of favor and dis- 

 favor, of advancement or retardation; and his 

 disposition towards any question, whether 



relating to an individual or to a principle or a 

 policy, usually has, or may have if he chooses, 

 the controlling influence in its determination. 



This feature of the American university 

 system has been the subject of endless com- 

 ment; but there exists alongside it, and some- 

 what resembling it in nature and efl^ect, an- 

 other feature that has attracted less notice. 

 What goes on within any university is, in a 

 certain sense, its own private affair; and it 

 may easily happen that it is not the president, 

 but one or more professors or professorial 

 cliques, in whom real power rests, and by 

 whom it is improperly exercised. Now there 

 has not been developed in our country either 

 any central organ — such as the Ministry of 

 Public Instruction in European countries, for 

 example — or any well-defined body of university 

 tradition, to operate as a check upon any bad 

 tendencies or unjust practises which may thus 

 develop in any given institution. When such 

 a state of things arises, whether the blame for 

 it belongs to president or to professors, all 

 that is apt to happen is a certain amount of 

 grumbling, perhaps of indignation; it is only 

 in extreme cases that there is likely to be any 

 overt action. It may be that some professor 

 is the victim of downright persecution ; it may 

 be that manageable mediocrity is systematic- 

 ally preferred to high ability which is some- 

 what more difficult to handle; it may be that 

 independence of thought or freedom of speech 

 is frowned upon and discouraged. Whatever 

 the trouble may be, appeal is impossible to any 

 but the little circle within the university itself, 

 which is to all intents and purposes a close 

 corporation. 



That the new association may supply to the 

 American university professor a basis for a 

 wider and more catholic appeal in questions of 

 moment, that it may become the means of pro- 

 moting a professional spirit at once finer and 

 stronger than that which has hitherto been 

 general, must be the hope of all who are inter- 

 ested in the most truly distinctive service 

 which universities render to a nation. Upon 

 their immediate promotion of the general wel- 

 fare, not only through the diffusion of intelli- 

 gence and the improvement of education, but 



