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SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXIII. No. 842 



advice before making a nomination. Thus, 

 in California, the president has "at 

 his own option and by his own suggestion, 

 called together a committee consisting of 

 professors of five nearest related depart- 

 ments for conference as to the nomination 

 of any one professor. The nomination of 

 assistant professors and instructors is 

 made by the president after conference 

 with the departments concerned." 



In the great majority of cases, fourteen 

 in number, so far as I have been able to 

 ascertain, the president makes his recom- 

 mendations without any definitely an- 

 nounced plan of conference but with a 

 very definite method of securing advice. 



1. Usually where the university is or- 

 ganized into schools and colleges with 

 deans or directors, the nominations of all 

 officers in a school or college are made 

 after close consultation with and the con- 

 currence of the dean or director. Indeed, 

 in many institutions the dean or director 

 is expected to take the initiative in going 

 over the ground and getting the material 

 ready to present to the president. This is 

 especially likely to be true of the profes- 

 sional schools, but in some institutions is 

 true of all schools and colleges. 



2. The president frequently, and in the 

 ease of some institutions usually, consults 

 directly with the professor serving as the 

 executive head of the department, and he 

 may also consult with other professors of 

 the department. This is especially likely 

 to be true of the college of liberal arts or 

 a coUege of arts and sciences, as, for in- 

 stance, at Harvard and Michigan. In this 

 case the duties of the deans mainly con- 

 cern the students. This situation is his- 

 torical, in former years the president of 

 the modern university having had as his 

 main or sole function the presidency of 

 the college of liberal arts. 



In consequence of this situation, in many 



institutions, the relation of the president to 

 the departments of the college or colleges 

 of arts and sciences is more intimate than 

 with reference to the departments of other 

 colleges. 



3. The president may consiilt with both 

 the deans and the professors of the depart- 

 ment concerned; and not infrequently he 

 may consult with the professors of allied 

 departments. 



I think it may be said that in general the 

 president in the exercise of his authority 

 of nomination takes advantage of all avail- 

 able sources of information. Any presi- 

 dent who acted independently would 

 probably have a brief tenure of office. In 

 short, it is the general rule for the presi- 

 dent before making a recommendation to 

 have the concurrence of the professors of 

 the department concerned, the dean or 

 director of the school or college interested, 

 and frequently the professors of allied de- 

 partments. 



Nevertheless, it does not follow that the 

 president always follows the recommenda- 

 tions received. While he would not nomi- 

 nate a man contrary to the wishes of in- 

 terested officers, he may decline to make a 

 nomination or promotion of a man recom- 

 mended by a department. In other words, 

 he exercises the veto power. In some 

 cases the president instead of exercising 

 the veto power transmits the recommenda- 

 tions of the department with the informa- 

 tion that he does not concur in them. The 

 result is the same. The presidents of this 

 association report that under such circum- 

 stances the governing boards hold the 

 president responsible and invariably re- 

 fuse to make an appointment which has 

 not his concurrence. While the president 

 must necessarily depend upon the sources 

 of information mentioned with reference 

 to professional attainment, another im- 

 portant factor in the success of a professor 



