PREFATORY NOTE During the week in which Doctor Edmund J. James was formally installed as President of the University of Illinois, there was held at the University in connection with the ceremonies of installation a national conference of trustees of American colleges and universities. The following announcement of the conference was sent to the trustees of all the more prominent educational institutions of collegiate rank in the country: ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF THE TRUSTEES OF AMERICAN COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES TO BE HELD AT THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS, URBANA, ILLINOIS, BEGINNING TUESDAY, OCTOBER 17TH, 1905, 2 P.M. A national conference of trustees of American colleges and universities will be held at the University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois, beginning Tuesday, October 17, 1905. All trustees of such institutions and all persons who have served as trustees are cordially invited to attend. The sessions will be held during the week in which Dr. Edmund J. James will be formally inaugurated as president of the University of Illinois. The member of the conference will be invited to attend the exercises connected with the inauguration. This will give the members of the conference an opportunity to meet representative men, presidents and professors, from many different institutions, who will be in attendance as delegates, and also to inspect the work of one of the larger of the state universities. It is well known that the method of governing higher institutions of learning by boards of trustees, that is, bodies of non-experts,laymen, so to speak, in the field of education,-is peculiarly American. In England the old universities are self-governing bodies, controlled largely by the faculties; in France and Germany they are departments of the governments, and, so far as they are not directly under the control of the government, they are autonomous, that is, ruled by the faculties. In the United States alone we have felt it necessary to create a third organ, an independent, often self-renewing. body of non-experts, in whose hands the entire legal control has usually been placed. Many authorities regard this as a most satisfactory method; others find in it some of the most serious weaknesses of our American system of higher education; all believe that the problems connected with such a plan of control are far from being worked out satisfactorily. This conference has been called for the purpose of discussing some of the most important questions of, college and university administration, involving the relations of trustees, presidents and faculties. Among the questions which will be discussed are the following: 1. What should be the real administrative body of a college or university, the faculty or the trustees? Should the trustees limit their functions to selecting a faculty and then vest in the latter the actual administration, or should the board itself undertake to administrate the institution, either as a body or through its committees? 2. Should the president of an institution be the sole advisory authority to the board of trustees, or should the other administrative officers, or the various faculties, be consulted? 3. Should the faculty be authorized to nominate men to the board for vacancies, or should that be done by the president or by committees or by members of the board? 4. How should trustees be selected? (a) By coöptation? (b) By the Alumni? (c) By outside authority? 5. 1. 2. In case of private institutions, by the church or other body? In case of state institutions, (a) Appointed by the governor? (b) Elected by the people? (c) or ex officio, e. g., governor, superintendent of public instruction, etc.? Should the trustees assume entire control of the financial administration, or should they allow the faculties to have a representation also, by allowing them to submit a budget either by departments or as a whole? 6. Should the trustees, if they reserve the financial authority, undertake to determine the budget in all its details, or should they simply distribute by departments and leave it to the individual departments to make the detailed distribution. 7. Should the trustees of all institutions, public and private alike, be required by law to file full financial statements with some public authority and publish the same? 8. Should the alumni have some formally recognized place in the scheme of government of the institution? If so, what? Should the student body have formal recognition in the scheme of government by being privileged to appoint representatives to any disciplinary or administrative body? 10. Is it possible to devise uniform methods of bookkeeping and statistics, so as to make comparisons more valuable? It will be seen that these are all vital questions, indicating difficulties which every board of trustees has to meet. It is believed that every university or college trustee will derive great aid in the performance of his duties by attending this conference and exchanging veiws on these important topics. Urbana, in which the University of Illinois, is located, forms with its adjoining city, Champaign, a single community of about twenty thousand inhabitants. It is situated 128 miles due south of Chicago, at the junction of three great railway systems, the Illinois Central, the Chicago, Cincinnati, Cleveland and St. Louis (Big Four), and the Wabash railways, and is thus easy of access from every direction. Persons desiring to attend this conference should notify the undersigned as soon as possible. Suggestions as to other desirable topics. for discussion will be thankfully received. Address, DAVID KINLEY, Dean of the College of Literature and Arts, University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois. In response to the call about 100 trustees and others in administrative positions assembled for the conference. This pamphlet contains a full account of the proceedings. PROGRAM FIRST SESSION: 3:30 P.M., Tuesday, October 17 Address of Welcome: Mr. S. A. Bullard, President of Board of Trustees, University of Illinois. Address: The University Presidency: Hon. A. S. Draper, Commissioner of Education, State of New York. Address: Closer Relations between the Trustees and Faculty: Mr. James P. Munroe, Trustee of Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Discussion: Mrs. Norman Frederick Thompson, Trustee of Wellesley College. SECOND SESSION: 9:00 A.M., Thursday, October 19 Address: The Academic Career: Professor Joseph Jastrow, President of the American Psychological Association. Discussion: President J. W. Mauck, Hillsdale College. President James H. Baker, University of Colorado. Professor Richard Jones, Trustee of Iowa College. President Brown Ayers, University of Tennessee. Mr. S. A. Bullard, President Board of Trustees, University of Illinois. Mr. James P. Munroe, Trustee of Mass. Inst. of Technology. Mrs. Carrie T. Alexander, Trustee of University of Illinois. Mrs. Norman Frederick Thompson, Trustee of Wellesley College. Professor Joseph Jastrow. Address: Questions Regarding College Administration: Dean Charles E. Bessey, Trustee of Doane College, (Presented by Professor S. A. Forbes, University of Illinois). Discussion: Mr. Henry H. Hilton, Trustee of Dartmouth College. THIRD SESSION: 3:00 P.M., Thursday, October 19 Address: State Supervision of Endowment Funds: Mr. J. P. Lippincott, Address: University Investments and Accounting: Mr. Wallace Heckman, Discussion: Mr. Ernest Reckitt, C. P. A., Chicago. Mr. J. E. Davidson, Trustee of Hillsdale College. Mr. A. C. True, United States Department of Agriculture. Address: Mr. William S. FOURTH SESSION: 8:00 P.M., Thursday, October 19 The Selection of Trustees: Hon. Paul Jones, Ex-trustee of Ohio State University. Discussion: Principal James E. Armstrong, Ex-trustee of University of Illinois. Address: Secondary Administrative Positions in University Organizations: Eugene Davenport, Director of the Agricultural Experiment Station, University of Illinois. Discussion: Dean David Kinley, University of Illinois. Review of the Work of the Conference: Mr. S. A. Bullard, President of the Board of Trustees, University of Illinois. |