Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1881-08-26


ing under the delusion that the State Uni
versity belonged to them, and that they
were entitled to manage it as close cor
po-ation, without the least regard to the
wishes or opinions of the public, whose
agents alone they are. In answer to
structures upon their course individual
members of the Board have asserted that
they were really laboring to build up the
University, and especially to lift it out OF
thu rut into which it had fallen. This
plea, however, could not have justified the
secretive methods employed, which meth
DDS were calculated to, and actually did,
give rise to the gravest suspicious concern.
ing the motives of the majority. But
apart from the question of the general
policy of the Regents, it has been made
conspicuously apparent that they enter.
tained wholly erroneous and mischievous
view of their duty towards the Faculty.
1t is not too much to say that in the
changes recently made they have treated
several Professors with marked discourtesy,
and that they have exhibited generally a
lack of appreciation of what was due to
the Faculty, such as could only have been
looked for from q Board of uneduca.ed
Doors, ignorant alike OF the demands of
politeness and of the requirements of a
high institution of learning. We had
taken it for granted that most of the Re-
gents were educated men, though it must
be said that the occupations OF many of
them do not afford presumptive proof of
this. But their treatment of the Faculty
raises a suspicion that even the most
pretentious of them possess no more than
veneering OF education, and that they
| belong in the category OF practical men
shrewdnezs OF a kind possessed in common
with the whollyilliterate. They have appa-
rentiy not sought in any way to cultivate
friendly, much less confidential, relations
with the Professors. They have removed
them in the most cavalier fashion, and pre-
eisely as though they had been mere clerks
or laborers. Even on the occasion of the
late investigation, they perpetrated an in
suit upon the late venerable and respected
President of the University by ignoring
him completely. In short, it seems eyi.
dent that between such body of men and
a selfrespecting, dignifed Faculty there
can be no sympathy, and that if they are
to proceed in the management of the Uni
versity as they have begun, they will JUS
tify the proposition of Mr.. John Hittell,
that the institution be closed.
Mr.. Hitten bases his proposition upon
the lack of adequate funds to operate the
Institution, but the public will be apt to
give as still more cogent reason The in
adequacy of the present Board of Regents
We are disposed to put no obstacles in the
way of the new President. His inaugural
address, as we stated yesterday, was en-
couraging in tone and matter. But we
fear that he will be fatally handicapped by
his complete subordination to a body
which has certainly shown that it does not
know how to govern gentlemen, and which
has established a sort of ring. rule alike
distasteful to the public and prejudicial to
the harmony of the University. It may
be seriously questioned if any Board of
Regents can manage such an Institution
without reference to the superior knowl.
edge Of the Faculty. Even if the Board
were much more wisely constituted than it
is, such policy would prove very doubt
full 1t is obvious that to get the fullest
light possible upon all the questions which
arise, the Professors ought to be taken into
counsel, and that unless they are there
must be great deal of blind fumbling on
the part of the Board.
a Board, however, which regards the
Professors only as a kind of clerks. and
which apparently thinks them quite inca
pable of giving any useful advice upon
business matters, is not at all likely to try
an experiment Of the kind suggested by
Mr.. Bacon. 1t is far more probable that
it will undertake to impose its own crude
ideas upon President Reid, and that while
it will leave him to bear the responsibility
in the event of failure, it will refuse him
that freedom OF action which can alone
enable him to test his own educational
theories The natural, and we fear the
inevitable result of the policy thus far
pursued by the Regents, must be to lower
the tone OF the Faculty. Valuable Pro.
fessors usually understand their own posi-.
ton well enough not to sacrifice them.
selves under such circumstances, and they
will therefore &C away. Those who re-
main, and those who take the places so
made vacant, will be men who are willing
to risk their self.respect for the sake of
retaining their offices and from such men
the students can never acquire an elevated
idea of their duties in life. The whole sit
uation is most unfortunate, and it is a
severe disappointment to these who have
been building their hopes upon the Uni
versity. The Regents may of course yet
change their course and adopt more en-
lightened and satisfactory methods, but
the probability of this, in view Of their
past stubbornness and arrogance, is ex-
tremely slight, and the strong presumption
is that they will keep on in the present
line until the patience Of the people is
thoroughly exhausted, or until the total
failure OF their management makes it nee
esssry to take summary measures for the
rehabilitation of the University.
THE JEWS IN GERMANY.
Owing chiefly to the influence of En-.
perOr William, the persecution of the
Jews in Germany has been vigorously
i i