Morning journal and courier., 1885-06-23
YALE CORPORATION.
An Able Argument For a Larger Al
 umni Renresenfafion.

1 An Able Argument For a Larger AL umnf Representation.
 Mr. John Addison Porter of Washington l D. O., formerly of this city, is the author of
 a work just issued, which considers, his I torically and practically, the corporation of Yale college. It is an able argument for 8 larger alumni representation in the corpora | ton and gives much valuable information to l graduates who are interested in that sub | ject. The argument is in point as follows The writer on opening alludes to the | early history of the college and, admitting I the well known fact that the college was | founded as a Christian institution, proceeds \ to say that Git is not easy to deduce from l history and existing moral obligations why the control of Yale should be limited | to Connecticut clergymen. The writer l then fairly demonstrates that as there are no legal or moral obstacles to a larger alumni representation in the corporation, the ques- l tion is one of advisability, which ought to depend solely on the present needs of the college. Yale in the past fifteen years has l made much progress, but other colleges have grown faster An university in the general scope of it's ambitions, Yale is not yet uni versity in name or really in government. The success or failure of each one of it's de- partments is due more to the individua ca
 pacity of their instructors than to
 lined for them or assistance rendered them by the central government.
 The faculty meetings of the academical de-
 partment are still the only real motive force
 of the institution. The president is expected
 to work out in detail all the educational and
 financial problems of the university and
 make known his conclusions at moments
 notice, all the while performing the work of
 regular professor. ale has been fortunate
 in her presidents, but the burdening of any
 one man, however able, with so many mani
 fold and diverse duties is both
 college, has Yale, will gain
 largely by 8 vigorous personal leadership,
 yet the day is probably not far distant when
 in the development of the university the old
 office of president will be still more largely
 supplanted by deans of departments, as is
 now the case at Harvard. In some branch
 es of the academical department, in the Sci
 entific school, in the Law and Medical schools
 there is pressing deficiency of funds The
 early fellows were active in taking personal
 share in the conduct of affairs, both the busi-
 ness and the studies, but, in the time of
 President Day, the system of faculty meet ings was established and has since been in
 vogue. It was understood that no important
 action of any kind was to be taken even by the corporation without the recommendation of the corps of instructors It seems fair that body of such capable men should gov ern themselves and their text books, but to claim that they should be best calculated to develop the business interests of great uni versity is to claim for them what they have never claimed for themselves and what would be contrary to the facts of every day expert ence. The desire of the corporation not to interfere with the prerogatives of the faculty | has tended to make the former body weak l and vascillating. Before the alumni were rep resented in it the corporation held but one | meeting year and that was only formal | session. It has never made any efforts | to help the college financially, though | most of the new buildings have been | erected nominally under it's supervision.
 There is nothing to prove that the destiny | of Yale eau be safely intrusted to the hands | of this one profession, though few will ques- tion that the college gains much by having 8 large representation in the board of trustees | of such sincere and cultured gentlemen as clergymen.
 The conclusion cannot be escaped that, 1 great as the work of the past has been, the work of the future should be far greater Yale is not merely Connecticut college, but is the property of the whole Union. Its | national reputation has enabled it to flourish above other colleges, but so surely as it spurns it's chances it will inevitably yield to the laws of competition and be able no long CT to offer such educational advantages as the wealth and centers of culture and popula- tion.
 The men who should control the develop ment of one of the representative universi- ties should be representative men chosen for their individual capacity for the work in hand, and there is no better material to choose from than the living graduates of Yale. The dangers to which the college would be subjected from being placed in the hands of it's own graduates will not carry any weight with thinking men, The attitude of the fellows to this question, it's ultimate fate, and the prosperity of the college rest upon the action of the alumni, and to the desired result nothing can conduce more favorably than the quiet, friendly and calm discussion of this subject by each one of the classes as it in turn reassembles to do honor to it's revered alma mater