The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-07-30

adapted to the political and social condi-
lions Of this Western civilization. It must
develop in harmony with the needs Of the
society about It.
The first necessity for q university, there
fore, Is that It's scheme Of education and
intellectual training should be the con-
ception of large men OF both p~erceptive
and comprehensive minds and also Of
specialized abilities. Under our Ameri-
can college system the head Of q college,
known as the President. occupies a place
which is peculiar to this country, rs COM
pared with the great universities Of Europe,
and 1t has become the moro anomalous
since some Of our colleges have grown
from mere high schools to the stature
OF vcritable universities. In the old days
the President was usually q clergyman,
the colleges generally owing their founda-
tion, II not their support, to particular re-
ligious communions; he was merely the head
Of the faculty Of professors, he himself dis
charging the duties Of some chair OF instruc-
tion in the institution. He was simply the
primate, and 1t was requisite that no be a
man of learning, qualified to hold his W
with the highest intellectual ability in the
institution. Accordingly he was selected
with strict reference to those conditions
and requirements.
Nowadays, however, in some Of our col
leges most ambitious of distinction as uni
versities, the President is selected with ref
erence chiefly, If not wholly, to his abilities
as a business administrator. He takes no di-
rect part in the instruction yethe occupies
a place which gives him power and in
fuence in shaping the purely scholastic and
intellectual character of the university. 1t
may happen that he is not even a man Of
education in the high and broad sense, and
therefore without qualifications for grasp
Ing the true university idea or even for rec
ognizing them in others; yet he stands be-
fore the public as the chief represent
tative Of the institution, and its title
to consideration is measured by his
intellectual calibre and the stand
ard Of education exhibited by himself.
Trustees, with large governing power and
great influence in determining the scholas-
tic course of the university, may also be
men known to be Of deficient education
and without the breadth Of view justifying
their association with any institution as
suming to occupy the high n comprehen-
sive fields of university training. The only
valuable distinction and consequence such
a college has in the eyes Of discriminating
men comes from individuals in its faculty
whose superiority is indubitable and whose
fame in their special departments Of study
and investigation is widespread yet they
are subordinate, and may be at the mercy Of
the narrow and restricted understandings
Of a far inferior President and of unedu.
Gated trustees who have been chosen for
their places for material and temporal rea-
sons only.
AS we have said, the intellectual distinc-
ton Of a university rather than its ma
terial accessories give it its true glory; and
that glory must be reflected on the institu-
ton from the distinguished abilities of the
men making up its corps of professors and
lecturers, whether it be in California or
here in New York. They are the real
superiors, the Indispensable element.
The chief title Of the President and trus-
tees to consideration consists in their
ability to recognize that essential superior
ity. Get your noble buildings, University of
California, and may they be of the splendid
architectural distinction for which you
seek, but think first and most of the
spiritual and intellectual essence, without
which there can be no university.