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About Yale Alumni Magazine | View Entire Issue (March 15, 1899)
212 AT ATTN WREKLY administration-from the very start as well as practically forbid, during the temporary incumbency of the man chosen to fill the interim, anything like the establishment of a far-sighted policy. While a temporary incumbent might fill the place, he could not count upon enough tenure of office to carry to the fulfillment his own plans, and ‘he could not be sure of planning properly for his successor, or rely absolutely upon that successor to continue the régime he might establish. The secondary arguments against a temporary plan are something as fol- lows: It might involve a deal of petty REV. THEODORE T. MUNGER, D.D. Member of Yale Corporation. electioneering for candidates and the hardening of individual views and preju- dices that would result in factions in the Yale body and thus militate strongly against the successful harmony between the President and the constitu- ency of the University. It would per- haps reflect upon the reputation of the University, as a possible supposition might be that the position had been offered to one or more good men whi had -declined it. Finally, it might be said that if the man for the place could be found in a year or two, or three, he must be in existence to-day, for one or two years of further work would not make him grow up to it; hence if suffi- ciently vigorous search were made, he could be found now as well as a year or two later. THE PRESIDENT SHALL GROW TO HIS PLACE. And there is one more general view that may be deduced from these inter- views with our strongest men in all positions of life, and that is that they look upon the possibilities of the erowth of the individual who may be selected, as something equally as. cer- tain as the growth of the University under the administration of the right man. It is not necessary to go farther than the thistory of a sister University for the proof of that. With the ex- pressed ‘desire for the appointment of a comparatively young man comes again the reference to that remarkable pro- gress and advancement of University and man. Because inquiry elicits so many de- sirable or even advisable qualities to be looked for in the next president of Yale as to lead to the belief that no individual possessing them can be found, because setting wp an ideal seems to eliminate individuals, has seemed to furnish no reason for ending the inquiry. Alumni expect that the Corporation will prove themselves braver than that? And it is not true that if the alumni expect them to be braver, they are also aid. It is held to be the duty of every Yale man to take an interest, to search, suggest, and offer all that may be even of indirect value. It was in this belief that the effort of collecting opinion, and especially the free and frank opinions that can not be expressed by letter, was undertaken, and the friendly reception granted to the WEEKLY by Yale men throughout the country was such as to be absolutely convincing in the assurance that the Corporation can look for the most en- thusiasti¢ support and can command the most confidential views and assistance of every Yale man in the country. i > than this. With such a body of men entirely at their service, and with the possibilities thereby offered for investigation, it seems difficult to believe that the out- come can be anything but satisfactory, and that with the new President will go all the force of the good will of grad- uates from Maine to California. . Pr ite ee As to the Plea for a Western Corporation Member. To the Editor of YALE ALUMNI WEEKLY: Sir:—As the time is drawing near for the election of alumni members of the Corporation, I wish to enter a protest again the fallacy of the necessity of Western representation in the Corpora- tion. “The West is entitled to repre- sentation”; so is the East, the North, the South. We need to-day in the Cor- poration the liberal ideas, the broad- mindedness, the spirit of progress, which are popularly supposed _ to characterize the West. But these are not confined to the West alone. If our Western alumni are to be represented in the Corporation, | they should be represented mentally, not physically. A man of western ideas, residing in New York, is worth ten times as much as a man from Chicago or Denver. We need above all things regular attendance. The life members (I hate the ordinary division of “clerical? and stay")-all dive near at hand and can be counted on for regular attendance. So ought the elected mem- bers. «-‘“Ned”’. Mason: was one of <a thousand, and expended much time and trouble to attend the regular meetings; but from mere geographical considera- tions, he was never elected to the Pru- dential Committee, which meets twice as often as the Corporation, and pre- pares all the work. For the same rea- son, only with greater force, no repre- sentative from the West would ever be able to serve on any of the other Com- mittees which require perfect familiarity with all the surroundings, and constant exchange of ideas between the members. And ‘‘Ned” Mason is dead, “and dy- ing left no heir.” Judge Taft’s name has been quite generally mentioned as his probable successor. I know him well. I have the highest possible esteem for him. . But he would not do for the Corporation. He could not be relied upon for the regular meet- ings, mttch less to take the place on the Prudential Committee, and other smaller committees, of Mr. Kingsbury, who, I hear, during his long term of service, hardly ever failed to attend. He could not leave the bench even to attend as often as “Ned” Mason. And the day of illustrious figureheads is gone, never I trust to return. That fallacy passed away with Gov. Wash- burn and Chief Justice Waite. : What we want now are men of good business capacity, liberal ideas, in full sympathy with the younger alumni, and living near enough to New Haven not only to easily attend every meeting of the Corporation, both regular and special, but also to run up on a mo- ment’s notice for special committee work, inspection of sites, conferences with architects, etc, etc., etc. They need not be men of prominent ability or among the best scholars in their class. All of the life members, with three exceptions, are Yale gradu- ates and among the picked men of their respective classes. But the elected members should be something more They should be thorough representatives of their constituents, practical business men, and able from their position, geographical, profes- sional and financial, to give up a day for the good of Yale, whenever required. Surely such men can be found within two hours run from New Haven. The present members are not the only ones. There are others. | Very sincerely yours, ALUMNUS. March 4, 1899. Symphony Concert Innovation. A chorus numbering about seventy- five is rehearsing under the direction of Professor Parker to sing at the next Symphony concert, to be held March 23. The music will be the Commence- ment Ode by George Chadwick, which was sung in 1897, and H. Zeollner’s ar- rangement of the Siegfried music. THE NEXT ADMINISTRATION, | The Entire Change of Relation of President and Faculty, i: The next President of Yale will face no- easy task. He will follow a genial, be- nignant and high-minded man, who has succeeded in maintaining a purely per- sonal administration of the University by force of inherited and inherent-.claims to deference. This purely personal ad- ministration has, speaking in a large sense, made no mistakes, although it has made few experiments and few dis- coveries. It has directed, or rather con- trolled, the natural growth on an insti- tution firmly based in a young and growing country. It has wisely insisted always on growth rather than change. And gratifying growth has come. This is the vantage ground of the retir- ing President. In the times of change and stress which are now sure to. come, students and alumni of the University will look back to his administration as one of Saturnian peace and prosperity. The retiring President has spent his long life in the service of the Univer- sity, and closes a line of Presidents whom circumstances clearly pointed out .as natural successors of their predeces- sors. He has been able to give his ser- vices to the University without salary, —an appreciable increment to his dignity and influence. He has not only given his services as President, but he has been able from time to time to supply deficiencies in University funds from his own means, and so to carry out many measures on which his heart was set. The material future of himself and of his family has always been assured, and he has been able to devote himself to his great work without those distrac- tions of bread-winning and bread-insur- ing which beset the ordinary man. He has done so with rare devotion and rare generosity. .He has made himself per- sonally beloved, and retires in the flush of success, with powers undimmed. NO NATURAL SUCCESSOR. There is no such natural successor to President Dwight as President Dwight was to President Porter, and President Porter to President Woolsey. Whether we look among the older academic names, or those of men whose fathers and grandfathers were not on this or any other Academic staff, we find pos- sible candidates for the succession REV. JOSEPH ANDERSON, D.D. Member of Yale Corporation. only in much younger men_ than have hitherto been chosen. And when we look among the alumni who are not members of the Faculty, the men most often mentioned as candidates are young men. Few if any of these young candidates, whether on or off the Faculty, have those elements of dig- nity and independence which have made possible for the past eleven years a purely personal administration. Forces have slowly been gathering in the various faculties of the University, and particularly in those of the Aca- demical Department and _ Sheffield School, which will rush to expression under the new administration. It can- not be like the one now closing, a per- sonal administration. It will be a faculty administration. 3 And who can judge the great issues facing the new administration better than the Faculties? Expert scholars and teachers, who have taught and ex- pect to teach all their lives, are surely best competent to decide creat educa- tional questions under good ieadership. As educational experts they have had no leadership. They have not been invited or encouraged to discuss the ees educational questions of the ay. But the next President, if he be any one of the candidates as yet prominently named, must not count, cannot count on the deference that has always been paid to the ‘personal wishes of Presi- dents Woolsey, Porter, and Dwight. The teaching force of the University has been quadrupled since the days of HON. HENRY E. HOWLAND, M.A. Member of Yale Corporation. Woolsey. The consensus of its expert opinion on educational matters must now find expression, and it must be judiciously aided and guided to such expression by the next President. At the recent alumni banquet in Springfield, Mr. George S. Merriam opened a discussion of one of the great issues which the new administration must confront, grapple with and settle. It cannot longer be crowded aside and covered up. Mr. Merriam made no Biter aitace. «= tis” “words were as courteous and kind as they were weighty. He himself is one of the best representatives of the old classical train- ing of Yale. But he made an earnest and eloquent plea for the abolition of the entrance requirement in Greek, and of the requirement of Greek and Latin in the College courses. He pleaded for the substitution by those who so desire of modern languages and literatures for the ancient. To this demand of our modern life the educational systems of Getmany and France have made great concessions. So have Harvard, Cor- nell, Johns Hopkins, and other great institutions of America. Yale has thus far made trifling concessions to this demand. Shall she make more conces- sions? .This is only one of the great questions which the new administration must decide. THE GREAT PROBLEM. A still more momentous question, and one which affects the very essence of the Yale system, is whether the principle of election shall be carried down and generously diffused through the two lower years. It is not yet fully victorious in the two higher years. Shall it be impartially established there? Shall Yale’s diploma be given, not for a certain number of years spent in more or less earnest and profitable academic life, but for a certain definite number and order of courses in “Philosophy and the Arts” satisfactorily pursued and completed? Before such fundamental questions as this are decided, it is time lost to ask whether compulsory relig- ious exercises Should be maintained or not. These are a survival from the old College era. The great question of the future is, shall all lingering collegiate features be stripped away from under- graduate lifer : ; Much can -be ‘said in favor of retain- ing them. In the “Analysis of Yale” by. Professor Perrin, published in the ALUMNI WEEKLy for March 17, 1808, much is said in favor of them. ~The peculiar combination of University and College features now existing at -Yale
