THE REPORT OF PRESIDENT TUCKER COVERING HIS ADMINISTRATION ISSUED TO THE ALUMNI -•■'•'-"■.-■ ■■" 1 - .■'.-•*■-■.■• - ■ r ^ :: "- : Wm ■ H \ ••:,■:,■■■' '■'■'■■■ ■'-■■■ ..-.-, SglS Si Ma THE REPORT OF PRESIDENT TUCKER COVERING HIS ADMINISTRATION ISSUED TO THE ALUMNI »™*s,ry OF , LUNo|s •wwrofnu,,,, PUBLISHED BY DARTMOUTH COLLEGE JUNE 30, 1909 REPORT OF PRESIDENT TUCKER To the Alumni of Dartmouth College: As my acceptance of the presidency in 1893 was associated with what was then known as "The Alumni Movement," the Trustees have thought it fit that upon my retirement I should make a separate and somewhat comprehensive report to you concerning the adminis- tration of the college during the period of my incum- bency. In submitting this report I do not care to dwell upon outward results further than may be necessary by way of illustration. I am anxious rather that you should understand the principles according to which the college has been administered during a well de- fined, and in some respects dangerous, period in its history, namely, the period of reconstruction and expansion. Such periods are manifestly essential to the progress of our older educational institutions. Whenever the general system of which they are a part demands of them readjustment and expansion the risks of inertia are far greater than the risks of innovation. I know of but one qualification to this statement — the treatment must be constructive. Lord Curzon has remarked in a recent letter to the University of Oxford on the Principles and Methods of University Reform, 2 REPORT OF PRESIDENT TUCKER "We may learn from the experience of previous Com- missions that successful reform at Oxford has almost invariably originated in reconstruction rather than in destruction; and that the institutions which last the longest and work the best are those which have been erected on older foundations, or, under skillful treatment, have assumed fresh and harmonious shapes." As I interpreted the needs of the college, when I assumed the presidency, the policy of reconstruction with a view to expansion seemed to me to be the only adequate policy. There were at that time certain facts of very great educational importance to be con- sidered: the vast extension of the subject-matter of the higher education, involving corresponding ad- vances in the methods of instruction ; the rapid growth of high schools as fitting schools for the colleges, vir- tually creating a new college constituency; and the sudden increase of endowments and appropriations for colleges and universities, making itself felt not so much in competition as through an enlarged scale of expenditure. It was impossible to ignore or evade any one of these facts. The obligation resting upon an historic college like Dartmouth to preserve its well- recognized individuality was no more evident nor im- perative than was the requirement that it should relate itself efficiently to its new educational environment. COVERING HIS ADMINISTRATION 3 I Immediate consideration was given by the trustees to the adoption of a financial policy sufficient to meet this requirement and at the same time consistent with the traditions of the college. The traditions of the college had in most ways stood for self-reliance. It was as- sumed that there could be little financial risk in any course of expansion carried out under the limits im- posed by these traditions. The financial policy there- fore adopted was not made to depend upon a campaign of general solicitation at the beginning or at any later time. That I may not be misunderstood in what I have just said, or in what may follow, I will now say that I con- sider the solicitation of funds one of the legitimate functions of a college presidency. I am quite ready to allow that my failure to employ this function to any considerable extent may be regarded as a weakness in my administration. The larger benefactions of recent years have not been the result of my personal efforts. Having made this confession I feel free to add that in my judgment the theory that a college is an elee- mosynary institution, while holding a permanent truth, should never be permitted to repress the am- bition nor to lessen the sense of responsibility on the part of any college to make itself so far as possible a self-supporting institution. The colleges which antedate the State Universities have three sources of 4 REPORT OF PRESIDENT TUCKER support, and, as it seems to me, in the following order of importance : first, the earning capacity of the col- lege; second, the free though perhaps organized tribute of those who have profited by its advantages; third, the good-will of a large constituency associated with each college through its history or through its activi- ties. The essential thing in the financial development of a college I believe to be the order in which its re- sources are utilized. The antecedent conditions on which a well-established college may appeal to the larger public are the assurance that its earning capacity has been properly developed, and some clear evidence of the generous support of its alumni. Sharing in the sentiments which I have expressed, the trustees proceeded at once to develop the earning capacity of the college through the construction of a college plant of modern character and proportion. Owing to the location of the college a part of this work was of necessity fundamental. The immediate prob- lems to be considered were such as belonged directly to a college of the country, — water supply, heat, light, and the general questions of sanitation. In the fall of 1893 an abundant supply of water was introduced into the precinct of Hanover at a cost of $65,000, the college investing $25,000 and the precinct $20,000, the remaining $20,000 being bonded. At a later period the entire water shed of about fourteen hundred acres surrounding the reservoir was pur- chased at a cost of $34,000. The whole investment, COVERING HIS ADMINISTRATION 5 which was a sanitary necessity, has proved to be valu- able pecuniarily. In 1898 a heating plant was established at a cost of $77,000, now containing a battery of eight boilers of one hundred and twenty-five horse power each, operat- ing through 7900 feet of steam pipe and heating thirty- nine college buildings. In 1904 an electric lighting plant was added, at a cost of $34,000, running at present three dynamos of 75 K. W. each and equipped for power service wherever needed in the college, as well as for lighting. In providing for the departments of instruction, new and old, it was planned that each department or each related group of departments should have its own building constructed with reference to its special needs. Following this plan, the Butterfield Museum was built in 1895 for the departments of Geology, Biology, and Sociology; Wilder Hall in 1897 for the department of Physics; the Chandler Building (re- modeled) in 1898 for the departments of Mathematics and Engineering; Tuck Hall in 1902 for the Tuck School, but providing also for the departments of History, Economics, and Political Science; Dart- mouth Hall, rebuilt by the Alumni in 1904, for the departments of Ancient and Modern Languages, and Philosophy; and Webster Hall erected by the Alumni in 1907 for the use of the college on all academic occasions. At the date of writing, plans have been accepted for a New Gymnasium to be 6 REPORT OF PRESIDENT TUCKER built from funds contributed chiefly by the younger Alumni. The creation of a college plant in a village like Hanover involved the problem of housing and other- wise caring for students as well as of providing adequate lecture rooms and laboratories. With the natural increase of students the resources of the village were quickly exhausted. And the increase of students made it necessary that the sanitary conditions should be guaranteed by the college authorities. One of the marked advantages of the dormitory system lies in the fact that it allows the closest physical inspection, an advantage which has been abundantly proved by the health of the students under the inspection maintained by Dr. Kingsford, the Medical Director. Since the old dormitories, Thornton, Wentworth, Reed, and Hall- garten, accommodating about two hundred students, were outgrown, the order of new dormitories with their accommodations is as follows: Sanborn House (fifty students), 1894; Crosby House (fifty-five), 1896; Richardson (fifty), 1897; Fayerweather (eighty-five), 1899; Hubbard House (twenty), 1899; College Hall, including Club House and Commons (forty), 1900; Elm House (twenty), 1903; Wheeler (ninety-eight), 1904; Hubbard No. 2 (forty-eight), 1906; Fayer- weather North and South (one hundred), 1906; Mas- sachusetts (eighty-eight), 1907; New Hampshire (one hundred and seven), 1908. The newer buildings making up the college plant COVERING HIS ADMINISTRATION 7 have been equally divided between non-productive and productive buildings. The non-productive build- ings have been in all cases erected out of funds which came to the college by bequest or by gift for the uses to which they were put, — Butterfield, Wilder, Chand- ler, Tuck, New Dartmouth, and Webster. The pro- ductive buildings, including most of the dormitories, have been built as investments. The amount thus invested during the period of reconstruction was $901,000, including cost of improvements, like water supply, heat, and electricity. Had the trustees limited the growth of the college to the results attending the solicitation of funds for productive buildings they would have restricted the college to the fortune of charity, or have given over the dormitory system to private enterprise. I shall refer later to the significance of the control of the dormitory system as affecting the social life of the college. I am at present concerned with the financial results of the creation of the college plant by the use of invested funds in cases where an equivalent income could be assured. The net re- ceipts in 1893 from tuition were $18,188.79, in 1908 they were $130,520.32. Within this period the tuition was advanced from $96.00 per annum to $125.00; but the main increase was due to the growth of the col- lege, which really represented the earning capacity of the college plant. For a detailed statement of the cost of the college plant, as well as for a complete historical statement in regard to college funds, the alumni are 8 REPORT OF PRESIDENT TUCKER referred to authorized articles in the Dartmouth Bi- Monthly for 1907-8, entitled, The Resources and Ex- penditures of Dartmouth College. The Trustees will issue in connection with the next treasurer's report an inventory of the college properties of which I am permitted to give the following summary : college plant independent of investments, $1,014,000; college plant represented in investments, $901,000; general invest- ments, $2,041,000; total, $3,956,000. As I shall not have occasion to refer hereafter to the college plant, I wish to call the attention of the alumni to our indebtedness to Mr. Charles A. Rich of the class of 1875, who has been the college architect since 1893 ; to Mr. Alexander A. McKenzie of the class of 1891, superintendent of buildings from 1893 till his death in 1904 ; and to Mr. Edgar H. Hunter of the class of 1901, superintendent of buildings since 1904. The skill and tact of Mr. Rich have been tested by such various results as the building of laboratories and dormitories, the planning of the College Club and Commons, the conversion of old-time residences into college "Houses," the construction of Webster, and the reconstruction of Dartmouth. These are the evi- dences of his professional ability, but they represent in small part only his unselfish gift of thought and time to plans which have never materialized. The super- intendence of buildings has from the first represented a large element of construction. The heating plant is virtually a memorial to Mr. McKenzie. North and COVERING HIS ADMINISTRATION 9 South Fayerweather, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and the New Medical Laboratory were built immedi- ately by Mr. Hunter, who will have charge of the con- struction of the New Gymnasium. The efforts which have been made to enlist the grad- uates of the college in its support, which I doubt not have seemed to you to be unremitting, have been based on the sentiment that self-respect is as becoming to a college as to a family or to an individual, and that the chief factor which justifies self-respect is self-support. I have not hesitated to invoke and stimulate this spirit on all proper occasions. I have had no other concep- tion of what is called college spirit than that it is the spirit of self-respect, and as such, something to be awakened in undergraduates and steadily maintained in after years. The graduates up to 1898 will recall a weekly exercise, held in the Old Chapel, known as "rhetoricals," a somewhat unruly exercise, open to various liabilities, but affording the rare opportunity of indoctrinating undergraduates into the permanent duties and responsibilities of the college fellowship. When this exercise was abolished Dartmouth Night was instituted. Occasions like the Webster Centen- nial, or the visit of the Earl of Dartmouth in connection with the laying of the cornerstone of the New Dart- mouth Hall, have been made helpful in affecting in the same way "the mind of the college," whether under- graduate or graduate. The organization of associa- tions and clubs throughout the country, the increased 10 REPORT OF PRESIDENT TUCKER attendance at the reunion of classes at Commence- ment, the frequent visits of graduates, singly or in groups, at Hanover have been of service in bringing the alumni into closer and more responsible relations to the college, and more especially, exigencies through which the college has passed, like the burning of Dart- mouth Hall. It has been noted that two of the most valuable halls erected within the last ten years were the collective gift of the alumni, and that the fund for the New Gymnasium is being gathered from the alumni at large. The alumni fund for scholarship and instruction, to which my name has been attached, very much to my honor, represents, through its con- stant and cumulative operation, the worth of the collective support of the alumni. I am sure that indi- vidual gifts of increasing value are on their way to the college. The noble benefaction of Edward Tuck, class of 1862, of $300,000 (now $500,000), exclusively for instruction, is a stimulating force working quietly but effectively throughout our graduate fellowship. I think that the conditions to which I have referred as antecedent to an appeal to wider interests have been reasonably met. I see no reason why the college is not now justified in calling upon its larger constit- uency for the broadening and deepening of its plans. In illustration, I refer to the present attitude of the state of New Hampshire to the college. Since 1893 the state has made an annual appropriation to the college amounting, since 1903, to $20,000 a year. COVERING HIS ADMINISTRATION 11 The usual preamble under which the appropriation has been made is as follows: Whereas, in the education of New Hampshire students, Dartmouth College is annually expending more than twenty- five thousand dollars, above all amounts received for tuition or from grants by the state or its citizens, and whereas the policy of aiding the college in educational work by annual appropriations has become definitely established by the state — Be it enacted . . . II The educational policy pursued during these years of expansion has been in some respects the converse of its financial policy. Whereas the financial policy was based upon the principle of developing to their full extent the internal resources of the college, the educational policy was based upon the principle of receiving freely of the most helpful aid from without. The danger of all educational institutions is provin- cialism. The pursuit of knowledge, like any pursuit calling for equal separateness of work of a high order, tends to exclusiveness of spirit. The remedy for aca- demic exclusiveness has not been found in greater contact with the affairs of the world. The spirit of affairs can never be made entirely congenial with the spirit of research. A partial corrective of the exclu- siveness of the academic worker may be found in the presence and stimulus of other workers of his kind, provided the work of each is sufficiently unrelated. The introduction of new subject-matter into the thought 12 REPORT OF PRESIDENT TUCKER of an academic community widens its intellectual hori- zon quite as much as greater contact with the outside world. The old college (like others of its time, a college of the humanities) had never been inhospitable to science, but the sciences had for the most part been accepted as a means of utility rather than as a means of culture. A very considerable part of the expansion which has been affected has been due to the development, or in some cases to the practical creation, of the scientific departments. More money has naturally been ex- pended for equipment in this direction than in any other, while the teaching force required is nearly equal to that employed in the languages and kindred departments. A further and very definite part of the expansion effected came in through the relative place assigned to the new humanities: History, Economics, Sociology, and the newer forms of Political Science. Here, again, the increase of expenditure, both in equip- ment and teaching force, was relatively great. Taking the three sections into which the curriculum of the college is divided, — the departments of Language and Literature; Mathematics and the Physical and Natural Sciences; History, the Social Sciences, and Philosophy, — little difference appears in the expense of the first two groups; the first group costing somewhat more for salaries, the second for equipment. The third group represents about three-fourths of the expense of either of the others. COVERING HIS ADMINISTRATION 13 The extension of subject-matter demanded a cor- responding increase in the teaching force ; and here the college called to its service not only its own graduates, who had received the proper training, but well quali- fied men from various sources entirely irrespective of their college affiliations. Of the one hundred and twenty appointments made to the academic faculty during the past fifteen years (the enumeration here given with that which follows does not include the faculties in the Associated Schools), forty-eight were of graduates of the college, seventy-two were of gradu- ates of other colleges. Classifying these appointments by grades : To professorships, Dartmouth graduates . . 4 graduates of other colleges 12 — 16 To assistant professorships, Dartmouth graduates . . 19 graduates of other colleges 25 — 44 To instructorships, Dartmouth graduates . . 25 graduates of other colleges 35 — 60. 120 The composition of the present academic faculty is as follows : Professors, Dartmouth graduates . . 14 graduates of other colleges 12 — 26 Assistant professors, Dartmouth graduates . . 14 graduates of other colleges 14 — 28 Instructors, Dartmouth graduates . . 9 graduates of other colleges 10 — 19 73 14 REPORT OF PRESIDENT TUCKER Twelve teachers in the associated schools give instruction in the college. Thirty colleges and uni- versities are represented through the bachelor's de- gree by present members of the academic faculty and twenty-four are represented through advanced degrees. A further stimulus has been found in the cooperation of the college with other colleges in the interest of scholarship. In the general advance of standards each college has reaped an educational advantage proportionate to its own effort. Methods have varied, determined somewhat by local conditions, but the desire for higher standards has been felt in common. Probably the question of the relative advantage of admission by examination or by certification will never be settled with any unanimity. So much can fairly be said against each system as ordinarily ad- ministered that it would be very difficult to bring their advocates to an agreement. Some ten years ago the question of the method of admission was very thoroughly discussed by the faculty, the faculty deciding by a con- siderable majority that the method of certification was, on the whole, more advantageous. This decision was reached not only because of dissatisfaction with some of the results of the examination method, but also because of changes then going into effect in the ad- ministration of the certificate system. Previous to the establishment of the New England College Entrance Certificate Board, several conferences had been held COVERING HIS ADMINISTRATION 15 between representatives of Amherst, Williams, and Dartmouth in the endeavor to establish a system for the certification of schools as well as of students. These conferences were suspended when the general movement among the New England Colleges toward this end began, the colleges above- named joining in the movement. The principle involved in this move- ment was the recognition of the school as the unit to be considered quite as much as the individual student. When the schools and academies of New England were chiefly fitting schools for colleges and when many students were fitted privately, the colleges were chiefly concerned with the individual student. When the change came about through which the public schools became in part fitting schools, the colleges were con- cerned quite as much with the schools as with their product. The certification of schools became, there- fore, a matter of very great consequence. The respon- sibilities which it called for on the part of the schools, if properly met, sanctioned the use of the certificate as a means of gaining admission to college. It has been the experience of the Committee on Admission that under the system of certification of schools regulated and administered by a central board, the scholarship of students applying for admission has steadily increased. Schools admitted to the privilege of certification are very careful about endorsing incompetent students. Those who have not reached a relatively high stand- ing in the school are denied a certificate and are obliged I 16 REPORT OF PRESIDENT TUCKER to enter, if at all, through examination. The college is a member both of The New England College Entrance Certificate Board and The College Entrance Examina- tion Board. The last year 54 per cent of the entering class entered by certification, 25 per cent by examina- tion, and 21 per cent by certification and exami- nation. In maintaining and in endeavoring to advance the standards of scholarship three steps have been taken which have proved helpful. First, the elimination of all special, in the sense of partial, students. The rule eliminating such students went into effect in 1903. Second, the persistent effort to reduce the number of students entering under conditions. It has been con- stantly felt that the actual test of admission to college is not the requirement stated in the catalogue, but the degree of compliance with that statement on the part of each student admitted. Conditions, of course, vary in importance, but even if they are not heavy they are discouraging and often obstructive. The average per cent of conditioned students for the past ten years has been reduced to 28 per cent, and the time in which a student can work off his condition has been re- duced to one year. Third, a step taken more recently, the requirement that the work of students once in college shall be properly spaced so that any loafing in the earlier years cannot be made up through the crowding of work in the later years. Students who reach a given standing are allowed to take extra hours, COVERING HIS ADMINISTRATION 17 so that a student of high standing may complete his course in three and a half years; while students com- ing out of freshman year with failures are not allowed to take extra hours until the failures have been made up and a relatively high standing has been reached. Under the working of this rule, until its effect shall have become a tradition, as many students will prob- ably be obliged to take four and a half years for grad- uation as are now able to graduate within three and a half years through the use of extra hours earned by high standing. I am frank to admit, however, that the advance- ment of scholarship through such methods as have been referred to is not very significant on the positive side. Rules, requirements, and even standards do not create the spirit of scholarship. Their chief object is gained in protecting the college from the demoralizing influence of the incompetent or lazy student. They do not stimulate the better student. Indeed, I some- times think that the system of requirements and ex- actions, carried out as it must be, to be effective, into careful details, creates an environment distinctly un- favorable to the best scholarship. The allotted task is apt to fix the standard, which simply means that the average scholar gradually brings the better men down to his own commonplace. Here and there a man does his best out of respect to his own ability. Here and there a man pushes out beyond the common- place to reach the fresh or seemingly inaccessible re- 11 1/ 18 REPORT OF PRESIDENT TUCKER suit. But the fact remains that the enforcements which are applied to the lower men do not prevent lapses on the part of men far above. And yet no college can exist in self-respect without the clear and sharp enforcement of scholarship. Grant that these do not stimulate, grant that required work lacks zest in the process and joy in the result, grant that the man who is sent to the library seldom if ever goes there on his own accord, what shall be done with the vast mass of students in all our colleges who have not the instinct nor the ambition of the scholar? Shall colleges be reduced to the number which can properly be labelled scholars ? That test would reduce them to at most one-fourth of their present numbers. Shall colleges be changed into technical or professional schools ? The change would doubtless double the amount of work now done, regardless of the quality. But the college is in the educational system to represent the spirit of amateur scholarship. College students are amateurs, not professionals. I think that a present danger, which in time may suggest a remedy, lies in the fact that instruction in our colleges is chiefly by professionals, who unconsciously or purposely strive to reproduce the methods of the graduate school. The scholarship of the undergraduate cannot be of the same type with that of the graduate unless it is prematurely profes- sionalized. We must have professionals for college instructors. The graduate school is the only authorized and sufficient source of supply. We cannot ask these COVERING HIS ADMINISTRATION 19 schools to change their standards or their methods. What we have the right to ask is that men who gradu- ate from these schools, who seek positions as teachers in colleges, shall straightway proceed to study the student as they continue to study the subject. Not, however, by the same methods, but rather by learning, or perhaps relearning how to appreciate the mind of the undergraduate, so that in due time they may create the spirit of amateur scholarship. As the subject of scholarships is intimately con- nected with that of scholarship, it may be proper to remark that the system of scholarships is determined, beyond the point of beneficiary aid, by scholarship. Beneficiary aid, within the limit of scholarship funds, is given to the amount of $40, to students who need it, who attain the rank of 60 on a scale of 50 to 100. Be- yond that rank, further aid is determined entirely by standing. As it is sometimes supposed that scholar- ships are used to increase the growth of a college, it may be pertinent to state that the amount of money given in scholarships in 1892-3 under an enrollment of 314 undergraduates was $13,993, and that the amount of money given in scholarships in 1907-8 under an enrollment of 1103 undergraduates was $23,900. Of the last amount $4630 was in the form of loan funds. The growth of the college has been quite out of pro- portion to the amount of money given in scholarships. In calling attention to this fact I do not deprecate the establishment of scholarships. On the contrary, I 20 REPORT OF PRESIDENT TUCKER believe that the number is too limited at Dartmouth and that the amount given in each case is too small. I do, however, deprecate any undue reliance upon the scholarship system. A college training is a matter of interest if not of concern to the community at large. It is of the nature of a public good. This much has been recognized by the fact that colleges and univer- sities are to a degree eleemosynary institutions either by endowment or by taxation. The fact, however, re- mains that a college education, like an apprenticeship in business, is a matter of private as well as of public good, and as such is worthy of like effort and of equal struggle or sacrifice. Ill Fortunately there was no question of policy in the development of the collective or social life of the col- lege. The traditions of Dartmouth were in an un- usual degree those of an academic democracy. It was necessary only to apply these traditions to new circumstances. Reliance has been placed upon quite diverse agencies in the endeavor to maintain the spirit of democracy and equality among the students. First among the agencies was the enlargement of the dor- mitory system culminating in the establishment of the college club and commons. I have already referred to the sanitary advantages of the dormitory system. Sanitation in any acceptable form requires buildings of thorough construction, well heated and lighted, and COVERING HIS ADMINISTRATION 21 abundantly supplied with water. Whatever may be added to gratify taste these requirements are absolute, and to be made effective they must be supplemented by a careful system of inspection. The social distinc- tion, however, of the dormitory system is that it secures a social life of comparative equality among students. If all dormitories have all the essentials of comfort, the variations introduced by wealth are no more than fairly belong to individual tastes. The price of rooms in each dormitory varies sufficiently to enable students of very different pecuniary condition to come together under the same roof. The construction of dormitories has kept pace with the numerical growth of the college. Students are free to room as they please in the village or in the college buildings. The building of private dormitories has not been encouraged. There are at present no private dormitories at Hanover. The policy of the college in reference to fraternities, of which there are at present twenty, has been that of entire hos- pitality, but fraternity spirit has not been encouraged to the degree of supplanting college spirit. There is a rule of the trustees limiting the number of residents in a fraternity house, thus preventing any fraternity from withdrawing its members entirely from the col- lege fellowship. This rule of the trustees meets with the approval of the student body. College sentiment is strong enough to make all lesser interests subordi- nate. The erection of College Hall in 1900 with its club rooms, dining hall, and various accommodations L 22 REPORT OF PRESIDENT TUCKER for undergraduates, graduates, and faculty, has proved of great service in maintaining and developing college unity. Supported by the entire student body, every student feels that it is his home. It not only brings college men together on occasions, but also in the easy intercourse of the daily routine. So great has been its effect upon the collective life of the college that I think that it is quite within bounds to say that the spirit of unity has more than kept pace with the growth in numbers. - Another agency which has proved of no little value in maintaining the democratic spirit is athletics. I do not care to discuss at length the advantages or dis- advantages of athletics in the development of our American colleges. I think that the physical value of | athletics may be overestimated. In individual cases they may be a detriment to scholarship. I have steadily and, as I think consistently, approved of athletics for essentially moral reasons. I am convinced that ath- letics greatly diminish, if they do not rule out, a good many mean and some vicious tendencies in our col- leges. The question of amusement in the college of the country is not a question which any college so located can afford to ignore. The city student who takes his recreation at the theater may find all that he desires in the way of excitement for good or ill. If healthful recreations are not allowed the country student to the degree of interest he will seek out and invent his own ways of amusement, according to his COVERING HIS ADMINISTRATION 23 own notions of pleasurable excitement. I do not overlook the interruptions incident to the absence of teams, or to the migration of students on occasion of great games. Nor do I overlook the evils which are incident to excitements of any kind. But when these inconveniences and liabilities have been reckoned with, I place a large moral balance to the credit of athletics. As a part, however, of this moral balance, I add the effect of athletics in upholding the spirit of equality. So long as excellence in athletics is a distinction among college men, it opens a way to college honor entirely irrespective of social conditions. Money will not buy this distinction any more than it will buy scholarship. There are a good many things in college life centering around wealth which enter into the "unearned incre- ment," but the "unearned increment " can never equal in value that which has been earned through open competition of any kind. In my judgment the college athlete should not be classed with the college loafer in the judgment of the faculty. A college athlete is an athlete who meets the ordinary require- ments of admission and of standing; otherwise he has no place in college. He is not like the scholar the distinct product of the college, but he is not an unworthy member of the college. He contributes something, in individual cases he may contribute very much, to that human element without which college life becomes unsocial and oftentimes unreal. When I add the agency of religious fellowship to ,' 24 REPORT OF PRESIDENT TUCKER the agencies already named, I think that I shall not be misunderstood by graduates, if my remark is not ap- preciated by undergraduates. In the retrospect of the college course, I think that few men would be disposed to leave out of the reckoning the social as well as the spiritual influence of Rollins Chapel. The meeting of college men day by day in the most serious relation in which they can come together, all minor differences of opinion and beliefs cast aside, is a powerful agent, though working unconsciously toward unity and equality. On the occasion of reoccupying Rollins Chapel, after the use of Webster Hall for a year, while Rollins Chapel was being enlarged, I remarked upon this aspect of the chapel service in the following words : " The service in Rollins Chapel stands distinctly for two things. First, for the single idea of religious worship, with its inherent incentives and inspirations toward the daily duty. Rollins Chapel has never been a place for anything other than worship. It has never been a place for lectures or concerts or for those assemblies and uses not infrequently associated with houses of religious worship. The old connection between the New England meeting house and the town meeting was in its day natural and honorable. There are still communities in which the traditions of the earlier days may well be preserved. But an aca- demic chapel should, in my judgment, always be kept to its one high and separate office. For this reason I COVERING HIS ADMINISTRATION 25 have rigorously excluded ordinary college notices or ordinary college talks. I think that you will bear me witness that I have not been in the habit of intro- ducing matters of college discipline or of college activities into this place. I have felt that our environ- ment here should leave but one impression upon our minds, that of reverence, aspiration, and hope, asso- ciated with duty. To this end, Rollins Chapel has been and is conducive in every part. We have missed some- thing of the tone of chapel service in Webster Hall. The reverent attitude and spirit of the students while there has been in all respects all that could be desired. But we have felt, I think, the divided associations of the place, and are, therefore, glad to return, or to take our place in Rollins Chapel. "Second, the service in Rollins Chapel stands for the freedom and unity of religious faith. It is an academic, not an ecclesiastical religious service. I do not recall ever having invited any person outside a member of the faculty to occupy this place in my absence. How- ever much I should have wished to show my personal respect for the representatives of various religious communions, who have been from time to time with us, I have wished to emphasize the fact beyond all controversy, that here is a place where all men who have religious aspirations in any form may unite in religious service, while at the same time honoring in clear and unmistakable terms the faith of the founders of the college. 26 REPORT OF PRESIDENT TUCKER "The Sunday service in Rollins Chapel has been held at an hour when there could be no conflict with the ser- vices of the churches of the town. Students have been urged to attend these various services according to their religious training or religious preferences. Loy- alty to one's church connection, wherever it exists, has been constantly inculcated, — more constantly illustrated, I ought to say, by students in the Catholic communion than by those in other communions, — but in this service which brings the entire college together there has been a sensitive regard to the rights of varying religious opinions and of religious faiths. It is, of course, too much to expect that the miracle of Pentecost should be repeated and that as we come together day by day, or Sunday by Sunday, we should all hear the truth, or worship, * every man in his own language wherein he was born.' That is not necessary. What is necessary is that we should recognize those fundamental obligations and incentives of religion in which we are all substantially agreed.'' IV Owing to local conditions the process of expansion began with contraction. The title of the annual cata- logue for 1892 ran "Catalogue of Dartmouth College and the Associated Institutions." The associated institutions were the Medical School (1798), the Chandler School of Science and the Arts (1851), the New Hampshire College of Agriculture and the Me- COVERING HIS ADMINISTRATION 27 chanic Arts (1866), and the Thayer School of Civil Engineering and Architecture (1871). Early in the academic year 1902-3 the New Hampshire college of Agriculture and the Mechanic Arts was removed to Durham. At a meeting of the trustees, held December 5, 1892, a report of the visitors of the Chandler School, which prepared the way for the incorporation of the Chandler School into the College, was adopted and the incorporation was effected. The standards of admission were advanced and the degree of Bachelor of Science became thereafter a recognized degree of the college. There remained the Medical School, and the Thayer School to be readjusted, and later (1900) the Tuck School was added. The Medical School, originating in the establishment of a professorship of Medicine in the college in 1798, first filled by Professor Nathan Smith, has had a varied fortune, known sometimes as the Dartmouth Medical School, at other times as the New Hampshire Medical College, but actually during the most of its existence a private school under the support as well as under the control of its faculty. The general relation of the trustees of the college to the school was through the conferring of degrees. The change to a formal control of the school by the board of trustees, with provision for its support, was gradual, including the substitution of a four years' curriculum in place of a three years' curriculum; the extension of laboratory courses in the first two years preparatory to the clinical work of the 28 REPORT OF PRESIDENT TUCKER school; the erection of a new medical building, the Nathan Smith Laboratory; and finally the adoption of a system in connection with the advancement of requirements for admission, through which students in the B.S. course of the college could enroll in the Medical School at the beginning of junior year and students in the A.B. at the beginning of senior year. The bequest of $40,000 by Mrs. Martha W. Brown (1897) of Manchester, as a memorial to her husband William W. Brown, M.D., constitutes the first en- dowment, apart from scholarships, which can be applied to the Medical School. The funds of the Thayer School of Civil Engineering and Architecture are lodged with the trustees of the college, and the school is under their general control, but it is also under the active supervision of the board of overseers. When the Chandler School of Science and the Arts was incorporated into the college, a definite arrangement was made through which candidates for the B.S. degree could enroll in the Thayer School at the beginning of senior year. This privilege has since been extended to candidates for the A.B. degree. More recently the relation of the trustees to the school has been made more definite and responsible, involving provision for maintenance and enlargement. The Tuck School of Administration and Finance grew out of a provision in the gift of Edward Tuck, already referred to, making allowance for "additional professorships which may in the future be established COVERING HIS ADMINISTRATION 29 in the college proper or in post graduate departments, should such be added at any time to the college course." It was considered that the subjects centering in Eco- nomics could not be carried to their legitimate and prac- tical conclusion within the college curriculum without disarranging the curriculum. The Tuck School was made virtually a graduate school with the same privilege of enrollment at the beginning of senior year as had been allowed for the Thayer School. The Tuck School has never been under the supervision of any outside board, as in the case of the visitors upon the Chandler Foundation or of the overseers of the Thayer School. The trustees are, however, considering at the present time the advisability of creating an advisory or exam- ining committee made up chiefly of those who have been or who may be identified with the Tuck School as lecturers. The school, however, in its internal arrangements is under a distinct and separate manage- ment. The director of the school and certain members of its faculty are entirely separate from the academic faculty, while other instructors are on both faculties. Students who enroll in the Tuck School, as in the Thayer School, before receiving the bachelor's degree, elect the courses in either school in their entirety. Students from the college are not allowed to take special courses in either of the schools. The Tuck Building, also a gift of Mr. Edward Tuck, makes ample provision for the growth of the school, while at present accom- modating departments which are naturally associated 30 REPORT OF PRESIDENT TUCKER with it. The ethical aims of the school have been so clearly and forcibly stated by Mr. Tuck that I quote, for the information of the alumni, the following state- ment: In the conduct of the school to which you have done my father's memory the honor of attaching his name, I trust that certain elementary but vital principles, on which he greatly dwelt in his advice to young men, whether entering upon a professional or business career, may not be lost sight of in the variety of technical subjects of which the regular curriculum is composed. Briefly, these principles or maxims are: absolute devotion to the career which one selects, and to the interests of one's superior officers or employers; the desire and determination to do more rather than less than one's required duties; perfect accuracy and promptness in all undertakings, and absence from one's vocabulary of the word "forget"; never to vary a hair's breadth from the truth nor from the path of strictest honesty and honor, with perfect confidence in the wisdom of doing right as the surest means of achieving success. To the maxim that honesty is the best policy should be added another: that altruism is the highest and best form of egoism as a principle of conduct to be followed by those who strive for success and happiness in public or business relations as well as in those of private life. The schools associated with Dartmouth College are for the most part an inheritance, but the principle of their relation to the college is entirely applicable to present conditions and in no way involves the question of the change of the college into a university. As I remarked at the last meeting of the New York alumni, COVERING HIS ADMINISTRATION 31 "without change of name, the college may take on new functions and advance to grades of instruction which are not now practicable. A great library, with corresponding laboratory facilities, would at any time give the physical basis for the teaching which could support a graduate college." The policy of concentration which has been carried out in dealing with the associated schools has been ap- plied in the administration of the college. The ex- pansion at this point has been almost as marked as at the point of instruction, but the constant effort has been made to concentrate with a view to economy and efficiency. The board of trustees has uniformly pre- pared and usually carried out its activities through committees. Owing to the small number of the board (twelve, including the governor of the state, ex-officio) all of its members have been responsibly identified with all action taken, throughout the entire process. The larger work of the board has been conducted through three committees, — the committee on finance, the committee on instruction, and the committee on buildings and improvements. The president is a mem- ber ex-officio of each committee, but the chairman of each committee presides at its meetings and presents the business. There are four stated meetings of the board during the year, but a year has seldom passed in which special or adjourned meetings have not been held. In the more immediate administration of the college the president has been aided by an increasing corps 32 REPORT OF PRESIDENT TUCKER elected or assigned to the specific work of administra- tion. Owing to the frequent and sometimes protracted absence of the president on college business Professor John K. Lord has served, by assignment of the trustees, as acting president of the college whenever the presi- dent has been absent. During the last two years the duties of the acting president have been more constant and more onerous. I should, however, give a wrong conception of the meaning of this office if I limited its duties to periods of absence on the part of the presi- dent. The relation of acting-president Lord has been quite as much through counsel and advice, which I have freely sought, as through more formal duties. In this aspect of his service to the college I desire to ex- press my indebtedness for constant and most helpful assistance during the period of my administration. The office of dean of the college was created in 1893, and Professor Emerson, then Appleton Professor of Natural Philosophy, was assigned to the position. In 1899 Dean Emerson resigned his position as Appleton Professor and has since that date given his entire time to the duties of his office. The office of dean has grown so steadily in the various kinds of work which have been relegated to it that it will soon require redefi- nition, both as regards the authority of the dean and the range of his duties. In 1905 the office of secretary of the college was es- tablished, and Mr. Ernest M. Hopkins, class of 1901, who had been for four years private secretary to the COVERING HIS ADMINISTRATION 33 president, was elected secretary. It is very difficult to define in exact terms the duties of this office, they are so varied. The secretary has to do with the internal organization and life of the college, with many of its intercollegiate relations, with the alumni, and, through a wide range of correspondence, with the public so far as it is related to the college. The academic functions associated with the office are occasional. The constant duty consists in attention to those important details of college administration which are often as significant as its general policy. In 1907 the office of the dean was relieved of part of its routine work through the appointment of a regis- trar, a position which since that time has been filled by Mr. Howard M. Tibbetts, class of 1900. At the same time the office work of the treasurer was in part relieved by the appointment of an auditing clerk, a po- sition filled by Mr. Halsey C. Edgerton, class of 1907. Reference has been made to the office of the Super- intendent of Buildings, now filled by Mr. Edgar H. Hunter, class of 1901, a position which has become each year of more and more importance, involving as it does nearly all the general work of construction as well as that of the maintenance of the college plant. Men- tion should also be made of the position of the comp- troller of the College Commons, originally held by Mr. Henry N. Teague of the class of 1900, now combined with that of manager of the Hanover Inn, the two posi- tions being held by Mr. Arthur P. Fairfield, class of 1900. 34 REPORT OF PRESIDENT TUCKER The character of the administrative work of the faculty has greatly changed within the period of recon- struction, due chiefly to two causes, — the increase of the college in numbers and the organization of depart- ments. When the faculty was small all business was transacted in the committee of the whole. The chief business was the regulation of the students. Few sub- jects of general educational interest appear upon the earlier records of the faculty. The records are made up for the most part of the dealings of the faculty with individuals. With the increase of the college in num- bers both of faculty and students it became necessary to deal with individual cases through delegated au- thority. The dean's office became the clearing house for all cases of minor discipline as well as for the peti- tions of students. Finally, the whole question of disci- pline consisting, as is now almost entirely the fact, of the treatment of students who fall behind or fail in scholarship, was referred with power to the dean and to the committee on administration. In like manner the committee on athletics, and on organizations other than athletics, have been given full control within the jurisdiction of each, as has also the committee on the library within its jurisdiction. The committees on admission, on the curriculum, and on graduate instruc- tion, pass on questions submitted to them, and pre- pare subjects for the consideration of the faculty. The meetings of the faculty held monthly are usually meet- ings for the discussion of reports from the various COVERING HIS ADMINISTRATION 35 committees. As the faculty now nominates its own committees, it has complete authority in the manage- ment of its affairs within the powers delegated to it by the trustees. The organization of the different departments de- pends upon their size, the character of their equipment, and the relation in which any one department may stand to the group with which it is immediately associ- ated. The head of the department lays out and assigns work in conference with his colleagues, and advises with the president in regard to recommendations for the appointment of instructors and assistants. The dividing line between general administration and the administrative functions of the various departments of instruction, or of the faculty at large, is not entirely clear. A period of reconstruction and expansion with its rapid increase of administrative service and its equally rapid growth in departments of instruction, naturally gives rise to questions about academic gov- ernment. The complexity of interests involved creates a sensitive situation. Efficiency requires unity in ad- ministration, centralized rather than diffused respon- sibility. On the other hand the varying interests of departments, differences in the academic training of members of the faculty, apparent and sometimes real inequalities in the rate of promotion, and above all, fundamental variations of opinion in regard to the ob- ject of the college discipline as well as in regard to methods, all tend to the assertion in one form or an- 36 REPORT OF PRESIDENT TUCKER other of individualism. I doubt not that there is a certain sacrifice of individual rights involved in the highest efficiency of administration. I am certain that all concerned lose their rights and much beside from inefficiency of administration. Whether the period upon which the college is about to enter will allow a larger division of responsibility or not, must be deter- mined by experience. Certain powers and rights have been fixed by the charter of the college, but within the limit of these guarantees, the question of administra- tion itself, in some of its principles and in many of its methods, remains a problem to be wrought out by each succeeding administration. In reviewing the period of reconstruction and ex- pansion, which covers the past sixteen years, I have been conscious of the danger of over-emphasizing changes. Compared with the whole history of the college, no period, apart from the periods of its "founding and re-founding," has large significance. I have, however, thought it desirable that there should be a clear under- standing of that period in the history of the college with which the great body of living graduates is in general familiar, and over which it has exercised, with more or less direct knowledge, the control through its representation on the board of trustees. Such an under- standing may be of equal advantage in conserving the results of right action and in correcting the effect of mistakes. Whatever of success has attended the work of reconstruction is due entirely to the spirit of co- COVERING HIS ADMINISTRATION 37 operation which has pervaded all who have been con- cerned in it. Each part of the body corporate and in- dividual has contributed its appropriate and its timely share. Let me in a word acknowledge these mutually contributing forces: the courage of the trustees at critical times, ensuring the consummation of their purpose; the patience of the faculty in its constructive work, each department waiting its time in the gen- eral advancement; the contagious enthusiasm of the students, responsible more than any one cause for the numerical growth of the college; and the responsive- ness of the alumni to plans which as put before them seemed to be only possibilities. I can ask for my successor nothing more and nothing less than the continuance of this spirit. I go further and suggest to you as alumni, that the most encouraging expression of this spirit which you can give to him is the assurance that you allow and expect on his part perfect freedom of initiative. The problems now be- fore the college are not those of reconstruction and ex- pansion. Whenever the new issues are defined, and the policy designed to meet them is set forth, the timely and effective ways of cooperation will disclose them- selves. I am confident that the graduates of Dartmouth will not overlook or neglect the greater opportunities which lie in the immediate future of the College. William Jewett Tucker. Dartmouth College, June 7, 1909. 38 REPORT OF PRESIDENT TUCKER The concluding words of the above report, referring to my successor, were necessarily impersonal, as they were written before the election of Professor Ernest Fox Nichols of Columbia University. I am glad to be able to arrest the report as it goes to press to add the following com- munication which was sent to The Dartmouth upon the announcement of Doctor Nichols* election: To the Editor of The Dartmouth: As there is no immediate opportunity of presenting Doctor Nichols to the undergraduates, allow me to give a word of introduction through your columns. Doctor Nichols belongs to our fellowship by the right of five years of brilliant service in the chair of Physics, a service recognized by the trustees by the honorary degree of Doctor of Science. But he is much more closely one of us by his sympathies. I have never attended a dinner of Dartmouth men in New York at which he was not present. He comes back to us as he left us, his heart unchanged. He returns with a reputation which has been increasing year by year at home and abroad. Few scholars in any department have gained the position which he holds as a man of forty. It is also his distinction that he has won his place in a department crowded with workers intent on research. The change which he makes to adminis- tration does not require of him the sacrifice or repression of powers which have given him success. Doctor Nichols is essentially a man of imagination. He sees things that are to be, as well as things that are. For this reason I anticipate from him as brilliant a service in administration as he has rendered in research or instruction. I anticipate no less that through his personality he will establish himself at once in the hearts of undergraduates and graduates of the College. W. J. T. June 12. ^Hi '■■'■■ 3 0112 105624099 I ■ ■ S» h ■ • . Hi mm m Krkffrt mim iB*&k