Board of Regents

“ A Board of experienced Regents could manage the funds and machinery of the University better than any Legislature; and the Faculty could manage the business of education—the interior of a College—better than any Regents. ”

“ The superintendent had written on the 18th to the secretary of the board of regents, recommending the so-called annulment and notice to the contractor and his surety, and had received his approval, expressed to be on behalf of the board of regents. ”

“ The board of regents shall, after inquiry, and after such notice and hearing as may be appropriate, make a listing of organizations which it finds to be subversive in that they advocate, advise, teach or embrace the doctrine that the government of the United States or of any state or of any political subdivision thereof shall be overthrown or overturned by force, violence or any unlawful means, or that they advocate, advise, teach or embrace the duty, necessity or propriety of adopting any such doctrine, as set forth in section twelve-a of the civil service law. ”

“ Providing for the appointment of David M. Rubenstein as a citizen regent of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution.
Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That, in accordance with section 5581 of the Revised Statutes (20 U.S.C. 43) , the vacancy on the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution, in the class other than Members of Congress, occurring because of the expiration of the term of Anne d'Harnoncourt of Pennsylvania is filled by the appointment of David M. Rubenstein of Maryland. ”

“ Prior to the appointment of any superintendent, teacher or employe, the nominating official, in addition to making due inquiry as to the candidate's academic record, professional training, experience and personal qualities, shall inquire of prior employers, and such other persons as may be in a position to furnish pertinent information, as to whether the candidate is known to have violated the aforesaid statutory provisions, including the provisions with respect to membership in organizations listed by the Board of Regents as subversive in accordance with paragraph 2 hereof. ”

“ The President and his cabinet are ex officio members of the Institution, and there is a provision, not at present carried into effect, providing for the election of honorary members of the Institution. The secretary is the only executive officer of the board, and is responsible to the board for his conduct of affairs. The regents meet once a year in January. Many eminent men have served in the capacity of regents, and the records of their proceedings indicate that their interest in the work under their charge has been uniformly very active. ”

“ President of university; supervision by regents. Sec. 8. The regents of the university shall, at their first annual meeting, or as soon thereafter as may be, elect a president of the university, who shall be ex officio a member of their board, with the privilege of speaking but not of voting. He shall preside at the meetings of the regents and be the principal executive officer of the university. ”

“ Let us say that the number of young men should be that of our Senatorial Districts, and that each Senator have the privilege of nominating a candidate for admission, subject, of course, to the decision of the Faculty when he should present himself. A Board of Examination should likewise be appointed, whose duty it should be to visit and examine the Institution, and to report annually upon its condition to the Governor. ”

“ If the Khedive has not provided for a Regency during his life, one will be formed of the persons who may at the time be at the head of the departments of the Interior, of War, of Finance, of Foreign Affairs, of the Council of Justice, of the Army, and of the General Inspection. They shall proceed to the nomination of a Regent in the following manner. These different Chiefs of the Administration shall elect the Regent from among themselves ”

“ My own argument I have not read for many years, but it is not unlikely that it contains as much ingenuity as can be found in any argument that I have ever made. The movement attracted a good deal of interest in the State. The College was in control of the Unitarians exclusively, and it was far from prosperous. The final change of the Board of Overseers gave a popular character to the institution, and it was one of the elements of its recent prosperity. ”

“ Their superintendence is not inefficient, for several reasons: the colleges in order to become corporations stand in need of a charter, which is only granted on the recommendation of the Regents: every year funds are distributed by the State for the encouragement of learning, and the Regents are the distributors of this money. See Chap. xv. ‘Public Instruction,’ Revised Statutes, vol. i. p. 455. The school-commissioners are obliged to send an annual report to the Superintendent of the Republic. ”

“ Otherwise the University could not [165] have become what it is. While the Regents for the most part have not been men primarily interested, or trained, in educational matters, they have taken their duties seriously and have been unselfish in their service for the institution, with no reward for their labors save the honor inherent in their office. ”

“ His lordship proposed that the president of the council, and other privy-councillors, not exceeding five, should form a board for the consideration of the manner in which the grants made by parliament should be distributed. He further stated that the first object of such a board should be the establishment of a good normal school; and, in order to make that as perfect as possible, attention should be mainly directed to four objects—religious instruction; general education; moral training ”

“ The first executive duty of the incumbent of office, therefore, is to keep his faculty under control, so as to be able unhampered to carry out the policy of magnitude and secularization with a view to which the governing board has invested him with his powers. ”

“ If the Heir to the Throne, for one of the reasons enumerated in article 41, cannot exercise the power of Regent, this shall be exercised by three persons appointed by special act or by the will of the King. At the same time the King shall appoint a substitute for each of the three Regents. If the post of a Regent and that of his substitute become vacant, Parliament elects by secret vote, in joint session, a new Regent from, the two remaining substitutes. If only one of them is alive, he succeeds to the vacant post of Regent without a vote being taken. ”

“ The governing boards -- trustees, regents, curators, fellows, whatever their style and title -- are an aimless survival from the days of clerical rule, when they were presumably of some effect in enforcing conformity to orthodox opinions and observances, among the academic staff. ”

“ If a Regent or a member of the Councilof Regency, appointed in accordance with article 50, dies or is prevented by any circumstances from performing his duties as Regent or as a member of the Council of Regency, the Council of Ministers may with the consent of Parliament appoint another person to replace him, in accordance with the provisions of articles 51, 53 and 54. ”

“ The Trustees would not yield at once and, in March, 1839, presented a petition to the Legislature, praying it not to pass an act requiring them to give up the property to the Regents. The memorial was referred to a joint committee, which reported a bill restoring the property to the Regents. The bill was enacted and the Regents have since ruled. ”

“ Election of a Regent If there be no agnate of age, and if no legal provision has previously been made for such a contingency, the Ministry of State shall convoke the chambers, which shall then elect a regent in joint session. ”

“ The Regents are never named from among subordinate officials, nor is a Regent ever promoted to the throne. It is held that the qualities required in an absolute Sovereign are not such as are demanded from or likely to be developed in the subordinate ruler of a dominion however important, and that functions like those of a Regent, at least as important as those of the Viceroy of India, ought not to be entrusted to men trained in subaltern administrative duties. ”

“ It might even be well, in order to strengthen the President, to give him the right of appeal to the Mayor and Councils, in case of an irreconcilable difference of opinion between him and the Directors. Everything depends upon the President. Given the right President, with power enough and time enough, and the success of the College is assured. Given a bad President, or a good one hampered by committees, or too dependent upon a board, and the College will be the reproach of Philadelphia. ”

“ The office of college president, as it now exists, should be abolished; each faculty in a university or the single faculty in a college should choose its own executive head, who should be simply primus inter pares and should be the mouthpiece of his faculty in conference with other faculties or with the trustees. In a university, the several executives would be a council to determine matters affecting the policy of the institution as a whole. ”

“ Membership of the Secretariat, as will be seen elsewhere, does not render residence at the capital obligatory, indeed distinguished provincial governors are often raised to that dignity, only so, however, when vacancies occur. Next in degree to this office, and of far more practical importance, are six boards representing as many departments in the administration. These are the Board of Civil Service; the Board of Finance; the Board of Rites, Obligations, and Observances (including public institutions and state worship) ”

“ These nominations should be subject to approval by a board of advisers, consisting of professors from the school concerned, from related schools and from outside of the university; but final election should be by the university senate, and subject to veto by the trustees. Each school should have educational as well as financial autonomy and its property should be a trust fund for its benefit. Representatives from all schools should be elected to a senate, which should legislate for the university as a whole and should be co-ordinate with the trustees. ”

“ Now, in accepting office as executive head of a university, the incumbent necessarily accepts all the conditions that attach to the administration of his office, whether by usage and common sense expectation, by express arrangement, or by patent understanding with the board to which he owes his elevation to this post of dignity and command. By usage and precedent it is incumbent on him to govern the academic personnel and equipment with an eye single to the pursuit of knowledge, and so to conduct its affairs as will most effectually compass that end. ”

“ The minor King was not to be under the Regent’s care, but under the guardianship of his mother, in case his predecessor should not have designated a guardian; and if the last King had not appointed five senators for a Council of Tutelage, to provide for the education of the minor, and to be consulted in all things of importance relating to his person and establishment, that office devolved upon the five senior senators, or if there were a Council of Regency existing, on the five senators next in seniority to the members of that council. ”

“ A decree was passed by which all power was taken from the hands of M. du Maine and placed in those of the Regent, with the right of placing whom he pleased in the council; of dismissing anybody as it should seem good to him; and of doing all he might think fit respecting the form to be given to the government; authority over public affairs, nevertheless, to remain with the council, and decision to be taken by the plurality of votes, the vote of the Regent to count double in case of equal division ”

“ All power and authority in school affairs should reside ultimately in the board of education, consisting of not more than eight persons appointed by the mayor of the city, to hold office four years, two members retiring annually and eligible for reappointment once and no more. This board should appoint as its chief officer a superintendent of instruction, whose tenure should be during good behavior and efficiency, and whose powers and duties should be to a large extent defined by statute law, and not wholly or chiefly by the regulations of the board of education. ”

“ But it is more to the point to note that the academic head commonly holds office by choice of the governing board. Where the power of appointment lies freely in the discretion of such a board, the board will create an academic head in its own image. ”

“ In every department the Assistant Resident is aided by a native chief of high rank, with the title of Regent. Such a Regent, though his relation to the Government and his department is quite that of a paid official, always belongs to the high aristocracy of his country, and often to the family of the princes, who have governed in that part or neighbourhood as independent sovereigns. ”

“ The Commission shall, upon the nomination of the head of each Department, bureau, or office, designate and select a suitable number of persons, not less than three, in said Department, bureau, or office to be members of a board of promotion. In the Departments, bureaus, or offices in Washington and in all other offices the members of any board of examiners shall not all be adherents of one political party when persons of other political parties are available and competent to serve upon said board. ”

“ Baronet proposes that the Crown should appoint six members of the Board who have been at least ten years in India, so that there may at all events be that number of gentlemen at the Board lit for the responsible office in which they are placed. ”