GOVERNMENT AND ORGANIZATION.
The organization of the University, its government, discipline,
and methods of instruction, were virtually prescribed by Jefferson
alone; and in many respects they still retain the impression derived
from him. By virtue of its charter, the supreme government of
the institution, under the General Assembly, is vested in the Rector
and Visitors. Under the general direction of this board, and
subject to its regulations, the affairs of the University were administered,
for the first eighty years of its existence, by the Faculty
and its Chairman, the latter being a member of the Faculty, who occupied
temporarily the position of chief executive officer of the institution.
As the University grew, it became more and more difficult for
a member of the teaching staff to fill the position of chairman, and
attend to the manifold executive duties attached to that office. In
October, 1903, the Visitors decided that modern conditions rendered
necessary the creation of the office of president; and in June,
1904, Edwin Anderson Alderman was elected first president of the
University of Virginia.
The scheme of instruction organized by Jefferson contemplated
no fixed uniform curriculum of studies to be pursued by every student
alike, without discrimination. Each distinct branch of knowledge
was, as far as was practicable, assigned to an individual
"School" with its own instructors; and the University was to consist
of a collection of independent Schools. The origin of the elective
system at the University of Virginia is found in the fact that
students were permitted to matriculate in any School or Schools
of the University for which they were prepared.
The original organization consisted of eight independent Schools
—namely, Ancient Languages, Modern Languages, Mathematics,
Natural Philosophy, Moral Philosophy, Chemistry, Medicine,
and Law. The first seven Schools mentioned were opened to matriculates
on March 7, 1825,—with an aggregate attendance, during the
first session, of 123 students. The School of Law was not opened
until 1826.
This original organization was, of course, gradually enlarged
and modified. As early as 1837 the School of Medicine was elevated
to a Department, consisting of three individual Schools;
while in 1850 the School of Law was enlarged to a Department consisting
of two Schools. Other Departments and Schools have been
added from time to time, until the University organization arrived
at its present condition, as described elsewhere in this catalogue.
It was provided by the first Board of Visitors, in accordance
with Jefferson's wishes, that but two degrees should be conferred
by the University. The lower degree, characteristic of the institution
for many years, was conferred upon a student who had completed
all the work offered in any one School; to such a candidate
the untitled degree of "Graduate" in the School in question should
be given. The other, the higher degree, was to be the Doctor's
degree and was to be given to the graduate in two or more Schools
who had, in addition, exhibited well developed powers of research.
There is abundant evidence that, in planning the organization
of the University of Virginia, Jefferson had in mind the so-called
continental type of university. The first faculty were, however,
with one or two exceptions, Oxford or Cambridge men. Naturally
they had in mind the English type of university; the result of which
was that they soon substituted (in 1831) for the Doctor's degree
proposed by Jefferson, the Master's degree, common in England.
The degree of "Master of Arts of the University of Virginia" was
accordingly, for more than half a century, the leading degree conferred
by this institution.
Through the munificence of Mr. Andrew Carnegie, who donated
to the General Alumni Association of the University of Virginia
the sum of $500,000, upon condition that the same be held and the
income therefrom be applied to the following schools and professorships:
Engineering; Law; International Law; Political Science and
Political Economy; English; Pathology: there were established in
May, 1909, by joint action of the Rector and Visitors of the University
of Virginia and the Alumni Board of Trustees of the University
of Virginia Endowment Fund, the following schools and
professorships:
The Andrew Carnegie School of Engineering;
The James Madison School of Law;
The James Monroe School of International Law;
The James Wilson School of Political Economy;
The Edgar Allan Poe School of English;
The Walter Reed School of Pathology.
As at present organized, the University comprises thirty
distinct and independent Schools. The courses of instruction given
in these are so coördinated as to form six Departments, two of
which are academic, and four professional (or technical); viz:
