University of Virginia Library

INTRODUCTION.

HISTORICAL SKETCH.

By an act of the Legislature of Virginia, dated January 12, 1803, certain
citizens of Albemarle County were incorporated under the style of "Trustees
of Albemarle Academy," and were empowered to take such steps as seemed
practicable to raise the funds necessary for erecting buildings and putting the
Academy into operation. Albemarle Academy was destined never to exist
except on paper, but under the guidance of Thomas Jefferson, who was elected
to the board of trustees on March 23, 1814, a process of development was
begun leading first to the organization of Central College, and afterwards to
that of the University of Virginia. On August 19, 1814, the committee of
the trustees appointed to select a site, reported that it would be desirable to
locate the Academy in the vicinity of the town of Charlottesville, distant not
more than half a mile therefrom.

By an act of February 14, 1816, the Legislature authorized the establishment
of "Central College, in the County of Albemarle, at the place which
has been, or shall be, selected by the trustees of Albemarle Academy, and in
lieu of such Academy." All rights and claims of Albemarle Academy were,
by the same act, vested in Central College. The board of visitors of the College
consisted of six members, of whom Jefferson was the only one who had been
a member of the Academy board. The other five members were James Madison,
James Monroe, Joseph Carrington Cabell, David Watson, and John H. Cocke.

On May 5, 1817, Jefferson was elected Rector of the board, and, on the
same day, the board authorized the purchase of a farm of about two hundred
acres lying one mile west of Charlottesville as a site for the College. This
tract now forms a part of the grounds of the University of Virginia.

The cornerstone of Central College was laid on October 6, 1817, in the
presence of Thomas Jefferson, Rector, and of James Madison and James
Monroe—the latter then President of the United States. This building, located
on what is known as the West Lawn of the University, is now utilized as the
Colonnade Club.

Jefferson's plan was to erect a distinct building, a "pavilion," for each individual
professor—buildings to be arranged around a rectangular lawn. Each
pavilion was to contain "a schoolroom and apartments for the accommodation
of the professor," and one-story dormitories for the students were to be erected
adjacent to the pavilions. Jefferson drew most of the sketches for the buildings
with his own hands, basing them upon designs by Palladio; and his ideas of
architectural effect and grouping were carried out in detail when Central
College was merged into the University of Virginia.

The prime object in Jefferson's mind, while Rector of the board of visitors
of Central College, was to get the college well under way, and then have it
adopted by the Legislature as the State University. Accordingly, in the
first report of the visitors to the Legislature, on January 6, 1818, it is recommended
that a state university be established on the site of Central College.

By an act of February 21, 1818, the Legislature authorized the appointment

by the Governor of a board of twenty-four members, to be known as
the "Board of Commissioners of the University." It was the duty of this
board to meet on August 1, 1818, at the Tavern in Rockfish Gap, on the Blue
Ridge Mountains, and report upon the following points regarding the organization
of a state university:

1. A proper site for the projected university.

2. A plan for the building thereof.

3. The branches of learning which should be taught therein.

4. The number and description of professorships; and

5. Such general provisions as might properly be enacted by the Legislature
for the better organizing and governing of the University.

Jefferson, Madison, and Monroe were present at the meeting of the Commissioners,
and their able and elaborate report to the Legislature (indicating
much careful thought) had probably been prepared by Jefferson before the
meeting was held. This report, recommending, among other things, the site
of Central College as the most advantageous one for the University, was
forwarded in duplicate to the Speaker of the House and the Speaker of the
Senate on August 4, 1818. On January 25, 1819, the Legislature adopted a
formal act "for establishing an university," and this date must be reckoned
as the year of the origin of the University, although the institution was not
opened to students until March 7, 1825.

Although Jefferson's was the dominant spirit and the shaping hand in the
whole movement for the establishment of a state university, it should be
stated that but for the influence and efforts of Joseph Carrington Cabell, the
close personal friend of Jefferson, the acts of February 21, 1818, and January
25, 1819, would probably have failed of adoption by the Legislature.

The act of January 25, 1819, establishing the University, is as follows (Revised
Code, 1819, ch. 34, p. 90):

"1. Be it declared by the General Assembly of Virginia, That the conveyance
of the lands and other property appertaining to the Central College
in the County of Albemarle, which has been executed by the proctor thereof,
under authority of the subscribers and founders, to the President and Directors
of the Literary Fund, is hereby accepted, for the use and on the conditions in
the said deed of conveyance expressed.

"2. And be it enacted, That there shall be established, on the site provided
for the said College, an university, to be called the University of Virginia;
that it shall be under the government of seven visitors to be appointed forthwith
by the Governor, with the advice of Council, notifying thereof the persons so
appointed, and prescribing to them a day for their first meeting at the said
University, with supplementary instructions for procuring a meeting subsequently,
in the event of failure at the time first appointed.

"3. The said visitors, or so many of them as, being a majority, shall
attend, shall appoint a rector, of their own body, to preside at their meetings,
and a secretary to record, attest, and preserve their proceedings, and shall
proceed to examine into the state of the property conveyed as aforesaid; shall
make an inventory of the same, specifying the items whereof it consists; shall

notice the buildings and other improvements already made, and those which
are in progress; shall take measures for their completion, and for the addition
of such others, from time to time, as may be necessary.

"4. In the said University shall be taught the Latin, Greek, and Hebrew
languages; French, Spanish, Italian, German, and Anglo-Saxon; the different
branches of Mathematics, pure and physical; natural philosophy; the principles
of agriculture; chemistry; mineralogy, including geology; botany, zoölogy;
anatomy; medicine; civil government; political economy; the law of nature
and nations; municipal law; history; ideology; general grammar; ethics; rhetoric;
and belles lettres; which branches of science shall be so distributed, and
under so many professors, not exceeding ten, as the visitors shall think proper
and expedient.

"5. Each professor shall be allowed the use of the apartments and accommodations
provided for him, and those first employed such standing salary as
the visitors shall think proper and sufficient, and their successors such standing
salary, not exceeding one thousand dollars, as the visitors shall think proper
and sufficient, with such tuition fees from each student as the visitors shall from
time to time establish.

"6. The said visitors shall be charged with the erection, preservation, and
repair of the buildings, the care of the grounds and appurtenances, and of the
interests of the University generally; they shall have power to appoint a bursar,
employ a proctor, and all other necessary agents; to appoint and remove
professors, two-thirds of the whole number of visitors voting for the removal;
to prescribe their duties and the course of education, in conformity with the
law; to establish rules for the government and discipline of the students, not
contrary to the laws of the land; to regulate tuition fees, and the rent of the
dormitories occupied; to prescribe and control the duties and proceedings of
all officers, servants, and others, with respect to the buildings, lands, appurtenances,
and other property and interests of the University; to draw from
the literary funds such monies as are by law charged on it for this institution;
and, in general, to direct and do all matters and things which, not being inconsistent
with the laws of the land, to them shall seem most expedient for promoting
the purposes of said institution; which several functions they shall be free
to exercise in the form of by-laws, resolutions, orders, instructions, or otherwise,
as they shall deem proper.

"7. They shall have two stated meetings in every year, to-wit, on the first
Mondays of April and October; and occasional meetings at such other times
as they shall appoint, or on a special call, with such notice as themselves shall
prescribe by a general rule, which meetings shall be at the University, a majority
of them constituting a quorum for business; and on the death, resignation of a
member, or failure to act for the space of one year, or on his removal out of
the Commonwealth, or by the Governor, with the advice of Council, the
Governor with the like advice shall appoint a successor.

"8. The said rector and visitors shall be a body corporate, under the style
and title of `The Rector and Visitors of the University of Virginia,' with the
right, as such, to use a common seal; they shall have capacity to plead and

be impleaded in all courts of justice, and in all cases interesting to the University,
which may be subjects of legal cognizance and jurisdiction; which pleas
shall not abate by the determination of their office, but shall stand revived in
the name of their successors; and they shall be capable in law, and in trust
for the University, of receiving subscriptions and donations, real and personal,
as well from bodies corporate or persons associated, as from private individuals.

"9. And the said rector and visitors shall, at all times, conform to such
laws as the legislature may, from time to time, think proper to enact for their
government; and the said University shall in all things, and at all times, be
subject to the control of the legislature. And the said Rector and Visitors of
the University of Virginia shall be, and they are hereby, required to make
report annually to the President and Directors of the Literary Fund (to be laid
before the legislature at the next succeeding session), embracing a full account
of the disbursements, the funds on hand, and a general statement of the condition
of said University.

"10. The said board of visitors, or a majority thereof, by nomination of
the board, shall, once in every year at least, visit the said University; enquire
into the proceedings and practices thereat; examine the progress of the students,
and give to those who excel in every branch of science there taught, such honorary
marks and testimonials of approbation as may encourage and incite to
industry and emulation.

"11. On every twenty-ninth day of February, or, if that be Sunday, then
on the next, or earliest day thereafter on which a meeting can be effected,
the Governor and Council shall be in session, and shall appoint visitors of
the said University, either the same or others at their discretion, to serve
until the twenty-ninth day of February next ensuing, duly and timely notifying
to them their appointment, and prescribing a day for their first meeting at the
University; after which, their meetings, stated and occasional, shall be as
hereinbefore provided: Provided, that nothing in this act contained shall suspend
the proceedings of the visitors of the said Central College of Albemarle;
but for the purpose of expediting any objects of said institution, they shall
be authorized, under the control of the Governor and Council, to continue the
exercise of their functions, and fulfil those of their successors, until the first
actual meeting of their said successors.

"12. And be it further enacted, That the additional sum of twenty thousand
dollars shall be, and the same is hereby, appropriated to the education of the
poor, out of the revenue of the literary fund, in the aid of the sum heretofore
appropriated to that object, and to be paid in the same manner and upon
the same conditions in all respects as is prescribed by the fourth section of
the act entitled `An act appropriating part of the revenue of the literary fund,
and for other purposes, passed the twenty-first day of February, eighteen hundred
and eighteen.'

"13. This act shall commence and be in force from and after the passing
thereof."

The first Board of Visitors consisted of four members of the old board
of Central College—namely, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, Joseph Carrington
Cabell, and John H. Cocke; the additional appointees were James Breckenridge,

Chapman Johnson, and Robert Taylor. The board met for the first
time on March 29, 1819, and elected Thomas Jefferson rector. Henceforth,
until his death in 1826, Jefferson was the dominating and directing power of
the University, not only evolving the entire system of education introduced,
but actually devising, to the minutest detail, every feature of construction and
administration.

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 wisdom of the Founder in establishing
such a system has been amply vindicated in the history of this university
and in the adoption by almost all schools of higher education in the country of
methods involving this principle.

The original organization embraced 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 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. A most notable addition was made in May, 1909,
when, through a gift of $500,000 from Mr. Andrew Carnegie to the General
Alumni Association, six new Schools were established by joint action of the
Rector and Visitors and the Alumni Board of Trustees of the University of
Virginia Endowment Fund: 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.

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, Thomas 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, and the result was that in 1831 the faculty substituted 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.

THE HONOR SYSTEM.

For eighteen years after the opening of the institution, written examinations
were conducted under the surveillance of a committee of three professors.
This was not altogether satisfactory, and in June, 1842, Judge Henry
St. George Tucker, Professor of Law, offered the following resolution, which
the Faculty at once adopted:

This was the beginning of the honor system at this institution, and it
has been in operation ever since without interruption. Later the pledge was
extended so as to preclude the giving as well as the receiving of assistance.
Still more recently the scope of the honor system has been enlarged so as
to cover other phases of student conduct. Its administration is entirely in
the hands of the students, the essence of the system being that the violation
of a student's word of honor is an offense not against the university authorities,
but against the whole student body, and on the rare occasions on which it has
occurred, the students themselves have quietly and promptly sent the offender
away from the University without need of faculty action.

Examinations are required to be held in one place and in the presence of
the professor in charge of the course or one of his assistants. These regulations
in no way conflict with the spirit of the honor system, but are regarded
as being necessary to give a proper dignity and formality to the occasion.

ORGANIZATION.

The University comprises a number of independent Schools. The courses of
instruction given in these various Schools are so coördinated as to form six
Departments, two of which are academic, and four professional, viz.:

THE ACADEMIC DEPARTMENTS.

The College, with the degrees of

• Bachelor of Arts;

• Bachelor of Science;

• Bachelor of Science in a Special Subject;

• Bachelor of Science in Education;

• Bachelor of Science in Medicine.

The Department of Graduate Studies, with the degrees of

• Graduate in a School;

• Master of Arts;

• Master of Science;

• Master of Science in a Special Subject;

• Doctor of Philosophy.

THE PROFESSIONAL DEPARTMENTS.

The Department of Law, with the degree of

• Bachelor of Laws.

The Department of Medicine, with the degree of

• Doctor of Medicine.

The Department of Engineering, with the degrees of

• Civil Engineer;

• Mechanical Engineer;

• Electrical Engineer;

• Chemical Engineer;

• Mining Engineer.

The Department of Agriculture.[1]

The Summer School.