University of Virginia Library

ANNOUNCEMENTS.

Charlottesville, the seat of the University of Virginia, is in a picturesque
and healthful situation among the foot-hills of the Blue Ridge
Mountains. It is at the junction of two great lines of railway, the
Chesapeake & Ohio and the Southern, and is thus of easy access from
every part of the country.

The Sanitary arrangements of the University are excellent. The
climate is invigorating, healthful, and free from malarial conditions;
the water supply is pure, being drawn by gravity from a mountain
reservoir six miles away; the system of drains and sewers is complete;
there are two athletic fields; the Fayerweather Gymnasium affords ample
facilities for bathing and exercise; and in all ordinary cases of illness
students receive treatment from the University Physician, with skilful
nursing, when necessary, in a well equipped hospital.

Faculty, Endowment, and Equipment.—The faculty numbers
ninety-five; the libraries contain 70,000 volumes. The University owns
five hundred and twenty-two acres of land, valued at $600,000; has
thirty buildings which cost approximately $1,547,000; holds productive
funds to amount of $1,224,420, and receives an annual appropriation
from State of Virginia of $80,000. The annual expenditures are
$212,318.14. In scientific studies large facilities are offered by the
Leander McCormick Observatory, the Rouss Physical Laboratory, the
Chemical Laboratory and the Museum of Industrial Chemistry, the
Lewis Brooks Museum, the Biological Laboratory, the Anatomical
Laboratory, the Pathological Laboratory, Physiological Laboratory
and the Hospital, and Dispensary. The Engineering Department possesses
a well equipped Mechanical Laboratory and Machine Shop.

The Courses of Instruction are comprised in six Departments, two
of which are Academic, and four professional. The former include
the College and the Department of Graduate Studies: the latter the
Departments of Law, Medicine, Engineering, and Agriculture. In the
various departments there are altogether twenty-six distinct Schools,
each affording an independent course, under the direction of professors
who are responsible for the systems and methods pursued.

Elective System.—The system of independent Schools assumes
that opportunities for study and instruction are privileges to be sought
voluntarily and eagerly. Students are therefore allowed to elect for
themselves the courses of study to which they are led by their individual
tastes and proposed pursuits in life, as far as the time appointed

for lectures and examinations permits. Nor is it alone to those who
wish to make special attainments in single departments of knowledge
that this freedom of election commends itself. It has decided advantages
also for most of those students who seek the common goal of
liberal education by ways which varying aptitude, varying preparation,
or varying opportunities render of necessity different. The wisdom of
the founder in establishing such a system has been amply vindicated
in the history of this University; and in recent years many schools of
higher education throughout the country have adopted methods involving
this principle.

The Session begins on the Thursday preceding the seventeenth
of September, and continues, with a recess of ten days at Christmas,
until the Wednesday before the nineteenth of June. The first three
days of the session are given to registration, and all students, both
old and new, are required during that time to place their names upon
the books of the University and the rolls of their respective classes.
Lecture courses begin upon the following Monday, and absences will
be recorded against any student not present, from the opening lecture
of each course. Students entering after the first three days will be
charged a fee for registration.

Religious Worship.—Morality and religion are recognized as the
foundation and indispensable concomitants of education. The discipline
of the University is sedulously administered with a view to
confirm integrity, and to maintain a sacred regard for truth. Great
efforts are made to surround the students with religious influences; but
experience having proved that it is best to forbear the employment of
coercion, the attendance on religious exercises is entirely voluntary.
Divine service is conducted twice on Sunday in the University Chapel
by clergymen invited from the principal religious denominations; and
other religious exercises are directed by the Young Men's Christian
Association.

The Examinations in each class at this institution have, from the
beginning (A. D. 1825), been held in writing. Oral examinations are
held in some departments, but they are auxiliary to the written examinations,
which, in conjunction with the class standing as determined
by the daily work of the student, are the main tests of the student's
proficiency. A special examination may be granted upon physician's
certificate of sickness on the day of examination, or other cause which
the Faculty of the Department in question may accept as adequate
ground. See also p. 91.

The written examinations are, in every case, of a public character,
and are conducted by a committee of three professors, one of whom is
the professor whose class is examined. This committee is expected to

remain in the room during examination, supervise the proceedings,
determine doubts, grant special examinations in cases covered by law,
and make report to the Faculty of the results of the examination. The
committee, not the professor solely, is responsible throughout.

Reports.—Reports are sent, at stated intervals, to the parent or
guardian of each student. These reports give the number of times
the student has been absent from lectures; and indicate, as nearly as
is practicable, the nature of the progress made by him in his work at
the University.

Honor System.—For eighteen years after the opening of the institution,
honesty at the written examinations was sought to be secured
by the strict surveillance of the committee alone. This was often
found to be ineffectual. 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. In
subsequent years the pledge was extended so as to preclude the giving
as well as the receiving of assistance. The system has been in operation
since 1842 without interruption. Its wisdom and its beneficial results
have been abundantly demonstrated. Its administration imposes
no burden upon the Faculty. Experience shows that the students
themselves are its sternest guardians and executors. Violation of examination
pledges has been of rare occurrence. In every case the
culprit has been quietly but promptly eliminated without need of
Faculty action.

The spirit of truth and honor, thus fostered in the examination-room,
has gradually pervaded the entire life of the institution, and all
the relations between the student and professor.

It is not believed to be essential to the honor system, nor indeed
to be right, to expose the examinee to unnecessary temptation to violate
his pledge. The student is regarded as one to be shielded from
such influences and to have his honorable tendencies carefully reinforced
and not wrecked. Hence the examination is held in one place
where all candidates are assembled, and in the presence of a committee
of the Faculty. Conversation among the candidates and absence from

the room are discouraged. They are cautioned to avoid even the appearance
of evil. These safeguards have been found to be in entire
harmony with the absence of espionage. The fact that the candidate is
not suspected, has been found to lead always to the avoidance of conduct
which would give rise to suspicion.

Degrees are conferred only upon examination after residence.
The requirements for these degrees are given under the several departments.

Licentiates.—Any person of unexceptionable character and habits,
upon producing to the Faculty satisfactory evidence of suitable capacity,
and attainments, may be licensed by the Faculty to form classes
for private instruction in any School of the University, in aid of and in
conformity to the public teachings of the professor upon any subject
taught therein. The employment and compensation of any such
Licentiate are matters of private agreement between him and the
student. Students whose preparation is defective for the work of the
University classes may often economize time and energy by securing
the services of a Licentiate at the same time that they are attending
the regular course of lectures.

Directions for New Students.—New students will find it greatly
to their advantage if, as soon as possible after reporting to the Dean
of the University, they will go to Madison Hall, where a committee of
students will be found who will gladly be of any service in assisting them
to get settled as quickly as possibly. A general information bureau, a
complete list of boarding houses with prices of board, a directory of
the students with their addresses, a list of all forms of employment
open to students, copies of the University Handbook, and other things
of interest to the new men will there be accessible to all. The General
Secretary of the Association will be pleased to correspond with
prospective students during the summer with regard to all such matters,
and it is suggested that every man who expects to enter the University
inform of that fact. See p. 260.