University of Virginia Library

ANNOUNCEMENTS.

Charlottesville, the seat of the University of Virginia, is a city
of about 8,000 inhabitants 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 and 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 more than 70,000 volumes. The
university owns equipment, buildings, and grounds of an estimated
value of $2,001,953; holds productive funds to amount of $1,416,766.98,
and receives an annual appropriation from State of Virginia
of $80,000. The annual expenditures for the session of 1911-1912
were $251,663.00. 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.[1]
In the various departments there are altogether thirty-four 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. 96.

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 the 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 possible. 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 him of that
fect. See p. 290.