University of Virginia Library

X. Administration

Many years before the divisions into departments had
been officially approved,—although, in the meanwhile,
these divisions had been recognized in the catalogues,—
the professors connected with each one had exercised, as
members of the standing committee to which their particular
department had been assigned, the functions of a
minor faculty. The efficiency of such small governing
bodies had been conspicuously exhibited in the instance
of the professional departments, although it was tacitly
acknowledged that not one of them had, except as a committee,
the authority to act in that character. As the attendance
at the University increased, and the teaching in
the professional courses grew more highly specialized,
the need of a frank and open statement of the powers of
these minor faculties became more difficult to ignore.
It seemed to be imperative that some member of each one
of them should be formally designated to represent it
when the occasion arose for voicing its convictions, or for
giving information and advice touching some matter belonging
to that particular department. The burden of
these duties now fell on the chairman of the General Faculty,
and it was feared that, with the more numerous
calls upon his time, created by the ever swelling mass of
correspondence, and the rapid expansion of college work,
he would not be able to stand up under so great a burden.

In order to relieve this over-taxed officer in part, and
also to secure for the minor faculties a more direct control
over the affairs of their several departments, the
General Faculty recommended that the academic department
and the departments of agriculture, law, medicine,
and engineering, should be formally recognized, and that
they should be organized in harmony with the following

regulations: (1) the professors in each department
should constitute the faculty of that department
(2) this minor faculty should possess the right of
supervision over all the general interests of their
department; and should also exercise such authority over
the attendance, scholarship, and behavior of every matriculate
enrolled in it as the General Faculty should
specially delegate to them; (3) a right of appeal
from the decisions of the minor faculty to the
General Faculty should always exist, and no student
should be dismissed without a review of all the circumstances
of his case by the larger body; (4) each
minor faculty should be empowered to elect by ballot a
dean from the circle of its members, whose duties should
consist of acting as the presiding officer at every meeting
of his own faculty; of assisting the chairman in replying
to the University's general correspondence; of matriculating
those students who should wish to be admitted to his
own department; and of serving as its public representative
whenever the occasion made it appropriate for him
to do so. This recommendation was earnestly opposed
by several of the older professors, but in May, 1899, it
was finally adopted by the General Faculty, and sent on
to the Board of Visitors, who stamped it with their approval.

Two years afterwards, the committee of the General
Faculty charged with the distribution of powers among
the minor faculties reported in favor of the following
rules,—which, in some small particulars, modified the
existing regulations touching this subject: (1) each minor
faculty should possess the sole right of control over the
discipline of the young men enrolled in their department
so far as it related to attendance and class standing; but
this was not to be accompanied by the additional right to

require a delinquent to withdraw from the University unless
the General Faculty had first approved the order; (2)
in each case in which a special examination was requested
by a student, the minor faculty of the department to
which he belonged should first decide whether it should
be granted; and (3) they alone should be authorized to
permit a student of that department to change his classes
or to extend his courses of study.

In 1902, the Visitors instructed the General Faculty to
appoint a special committee of their members who were
to be ready to attend any meeting of the Board to which
they might be summoned for consultation. The chairman
of the Faculty was to act as the head of this committee.[15]