University of Virginia Library

IX. Academic Degrees

Throughout the interval now under review, 1865–
1895, the subject of the degrees was one which was almost
continuously under debate. The remarkable number of
alterations, additions, and revocations that were made,
demonstrates that, during many years, the minds of the
Visitors,—who alone had the power to create or abolish
these degrees, or to broaden or narrow their scope,—was
in a state of conspicuous instability. The historian of all
these expansions, modifications, and eliminations, can
hardly avoid contrasting what may be described as this
gorge or surfeit of academic degrees with the elementary
system of graduate and academical and professional doctorate
devised by the thoughtful intellect of the Father of
the University.[9] There was about the degree of graduate
especially something of the antique simplicity and suggestiveness
of the words, Civis Romanus Sum. Jefferson

would have looked upon the degrees of master of arts and
bachelor of arts, introduced not long after his death, as
altogether superabundant. In the light of the disposition
to establish so many new degrees in addition to these,
exhibited during the period that followed the War between
the States, the moderation of Dunglison, Bonnycastle,
and George Tucker, in being satisfied with the two degrees
of bachelor of arts and master of arts, seems to be
full of an austere restraint. Tucker, it will be recalled,
spoke of the bare title of "graduate" as a "quaint" designation.
Possibly, one or two of the degrees adopted
between 1865 and 1895 would have seemed to him to be
still more deserving of the descriptive application of that
old-fashioned adjective.

But there were, in reality, two sound reasons for the
adoption of additional degrees,—the first of which was
the extraordinary expansion in scientific study during
these years; and the second, the desire to swell the number
of matriculates. The same reasons also, in a measure,
account for the alteration in the ground which the
candidates for the degrees of bachelor of arts, master of
arts, and doctor of philosophy, had to traverse, in order
to win their respective diplomas.

During the first sessions that followed the war, the old
academic division into titled and untitled degrees was retained,
—there were the proficient and the graduate in
the second category, and the bachelor of arts and the
master of arts in the first. The list of studies embraced
in the course for each remained unabbreviated and also
unenlarged. The new scientific spirit had not yet crept
in to modify the conservatism of Board and Faculty, and
the number of students was so satisfactory that there appeared
to be no need of devising means of increasing it.
It was not until about 1868–70 that the first indication of

the revolution which was to modify the old degrees and
add new ones began to crop out; two new degrees were
then established,—that of bachelor of science and that of
bachelor of letters.[10] The first was to be awarded to the
student who had graduated in the Schools of Mathematics,
Natural Philosophy, and Chemistry; obtained certificates
of proficiency in anatomy, comparative anatomy,
physiology, botany, mineralogy, and geology; and a certificate
of distinction in the junior grades of applied mathematics.
He must also show that he had made satisfactory
progress in the School of Analytical Chemistry. On
the other hand, the degree of bachelor of letters was to
be awarded to the student who had graduated in the
Schools of Ancient and Modern Languages, Moral Philosophy,
and History and Literature.

The first alteration in the curriculum of an old degree
took place in the instance of that of bachelor of arts.
The acquisition of this degree had previously called for
graduation in any two of the literary schools, and in any
two of the scientific, with the winning of distinctions in the
junior classes of those remaining literary and scientific
schools in which graduation had not been attempted.
During the session of 1868–69, however, new requirements
were put in force. It then became necessary for
the candidate for the degree to gain diplomas in the
Latin, Greek, chemistry, moral philosophy, French or
German courses, and certificates of proficiency in junior
and intermediate mathematics, physics, and history or
literature. Subsequently, as we shall see, it was still further
modified.

So far, the ground covered by the degree of master of
arts had not been changed. That degree had possessed

such an exalted reputation from its very inception that
the Faculty and Board entertained an almost superstitious
reverence for it just as it was. Indeed, it seemed to
them to be an act of sacrilege to raise an altering hand
against it. The first timid iconoclastic step was taken in
1872, when the oral examinations previously imposed on
the candidate, in review of all the courses in which he had
graduated in preceding years, were reduced to oral examinations
in any two which he had passed successfully previous
to his closing session. In spite of the increase in
the number of scientific studies which were considered
now to be essential to a liberal education, it was possible
that further change in the curriculum of the degree of
master of arts would have been indefinitely deferred had
not the number of students about 1879–80 showed an
alarming falling off. In a report submitted by Professor
Price to the Faculty, and by them to the Board, with
some alterations, it was recommended that the degree of
master of arts should be awarded thereafter to every
student who had passed with credit examinations in the
new courses which had been prescribed for the degree of
bachelor of arts, and had also graduated in a stated additional
number of the academic schools. The conditions
of success suggested in the report for the degree of bachelor
of arts were the acquisition of proficiencies in the intermediate
classes of the Schools of Pure Mathematics,
Latin, Greek, Natural Philosophy, or Moral Philosophy;
graduation in any two of the academic schools; and
the composition of an essay on some subject of science,
history, or literature.[11]

The Faculty approved of the changes thus recommended
so far as they related to the degree of bachelor
of arts, but not so far as they related to the degree of
master. This was simply another proof of the indifference
with which the first degree was regarded, and the
veneration in which the second was held. But it was, in
reality, the first forward movement in that progression
of events which, in the end, was to make the contemned
stone the corner-stone of the new scholastic edifice of the
University. The degree of bachelor of arts was the
earliest to exhibit a spirit of elasticity, a free adaptability
to alteration, and it was ultimately to become, by its exclusive
association with the collegiate or undergraduate
department of the future, the most important, although
not the highest, of all the degrees.

The spirit of innovation, generated as much by the
practical needs of the University as by the broadening of
the general field of education, in time began to show its
presence in a conspicuous way. In April, 1883, a committee
of the Faculty reported to that body a very elaborate
new scheme of academic degrees. First, the degree
of bachelor of arts. This required for its attainment (1)
the winning of a distinction in the senior class in Latin,
and in the junior and intermediate classes in Greek; of a
proficiency in either of the two classes in moral philosophy,
in junior and intermediate mathematics, and in junior
physics; (2) of a proficiency in either of the classes in
English, historical science, and geology; or a diploma in
either the French or German language; of a distinction in
a prearranged course in general chemistry; and (3) graduation
in any two of the ten existing schools. Second,
the degree of bachelor of letters. This was to be
awarded to the student who had received diplomas in
Latin, Greek, and moral philosophy; and also in the

School of Modern Languages, or English, or Historical
Science. Third, the degree of bachelor of science.
This required graduation in the courses of pure
mathematics, natural philosophy, general chemistry, natural
history, and geology. Fourth, the degree of master
of arts. This was to be awarded for graduation in
the Schools of Latin, Greek, Modern Languages, Moral
Philosophy, Pure Mathematics, Natural Philosophy and
General Chemistry. Fifth, the degree of doctor of philosophy.
This called for the completion by a bachelor
of philosophy or bachelor of arts of a graduate course
in any two or more of the literary schools, or in any two
or more of the scientific.[12] Sixth, the degree of doctor of
letters. This was to be conferred upon a bachelor of
letters who had continued his graduate courses in any
two or more of the literary schools. Seventh, the degree
of doctor of science. This was to be awarded to
any student who had won the degree of bachelor of science,
and also had protracted his graduate studies in any
two or more of the scientific courses. Eighth, the degree
of bachelor of philosophy. This was to be conferred on
one who had graduated in any three of the following
schools: Latin, Greek, both French and German, English,
Historical Science, and Moral Philosophy, and in any
two of the remaining schools.

There were very sharp lines of division adhered to in
drafting this elaborate scheme. The first category embraced

such degrees as covered a specialized literary
course; the second, such as covered a specialized scientific
course; the third, such as represented a combination
of literary and scientific studies. To the first belonged
the degrees of bachelor of letters, and doctor of
letters; to the second, the degree of bachelor of science
and doctor of science; and to the third, the degrees of
master of arts, bachelor of arts, bachelor of philosophy
and doctor of philosophy. The doctorate was designed
for students whose intended professions called for previous
research in some special field of letters or of science.
It was necessary that every candidate for a doctorate
should have won the degree of bachelor of arts,
either at the University of Virginia, or at some chartered
seat of learning of recognized standing. He must also
have graduated at the University of Virginia in the
schools in which he proposed to take up a post-graduate
course.

Carefully digested and logically arranged as this system
of degrees appeared to be, and in spite also of its
prompt adoption by the Board, there was a keen feeling
of antagonism to many of its provisions on the part of
persons interested in the welfare of the University. In
a report which the Faculty submitted in June, 1888, they
endeavored, by proposing certain alterations, to allay this
opposition. They suggested (1) that the degree of
bachelor of letters should be confined to graduation in any
four of the following six schools: Latin, Greek, Moral
Philosophy, Modern Languages, English, and Historical
Science; (2) the degree of bachelor of science to graduation
in any four of the following six: Mathematics, Natural
Philosophy, General Chemistry, Natural History
and Geology, Biology and Analytical Chemistry; (3) the
degree of bachelor of arts to acquisition of diplomas in

any five of the academical schools, of which at least two
should be literary, and at least two scientific; (4) the degree
of master of arts to graduation in the Schools of
Latin, Greek, Mathematics, Natural Philosophy, and
Moral Philosophy, and in any two of the remaining academic
schools.

In this recommendation of the Faculty, we discover
increased symptoms of weakening in their determination
to maintain the degree of master of arts in its original
proportions. It was no longer to be obligatory on the
candidate for that degree to win diplomas in the modern
languages, in chemistry, or in English.

The Faculty's report was submitted by the Visitors to a
committee of their own body, the chairman of which was
Colonel W. Gordon McCabe, one of the most experienced
teachers and one of the ripest scholars in the South. The
revolutionary recommendations of this committee, after
examining the report, were substantially as follows: that
a general academic degree, to be known as the degree of
bachelor of arts, should be established, and that no student
should be permitted to become a candidate for the
degree of master of arts unless he had first obtained this
lower degree; that in order to win this lower degree, it
should be necessary for him to have been awarded certificates
of proficiency in the Schools of Latin, Greek,
Mathematics, and Practical Physics, and also in one Teutonic
language, in one Romanic language, in general chemistry,
in logic, and in the history of philosophy. The purpose
of the degree as thus arranged was simply to enable
the student to acquire a fair general knowledge of the
subjects which its curriculum embraced. A thorough
specialistic training was to be deferred to the groups of
elective courses which were to be introduced into the
transformed degree of master of arts. It was presumed

that, with moderate assiduity, the bachelor's degree could
be won in a period of two years.

The practical, apart from the purely scholastic, benefits,
which were expected to accrue from this altered degree,
were (1) that it would draw to the University many
young men, who, but for its adoption, would be driven
away by the difficulty of carrying off the old diploma of a
master of arts; and (2) that it would, by creating a new
class feeling,—through the winning of this honor by
so many,—confirm and widen the spirit of loyalty to the
institution. The scholastic advantage consisted of the
ability of the new bachelor of arts, in becoming a candidate
for the mastership, to take up the precise elective
group of higher studies in the advanced course which was
in the nicest harmony with his tastes. Whether it was
literary or scientific, or a combination of both by being
partly literary and partly scientific, he was to be at liberty
to choose the studies which he preferred, instead of being
forced to confine himself to the inflexible round
which was formerly prescribed for the mastership of
arts. But should he aspire to graduate in all the original
schools of this higher degree, it was the committee's
conviction that he should be permitted to do so.

The report containing these radical suggestions was
referred by the Visitors, in July (1888), to the Faculty,
with simply a request for their judgment. In the ensuing
autumn, two replies,—one embodying the views
of the majority of the members, the other those of the
minority,—were returned; but the Board were so dissatisfied
with this divergence that, on the following day,
they again referred the same question back to the same
body with the expression of the hope that the difference in
opinion would be overcome and a decision common to
all arrived at. The Visitors were, no doubt, convinced

that the innovations would prove unsuccessful unless they
should have the cordial support of the men who were to
be the immediate agents in carrying them out. After an
exhaustive discussion extending over five meetings, the
Faculty drafted a report in which, it seems, they simply
recommended that the academic degrees should be reduced
to three; and that the degree of bachelor of arts
should be awarded to a student who had, apart from the
acquisition of proficiencies, graduated in at least two
studies in a general scheme that embraced nine.

In February, 1889, this report was referred by the
Board to a committee, of which Colonel McCabe was
again the chairman. This committee approved the
Faculty's recommendation that the degrees should be reduced
to those of master of arts, bachelor of arts, and
doctor of philosophy; but they refused to assent to the
change proposed for the new degree of bachelor of arts.
They declared that this degree should embrace such a
circle of studies as was generally considered to be indispensable
as a sound and sure foundation for the liberal
education which the degree of master of arts was presumed
to stand for. In other words, it should be a solid
stepping-stone to that higher and broader platform.
Five times during the interval between 1865 and 1885,—
the committee pointed out,—had the requirements for
this degree been altered in the effort to make it more popular
by making it more attractive. Why had these successive
changes failed to commend it to favor? Chiefly
because the old nomenclature of graduate and proficient,
—which suggested at once its continued inferiority to the
mastership of arts,—had been retained. It was still
looked upon as a badge of consolation for the students
who had fallen down in the endeavor to win the higher degree.
It signified a partial defeat, not a full victory, in

the possessor's collegiate career. The committee, in order
to remove this traditional taint from the degree, recommended
that the sole purpose to be represented by it
should be the acquisition of a sound general knowledge of
the subjects to be embraced in its curriculum, and that in
place of the long descended nomenclature of graduate and
proficient, the simple words "passed successfully" should
be substituted.[13]

The conclusions reached by the Board,—which were
only partly in accord with the committee's recommendations,
—were incorporated in the report which the rector,
W. C. N. Randolph, submitted to the Governor at the
end of the session of 1888–9. All academic degrees, except
the following, were abolished: (1) the degree of
master of arts,—which was to be awarded to the student
who had graduated in the Schools of Latin, Greek, French
and German, Moral Philosophy, Pure Mathematics, Natural
Philosophy, and General Chemistry; (2) the degree
of bachelor of arts,—to be conferred on the student who
had "passed successfully" examinations in Latin, Greek,
or logic, mathematics, physics, chemistry, general history,
one Romanic language, and one Teutonic; (3) the degree
of doctor of philosophy,—to be awarded to the student
who had won the degree of bachelor of arts or master of
arts, and completed a full course in two or more literary
schools or in two or more scientific. Either of the preliminary
degrees was to be accepted as sufficient, whether
obtained at the University of Virginia, or at some other
institution of respectable standing. In every instance,
however, the student must have received a diploma at the
University of Virginia in the particular study or studies in
which he had announced his intention of pursuing a line of
post-graduate research.