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 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 $2,019,530;
holds productive funds to amount of $1,380,954, and receives an annual
appropriation from State of Virginia of $80,000. The annual expenditures
for the session of 1910-1911 were $245,620.66. 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 Law Building, begun in the spring of 1910,
has been completed and will be occupied by the Department of Law before
the close of the current session.

The Courses of Instruction are comprised in six departments, two of
which are academic, and four professional. The former include the
College and the Departments 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 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 fact. See p. 258.