 | University of Virginia catalogue |  |
ANNOUNCEMENTS.
1893-'94.
The University of Virginia is in a picturesque and healthful location
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 Virginia Midland—
and is thus of easy access from every part of the country. It has a post-office,
with numerous daily mails, is in communication by telephone with the neighboring
city of Charlottesville, and is connected by telegraph with every quarter
of the world. The climate is invigorating and healthful, and at all times free
from malarial conditions
The Sanitary Arrangements are excellent. The water-supply is pure;
the system of drains and sewers is complete; the new Fayerweather Gymnasium
will afford ample facilities for baths and exercise; and the moderate Infirmary
fee secures medical treatment by the Professors of the Medical Department,
and in case of serious illness skillful nursing in a well-equipped Infirmary.
The Session begins on the 15th of September, and continues nine months
without intermission. On Public Day, which is the Wednesday before the
19th of June, the Visitors, Faculty, Officers and Students of the University assemble
in the Public Hall, whither the public also are invited. On this occasion
the results of the examinations are announced, degrees are conferred, and
the session is formally closed.
The Courses of Instruction are comprised in six departments—the
Academical, the Engineering, the Law, the Medical, the Pharmaceutical, and
the Agricultural Department. In the various Departments there are altogether
twenty distinct Schools, each affording an independent course, under Professors
who are responsible to the Visitors 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, so far as the times appointed for lectures and examinations permit. 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 serious advantages
also for most of those students who seek the common goal of liberal
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 in the United States
have adopted methods involving this principle.
Equipment.—The equipment possessed by the University for the work
of instruction, both in the Academical and the Professional Departments, has
been much augmented in recent years, and is now excellent in quality as well
as extensive. In scientific studies large facilities are offered by the Leander
McCormick Observatory, the Physical Laboratory, the Chemical Laboratory
and the Museum of Industrial Chemistry, the Lewis Brooks Museum,
and the Biological Laboratory. Ample opportunities are afforded for
the practical study of Human Anatomy. And the Engineering Department
possesses a newly-equipped Mechanical Laboratory and Machine Shop. The
University Library is common to all the Departments. Originally selected
and arranged by Mr. Jefferson, it has been since much enlarged by purchases
and donations, and now contains about 52,000 volumes. Students are allowed
the use of the books under the usual restrictions, and the Librarian is present
in the Library for six hours daily to attend to their wants.
Preparation.—Some special preparation for the courses taught in the
Schools of Latin, Greek and Mathematics will be found indispensable. But
even for these Schools it is more important that the preliminary studies should
have been careful and accurate in quality than that they should be extensive.
For the other Schools the essentials of a plain education in the common school
branches constitute the only indispensable preparation. In all the Schools
alike, however, the student who has had the benefit of mental training, and who
brings with him good and well-established habits of study, will derive increased
profit from the University instruction because of these advantages. But it has
never been the policy of the University to reject any student merely because of
deficient preparation in special branches of learning, which he may not wish to
pursue here. The standards of teaching and of examination can be otherwise
maintained; and experience has shown in a multitude of instances that young
men of vigorous mind and earnest purposes of diligence, brought hither by a
laudable ambition to excel, may overcome the disadvantages of inadequate training,
and become conspicuous among their fellows for success in study.
Admission.—To be admitted as a student of the University the applicant
must be at least sixteen years of age; but the Faculty may dispense with this
requirement in favor of one who has a brother of the requisite age entering at
the same time. If the applicant has been a student at any other incorporated
seminary, he must produce a certificate from such seminary, or other satisfactory
evidence of general good conduct.
Conduct.—The laws of the University require from every student decorous,
sober and upright conduct as long as he remains a member of the University,
whether he be within the precincts or not. They strictly forbid drunkenness,
gaming, dissoluteness, swearing, habits of expense, and the introduction of wine
or other intoxicating drinks into the University. They require a decorous observance
of Sunday, and forbid all outdoor sports on that day. They forbid
the use or possession by a student of pistols or other weapons, and the introduction
of them into the University precincts. They require from the student
regular and diligent application to his studies, and if, in the opinion of the
Faculty, any student be not fulfilling the purposes for which he ought to have
come to the University, and be not likely to fulfill them, either from habitual
delinquency in any of his classes, or from habitual idleness, or from any other
bad habit, the Faculty may require him to withdraw from the University, after
informing him of the objections to his conduct and affording him an opportunity
of explanation and defence.
Entrance examinations are not required except from Academical students
from Virginia seeking free tuition. The requirements for these examinations
are stated elsewhere. But applicants for admission to the higher classes
in the several schools are expected to exhibit to the Professors suitable evidences
of adequate preliminary training.
The method of instruction in all departments of the University is
partly by lecture, partly by the study of appropriate texts. The regulations require
that at each meeting the Professor shall examine the class orally on the
subject-matter of the previous lecture before beginning the new lecture. Associated
with this instruction in the class is a large amount of practical laboratory
work in the scientific courses, and of private parallel reading and essay writing
in the literary courses.
The examinations in each class are two—one about the middle of the
session, the other near the end. They are in writing, and the standard is
in no case less than three-fourths. A student who attains this standard is
entitled to a PASS-CERTIFICATE. The examinations in each school are conducted
by a committee of the Faculty, of which the Professor in charge is chairman.
No special examination is granted, except upon the physician's certificate
of sickness on the day of examination, or other cause which the Faculty may
accept as adequate ground.
Candidates for graduation are subjected to searching interrogations on
the specific details as well as on the general principles of the subject, and are
expected to be accurately versed in all matters treated in the lectures, the correlative
text, and the prescribed courses of private reading. Moreover, the
student's command of English, and his standing at the daily oral examinations,
as well as at the written examinations, are taken into the account.
Reports.—At the end of each month a circular letter is addressed by the
Chairman of the Faculty to the parent or guardian of each student, in which
are stated his absences from lectures and examinations, together with such
other information as to the student's progress and conduct as it may be deemed
proper to communicate, or as the parent or guardian may especially request.
Parents and guardians cannot be too earnest or prompt in communicating such
advice or encouragement as the monthly reports may suggest.
Degrees are conferred only upon examination after residence. Diplomas
of graduation are conferred in the B. A. course and in the M. A. course of each
of the Academical Schools, and students who complete both the B. A. and the
M. A. courses in any School, and are not candidates for a titled degree, are
entitled to a diploma of graduation in the School. The titled degrees conferred
are Bachelor of Arts, Master of Arts, Doctor of Philosophy, Civil Engineer,
Mining Engineer, Mechanical Engineer, Doctor of Medicine, Graduate in Pharmacy,
and Bachelor of Law. The requirements for these degrees are given
under the several departments. No purely honorary degree is ever given by
the University of Virginia.
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, selection,
and compensation of such Licentiate is left to the determination of 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.
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