University of Virginia Library

Announcements.

1990-1901.

Charlottesille, 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 average elevation of the surrounding country being about six hundred
and fifty feet above the sea-level; the water supply is pure, being
drawn by gravity from a mountain reservoir six miles off; the system
of drains and sewers is complete; the new Fayerweather Gymnasium
affords ample facilities for bathing and exercise; and in cases of illness
students receive treatment from the members of the Faculty of Medicine,
with skillful nursing when necessary, in a well-equipped infirmary.

The Session begins on the 15th day of September, and continues nine
months. 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 five Departments—the
Academic, and those of Engineering, Law, Medicine, and Agriculture.
In the various departments there are altogether twenty-two distinct
schools, each affording an independent course, under the direction of
professors who are responsible only to the Board of 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, 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 serious 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 in the United States have adopted methods
involving this principle.

Equipment.—The equipment possessed by the University for the
work of instruction, alike in the Academic and in 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
new Rouss Physical Laboratory, the Chemical Laboratory and the
Museum of Industrial Chemistry, the Lewis Brooks Museum, the
Biological Laboratory, the Anatomical Laboratory, and the Pathological
Laboratory. The Engineering Department possesses a newly-equipped
Mechanical Laboratory and Machine Shop. In addition to
the Law, and other Departmental Libraries, the general University
Library is common to all the Departments. Originally selected and
arranged by Mr. Jefferson, it has since been much enlarged by purchases
and donations, and contains at present about fifty thousand
volumes.[1] 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, Modern Languages, English Literature 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 purpose 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. If the applicant has been a student at
any other incorporated institution, he must produce a certificate from
such institution, 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
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 defense.

Discipline and 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.
Prayers are held every evening, and divine service is conducted twice
on Sunday in the University Chapel by clergymen invited from the
principal religious denominations.

Entrance Examinations are not required except from Academic students
from Virginia seeking free tuition. The requirements for these
examinations are stated elsewhere (page 154). But applicants for
admission to the different classes in the several Schools are required
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 Professors 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 at this institution have, from the
beginning (A. D. 1825), been held in writing. Oral examinations are
held in some departments, but they are merely auxiliary to the written
examinations, which are the main test of the student's proficiency.
The standard is in no case less than three-fourths, and the student who
attains this standard is entitled to a certificate to that effect. No
special examination is granted except upon physician's certificate of
sickness on the day of examination, or other cause which the Faculty
may accept as adequate ground.

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 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, is responsible throughout.

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
adopted with apparent unanimity:

Resolved, That in all future written examinations for distinction and other
honors of the University, each candidate shall attach to the written answers
presented by him on such examination a certificate in the following words:
"I, A. B., do hereby certify on honor that I have derived no assistance during
the time of this examination from any source whatever, oral, written,
or in print, in giving the above answers."

This was the beginning of the honor system at this place. 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 student and professor.

It is not believed to be essential to the honor system, or 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 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.

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.

Degrees are conferred only upon examination after residence. Diplomas
of graduation are conferred in the B. A. course of each Academic
School, and students who complete both the B. A. and the M. A. course
in any school are entitled to a diploma of graduation in the School.
The titled degrees conferred are Bachelor of Arts, Master of Arts,
Doctor of Philosophy, Bachelor of Science, Doctor of Medicine, and
Bachelor of Law. The requirements for these degrees are given under
the several departments. No merely 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 and compensation of any such
Licentiate is a matter 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.—At the beginning of the next session
printed notices containing useful directions for the guidance of new
students in matriculating, choosing boarding-houses, etc., will be
posted on the University bulletin-board, and will be distributed as generally
as possible among the new students upon their arrival.