phases of institutional management and administration should also be presented to the governing board by the president. Under no circumstances should the board initiate policies without recommendation from or through the chief executive office. It is found, however, that the unwise procedure of the board acting on its own initiative is followed in three colleges more or less regularly and in two others occasionally. In order to administer properly the affairs of the institution the president should have complete authority over the selection of all officers, members of the staff, and other types of employees. The general practice is for the president to make recommendations of appointments to the board which is vested with the power of election. The records show that in three institutions the governing body elects certain officers without recommendation from the president. In one case the secretary is chosen by the board on its own initiative, in a second both the secretary and the chief business officer, and in a third all employees of the business administration are elected upon the recommendation of the comptroller rather than the president. An important question is the procedure followed when the board declines to elect individuals recommended by the president. According to the returns, such a situation has never arisen in 22 of the land-grant colleges while in 19 the president is called upon to submit subsequent recommendations. Two institutions report that the board makes its own selection on such occasions. There is one institution where the president has blanket authority to appoint all officials, faculty members, and employees without reference to the governing board. If the internal operations of the institutions are to be effectively administered, a systematic plan should be adopted for the routing of business. The most efficacious line of procedure is from the individual staff member to the head of the department, from the head of the department to the dean or director, and from the dean or director to the president except in matters that are handled by the business officer. The exception applies only to the extent that upon certain matters the business office acts for the president, it should not be exempt from responsibility to him. All administrative authority is thus centered in the president's office. This practice is followed in all of the land-grant institutions with four exceptions. In the latter institutions, the department heads route their business direct to the president instead of through the deans or directors, an arrangement that results in the diminution of the authority of the deans and directors and is derogatory to efficient administrative procedure. To serve in an advisory capacity to the president and to assist him in the solution of administrative problems, committees functioning for the institution as a whole have been organized in the institutions. The committees are composed of both administrative officers and members of the teaching faculty. The largest number of committees found in any single institution is 23. There is one college with 16 committees, two with 13, one with 11, one with 10, one with 9, one with 8, two with 4, one with 3, four with 2, and seven with 1. The principal committee of this type is the cabinet or executive committee which serves as a direct advisory body to the president, but in only seven institutions does such an organization exist. Among the most common committees are those on publications, admission, curricula, athletics, discipline, buildings and grounds, and library. While authority has been delegated the committees in some instances, their powers are limited. Whatever the practice, the committees should under all circumstances report to the chief executive, who should have power of reversal of any of their decisions. Legislative bodies for the discussion of institutional problems have been organized in 40 of the institutions. The president serves as the presiding officer of the body. It is known as the faculty or general faculty in 21 colleges, as the council in 11, and as the senate in 8. Membership in the body is limited to the higher administrative officers in 11 institutions and to selected faculty members generally above the rank of instructor in 17. The entire faculty comprises the legislative body in the case of 9 land-grant institutions. While the body should function as a general legislative and administrative organization it should not concern itself with individual schools and colleges. The president should exercise the right of veto over its decisions. In his official position as chief executive officer, the president is without the aid of a vice president as an assistant executive officer in practically all of the institutions. Only seven of the colleges actually have a vice president and in but two cases does he serve on a full-time basis. Three of the vice presidents serve as deans of colleges within the institutions, their duties as vice presidents being nominal while in two instances they are part-time positions. The office of assistant to the president has been established in only 11 of the total of 44 colleges filing returns. The position is one of considerable responsibility, authority, and prestige in all these institutions, the officer serving as the official representative of the president in both internal and external contacts. The importance attached to the post of assistant to the president is shown by the salary paid. In one institution, his salary is $9,000 annually, in a second $7,500, and in a third $7,000. Three other assistants to the president receive between $5,000 and $5,500 per year, three between $4,000 and $5,000 while the stipend of the two others is $3,200 and $3,800. Chapter IV. Educational Organization Facility of administrative procedure, effective operation of internal machinery, and conduct of academic programs are dependent upon the educational organization of the institutions of higher education. Where unnecessary major divisions have been established in order that certain functions may be emphasized, where independent units have been created for the purpose of giving prestige to their work, and where separate departments have been set up to meet the wishes of local personnel without actual justification, the organization becomes cumbersome and complicated. Difficulty is encountered in efficient operation. The tendency in the land-grant group of institutions is toward overorganization. The 40 institutions submitting returns concerning their educational organizations contain 27 different colleges, schools, or similar major divisions and have a total of 212 different departments of instruction. Although the educational objectives of the institution are supposed to be similar in purpose, except where the land-grant colleges are incorporated as a part of the State universities, only two institutions have the same organization. The remaining institutions have a variety of divisional segregations in which are intermingled departmental groups apparently according to local preference in a number of cases rather than upon a basis of the broad principles of organization. In Table 9 is shown the colleges, schools, and major divisions included in the organization of the individual colleges filing returns. 68 |