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第63章

the higher learning in america-第63章

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and able to 〃work his passage〃 by adroit negotiation and detail



engagements on points of policy; appointments and administration。



    The greater proportion of such aspirants for executive office



work their apprenticeship and manage their campaign of



office…seeking while engaged in some university employment。 To



this end the most likely line of university employment is such as



will comprise a large share of administrative duties; as; e。g。;



the deanships that are latterly receiving much attention in this



behalf; while of the work of instruction the preference should be



given to such undergraduate class…work as will bring the aspirant



in wide contact with the less scholarly element of the student



body; and with those 〃student activities〃 that come favourably



under public observation; and more particularly should one go in



for the quasi…scholarly pursuits of 〃university extension〃; which



will bring the candidate into favourable notice among the



quasi…literate leisure class; at the same time this employment



conduces greatly to assurance and a flow of popular speech。



    It is by no means here intended to convey the assumption that



appointments to executive office are currently made exclusively



from among aspiring candidates answering the description outlined



above; or that the administrative deanships that currently abound



in the universities are uniformly looked on by their incumbents



as in some sort a hopeful novitiate to the presidential dignity。



The exceptions under both of these general propositions would be



too numerous to be set aside as negligible; although scarcely



numerous enough or consequential enough entirely to vitiate these



propositions as a competent formulation of the typical line of



approach to the coveted office。 The larger and more substantial



exception would; of course; be taken to the generalization as



touching the use of the deanships in preparation for the



presidency。



    The course of training and publicity afforded by the



deanships and extension lectures appears to be the most



promising; although it is not the only line of approach。 So;



e。g。; as has been remarked in an earlier passage; the exigencies



of academic administration will ordinarily lead to the formation



of an unofficially organized corps of counsellors and agents or



lieutenants; who serve as aids to the executive head。 While these



aids; factors; and gentlemen…in…waiting are vested with no



official status proclaiming their relation to the executive



office or their share in its administration; it goes without



saying that their vicarious discretion and their special



prerogatives of access and advisement with the executive head do



not commonly remain hidden from their colleagues on the academic



staff; or from interested persons outside the university



corporation; nor; indeed; does it appear that they commonly



desire to remain unknown。



    In the same connection; as has also been remarked above; and



as is sufficiently notorious; among the large and imperative



duties of executive office is public discourse。 This is required;



both as a measure of publicity at large and as a means of



divulging the ostensible aims; advantages and peculiar merits of



the given university and its chief。 The volume of such public



discourse; as well as the incident attendance at many public and



ceremonial functions; is very considerable; so much so that in



the case of any university of reasonable size and spirit the



traffic in these premises is likely to exceed the powers of any



one man; even where; as is not infrequently the case; the



〃executive〃 head is presently led to make this business of



stately parade and promulgation his chief employment。 In effect;



much of this traffic will necessarily be delegated to such



representatives of the chief as may be trusted duly to observe



its spirit and intention; and the indicated bearers of these



vicarious dignities and responsibilities will necessarily be the



personal aids and counsellors of the chief; which throws them;



again; into public notice in a most propitious fashion。



    So also; by force of the same exigencies of parade and



discourse; the chief executive is frequently called away from



home on a more or less extended itinerary; and the burden of



dignity attached to the thief office is such as to require that



its ostensible duties be delegated to some competent lieutenant



during these extensive absences of the chief; and here; again;



this temporary discretion and dignity will most wisely and



fittingly be delegated to some member of the corps of personal



aids who stands in peculiarly close relations of sympathy and



usefulness to the chief。 It has happened more than once that such



an habitual 〃acting head〃 has come in for the succession to the



executive office。



    It comes; therefore; to something like a general rule; that



the discipline which makes the typical captain of erudition; as



he is seen in the administration of executive office; will have



set in before his induction into office; not infrequently at an



appreciable interval before that event; and involving a



consequent; more or less protracted; term of novitiate; probation



and preliminary seasoning; and the aspirants so subjected to this



discipline of initiation are at the same time picked men; drawn



into the running chiefly by force of a facile conformity and a



self…selective predisposition for this official dignity。



    The resulting captain of erudition then falls under a certain



exacting discipline exercised by the situation in which the



exigencies of office place him。 These exigencies are of divers



origin; and are systematically at variance among themselves。 So



that the dominant note of his official life necessarily becomes



that of ambiguity。 By tradition;  indeed; by that tradition to



which the presidential office owes its existence; and except by



force of which there would apparently be no call to institute



SuCh an office at all;  by tradition the president of the



university is the senior member of the faculty; its confidential



spokesman in official and corporate concerns; and the 〃moderator〃



of its town meeting like deliberative assemblies。 As chairman of



its meetings he is; by tradition; presumed to exercise no



peculiar control; beyond such guidance as the superior experience



of the senior member may be presumed to afford his colleagues。 As



spokesman for the faculty he is; by tradition; presumed to be a



scholar of such erudition; breadth and maturity as may fairly



command something of filial respect and affection from his



associates in the corporation of learning; and it is by virtue of



these qualities of scholarly wisdom; which give him his place as



senior member of a corporation of scholars; that he is; by



tradition; competent to serve as their spokesman and to occupy



the chair in their deliberative assembly。



    Such is the tradition of the American College President; 



and; in so far; of the university president;  as it comes down



from that earlier phase of academic history from which the office



derives its ostensible character; and to which it owes its hold



on life under the circumstances of the later growth of the



schools。 And it will be noted that this office is distinctly



American; it has no counterpart elsewhere; and there appears to



be no felt need of such an office in other countries; where no



similar tradition of a college president has created a



presumptive need of a similar official in the universities; 



the reason bei

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