Etc. [pp. 562-565]

A FLUTTER of indignation
Criticism has been roused among
of the State friends of the University be University. cause of certain attacks on its
constitution, and particularly
on its honored President, made
anonymously in one of the college journals. The
flutter was not a storm only because the cause
was not regarded as worthy of any great amount
of attention. It was like one of those petulant
outbreaks which young people sometimes make in
their own homes against those whom they ought
to love and honor most, -and really do love and
honor, if the bottom facts were reached. If it is
more than that, the University and President
Kellogg have friends and admirers enough at
home and abroad to rebuke such black disloyalty.
The OVERLAND is proud to be counted as one
of the continual friends and allies of the University, -as of all that the U n iversity stands for,and is glad to voice what it believes is universal
sentiment on the part of those who know best
the University of California, and President Kellogg.
Personal considerations aside, one of the most
urgent needs of the University is that the tradition of an itinerant presidency be broken down.
The University of Michigan has just celebrated
the twenty-fifth anniversary of Doctor Angell's
presidency. This term covers nearly the whole
history of the University of California; but in
that quarter of a century this University has had
seven presidents, to say nothing of an occasional
"interregnum." A gentleman well informed on
American university matters remarked only a
few days ago, with more truth than elegance,
that "the frequent changes in the presidency
have given this University a black eye, as nothing else has done." This view cannot, in our
judgment, be too strongly insisted on; for public
sentiment greatly needs to be educated up to expecting long terms in that office.
In the college paper the criticism is made on the
present administration of the University that it
562
permits too great liberty to the several departments. The statement is open to reasonable
question. But this fact should be pointed out,
that whatever is worst in departmental independence is furthered by the policy of installing
a new president every four or five years. The
faculty as a body is perpetual. The president,
under so uncertain a tenure of office, has no fair
opportunity of working out a well articulated
system of administration.
The bad sort of departmental independence, we
take it, is that which results from no system or
purpose,- from merely letting matters drift.
The desirable kind of departmental independence
is that which results from a consistent purpose
to foster initiative and individuality, for the general good. Independence of this latter kind has
done much to give the German universities their
pre-eminence in the academic world. We think it
may fairly be said that such freedon as exists in
the several departments at Berkeley today is
mainly of this latter sort.
But the argument for a longer term of service
in the presidency is not merely impersonal. The
present incumbent of the office is an eminently
suitable man with whom to try the effect of a
longer term. He has the unbounded respect of
all who know him; and with those who know
him best, this respect is deepened into personal
affection. There was something peculiarly touching in the presentation to him, on the last Charter Day, by a large number of the young lady
students, of a memorial to be placed in his library
and in the letter of acknowledgment which he
sent to the donors. It was all done so quietly
that few outside the student body knew of the
occurrence; but it was none the less significant
for being unheralded.
The material prosperity which has recently begun to dawn upon the University has not come
by chance. The energetic Regents and Alumni
who have done so much of the direct work of securing these new resources, would have had a
much more difficult task,-indeed, an impossible