Report of the Board of Visitors.

TO THE HON. FRANCIS W. SHEARMAN,

Superintendent of Public Instruction:

SIR-Of the Board of Visitors appointed by you to make a personal examination into the state of the University for the current year, Messrs. Gibbs, Walkley and Hobart were present at the exercises of commencement in July last; at which time they attended in part to the duty assigned them. The examination of the students was attended only by the last named member. The examination, which commenced on the 11th ultimo and continued six days, was attended throughout by Messrs. Hosmer, Walkley and Hobart, with the exception of a day each, in the case of Messrs. Hosmer and Walkley. Having endeavored to become as fully acquainted with the state of the University in all respects, as their opportunities would permit, the undersigned would respectfully submit the following report:

The addresses of the graduating class at commencement, evinced a good degree of talent and study. They were bold and manly in sentiment, generally marked by good teste in composition, free and vigorous in elocution. We were deeply impressed with the great need there is for more spacious accommodations for these exercises than have hitherto been enjoyed. Commencement at the University is the literary festival of our State. It is an occasion when large numbers from all parts feel disposed to meet at our ATHENS; many too whose presence adds to the interest, and stimulates a generous emulation among the candidates for collegiate honors. But it is known to this Board that not a few are annually deterred from attendance, by the probability that if they come to the place they may fail of gaining access to the crowded room where the exercises are held; or at best, witness them only from the midst of so dense a crowd as to deprive the occasion of all enjoyment. We think that not one-fourth the number of our citizens attend commencement that

would attend gladly if they were sure of a favorable opportunity to witness the exercises. It is true, the plan of the University contemplates the erection of a Chapel much more spacious than either of the churches now used on commencement occasions. But we suppose that a number of years yet must elapse, before that can be done; and besides, we doubt whether, when erected, it will not then be found as inadequate to accommodate those who will desire to attend this literary anniversary, as the churches now used.

We suggest, therefore, as what seems to us a far preferable mode of meeting this want, the purchase of a large canvass tent. The one owned at Oberlin, Ohio, was procured and used on one occasion, with great satisfaction. A tent of that description, which will easily accommodate 2,500 persons, will cost about $500. Should a tent be purchased, the erection of a Chapel might be deferred without serious inconvenience, for a number of years. So crowded are the churches now used, and so liable to damage, that it is with much and increasing reluctance that their use is allowed. Some of them, indeed, can no longer be obtained. We believe the best interests of the University demand that the proposed purchase should be made without needless delay.

The recent term was closed with Public Declamation by several members from each of the three lower classes. The speaking, with few exceptions, was highly creditable. Excellence in this respect is so important in our country, and its attainment may be so effectually encouraged, that we would strongly recommend the bestowment of a prize upon the best speaker in each of the classes. These prizes might very appropriately consist of books with suitable inscriptions, signed by the Faculty; and they would be sought, not so much for their intrinsic worth, which might indeed be small, as for the testimonial which they would afford of pre-eminence in elocution.

By the laws of the University the more advanced classes are required to undergo a re-examination with the succeeding class, upon the studies of the term. The object of this requirement, of course is to refresh and strengthen the memory of the student, and to discipline his mind by the effort to retain for the period of a year, that which has before been acquired; and the members of this board concur in the opinion that it should be enforced. At the late examina

tion the members of the senior class presented themselves unprepared to take part in the exercises. Being called upon by the Professor, each rose in his turn and stated that he had made no preparation for the exercise, and therefore declined to take part in it. This board are informed that the members of the class so refusing, had previously addressed a communication to the Board of Regents, requesting to be released from the duty of review and re-examination, and had been referred to the faculty, who declined to grant that request; yet the rule of the University was thus practically annulled; and, so far as this Board are informed, without any public expression of censure on the part of the faculty. The Board regard this as an infraction of salutary and necessary discipline, inconsistent with the true welfare of the University, and rather calculated to depress than to raise its character; while in the mind of the student it inculcates insubordination, and contempt of wholesome authority. The public examinations, though in some respects creditable, were not conducted with that strictness and regularity which is usually looked upon as requisite. The students were allowed the use of their own books during the recitation, both in Latin and Greek; many of which the members of this Board were pained to observe, were interlined by a translation in part or in whole, of the words of the authors, while prompting from one to another was frequent and observable.

The mathematical examinations, and those in Natural Philosophy, were not free from analogous faults. The student was informed the number of the proposition which he was expected to demonstrate, and was directed to draw his diagram upon the black board. Having done so from the book, he was allowed sufficient time to enable a young man of ordinary quickness to familiarize himself with the demonstration, before he was called upon to exhibit it. In recitations so conducted it is obvious that the members of this Board had little opportunity to judge of merit, or to estimate the progress of the student. A recitation, book in hand, in mathematics, or with a half translated copy of the classics, is an uncertain criterion of merit.

The discipline of the recitation room was in general, lax. The students found it necessary to pass in and out almost constantly, not

in all cases even going through the form of asking permission. Conversation in a low tone or whisper was almost incessant, while other breaches of decorum were of more or less frequent occurrence, without drawing from the Professors either rebuke or animadversion.

The result of want of discipline is that the rate of advancement, and the standard of excellence in scholarship, is regulated by the more dilatory and careless among the students, rather than by the diligent and attentive, and so far as it is permitted, will the tone and character of the institution be in the hands of the idle and undeserving, instead of the industrious and worthy among its pupils. Associated bodies of men are made effective and useful, mentally and physically, only so far as their joint efforts are regulated by a uniform system, and directed by discipline to a common object, and a body of students released from the wholesome restraint of mind and person necessary to that discipline, can no more be made effective or useful than a like number of soldiers in the field, or clerks in a counting house, under like subordination. The important business of life is transacted advantageously only by the aids of system and self-restraint. Distinction and celebrity may occasionally await the possessor of a rare talent, but effort, system and labor, mould the lot of the many. An university, above all other places, into which young men are sent to learn this necessary machinery of life, and to accustom themselves by habit, and practice and study, to its operations, should be the place to habituate them to its requirements and to mould them to its uses. In the absence of this discipline, emulation dies, ambition to excel becomes dormant, and the scholar who would pursue his collegiate course with vigor and energy, is not so well situated as if he were at home, inasmuch as he is compelled to struggle against the force of pernicious example, is liable to suffer his attention to become distracted and the interest in his studies impaired, and is compelled to regulate his own progress by the tardy pace of his more frivolous or indifferent associate. The listless pursuit of a routine of studies, no matter how judiciously selected, and under the charge of professors, no matter how well qualified, will never make scholars

or men.

The Board have given some attention to the course of instruction

pursued in the University. We suppose that the great aim of all intellectual culture is two-fold-the discipline of the mind and the storing it with knowledge. Of these, in a collegiate course, discipline is doubtless the more important; and yet, to a great extent, it must be sought in the use of means by which also knowledge may be acquired. There are doubtless some studies more largely condu- · cive to mental discipline than others, and yet we judge that disclpline will be the sure result, in some valuable degree, of all study, the pursuit of which is marked by accuracy and self-reliance; and here, in our view, is indicated the true work, to a great extent, of the in-.

structor.

In regard to the knowledge to be imparted in a collegiate course, it is obviovs then that the aim should be not to perfect the pupil in merely a few branches of learning; nor on the other hand to furnish a little of almost everything; nor yet to complete the details of either a professional or a practical education, but rather to commence a thorough course, and carry it as far as the term of collegiate study will allow; to be regarded, and to be in fact, the proper and substantial foundation of whatever superstructure, professional or practical, each man may see fit te rear upon it. In this view, it is clearly necessary, if a proper symmetry and balance of character is to be secured, that all the important faculties be brought duly into exercise. In selecting the subjects upon which the powers of the mind shall be employed, respect must be had to those kinds and degrees of knowledge which are properly fundamental to all professions and pursuits, and which may be compassed within the period of collegiate study; and then, with a view to the attainment of that mental discipline indispensable to true scholarship, the subjects of study, judiciously selected, must be pursued with the spirit of manly self-reliance and critical accuracy.

How far this latter object is likely to be secured by the manner in which the business of instruction is conducted in the University, has been already indicated. In regard to the course of study adopted for the University, we believe it in the main to be good-that which the experience of our best institutions has shown to be best, both in the subjects and the authors. We learn, however, with regret, that the study of History has been dropped from the course. We would