第 57 节
作者:青涩春天      更新:2021-02-27 02:38      字数:9321
  similar tradition of a college president has created a
  presumptive need of a similar official in the universities;
  the reason being evidently that these universities in other lands
  have not; in the typical case; grown out of an underlying
  college。
  In the sentimental apprehension of the laity out of doors;
  and in a degree even in the unreflecting esteem of men within the
  academic precincts; the presidential office still carries
  something of this traditionally preconceived scholarly character;
  and it is this still surviving traditional preconception; which
  confuses induction into the office with scholarly fitness for its
  dignities; that still makes the office of the academic executive
  available for those purposes of expansive publicity and
  businesslike management that it has been made to serve。 Except
  for this uncritical esteem of the office and its incumbency; so
  surviving out of an inglorious past; no great prestige could
  attach to that traffic in spectacular solemnities; edifying
  discourse and misdirected business control; that makes up the
  substantial duties of the office as now conducted。 It is
  therefore of the utmost moment to keep up; or rather to magnify;
  that appearance of scholarly competence and of intimate
  solidarity with the corporation of learning that gives the
  presidential office this prestige value。 But since it is only for
  purposes external; not to say extraneous; to the corporation of
  learning that this prestige value is seriously worth while; it is
  also only toward the outside that the make…believe of
  presidential erudition and scholarly ideals need seriously be
  kept up。 For the common run of the incumbents today to pose
  before their faculties as in any eminent degree conversant with
  the run of contemporary science or scholarship; or as rising to
  the average even of their own faculties in this respect; would be
  as bootless as it is uncalled for。 But the faculties; as is well
  enough understood; need of course entertain no respect for their
  executive head as a citizen of the republic of learning; so long
  as they at all adequately appreciate his discretionary power of
  use and abuse; as touches them and their fortunes and all the
  ways; means and opportunities of academic work。 By tradition; and
  in the genial legendary lore that colours the proceedings of the
  faculty…meeting; he is still the senior member of an assemblage
  of scholarly gentlemen; but in point of executive fact he is
  their employer; who does business with and by them on a
  commercial footing。 To the faculty; the presidential office is a
  business proposition; and its incumbent is chiefly an object of
  circumspection; to whom they owe a 〃hired…man's loyalty。〃
  It is toward the outside; in the face of the laity out of
  doors; that the high fence  〃the eight…fold fence〃  of
  scholarly pretension is to be kept up。 Hence the indicated means
  of its up…keep are such as will presumably hold the (transient)
  respect and affection of this laity;quasi…scholarly homiletical
  discourse; frequent; voluminous; edifying and optimistic;
  ritualistic solemnities; diverting and vacant; spectacular
  affectations of (counterfeit) scholastic usage in the way of
  droll vestments; bizarre and archaic; parade of (make…believe)
  gentility; encouragement and (surreptitious) subvention of
  athletic contests; promulgation of (presumably ingenuous)
  statistics touching the volume and character of the work done。
  It is only by keeping up these manifestations toward the
  outside; and making them good in the esteem of the unlearned;
  that the presidential office can be made to serve the ends of the
  board of control and the ambitions of the incumbent; and this
  large apparatus and traffic of make…believe; therefore; is the
  first and most unremitting object of executive solicitude。 It is
  the 〃place whereon to stand〃 while moving the academic universe。
  The uses to be made of the standing…place so achieved have
  already been set out in some detail in earlier chapters。 They
  centre about three main considerations: Visible magnitude;
  bureaucratic organization; and vocational training。
  As already noted in earlier passages; the boards of control
  are bodies of businessmen in whose apprehension the methods
  successfully employed in competitive business are suitable for
  all purposes of administration; from which follows that the
  academic head who is to serve as their general manager is vested;
  in effect; with such discretionary powers as currently devolve on
  the discretionary officials of business corporations; from which
  follows; among other things; that the members of the faculty come
  to take rank as employees of the concern; hired by and
  responsible to the academic head。
  The first executive duty of the incumbent of office;
  therefore; is to keep his faculty under control; so as to be able
  unhampered to carry out the policy of magnitude and
  secularization with a view to which the governing board has
  invested him with his powers。 This work of putting the faculty in
  its place has by this time been carried out with sufficient
  effect; so that its 〃advice and consent〃 may in all cases be
  taken as a matter of course; and should a remnant of initiative
  and scholarly aspiration show itself in any given concrete case
  in such a way as to traverse the lines of policy pursued by the
  executive; he can readily correct the difficulty by exercise of a
  virtually plenary power of appointment; preferment and removal;
  backed as this power is by a nearly indefeasible black…list。 So
  well is the academic black…list understood; indeed; and so
  sensitive and trustworthy is the fearsome loyalty of the common
  run among academic men; that very few among them will venture
  openly to say a good word for any one of their colleagues who may
  have fallen under the displeasure of some incumbent of executive
  office。 This work of intimidation and subornation may fairly be
  said to have acquired the force of an institution; and to need no
  current surveillance or effort。(6*)
  The subservience of the faculty; or of a working majority;
  may safely be counted on。 But the forms of advisement and
  responsibility are still necessary to be observed; the president
  is still; by tradition; the senior member of the faculty; and its
  confidential spokesman。 From which follows a certain; at least
  pro forma; disingenuousness in the executive's coercive control
  of academic policy; whereby the ostensible discretion and
  responsibility comes to rest on the faculty; while the control
  remains with the executive。 But; after all; this particular run
  of ambiguity and evasions has reached such settled forms and is
  so well understood that it no longer implies an appreciable
  strain on the executive's veracity or on his diplomatic skill。 It
  belongs under the category of legal fiction; rather than that of
  effectual prevarication。
  So also as regards the businesslike; or bureaucratic;
  organization and control of the administrative machinery; and its
  utilization for vocational ends and statistical showing。 All that
  has been worked out in its general features; and calls; in any
  concrete case; for nothing much beyond an adaptation of general
  practices to the detail requirements of the special case。 It
  devolves; properly; on the clerical force; and especially on
  those chiefs of clerical bureau called 〃deans;〃 together with the
  many committees…for…the…sifting…of…sawdust into which the faculty
  of a well…administered university is organized。 These committees
  being; in effect if not in intention; designed chiefly to keep
  the faculty talking while the bureaucratic machine goes on its
  way under the guidance of the executive and his personal
  counsellors and lieutenants。 These matters; then; are also well
  understood; standardized; and accepted; and no longer require a
  vigilant personal surveillance from the side of the executive。
  As is well and seemly for any head of a great concern; these
  matters of routine and current circumlocution are presently
  delegated to the oversight of trusted subalterns; in a manner
  analogous to the delegation of the somewhat parallel duties of
  the caretakers of the material equipment。 Both of these
  hierarchical corps of subordinates are in a somewhat similar
  case; in that their duties are of a mechanically standardized
  nature; and in that it is incumbent on both alike to deal in a
  dispassionate; not to