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