CORNELL UNIVERSITY OFFICIAL PUBLICATION VOLUME XI NUMBER 19 TWENTY-EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT BY PRESIDENT SCHURMAN 1919-1920 WITH THE COMPTROLLER’S REPORT, AND REPORTS OF THE DEANS OF COLLEGES. THE REGISTRAR. THE LIBRARIAN AND OTHER OFFICERS NOVEMBER I. 1920 PUBLISHED BY CORNELL UNIVERSITY ITHACA. NEW YORK Forms for bequests to Cornell University will be found at the close of the Comptroller’s Report, page 59. TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGES P resident’s R e po r t........................................................................................... 5-34 The Development of the University......................................................... 5-8 The Board of Trustees................................................................................. 8-10 The Facu lty.................................................................................................... 11-15 The Students......................................................................................... 15-18 Buildings and Grounds............................................................................... 19-23 Finances ........................................................................................................ 23-24 State Relations............................................................................................. 24-28 Public Service................................................................................................ 28-29 Resignation of the President...................................................................... 29-30 Postscript........................................................................................................ 31-34 C omptroller’s R e p o r t..................................................................................... 35_59 A ppendices I Report of the Dean of the University Faculty..................... i-m II Report of the Dean of the Graduate School......................... iv - x III Report of the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences.... x-xvi IV Report of the Dean of the College of L aw .............................. x v n -x v m V Report of the Dean of the Medical College........................... x ix - x x i VI Report of the Secretary of the Ithaca Division of the Medi­ cal College................................................................................. x x ii—xx x VII Report of the Dean of the New York State Veterinary College ..................................................................................... x x x —x x x iii VIII Report of the Dean of the New York State College of Agriculture.............................................................................. x x x iv- xlv IX Report of the Dean of the College of Architecture.............. x lv- x lvii X Report of the Dean of the College of Civil Engineering.... x lv iii- l XI Report of the Dean of the Sibley College of Mechanical Engineering............................................................................... li- liii XII Report of the Administrative Board of the Summer Session liv - lvi X III Report of the Adviser of Women............................................. lv i- lix X IV Report of the Registrar.............................................................. lx - lxjii X V Report of the Librarian............................................................. lx iv - lx ix XVI Publications............................................................................... lx x - xci — PRESIDENT’S REPORT FOR 1919-1920 To t h e B o a r d o f T r u s t e e s : I have the honor to present the President’s Report for the year 1919-1920. The twenty-eighth consecutive annual Report since my election to the Presidency in 1892, it will also be my last. Instead, therefore, of merely chronicling the events of the year I will, in the language of Bacon’s Advancement of Learning, “now attempt to make a general and faithful perambulation” of the University, with brief comments on its condition and operations and also on the agencies and instrumentalities through and by which it performs its functions. THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE UNIVERSITY It has been to me a source of the highest satisfaction to have wit­ nessed, and to have had something to do with, the growth and expan­ sion of the University for more than a quarter of a century. In the 80’s we used to count our students by the hundreds. In 1882 there were 384; in 1919-1920 the total number of persons who received instruction at the University was 7711, of whom 5765 were regularly matriculated students enrolled between September and June. The University has also become a genuine studium generate, students coming to it from practically every State in the Union and every continent on the globe. As I have been in the habit of saying, the educational ideal of Cornell University has been to combine the idealism of ancient Athens with the industrialism of modem America. To the great throngs of students who have frequented its halls it has given both liberal and practical education, fitting them to earn a livelihood and also to live a worthy life. Its graduates are men of intelligence and culture and also men of action and skill in practical affairs. These constitute, as it were, the educational record of the University. They are “our epistles known and read of all men.” By them the public judge the quality of the instruction and training given at Cornell. And the ever-increasing popularity of the University has been gratify­ ing evidence as to the character of the estimate which the public has formed of it. (5) 6 THE DEVELOPMENT OP THE UNIVERSITY Of all the degrees conferred by Cornell University (21,445) more than seven-eighths have been conferred since I became President in 1892. From the foundation of the University to 1892 inclusive the total number of degrees granted was 2453. Since that time the number of degrees conferred has been 18,992. And of all Cornell undergraduates who withdrew from the University for one reason and another without receiving degrees, it is estimated that a proportion corresponding to the graduates falls within the period of my incum­ bency of the presidential office. To be the head of this large family of Cornellians has been to me a source of the greatest pride and pleasure. One of the most enjoyable things in my long term of service has been my frequent meetings with them, formal and informal, in different parts of the country. There is no other group of men and women in whose career and service and success and welfare I have been and am so deeply interested. I have witnessed also a corresponding enlargement of the faculty. While the funds held by the Trustees have not always permitted us to multiply professorships in harmonious balance with instructorships, it has been a constant gratification to me to see for so many years such able young men attracted to the teaching staff. In addition to their regular work as teachers, both instructors and professors have as a rule zealously engaged in research, with the result of establishing a high reputation for the faculty in the republic of science and letters. There are to-day among our professors a goodly number of eminent scholars and scientists, some of whom have an international repu­ tation. It has fallen to me also to organize the staff of instruction and stu­ dent body so as to keep pace with the multiplication of their numbers. Special colleges and faculties have been differentiated, with special curricula in which teachers and students have been brought together with something of the closeness and intimacy of relation that charac­ terized the independent college of earlier days. In 1892, there was one general faculty for the University to which a small department of law had recently been added. In 1919-1920, besides the general faculty (which has become a sort of senatus academicus) the Univer­ sity embraced eight special colleges and faculties for undergraduates and a graduate school open only to those who have received their first degrees and who desire to pursue advanced and specialized instruction. On the material side I have seen a great expansion of the Univer­ sity. The buildings, which three decades ago you could count on your THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE UNIVERSITY 7 fingers, are now numbered by scores; and the grounds, then limited to two hundred acres, have since expanded to 1456 acres. I have seen the University treasury enriched by many splendid benefactions. Postponing for later mention the millions of dollars received from the State of New York for agriculture and veterinary medicine, I here name some generous individual benefactors. Henry W. Sage in successive donations in the 70’s, 80’s, and 90’s, bestowed upon the University gifts of nearly a million and a quarter of dollars for the Library, the School of Philosophy, and other objects which bear his name; and his sons, Dean Sage and William H. Sage, followed his generous example in establishing later the Infirmary, the Profes­ sorial Pension Fund, etc., in gifts together aggregating $385,000. Goldwin Smith left his estate of nearly three quarters of a million dollars for the promotion of the humanities and liberal arts. Colonel Payne established the Medical College in New York City with dona­ tions for building and endowment aggregating about six million dollars. George F. Baker, with a gift of three beautiful stone build­ ings costing $358,249.24, inaugurated the new system of residential halls for men students. Mrs. Russell Sage provided a beautiful residential hall for women students at a cost of $300,000. Willard Fiske