siderable time was devoted during the year to the consideration of proposed changes in the University calendar. Two plans were submitted. The first provided that instruction begin on September 1st and end December 22nd, that instruction be resumed January 22nd and end May 16th with Commencement on May 26th. The second plan provided that instruction begin two weeks later than at the present; that the present Christmas holiday vacation be retained; that the first term end two weeks later than at present; that the second term begin three days after the end of the first term, as at present; that the spring vacation be abolished and that the second term end at the same date as at present. These plans after some debate were referred to the Committee on University Policy to consider and report. On the 13th of March, 1908, the Committee on University Policy reported that the Committee deemed it at present undesirable to make any changes in the calendar, and the report of the Committee was approved.

At the same meeting the Committee on University Policy recommended to the Faculty that the University exercises begin at ten minutes past the hour and end promptly at the hour, and the recommendation was adopted.

Respectfully submitted,

T. F. CRANE,

Dean of the University Faculty.

APPENDIX III

REPORT OF THE DEAN OF THE FACULTY OF ARTS AND SCIENCES

To the President of the University:

Sir: I have the honor to submit herewith my first report as Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences covering the academic year 1907-1908. The year has been an active one in Faculty legislation, and the report consists mainly of a resumé of this legislation and of the work of the standing committees of which the Dean is ex-officio chairman.

ENTRANCE REQUIREMENTS

At the very beginning of the session the question arose in both of the standing committees of the Faculty whether some changes in the entrance requirements of the College might not be desirable. Several changes had been made in the curriculum for undergraduates without considering the entrance requirements as related to them, and it was thought by the committees to be an opportune time for an investigation of the administrative workings of the existing requirements, and for a consideration of their educational validity. The Committee on Educational Policy was interested primarily in the questions of the special function of secondary as distinct from higher education, what should be required of every student on entering College as the foundation for further study, and what might be left to individual interest and local circumstances. The Committee regarded it as desirable that the College insist upon a reasonable continuity of work in the preparatory school, but on the other hand felt it unfair to the individual student to refuse him all recognition for work not carried to the maximum of high school credit in one subject. The existing requirements, for instance, allowed no credit on entrance Latin except to those who were able to present the equivalent of four years of high school study in Latin grammar and composition, Cæsar, Cicero and Virgil. The Committee believed that the student who pursued Latin for two or three years should get credit for the work done, but regarded two years as the minimum if

the training was to be counted as having much value. Similarly the Committee on Academic Records found the administration of the existing requirements somewhat complicated because so many students could present two or three years of Latin, but not four, because persons who could present Greek without Latin had no opportunity to get the Greek counted, and because of similar restrictions placed upon credit in other subjects. It was also found that the unit in terms of which the entrance requirements had been defined was peculiar to Cornell and not altogether easy of interpretation by students, or even teachers, in the preparatory schools; and it was thought better to adopt the unit in common use throughout the country since its definition in the report of the N. E. A. Committee on College Entrance Requirements in 1898, namely, "The equivalent of a course pursued throughout one year in a secondary school with five recitations a week."

After full discussion and the study of existing requirements in other institutions of Cornell's rank, both Committees unanimously agreed to recommend to the Faculty the adoption of the following requirements for admission to the College of Arts and Sciences:

The unit referred to is the national unit above mentioned, and the subjects which may be presented for entrance and the minimum and maximum number of units which may be accepted in each subject were fixed as follows:

1⁄2 or I unit

(Not accepted if one unit in either botany or zoology is offered) Drawing

The report of the Committees was unanimously adopted by the Faculty on November 1, 1907.

The result of the new requirements is to raise somewhat the total number of units required for admission and to give at the same time greater flexibility, while the specific requirements are expected to guarantee the essentials in preparation for college.

On December 6, 1907, the Faculty agreed to accept, in lieu of the new requirements for admission, the "College Entrance Diploma" issued by the State Education Department of New York State, provision for which was made at the meeting of the Board of Regents on October 17, 1907, in response to a resolution of the State Examinations Board. A statement of the requirements of this diploma will be found on pages 237-239 of the annual report of the Education Department of New York State for the year 1908. They correspond very closely to the new requirements at Cornell, and the acceptance of this diploma will greatly simplify the administration of admission on Regents' credentials.

The new requirements were put into effect at once and students have entered the College in accordance with them since December last, but for a period of two years incoming students will be permitted to enter on the former requirements if they prefer to do so. Probably many students from private preparatory schools will prefer to meet the specific but somewhat lower standards of the old requirements, as their courses have been planned with reference to them, but graduates of the public high schools, especially of New York State and of the west, will undoubtedly find the new requirements more in keeping with the arrangement of courses and valuation of units under which they have been trained and they will prefer to meet the higher standards but more flexible arrangement of the new requirements.

ADVANCED STANDING FOR WORK DONE IN PREPARATORY SCHOOLS

At the same meeting of the Faculty the following resolution, which had been introduced in the University Faculty and referred

to the Faculties of the several Colleges for separate action, was read and referred to the Committee on Educational Policy

"Resolved, that credit toward a University degree for work done in institutions other than those of collegiate rank will be given only to such students as pass successfully an examination set by the department concerned. The examination will cover substantially the same ground as the University course in the subject and may not be taken unless application for admission to the examination is received by the department at least one week before the examination and permission to enter the examination has been obtained from the department concerned."

Several meetings of the Committee were held to consider this resolution, to one of which the Committee on Academic Records was also invited. The Committee gradually reached the conclusion that it would be unfair and unwise to give no advantage to students from the better schools except on examination so long as the University retains the practice of admission by certificate. With a view to still further advancing the standards of the University, it was also thought to be desirable to encourage the better schools to have their students complete, before coming to Cornell, some of the more elementary work that is now offered and counted towards the degree of Bachelor of Arts. It was thought, too, that while in some courses the work of the first years in college must be qualitatively different from work in the corresponding courses in high schools, this would not hold true of certain subjects which are pre-eminently appropriate for high school subject matter, for instance, modern languages. There seemed no good reason why beginning French or German might not be as well taught and as thoroughly mastered in the high school as in college. Finally, the Committee unanimously agreed to recommend the adoption by the Faculty of the following resolutions as substitutes for the one referred from the University Faculty:

“1. Resolved, that the Registrar be requested to report to the Committee on Academic Records the amount and character of the preparatory work of which each Freshman has submitted evidence.

2. Resolved, that the Committee be authorized to deduct from the 120 hours required for the degree of A. B. as many hours as the excess of the student's preparatory work over 15 units may warrant. "3. Resolved, that a student of whom not more than 108 hours are thus required for graduation shall be considered as having completed one term of residence.

"4. Resolved, that the Committee on Academic records shall be requested to furnish each student entering the College of Arts and Sciences for the first time with a statement of the conditions on which he may expect to receive the degree of Bachelor of Arts."