University of Georgia - Pandora Yearbook (Athens, GA)

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(Chancellor Sy dling o 23 N JANUARY 1, 1932, the new Board of Regents, of the University System of Georgia, chose Charles Mercer Snelling, then Chancellor of the University of Geor- gia, to fill the newly created post of Chancellor of the entire University S stem of Georgia. Colonel Snelling had held the post of Chancellor of the University since the resignation of Chancellor Barrow in June, 1925. When Colonel Snelling was chosen by the Board of Trustees to succeed him, Chancellor Emeritus Barrow said of the new Chancellor, He was Dean for nearly twenty years and I recall no case in which he did not succeed. As Dean he was patient and careful. Very much of his success was tlue to this. He sometimes seemed very hard, but I think that he was always right. He won the place and Won it fairlw What John Temple Graves, the illustrious journalist, said more than a score of years ago as editor of an Atlanta paper when Colonel Snelling was made Dean of Franklin College still holds true tc)da , Colonel Snell- ing is full of the dash and charm of manner that belongs to aggressive type of men. He has the brilliancy and the forcefulness of the soldier. Charles Mercer Snelling was born in Richmond, Virginia, November 3, 1862, the son of Zaccheus and Cleo- patra (Perdue) Snelling. He was educated at Virginia Military ' Insti- tute, receiving his A.B. degree there in 1884. In 1890 he was awarded an honorary A. M. degree from the University of Georgia. He then continued his studies at the Universities of Gottingen and Berlin in 1893 and 1894. In 1911 he received the degree of Doctor of Science from the University of Pittsburg. Chancellor Snelling began his career as an educator soon after his graduation from irginia Mili- tary Institute, serving as adjunct professor of mathematics the following year. He came to Georgia Military Academy in 1885 as professor of mathematics. After one year there he taught for two years at South Georgia College at Thomasville. His first connection with the University of Georgia came in 1888 when he bacame adjunct professor of mathematics and ccmmandant of cadets. In 1909 he was made Dean of Franklin College and pro- fessor of mathematics. In 1925 when Ch ancellor Barrow resigned he became Acting Chancellor for that year and the following was selected by the Board of Trustees to the position that he held until he was selected to head the entire University system on January 1, 1932. Three years after he came to the University of Georgia, Colonel Snelling married Miss Matilda Janet Morton of Athens. They have seven sons, and lost a daughter in her youth. Chancellor Snelling has taken an active interest in the community in which he lives. He is a Director of the NationalBank of Athens, and the Southern Mutual Insurance Company, and is also President of the Commission of Bonded Debt of Athens, Georgia. Chancellor Snelling is a Baptist and a Democrat. He is a member of the American IMathematical Society, Phi Beta Kappa, and the Sigma Nu social fraternity, and several other honorary clubs and societies. Charles Mercer Snelling

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22 he oard of ' Agents IN REPLY to your request that I make a statement for The Pan- dora concerning the Board of Regents, I am sure I cannot do better than to quote you the Declaration of Polic}- which the Board has made. It is as follows : It is the conviction of the Board of Regents that the people of Georgia intended to ordain by the Act creating the Board that the twenty-six institu- tions comprising the University Sys- tem should no longer function as separate, independent, and unrelated entities competing with e ach other for patronage and financial support. The manifest purpose of the Act creating the Board of Regents is to unify and co-ordinate the work of these institutions so that the educa- tional program of each shall be in- tegrated with that of every other institution and with the System as a whole. The result aimed at is a correlated, harmonious, and symmet- rical structure free from wasteful duplications, but providing the max- imum of etlucational opportunity to the students of the State. In short, the emphasis has been shifted from the interests of particular institutions to the interests of the State. While the traditions, the welfare, and the prestige of the several branches of the System will be an ob- ject of care on the part of the Board, all of their problems are to be finally resolved by th. ' answer to the question: What will best serve the educational interests (jf the State as a whole? With this as the paramount consideration, the c .nstant aim of this hod - will be to establish and maintain a system of higher education that will cjmmand the sympathy and support of our educa- tional leaders, and at the same time successfully meet our own needs by offering the oung men and young women of Georgia the maximum of education. To accomplish this result, the Regents will, after a careful study, take such steps that to them seem best to co-ordinate and unify these institutions so that they will be related in purpose and regulated in scope. The only competition in which these schools will hereafter engage will be for preeminence in service and scholarship. The Regents will carry out the plain and manifest purpose and intention of the Plunders of the University, and the continuing purposes of our successive Legislatures since 1785, and by the authority vested in them, will have one administrative head of the entire system in the person of a Chancellor of the University System of Georgia, who will be f-e official head of the entire University System, and report to, and be responsible only to the Board of Regents. Wm. D. Anderson ' , Chiiirniii i . Brxird of Ri ' stents. Wm. U. Andersox

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24 he Uniipersity of Qeorgia V m ! ill :i UH Mi ' ] XTHEN the University of Geor- gia — the first of American State universities — was established in 1785, the constitution provided that it should be the head of the educational system of the State, and governed in large measure by that provided in the Reorganization Act of 1931 passed under the progressive administration of Governor Russell. It is confidently believed that the chaos which now exists m our edu- cational s stem will be eliminated by the vision ami wisdom of the Hoard of Regents; that Georgia will have an educational system in fact as well as in name, and instead of University of Georgia a University for Georgia. Fift} ' 3 ' ears ago Senator Benjamin Harvey Hill, an illustrious son of the University ' , a great man and a x ise leader far in advance of the thought of the da ' , in his scholarly address before the Alumni Society, uttered these memorable words: The first step of upward progress is to build up our universities. Flow- ing down from these, education must reach the masses. The begmning of all improvement in Georgia lies in the enlargement of our system of education. Education is like water; to fructify, it must descend. Pour out floods at the base of society, and only at the base, and it will saturate, stagnate, destroy. Pour it out on the summit, and it will quietly and con- stantly percolate and descend, germi- nating every seed, feeding every root, until the whole area, from summit to base, will spring ' the tender blade and then the ear, ami then the full corn in the ear. ' The first step in any eilucational system, therefore, and the first, the highest, the holiest dut - n ow pressing upon every Georgian, is to build up the University. This is our summit. Education is the one subject for which no people ever yet paid too much. On jvIioj i skull this loved V nivcrslty iioiv lean iiilli faith, it not on our ojvn alumni? The Board of Regents has decreed that there shall be no competition among these twenty-six units in the University System of Georgia e.xcept upon the basis of high scholastic attainment. The Uni- versity ' of Georgia welcomes this announcement on the part of the Board of Regents. It will meet every demand of the Regents, the alumni, and friends of higher education. The most hopeful sign in education today is the demand on the part of educators and the thinking public for quality ; numbers used to be the distinctive feature of a college, but they are no longer — it is now quality; quality in teaching, quality in student work, qualit ' in finished product, — its graduates. That which will differentiate universities in the future will not be equipment and costly buildings, important as they are, but the quality of its students. In proportion as a State prepares by means of its own supported institutions men and women for certain professions and others for the creation of new knowledge without regard to immediate utility, will that State rake its rank and influence among other States. With emphasis placed on the qualit ' of its finished product, the college will not admit anyone not qualified, nor permit the bright, promising students to be held back by their limping comrades. With (Continued on Page 3(1) Dr. S. V. San ' ford [ ' resident of the V niversity of Georvia I