University of Michigan - Michiganensian Yearbook (Ann Arbor, MI)

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SOUTH WING OF UNIVERSITY HALL Page 14

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The President ' s Home

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University Administration ALEXANDER GRANT R U T H V E N Prfsidfnt af ikf University Doubtless any organization which is thoroughly alive, as is the University of Michigan, never attains a form which remains completely fixed for all time. Such things vary with the times and circumstances and also in accordance with the ideas of the persons who have the responsibility of leadership in the institution. Since President Ruthven took office in 1929 his theories of administrational organization have been taking shape. During the past year several additions were made to the structure which bring it much more closely to the finished product which Dr. Ruthven has had in rr.ind. He has not, of course, cast into the discard all cf the eld methods, but his policy has been rather to rearrange and regroup existing agencies in such ways as to make the whole structure more logical and to produce a more smoothly running machine. The theory cf the University of Michigan ' s adminis- tration begins with the postulate that the general direction of the institution is in the hands of the Regents, whcse executive officer is the president of the university. This, in fact, is determined by the fundamental law of the State. The University, however, is made up of a large number cf individuals officers, professors, stu- dents and groups composed of these individuals. The organization of this large body is made clearer if we distinguish three functions, the advisor) ' , the executive, and the legislative. Under the first heading come all of the individuals and groups who are called upon to advise the President and through him the Board of Regents upon the gen- eral policies cf the University, to determine what use shall be made of its funds, what educational undertakings shall be projected, and the like. The executive group includes those individuals and committees to whom are delegated by the President and Regents the duties of carrying out university policies and actually superintending the work which is done on the campus of whatever kind. To the legislative division belong the larger groups of faculty and staff members who under the constitution of the University are charged with the responsibility of passing regulations on subjects with which the University is concerned as an educational organization. Of the above the first category has been made especially eminent during President Ruthven ' s administration because it is comparatively a new thing. The iriajor advisory staff, consisting of the three vice-presidents, the director of plant extension, and the director of alumni relations, is entirely a development of the past four years. In recommending this innovation to the Regents the President has, of course, had in mind to some extent the practice of large business organizations in which, subject to the chief executive officer who must bear the ultimate responsibility, there are others who are placed in general charge of specific interests, or groups of interests, throughout the whole organization. So in the University of Michigan the field of one of these officers is the University ' s physical property and finances, that of the second its educational policies, that of the third matters relating to plant extension, and that of the fourth and last to be appointed the University ' s relations with its students outside of their classrooms and with its alumni. Before the director of student-alumni relations was appointed an actual count showed that there were seventeen different offices, bureaus, committees, or other groups concerned with this one field of the University ' s interests. With such diversity it was hopeless to expect any real concentration upon a unified program. It was also very difficult for the President, among his other duties, to give the proper attention to all these various agencies. The duty of the new officer is not to admin- ister student-alumni affairs, but by supervision and advice, on the one hand, to coordinate them and, en the other, to advise with the president and the Regents upon the proper policy for the Page is