Mechanies in Appointments
The second report, altering the whole means of appointments, was passed by the Faculty and the Corporation and was turned over of detail work to the two new Assistant Deans of the Faculty, Paul H. Buck and W. C. Graustein.
The Graustein plan froze each department at its "historic size," and then determined the average length of time a professor stays on the Faculty. By dividing the latter figure (an estimated 34 years) by the former, the plan determines how often a department can appoint permanent members.
All is not mathematics and department recommendations in choosing permanent appointments, however. Occasionally, a department is allowed to "go in debt" and appoint an outstanding man who might be lost to another college if Graustein should be followed literally. The decision of whether a department can overreach itself is left to the Administration.
Another mechanical feature of the appointment system--the ad hoc committee--is likewise in the hands of the President and Dean. They appoint special committee of qualified men, often from outside the academic life, to come to Cambridge for a day to hear witnesses tell why a certain instructor should be added to the permanent Faculty.
Ad Hoc Nominations
After investigating the unique problems of the department, the ad hoc committee can either support the department's own choice or recommend a different name to the President. And for his part, the President can ignore both recommendations and select a wholly new man to put before the Corporation. Both Pusey and Conant are sold on the ad hoc system, however, and would rarely throw out all the committee's findings in favor of their own candidates. In Lowell's time, direct nomination by the President was more frequent.
When there is unanimous agreement between the department, the ad hoc committee, and the Administration, the Corporation will usually rubber stamp the appointment. If the latter groups decide that no candidate should be chosen at that particular time, the Corporation will also concur. About one out of 20 nominations is defeated by the Corporation, usually where the ad hoc committee has recommended no action.
Though the Faculty has taken on the role of an appeals court within the College, its violent pretests would seldom be ignored. When Librarian Motealf decided to morgo Widonor's two catalogues in 1950, the Library Committee approved his suggestion by a marrow margin. Since this was purely a financial matter, the Faculty would ordinarily not be involved at all. But some Faculty protested, and violently, and to the Provost. Buck then opposed the plan and the Corporation backed his view. He had interceded directly because of Faculty pressure.
On the other side of the coin is the Admissions-Scholarship Committee for which the Faculty is informed to have complete control in making policy. Yet until Dean Bonder spoke to the Faculty in January of 1953, that group had never board a statement of Harvard's selection policy for undergraduates.
If a professor should become overly offer in this criticism, of how a Faculty committee is operating, it is a standard Administration maneuver to appoint him to that committee when an opening comes up. This, along with the degrees of Faculty apathy and the soundness of most Administrative proposals keeps friction between the Faculty and Administration at a minimum.
Overseers
"The Overseers should always hold toward the Corporation an attitude of suspicious vigilance." These were the words of an ex-Overseer, Charles. W. Eliot when he assumed the Presidency of Harvard in 1869 and after this "suspicious vigilance" had led to his begin vetoed twice by fellow members of his Board.
Since that time, Overseers are still suspicious and some are still vigilant. But the Overseers, unlike the Corporation, have not merely lent their authority; the Board's powers have slipped away over the years until it is now a channel through which the Corporation and Administration can estimate the alumni attitudes.
Through the years, some Overseers reports have been both valuable and influential: the visiting committee's efforts on behalf of the Business School gave that institution a boost when it needed one. And when Eliot abolished compulsory attendance at morning prayers in 1886, he admitted to considering seriously the attitude of the Overseers.
The Overseers, in theory, also have the right to debate and give consent to all major legation and appointments from assistant professor upwards. In the past