The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 49, July 1945 - April, 1946 Page: 52
This periodical is part of the collection entitled: Southwestern Historical Quarterly and was provided to The Portal to Texas History by the Texas State Historical Association.
Southwestern Historical Quarterly
The functions of the board of trustees, president, principal,
and faculty were determined by the board and published in the
catalogues. It was the duty of the trustees to "enact the laws
and take a general supervision of the University," to "conduct
the financial affairs," to "furnish" buildings, library, and ap-
paratus, to elect teachers and determine their salaries, and to
fix rates of tuition. They had the "sole power of expelling stu-
dents." The trustees were to meet "as often as the good of the
University" required.4 The president was charged with the re-
sponsibility of seeing that the laws of the university were
executed, of conducting religious services morning and evening
in the chapel and appointing someone to do so in his absence,
of making a semi-annual report in writing to the board of trus-
tees "of the condition of every department" with proposals for
improvements, and of having a monthly report of the standing
of every student sent to his parent or guardian." The faculty
could adopt regulations not inconsistent with the established
rules of the university. The "laws" required weekly faculty
meetings. Fifteen minutes of each class period were to be used
"in reviewing the recitation of the preceding day," and class
schedules were to be so arranged that each student would have
"ten minutes recreation between his recitations." It was made
the "duty of the Professors to report the President to the
Board of Trustees, if he neglect to enforce the laws of the Uni-
versity."6
When Dr. Burleson assumed the duties of president of Bay-
lor, the curriculum was strictly classical. Candidates for the
freshman class were required to pass an examination on Caesar,
Cicero's Select Orations, algebra, and Latin and Greek gram-
mar. The student studied Greek and Latin in his first three
college years and mathematics for four years. Other subjects
in the course of study were ancient history, philosophy, physics
(natural philosophy), geology, chemistry, logic, astronomy, sur-
veying and navigation, rhetoric, political economy, and "Evi-
dences of Christianity."7
Perhaps the greatest achievement of Dr. Burleson's adminis-
tration at Independence was the broadening and liberalizing
4Laws and Catalogue of the Baylor University, 1853-4, p. 10.
oIbid., 10-11.
Olbid., 11-12.
7Catalogue of the Trustees, Officers, and Students of Baylor University
1851-1852, pp. 6-8.
52
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 49, July 1945 - April, 1946, periodical, 1946; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth146056/m1/61/ocr/: accessed April 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.