Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 3.djvu/253

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CAMBRIDGE


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CAMBRIDGE


a fortnight during term for the transaction of univer- sity lm.sine.ss. The executive power of the governing body is vested in the following officials: the Chancel- lor, elected for life, who is head of the university, and has power to adjudicate in all matters affecting mem- bers of the university, excepting cases of felony; the Vice-Chancellor, elected annually, who exercises the full powers of the chancellor in his absence or in case of a vacancy in the office; the High Steward, who has special powers to try scholars, within the limits of the university, even in cases of felony, and appoints a resident deputy; the Sex Yiri, elected by the senate every two years, with power to hold a court for the trial of all senior members of the university charged with offences against the statutes; the Court of Dis- cipline, consisting of the chancellor and six elected heads of colleges, for the trial of scholars in statu pupiUari; the Public Orator, who voices the senate on public occasions, writes letters when required, in the name of the university, and presents to all honorary degrees with an appropriate oration; the Registrar}-, who keeps the record of all university proceedings, and the roll of members of the univer- sity, and is the custodian of all important, documents; the two Proctors (with their Pro-Proctors), who are responsible for the morals and discipline of the younger members of the university, and assist the vice-chancellor in the discharge of his duties. Other university officials are the two members elected by the senate to represent the university in the imperial parliament; the Counsel to the university, appointed by the senate; the Solicitor, nominated by the vice- chancellor; the General Board of Studies, consisting of the vice-chancellor, and various elected members of the senate, and of special boards; the Financial Board, for the care and management of the property of the university, consisting of the vice-chancellor and eight members of the senate, half elected by the colleges and half nominated by the vice-chancellor. The university property consists chiefly of a small amount of landed estate, the fees charged for matricu- lations, examinations, and graduating, the quarterly due or tax paid by every member of the university whose name is on the register, the profits of the uni- versity printing-press, contributions from the various colleges, as provided by the statutes, and various minor sources of income of a fluctuating kind.

(B) The Colleges. — The order of the members of the several colleges, which number seventeen in all, is as follows: (1) The head, who is usually, but not neces- sarily or always, a doctor in his own faculty. The head of King's College is styled provost; of Queen's, president; of all the other colleges, master. (2) The fellows, numbering altogether about 400, and as a rule graduates (usually masters) in some faculty. (3) Doctors in the several faculties, bachelors in divinity, masters of arts, law, and surgery, who are not on the foundation of the college. (4) Bachelors in the four faculties last-named. (5) Fellow-commoners, gener- ally men of rank and fortune, who are entitled to dine at the Minus' table (hence their name) and enjoy other privileges. (0) Scholars, foundation-members of the several colleges, and enjoying certain emolu- ments and advantages accordingly. They are as a ride elected by direct competitive examination prior to the commencement of their residence. (7) Pen- sioners (corresponding to "commoners" at Oxford), the great body of undergraduate students, who pay for their board and their lodging either within or with- out the college precincts. (8) Sizars, students of lim- ited means who receive, as a rule, their rooms and commons free.

The following is a list of the colleges at Cambridge, in chronological order, with the date of the founda- tion of each: St. Titer's or IVtrrhouse (1257). Clare (1326) Pembroke (1347), GonviDe and Cains (1348), Trinity Hall (1350), Corpus Christi (1352), King's


(1441), Queen's (1448), St. Catherine's (1473), Jesus (1496), Christ's (1505), St. John's (1511), Magdalene (1519), Trinity (1546), Emmanuel (1584), Sidney Sus- sex (1595), Downing (1800). There is also one public hostel, Selwyn College, founded in 1882, and restricted to members of the Church of England, and a body of non-collegiate students (under a censor) who under a statute of 1869 are admitted into the university with- out becoming members of any college or hostel. The total number of members of the university having their names on the register was, in July, 1907, 14,053, including 7220 members of the senate and 3463 undergraduates. Of these many more were on the books of Trinity than of any other college, namely 3675, the next in order being St. John's, with 1475. The total number of matriculations (of new members) in the academical year 1906-1907 was 10S3, the highest in the history of the university. The govern- ment of each college is by its own master (or other head) anil fellows, or else by the master anil council, a select committee of the fellows. Each college has its visitor, either the Sovereign, the Lord Chancellor or the Chancellor of the University, or some bishop or other high dignitary, to whom reference is made when questions arise as to the interpretation of the college statutes; but no college statute is binding unless in harmony with the general code of statutes for the university approved by Queen Victoria in Council in 1882.

III. Studies and Discipline. — (A) Studies. — The Cambridge University system may be defined as one which subjects all candidates for degrees, and for all university and college distinctions, to the test of com- petitive written examinations, held at fixed intervals, and which allows the preparation and study for these examinations to be held whenever, and in whatever way, the individual thinks proper. Professors and readers, lecturers, demonstrators, and tutors, public and private, in every subject of the university curric- ulum, are provided in abundance by the university itself, by the various colleges, and by private enter- prise. But. the test, and practically the sole test (apart from certain disciplinary regulations), of the fitness of an undergraduate to receive the degree, whatever it be, which is the object of his university career, is not regular attendance at lectures, still less proficiency or perseverance in his course of private study, but his success in passing the various examina- tions, whether with or without "honours", which are the only avenue to the baccalaureate. For the ordi- nary degree of B.A., which may be taken in the ninth term of residence (that is, there being three terms in each academical year, in two years and eight months after coming into residence), the ordinary" passman ", who docs not aspire to honours, has to pass (1 ) the "previous examination", or "little go", in Creek, Latin, and mathematics (all of a pretty elementary kind), and Paley's "Evidences of ( Ihristianity". The Gospcl.which is one of the Greek books set, and Paley can if desired be replaced by a classic and logic. ( oriental students may take Arabic. Chinese, or San- skrit instead of Creek or Latin, under certain condi- tions. (2) The General Examination, in somewhat more advanced classics and mathematics and (op- tional) English literature. (Mi A Special Examina- tion, in one of the following .subjects: theology, politi- cal economy, law, history, chemistry, physics, mod- ern languages, mathematics, classics, mechanics and applied science, music.

Candidates for honours have to pass in certain ad- ditional subjects in their "little go", being then ex- empt from further examination until the final, or "tripos" — a word sometimes derived from the three- legged stool on which candidates formerly Bat, but now referring to the three classes into which success- ful candidates are divided. Honours may be taken in any of the following triposes: mathematics, clas-