Part 1 - The Institute Libraries - Institute for Advanced Study

had left to him alone. Then he continued:
Deli~te questions arise in connection with the relations
which should exist between the director, staff and trustees.
Incidentally I hve touched on them in saying thht, as a
rr,ztte- -,f ccurse, the stzff will be mde up of mature schalars,
presurrsbly conscious of the weight that should attach
to their utterances ~ nd zctively participating in the govern- *
rnent of the Xnstitute. But the subject is a difficult one,
2nd I am nct yet prepared to submit further positive recamenhticns,
though it has received my continuous attention. 1
am clear thzt the relationship between the executive offic~m . -
and t h > e i s i us c~indcordiil or =ti.~fa&$q.
On the contrary, for one reasan or another, the
Arreri~n professoriate is unhzppy -- and it will not enlist
the country's best brains in sufficien~ number until the
atmosphere is radically changed.
I have already suggested cbnges of a fcndawntal character,
mong them the inclusion in the board of trustees of outside
scholars as well as members of its ow^ smff, Whether this
is all that need be done to give learning its proper weight
in the Institute, I em not at this moment prepared t o say.
I da say, tcwever, tht the Institute exists for the sake
of learning end that policies and measures that are inimical
to the happy and enthusiastic pursuit of learning are neces-
sarily wrong,
Lt has been urged t ht trustees should limit their aetivitles
to busimss matters and thst fzculties should govern all else,
In support of this contention Gemny, France, Oxford and
Cambridge are cited. But none of these instances is convinc-
ing. In Ge-ny a poverful ministry is in constant coopera-
tion, as it is in occasional conflict, with the universities;
practically the same is true in France, where, however, the
bureaucratic habit is stronger, Oxford and Cambridge do fn-
deed govern themselves, but on three occssions in the last
he lf century Par1 iament has intervened through Royal Comnis-
sians in order to cure some of the defects due t o government
by exclusively academic bodies,...
Both 'lay trustees, alone, and teachers, alone, are liable to
be one-sided. When the president is the sole link or channel
of cmunication between the staff and trustees, he tends to
J / kcme autocratic and is unlikely to be widely informed. Our
A hesican experience shows the consequences. On t k other
hand, faculty government would distract scholars and might
'lead to internal and factioul difficulties. We have, as I
'have said, tried t o correct these weaknesses by constituting
the Board of Trustees out of laymen, academic personages not