Rules and Statutes of the College, Academy, and Charity School;
Laws and Statutes of the Trustees
MS Minutes: Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania
In the College and Academy Hall July 11th. 1755
Rules and Statutes of the College Academy and Charity-School of
Philadelphia. Sect. 1. Of the general Powers of the Faculty in
executing Laws.
As a Faculty, the Provost, Vice-Provost and
Professors, shall have an immediate and general Regard to the
Manners and Education of all the Youth belonging to this College,
Academy and Charity-School.
They shall be invested with the Execution of
all Laws, that shall from Time to Time be made by the Trustees for
the wholsome Government of the several Members of the same;
excepting in those particular Cases, wherein by Laws and Statutes
hereafter to be enacted it may be thought proper to restrict
them.
That they may more effectually discharge this
Trust, they shall meet at least once a Fortnight in the College and
Academy and oftner if the Provost think fit, or any two Members of
the Faculty desire him to call a Meeting.
When met, they shall diligently examine what
Proficiency the Students make from Time to Time, under their
respective Professors or Tutors; and whether there be any Breach,
or Neglect of the Laws of the Corporation among the Students, and
shall determine all Matters by a Majority of Votes.
In Consequence of these Determinations, the
Person who presides at such Meetings, as herein after directed,
shall, in the Name of the Faculty, encourage and reward the
deserving, and admonish, censure, or inflict such Mulcts and lesser
Punishments on Delinquents, as the Majority of the Faculty so met,
shall deem reasonable and conformable to the Laws then in
Force.
But that Things of a more weighty Nature may be
done with greater Deliberation and Solemnity, the inflicting upon
any Student or Students, the greater Punishments of Expulsion,
Suspension and Degradation, shall be by Direction of the Trustees
only when duly met.
And, if at such Meetings of the Faculty it
shall appear, that there has been a Neglect of Duty in any
Professor, the Faculty shall admonish him in the most friendly
Manner; but if repeated Admonitions have not the proper Effect,
they shall lay the Matter before the Trustees.
Sect. 2d. Of the Legislative Power of the Faculty.
And that a Body of good Laws may speedily be
compiled and perfected by Persons, who from their daily Employments
in this Seminary, have frequent Opportunities of discovering the
Necessity, or Utility, of particular Regulations; and because
various Cases and Circumstances may arise, which no human Prudence
can foresee, and against which the Laws then in Being have not
sufficiently provided; the Faculty, when met, shall from Time to
Time, have Power to make such Ordinances and Regulations, as they,
or the major Part of them, shall judge necessary, either for the
Education of the Youth, or the better Government of the several
Members of this College Academy and Charity-School.
The Regulations and Ordinances so made by the
Faculty shall have the same Force as Laws and Statutes of the
Trustees till their first ensuing Meeting, before whom at their
said first ensuing Meeting all such Regulations and Ordinances
shall be laid by the Provost or any other Person they may appoint
for that Purpose.
If at the first Meeting of the Trustees the
said Regulations and Ordinances shall not be annulled, they shall
still continue in Force, as Ordinances of the Faculty, subject to
such Amendments and Alterations as the Trustees from Time to Time
shall think proper; till at last by them either annulled or
ratified, and enrolled among the publick Statutes.
Nevertheless no Regulation or Ordinance made by
the Faculty shall be valid if they neglect to lay the same before
the Trustees at their first ensuing Meeting as above directed, nor
shall any Ordinance be made repugnant to the standing Laws of the
Corporation.
But if the Faculty find any Amendment or
Alteration of a standing Law of the Corporation necessary, they
shall propose the same to the Trustees for their Consideration.
Sect. 3d. Of the particular Powers and Duties of the Provost.
The Provost shall have a general Inspection of
the Morals and Behaviour of all the Youth, to admonish and regulate
them in all Affairs of smaller Concern.
He shall also have Power to call a Meeting of
the Faculty whenever he shall judge it necessary.
In all Meetings of the Faculty, stated or
occasional, he shall preside, and likewise in all publick Acts and
Disputations, and in publick Examinations and Commencements.
Sect. 4. Of the Vice-Provost.
During the necessary Absence of the Provost,
the Vice-Provost shall be invested with all the Powers and do the
Duties of a Provost.
Upon the Death, Cession or Removal of the
Provost, the Vice-Provost shall exercise all the said Powers as he
was used to do in the ordinary Absence of the Provost, till a
Successor be chosen and admitted.
Sect. 5. Of the Senior Professor
In the necessary Absence of both the Provost
and Vice-Provost all the aforesaid Powers shall be devolved upon
the Senior Professor that shall be present, according to that Order
of Precedence which shall from Time to Time be settled by the
Trustees among the Professors, next after the Provost and
Vice-Provost.
At a Meeting of the Corporation, the five
foregoing Sections of Laws and Statutes were enacted, and ordered
to be enrolled in the Book of Statutes, and a Copy of them to be
delivered to the Faculty.
Signed, B. Franklin President of the
Trustees.
And the following three Laws or Statutes, drawn
up by the President, after being read and consider’d by the
Trustees, were also enacted, to wit;
Laws or Statutes of the Trustees. Chap. I. Concerning Elections.
It is enacted by the Trustees of the College,
Academy and Charitable School of Philadelphia in the Province of
Pennsylvania, That all Elections to be made hereafter by the
Trustees aforesaid, for the Time being, Whether of a President,
Treasurer, Clerk, or other Officer of the Trustees, or of Provost,
Vice-Provost, Professor of any Kind, or other Master, Usher, or
Officer of the College, Academy or Charitable School, shall be made
by written tickets containing the Name or Names of the Person or
Persons voted for, put into the President’s Hat by the Persons
voting, and the Choice appearing to be made by a Majority of such
Tickets, shall be immediately entered by the Clerk in the Minutes
of the Trustees Proceedings.
Chap. II. Concerning the Meetings of the Trustees, and Officers to
be chosen.
It is enacted, That the Trustees shall meet on
the second Tuesday of every Month throughout the Year, at the
Academy, to visit the Schools, examine the Scholars, hear their
publick Exercises, and transact such other Business as may come
before them, and also at such other Times and Places as they shall
adjourn to at such Meetings, or as they shall be called to meet at
by the President on special unforeseen Occasions.
And at their first Meeting in the Month of May
yearly they shall chuse a President, for the ensuing Year, whose
particular Duty it shall be, when present, to regulate their
Debates, and state the Questions arising from them; to sign the
Orders of the Trustees, and to direct Notices to be given of the
Times and Places of their special Conventions.
They shall also at the same Time, chuse one of
their own Members to be Treasurer, who shall receive all Donations
and Money due to them, and disburse and lay out the same according
to their Orders; And at the End of each Year pay the Sum remaining
in his Hands to his Successor.
They shall also at the same Time chuse a Clerk
for the ensuing Year; whose Duty it shall be to keep an exact
Account of the Times of all Admissions and Departures of Students,
the Quarterly Sums due from each, and the Payments made; and also
to collect the Sums due from Time to Time, whether Entrance Money
or Quarteridge, and pay the same Quarterly into the Hands of the
Treasurer. The Clerk shall also make out and deliver written
Notices to the Trustees, one Day at least before each Meeting, of
the Time and Place of such Meeting; attend the Trustees at their
Meetings, and take the Names of the Persons present, with true
Minutes of their Proceedings.
Chap. III. Of the Number of Trustees necessary to do Business.
It is enacted That, due Notice having been left
by the Clerk, in Writing, at the House of each Trustee, signifying
the Time and Place of any Meeting of the Trustees, the Members that
shall meet in Pursuance of such Notice, may one Hour after the Time
appointed, proceed to consider any Business that shall come before
them relating to their Trust; and the Determination of a Majority
of those so met, shall be as valid and conclusive as if the whole
Number of Trustees were present.
Provided nevertheless, That where any Money is
to be laid out or disposed of, exceeding the Sum of Twenty Pounds,
or any Salary to be augmented at any Meeting of the Trustees, the
same shall be first proposed at a preceeding Meeting and
particularly express’d in the written Notice to be given.
That the several Meetings of the Trustees may
be the better attended, It is agreed, That every Trustee who shall
not be at the Place of Meeting within one Hour after the Time
mentioned in his written Notice, shall forfeit and pay one
Shilling; and if not there till after the Meeting be over two
Shillings: The said Forfeitures to be laid out in Books, Paper,
Quills, Ink &c. for the Use of the Charity-School.
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