the Regents shall so arrange the professorships as to appoint such a number only as the wants of the institution shall require; and to increase them from time to time, as the income from the fund shall warrant, and the public interests demand; _Provided, always_, That no new professorship shall be established without the consent of the Legislature.
The immediate government of the several departments was to rest with their respective Faculties, but;
the Regents shall have power to regulate the course of instruction, and prescribe, under the advice of the professorship, the books and authorities to be used--and also to confer such degrees and grant such diplomas as are usually conferred and granted in other universities.
The Regents were also to have the power of removing "any professor or tutor, or other officer connected with the institution, when in their judgment the interests of the University shall require it." This specification of the powers and duties of the Regents was repeated with some modifications in the Act of April 8, 1851, which followed the revision of the Constitution of 1850. The Constitution itself merely stated that the Regents "shall have the general supervision of the University and the direction and control of all expenditures from the University interest fund."
These are the general provisions upon which the relations between the Regents and the university body are based. In practice the Faculty has come to have a greater degree of autonomy in certain directions than might be suggested by a strict interpretation of these measures, while in most cases the "advice of the professorship" is sought and followed readily and sympathetically in so far as is warranted by the financial situation, as it appears to the Board.
The University Faculties are organized first by Departments, with one member as head; the Schools and Colleges are also organized under the separate Deans to carry on their own work, while the general organization of the whole Faculty rests in the University Senate, composed of all members of professorial rank, including Assistant Professors. In addition there is a smaller body, known as the Senate Council, composed of the Deans and one other representative of the different Schools and Colleges as well as the President, a secretary, and the chairman of the Committee on Student affairs. To this body are referred many questions of importance for immediate action or reference to the Regents.