At Wellesley, to a degree unusual in American colleges, whether
for men or women, the faculty determine the general policy of the
college. The president, as chairman of the Academic Council,
is in a very real and democratic sense the representative of the
faculty, not the ruler. In Miss Freeman's day, the excellent
presidential habit of consulting with the heads of departments
was formed, and many of the changes instituted by the young president
were suggested and formulated by her older colleagues. In
Miss Shafer's day, habit had become precedent, and she would be
the first to point out that the "new curriculum" which will always
be associated with her name, was really the achievement of the
Academic Council and the departments, working through patient years
to adjust, develop, and balance the minutest details in their
composite plan.

The initiative on the part of the faculty has been exerted chiefly
along academic lines, but in some instances it has necessitated
important emendations of the statutes; and that the trustees were
willing to alter the statutes on the request of the faculty would
indicate the friendly confidence felt toward the innovators.

In the statutes of Wellesley College, as printed in 1885, we read
that "The College was founded for the glory of God and the service
of the Lord Jesus Christ, in and by the education and culture of women.

"In order to the attainment of these ends, it is required that every
Trustee, Teacher, and Officer, shall be a member of an Evangelical
church, and that the study of the Holy Scriptures shall be pursued
by every student throughout the entire College course under the