thus relieving other halls which have been overcrowded. This building so near the street and subway is peculiarly adapted for the use of evening students who hitherto have been compelled to wander about the campus from building to building. The room now occupied by administrative officers of University Extension in University Hall will be assigned to the Library as a reading room for Extension students and as rooms for officers of instruction and for the Writers Club.

In an article in the July number of The Nineteenth Century, entitled Youth on the Anvil, the writer tells of his success in winning a workman's scholarship and his transfer from a smudgy industrial town in England to Oxford, how he shared in the beauty of that seat of learning and how he enjoyed the wider culture there afforded him from which his fellows of the work shop were barred out. He desired “to smash down the bars which prevented their having a fuller life." Columbia does not have the ivy covered walls of Oxford but it has "smashed down the bars" which interfered with the fuller life for thousands of eager students. This is the great work of University Extension and in this we glory.

Respectfully submitted,

JAMES C. EGbert,

June 30, 1924

L

Director

SCHOOL OF BUSINESS

REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR

FOR THE ACADEMIC YEAR ENDING JUNE 30, 1924

To the President of the University

SIR:

As Director of the School of Business I have the honor to submit the following report for the academic year ending June 30, 1924:

The organization of the School of Business follows the plan now generally adopted by the Trustees for new schools whereby the administration is placed in the hands of a Director and an Administrative Board. Schools which are administered by a Faculty and Dean have gradually transferred control from the Faculty to a standing committee which resembles very closely an Administrative Board. There is a sharp distinction, however, in that the Administrative Board is appointed by the President and not by the Staff. If there is any weakness in administration by an Administrative Board, it rests just in this particular. Active interest on the part of a Faculty in the administration of a school is most desirable. A sense of ultimate responsibility which is inherent in the Faculty system certainly tends to maintain interest.

With this in mind, the Staff of the School of Business has been organized informally and shares in the administration of the School through the desire and consent of the Administrative Board, the members of which are appointed by the President from the members of the Staff. In accordance with this plan, the President appointed for a period of three years. beginning July 1, 1924, the following members of the Administrative Board: James Chidester Egbert, Director of the School; Robert Murray Haig, Roy B. Kester, Roswell C. McCrea, Robert H. Montgomery, Thurman W. Van Metre, H. Parker Willis.

The past academic year has been uneventful in the history of the School. This has been due to the anticipation of occupancy of the new building and the preparation for the development of the School under circumstances which are as extraordinary in their promise as the conditions hitherto experienced have been aggravating and disheartening. Truly, the School of Business has "a goodly heritage." At the beginning of the academic year of 1924-1925 the new building erected for the School of Business at an expense of over one million dollars will be ready for occupancy. From those to whom much is granted, much will be required. The officers of the School are supremely gratified by the opportunities which are immediately before them but recognize also the responsibilities which belong to such extraordinary opportunities and facilities now vouchsafed them for the first time.

May I briefly record the features of the new building which mean so much to the School. On the lower floor just below the street level are located the lavatories and rest rooms and locker rooms for the students, both men and women. An academic theatre with a capacity of 1200 persons and with a stage holding about two hundred is on this floor with galleries on the campus level. Although there are entrances to the theatre on Broadway and on 116th Street, the student approach will be from the campus side and on what is virtually the first floor. Dignified and appropriate offices of administration for the Director of the School of Business, the Director of University Extension and the Assistant to the Director in charge of the Institute of Arts and Sciences are on this floor, also three fine class rooms. On the second floor is the Banking Laboratory equipped for the performance of routine banking operations by the students. On the third floor is the Accounting Room to be a students' study where they prepare their accounting assignments. Here are necessary desks and lockers and calculating machines. The Auditing Laboratory is unique as it contains sets of accounting records of various classes of business for practical work in auditing. On the fourth floor are the Statistical Machine

Room and the Statistical Laboratory, supplementing the rooms and equipment in Kent Hall, which are inadequate for the large number of students in this field. On this floor is the Seminar Room for Economic Geography. Here will be gathered specimens of commodities of world trade. On the fifth floor there will be a Banking Room for graduate research students, and an Advertising Room for the center of activity in this branch. The latter will contain advertising exhibits and material for use in student conferences. On this floor at the west end will be located the general Library of the School so arranged as to permit a reading room for students near the stacks. On the floor above the Library, the Marvyn R. Scudder Library of most valuable and unique business documents will be given a large space for its files, and desks for special research students. The building has many class and lecture rooms and will be of service to the entire University.

At the Commencement in June last, 96 students received the degree of Bachelor of Science; 16 received the degree of Master of Science. Students registered in the first year numbered 131, those of the second year were 106 in number. There were 55 candidates for the Master of Science degree and 4 for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. The number of undergraduates was somewhat smaller than in the previous year but the number of graduate students showed a gratifying increase. The number of students from outside of New York City and New York State was 178.

There have been few changes in the Staff of the School. We are gratified, however, to record the promotion of Dr. John M. Chapman to be Assistant Professor of Banking, of Dr. B. Haggott Beckhart to be Assistant Professor of Banking, and of Dr. John E. Orchard to be Assistant Professor of Economic Geography. These promotions so fully deserved strengthen the force of instruction in Banking in which subject there are 271 students, and in Economic Geography which, as a subject of study open to Columbia College students, calls for an increase in the number of instructors as well as the promotion to higher grade of the immediate associate of the Professor of Economic Geography.

In view of the opportunities which the new building places before us, we should at this time particularly consider the development of the School and the various problems which are inherent in such development. We may regard the School from several points of view. Nevertheless we must begin by remembering as a preeminent fact that we are dealing primarily with an educational institution, the purpose of which is the training of men and women in certain fundamentals of business knowledge to the end that they may have successful careers and beyond this have an influence on the profession which they have made their own. We must also bear in mind that Columbia has adopted a plan for its School of Business which requires that we care for graduate students and yet definitely assume the position of an undergraduate institution giving two years of a course leading to the undergraduate degree of Bachelor of Science. This is the form of our School and it is this which we must strengthen and develop. We cannot, however, emphasize the undergraduate phase of our work to the detriment of the graduate. We have in New York City a unique opportunity for every phase of practical business training, as we can reach the business world in an exceptional and extraordinary manner. During the past year we have set forth the conditions under which students may become candidates for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the School of Business. Hence we must care for the graduate and undergraduate side of business training with all that is implied, as to the former, of research work of the most advanced type.

In reports of other years, I have referred to the importance of insisting that our undergraduate students should have some practical experience during their course. It is true that a period of two years is a very short time in which to impart the necessary fundamental knowledge and in addition give practical training. Nevertheless by employing the summer periods and by adjustment of schedules in the academic year this may be accomplished. Some schools will not confer a degree unless a certain amount of time is given to business of some character. It is our purpose to find places in business houses to which students may be assigned