President & Fellows of Harvard Coll. v. Attorney Gen.

• Decision Date: 27 November 1917
• Citation: 117 N.E. 903,228 Mass. 396
• Parties: PRESIDENT AND FELLOWS OF HARVARD COLLEGE v. ATTORNEY GENERAL et al.
• Court: United States State Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts Supreme Court

228 Mass. 396

117 N.E. 903

PRESIDENT AND FELLOWS OF HARVARD COLLEGE

v.ATTORNEY GENERAL et al.

Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts, Suffolk.

Nov. 27, 1917.

Case Reserved from Supreme Judicial Court, Suffolk County.

Bill for instructions by the President and Fellows of Harvard College against the Attorney General and others. Case reserved for the full court. Decree directed in accordance with the opinion.

The following agreement was entered into between the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University:

In this agreement, ‘the Institute’ means the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and ‘the University’ means Harvard University. It is understood that any action of the President and Fellows of Harvard College shall require the consent of the Board of Overseers wherever such consent is necessary under the laws governing the University.

I. The University and the Institute shall be unaffected in name, organization, title to and rights over property, except that the University is hereby given whatever rights and interests are necessary to secure to the students of the University the educational opportunities and advantages meant to be acquired for their benefit under the operation of this agreement. For the purpose of keeping in touch with the actual operations of the School the President of the University may from time to time visit the School, examine the plant, and familiarize himself with its methods and workings.

II. The University and the Institute shall co-operate in the conduct of courses leading to degrees in Mechanical, Electrical, Civil and Sanitary Engineering, Mining and Metallurgy, and in the promotion of research in those branches of Applied Science. The courses and research shall be conducted in accordance with the provisions of this agreement and on the site in Cambridge recently acquired by the Institute bordering on Massachusetts avenue and the Charles river embankment or on any other site that may be agreed upon should future conditions render an extension or change of site desirable.

III. Subject to the reservations hereinafter set forth the University shall devote to the purposes referred to in section II the net income of all funds that are credited on its books to the Lawrence Scientific School; also the use of all machinery, instruments, and equipment that are suited to these purposes and that the University does not in its opinion need more urgently for other purposes; also not less than three-fifths of the net income of the Gordon McKay endowment; also the income of all property that it may acquire hereafter for the promotion of education or research in the branches of Applied Science referred to in section II; also such further sums as it may from time to time feel able to contribute.

IV. Subject to the reservations hereinafter set forth, the Institute shall devote to the purpose referred to in section II all funds, or the income of all funds, that it now holds or hereafter acquires for the promotion of education or research in the branches of Applied Science mentioned in that section, and in addition to this as much of the funds, or the income of funds, that it holds for general purposes as is not in its opinion more urgently required for other purposes.

V. Students' fees for courses in the branches of Applied Science mentioned in section II shall be devoted to the purposes referred to in that section. These fees shall for the first ten years be deemed to be contributed by the two institutions in the proportion of the number of students following these courses in the Institute and in the University's Graduate Schools of Applied Science, respectively, during the year 1913-1914. At the end of ten years a different arrangement shall be made, if, in the opinion of the two corporations, it appears to be more equitable. The fees of students pursuing courses in the subjects referred to in section II in the University's Graduate School of Applied Science at the time when this agreement is adopted shall be unaffected by any change brought about by this agreement. For all other students the amount of the fees for complete courses leading to those degrees of the Institute and of the University that are granted through the operation of this agreement shall be $250 per annum until changed by agreement between the two corporations. The amount of fees for partial courses and for research shall be determined as may be agreed upon from time to time.

VI. The funds available for education and research in the branches of Applied Science referred to in section II shall be expended through the bursary of the Institute in the payment of salaries, the maintenance of scholarships, the care of grounds, and the erection and maintenance of buildings and equipment or otherwise as may be agreed upon from time to time, it being expressly provided that all proposed appropriations shall be approved by the corporation that supplies the funds, and that buildings shall be erected only from the share of the funds supplied by the Institute.

VII. All members of the instructing staff in the departments of Mechanical, Electrical, Civil and Sanitary Engineering, Mining and Metallurgy, who give instruction in courses leading to the degrees both of the University and of the Institute, shall be appointed and removed by the corporation that pays their salaries after consultation with the other corporation.

VIII. All students registered at the Institute in the various numbered professional courses covered by section II that lead to degrees of the University shall be eligible for those degrees, provided they satisfy the conditions prescribed by the University, and they shall be entitled to the same rights and privileges as students in the professional school of the University.

IX. The President of Acting President of the Institute shall be the executive head for all the work carried on under this agreement, and for that purpose shall be the agent of the University as well as of the Institute and shall annually report to both corporations. When any future President or Acting President is to be selected, the President or Acting President of the University shall be invited to sit with the committee that recommends the appointment of a President of Acting President to the corporation of the Institute.

X. As soon as this agreement goes into effect, the faculty of the Institute shall be enlarged by the addition thereto of the professors, associate professors, and assistant professors of Mechanical, Electrical, Civil and Sanitary Engineering, Mining and Metallurgy, in the University's Schools of Applied Science. These persons shall acquire the titles and privileges of the same rank in the Institute while retaining their titles and privileges in Harvard University, and the terms and conditions of their employment and their salaries shall be unaffected by the change. The professors, associate professors, and assistant professors of the Institute in the departments of Mechanical, Electrical, Civil and Sanitary Engineering, Mining and Metallurgy, shall acquire the titles and privileges of the same rank in Harvard University while retaining their titles and privileges in the Institute, and the terms and conditions of their employment and their salaries shall be unaffected by the change. All professors, associate professors, and assistant professors appointed under the operation of section VII shall have the title and privileges of professors of the University and of the Institute, including the right to benefit from the pension systems of both institutions.

Additions to the faculty of the Institute shall be made by the appointment of professors, associate professors, or assistant professors under the operation of section VII, or by the corporation of the Institute for other purposes. The faculty constituted as indicated above shall, subject to such directions as may be given by the corporation of the Institute, prescribe the courses and conditions of entrance thereto leading to all degreesgranted by the Institute. The same faculty shall, subject to such directions as may be given by the corporation of the University, prescribe the courses and conditions of entrance thereto leading to all degrees granted by the University under the operation of this agreement.

XI. Degrees shall be conferred by the Institute and by the University acting separately on the recommendation of the faculty referred to in section X.

XII. It is expressly provided that, as regards the funds and property of the Unitersity and of the Institute respectively referred to in sections III and IV, this agreement shall be subject to any special terms and requirements upon which such funds and property may be held; and any property or funds that may be held at any time by either corporation under such terms and restrictions as would prevent their use precisely as is indicated in this agreement, shall, nevertheless, be used by the two corporations respectively for the support, benefit or encouragement of a co-operative effort in the field of education and research in engineering and mining in such manner as may be permissible or in accordance with...