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.