Instead of being the first to respect the new forms of representative democratic government that our ancestors won with bloody revolutions, most universities fall behind many churches, families, trade unions, and even corporations. On this account, the University of the New World will stand or fall as a model of government. And with it will stand the philosophy of democratic self-government and the ability of democratic forms of law to create a benevolent and beneficent future world.
The Founding Statement of the University of the New World is intended to set the framework in which the University is governed and in which its activities occur. It can be amended by a majority of the Assembly and a majority of Studios of the University.
FOUNDING STATEMENT
(STATUT)
1. The goal of the University of the Ne World is to educate and equip humanity to form from the present world revolution a future authority that will be beneficent, universal, egalitarian, flexible, and intelligent.
2. The initial resources of the University consist of its founding ideas, the help of its Members and Friends and the minimum funds necessary to begin work. Its resources will expand by the acceptance of all compatible aid and by the mobilization of social energy.
3. The University community consists of its Members and Friends. Members of the University are all persons who enter its processes and share its activities. Membership is continuous and measured by what a Member has given and received in his association with the University. The University will grant all conventional certificates and degrees.
4. The scope of the University is the generation of all forms of knowledge that are relevant to the shaping of a beneficent future, and the coordinated application of this knowledge to the world.
5. The University is organized for achieving its goal according to the personal abilities and dynamism of its Members. It is a representative government in which power is given to special officers to enhance effectiveness; power is otherwise inseparable from the activities of its Members in all fields.
6. The Members of the University may form groups concerned with scientific specialization, practical programs and sociability. These formations will contribute in their own way to a general program for the future of mankind.
7. The University bases itself in the Canton of Valais, Switzerland. It may replicate itself and embrace Members elsewhere in the world. When necessary, the University may give separate legal identities to groups of its Members. It may also contract with or establish companies of a commercial or non-commercial type.
8. Divergences from the projected mission of the University will be reviewed and corrected whenever possible by the representative organs of the University.
HOW THE UNIVERSITY RUNS ITSELF
As far as possible we try to get everything to run by itself and everybody to govern themselves. The University is a democracy in fact as well as in name. At the typical university there are all kinds of faculty-student committees, token powers given to students, professors, minority groups, etc. But, in the final analysis, the trustees, government officials, and president legislate, adjudicate, and execute.
At the University of the New World power is organized simply and distributed widely among those persons for whom the University is important. No outside power moves the University, except the laws of the superior legal jurisdiction in which the University resides, in this case the laws of Sion, Valais, Switzerland, and where applicable, those of the United States. The University has, therefore, a great capacity to rule itself.
When we speak of the University Community we mean all of those to whom the University is immediately important: the students, the faculty, the workers, and the Friends. A Friend of the University is someone who, though not presently a student, teacher, or worker, is contributing energy, money, or other resources to the University. A list of all Members is to be published prior to every election. Alumni are Friends of the University if they continue activity in connection with it.
Notes on the Chart
1) Belonging to a studio, holding a University job or office, or being a Friend of the University makes a person a Member.
2) Members elect directly whatever the number of Assemblymen that the studios elect. They elect by a limited-vote system whereby each Member casts his vote for not more than one-fourth of the number of persons to be chosen. Thus, if there are 64 seats in all, Members elect 32 at large, and each Member can vote for only 8 candidates, no matter how many are running. Elections are held every two years.
3) The Assembly legislates for the University, elects the Rector, and approves the election of faculty and studio leaders by the studio.
4) The studio elects one Assemblyman or woman for every twenty Members it enrolls. It is autonomous.
5) The studio elects its faculty whenever a position is available, but for a period not to exceed two years. The elections must be approved by the Assembly. Thus, there is no tenure at the University.
6) The Rector is elected for a three-year term. He in turn presides over the Assembly, manages the University, names and supervises the Chancellor, Provost and Chief of Services, and presides over the Council of Friends.
7) The Assembly elects the Council of Friends who aid the University insofar as they can.
8) The Council elects the Independent Commission on Evaluation and Accreditation.
9) The Chancellor aids the Rector and acts in his stead when the Rector is unavailable.
10) The Provost also aids the Rector, especially in budget and finance, external and part-time education, "place-posse" (correspondence) education, and placement of students and faculty outside the University community.
11) The Chief of Services finds local work for students, and contracts with outside agencies for medical care, restaurants, residences, buildings, equipment, recreation, and travel.
STUDIO AUTONOMY
Studios enjoy a large measure of self-government. They run their programs and have elective (not merely advisory) powers with respect to their faculty. To assure that studios maintain high standards, and keep the interests of the whole University in mind, Assembly approval is required of all faculty chosen by the studio.
When the recall of a studio leader is petitioned by 20% of the studio's membership, the University must call a special election. But prior to the election, two additional candidates must be proposed for the position, one by the Rector and one by the petitioners. They may or may not come from the University. Then the Members of the studio choose one of the candidates. In addition, the Provost may give notice of discontinuance of engagement to a studio faculty member no later than half-way through the term of contract; unless 2/3s of the studio members revoke his action within 30 days, the contract lapses.