Organization and Functions of the University.

The organization of the university is usually described in simple terms: a board of trustees, which receives a charter from the state, appoints a president to administer, and approves a faculty to teach and to select the students to learn. The board, the faculty, the administration, and the students together make up the academic community which embraces a familiar triumvirate of functions-teaching, research, and public service. But such simplicity is deceptive. Organizationally the university is, in fact, one of the most complex structures in modern society; it is also increasingly archaic. It is complex because its formal structure does not describe either actual power or responsibilities; it is archaic because the functions it must perform are not and cannot be discharged through the formal structure provided in its charter. The predicament of university organization has arisen, in part, because of its conflicting missions. Further, the university is asked not only to perform conflicting missions but also to perform them