CORRESP ONDENCE. 



409 



CORRESPONDENCE. 



PROFESSOR EDWARDS AND THE UNI- 

 VERSITY OF TEXAS. 



Editor Popular Science Monthly : 



DEAR SIR: Referring to an editorial in 

 your October number, entitled An- 

 other Raid on the Doctrine of Evolution, and 

 complaining of the dismissal of Charles L. 

 Edwards from the chair of biology in the 

 University of Texas, I beg leave to say that 

 you have been misinformed in regard to the 

 facts in the case. 



Prof. Edwards was not dismissed because 

 he was not a Texan. The policy of the uni- 

 versity has been from the beginning, and 

 is now, to get the best men possible, regard- 

 less of State lines. Eleven years ago, when 

 the university was organized, all the aca- 

 demic professors were from other States than 

 Texas. At present we have six professors 

 from the North, and the successor of Prof. 

 Edwards was born in Illinois and educated 

 in Indiana, Prof. Edwards's own State, and 

 came to us two weeks ago from De Pauw 

 University. 



In dismissing Prof. Edwaids the regents 

 did not break their contract. He was em- 

 ployed for three years ; but this engagement 

 was subject to the following provision em- 

 braced in the organic law of the university : 

 " The regents shall have power to remove 

 any professor, tutor, or other officer con- 

 nected with the institution, when, in their 

 judgment, the interest of the university shall 



require it." This provision was and is known 

 to every professor in the university, as it is 

 published in every catalogue. It was known 

 to Prof. Edwards, for he was one of the 

 committee of three that edited the catalogue 

 last year. Prof. Edwards served two years 

 as Professor of Biology, and was then dis- 

 missed by the regents, on the ground that 

 " in their judgment the interest of the uni- 

 versity required it." 



Prof. Edwards was not dismissed because 

 he taught the " doctrine of evolution." He 

 was dismissed because he was the author of 

 an anonymous article in the Austin Evening 

 News of June 18, 1894, libeling a member 

 of the Board of Regents, an officer of that 

 board, and a member of the faculty. Regu- 

 lar written charges were preferred against 

 him, alleging that this publication was evi- 

 dence that he was not a proper instructor for 

 young men. Prof. Edwards was heard in 

 his own defense, but the charges were sus- 

 tained, and his summary dismissal followed 

 as a matter of course. The alleged fact, 

 therefore, that he was removed because he 

 was an evolutionist is pure invention. 

 Yours respectfully, 

 Thomas D. Wooten, 



Pres. Board of Regents. 

 Thomas D. Wooten, Chairman, 

 T. M. Harwood, 



Executive Committee. 

 Austin, October 1, 1894. 



EDITOR'S TABLE. 



THE CASE OF PROFESSOR EDWARDS. 



DR. WOOTEN, President of the 

 Board of Regents of the Universi- 

 ty of Texas, states in a letter which we 

 publish above that Prof. Charles L. 

 Edwards was not dismissed from the 

 chair of biology in that university be- 

 cause he taught the doctrine of evolu- 

 tion, but " because he was the author of 

 an anonymous article libeling a member 

 of the Board of Regents, an officer of 

 that board, and a member of the fac- 

 ulty." Dr, Wooten is, of course, enti- 

 tled to make this statement if he be- 



lieves it to be true ; but, considering 

 that both in local journals and in press 

 dispatches from Austin, the seat of the 

 university, to papers all over the coun- 

 try it was freely stated that the objec- 

 tion made to Prof. Edwards was that 

 he taught the doctrine of evolution, Dr. 

 Wooten might very properly have ex- 

 plained how that impression got abroad, 

 and why the Board of Regents did not 

 take an earlier opportunity to correct 

 it. We have before us a dispatch from 

 Austin to the Chicago Times, bearing 

 date May 26th last, in which it is ex- 



