THE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE 



305 



THE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE 



ABOUT DISMISSING PROFESSORS 

 The president of one of the leading 

 universities in the east and the presi- 

 dent of one of the leading state uni- 

 versities have recently expressed opin- 

 ions in regard to the tenure of office 

 of the university professor which de- 

 ser\-e careful attention. In his annual 

 report to the trustees, President But- 

 ler, of Columbia University, writes: 



A teacher or investigator who offends 

 against common morality has destroyed 

 his academic usefulness, whatever may 

 be his intellectual attainments. A 

 teacher who offends against the plain 

 dictates of common sense is in like 

 situation. A teacher who can not give 

 to the institution which maintains him 

 common loyalty and that kind of serv- 

 ice which loyalty implies, ought not to 

 be retained through fear of clamor or 

 of criticism. Then, too, a university 

 teacher owes a decent respect to the 

 opinions of mankind. 



In the issue of Science for Feb- 

 ruary 17, President Van Hise, of the 

 University of Wisconsin, says: 



. . . the instructional force of a uni- 

 versity, both young and old, must be 

 efficient. Whether or not a man is 

 retained in a faculty should dep3nd 

 upon his capacity to meet his duty to 

 the institution. There is no possible 

 excuse for retaining in the staff of a 

 university an inefficient man. 



It is certainly desirable that pro- 

 fessors should be moral, efficient, sen- 

 sible and loyal; they should have even 

 other qualifications than those which 

 they share with domestic ser\-ants. 

 But it is a far cry from this to the 

 claim that the president should dis- 

 miss professors whenever they seem to 

 him to lack these traits. Such a claim 

 obviously traverses academic tradi- 

 tions. Professors receive their ap- 

 pointments at the average age of forty 

 years. If a mistake is made, it is the 

 fault of those who appoint, and they 

 should accept the responsibility. Pro- 

 fessors who prove to be less competent 

 VOL. LXXVIII. -21. 



in the management of large classes in 

 the undergraduate college and in the 

 professional schools should be relieved 

 from them, but it is more economical 

 to pay an occasional professor his sal- 

 ary without lull return, than to place 

 the whole university under the law of 

 supply and demand. By the nature of 

 things, some professors are less com- 

 petent than the average of them all, 

 and any university could temporarily 

 raise the average by replacing ten per 

 cent, of the faculty. But it would be 

 the old story of killing the hen that 

 lays the golden eggs. 



President Van Hise says: 



The question now arises as to what 

 should be done in the case of a man of 

 professorial rank, whether full, asso- 

 ciate or assistant, who is not efficient. 

 Not infrequently papers with reference 

 to this subject appear to assume that 

 universities exist for the instructional 

 force; that the main thing is to give 

 that force a comfortable and happy 

 time, an opportunity for a somewhat 

 easy existence as a teacher, leisure for 

 browsing through literature, and long 

 vacations. 



A scientific man should give refer- 

 ences to his authorities; but President 

 Van Hise apparently thinks that pro- 

 fessors in general hold such opinions 

 and would like to form a privileged 

 class. According to President Butler 

 they do form such a class. He writes 

 in his report: 



The happenings of the past decade 

 [that is since he became president] 

 have made the lot of a member of the 

 permanent teaching staff of Columbia 

 University one that is indeed fortu- 

 nate. . . . It may be that there is 

 some other career that is equally for- 

 tunate, but if so, the fact does not 

 appear to obtrude itself upon the 

 public attention. 



President Butler, however, seems to 

 realize that professors do not share 

 his opinion as to their happy lot, for 



