OCTOBEB 9, 1908] 



SCIENCE 



487 



University of Illinois 

 president's office 



April 28, 1908 

 Dr. G. T. Kemp, 



Natural History Building ' 



My dear Doctor Kemp, 



The board of trustees after a long discussion 

 over the matter did nothing in regard to the 

 subject matter of the communications which you 

 have forwarded to them. They will have another 

 meeting on next Saturday at nine o'clock at the 

 Palmer House in Chicago. If you desire to make 

 any further statement or appear again before the 

 board at that time I shall be very glad to ask 

 that permission be accorded you. 

 Faithfully yours, 

 (Signed) Edmund J. James. 



I do not see how the action of the board 

 could have been more to the point. I asked 

 a court-martial on the ground that I had been 

 compromised by a superior. The board told 

 me, through its president, that there were no 

 charges against me, and put it on record. 

 They then refused to say that I had no just 

 cause for grievance against the administra- 

 tion of the university. That was as complete 

 a vindication as any man could wish. Every- 

 body was tired of the thing, and I felt out- 

 raged and disgusted, so I sent the president 

 the following letter, with my resignation 

 enclosed : 



University or Illinois 

 department or physiology 



May 1, 1908. 

 President E. J. James, 



University of Illinois. 

 My dear President James, 



Following my letter of yesterday, I now enclose 

 you my resignation, as the only communication 

 I have to make to the board of trustees for their 

 meeting to-morrow. 



This settles the case so far as I am concerned, 

 but if the board wishes me to appear, for any 

 reason, I shall, of course, do so. 



The reasons for my resigning, as I am now 

 doing, are set forth in the preamble to the resig- 

 nation. A further discussion seems superfluous. 

 Very respectfully yours, 



(Signed) Geo. T. Kemp. 

 To THE Honorable Board op Trustees 



Of the University of Illinois 

 Ladies and Gentlemen: 



Whereas, The Board of trustees has taken 



much of its valuable time in discussing matters 

 arising from my communication, of March seventh, 

 to the board, and 



Whereas, The action of the board was to re- 

 fuse, by a tie vote, to pass a resolution, emanating 

 from the president of the university, to the effect 

 that I had no grievance, and 



Whereas, I feel that I am sufficiently vindi- 

 cated, by this action of the board, to resign with- 

 out compromise of my reputation, and, 



Whereas, I do not wish to give the board any 

 further trouble with the case, and 



Whereas, At a meeting of the board, on April 

 third, the president of the university urged the 

 passage of resolutions reflecting to my discredit, 

 and 



Whereas, I was absent from said meeting, 

 and, at the time the president of the university 

 urged such action, I had been given no chance 

 to reply to anything that had been said about 

 me, and 



Whereas, At the next meeting of the board, 

 to wit, April 23, I asked the question: "Are 

 there any charges against me ? " and 



Whereas, The president of the board gave me 

 the official answer : " No," and 



Whereas, I then said " May I ask that this 

 be made a matter of record ? " and 



Whereas, The president of the board said: 

 " If there is no objection, it is so ordered " ( or 

 words to that effect), and 



Whereas, The president of the university was 

 present and interposed no objection, and 



Whereas, After the case was supposed to be 

 closed, and I had left the room, the president of 

 the university read from a lengthy typewritten 

 memorandum, and made statements which re- 

 flected to my discredit both personally and pro- 

 fessionally, and 



Whereas, My confidence in the administration 

 of the university is now so shaken that I think 

 it best to resign, 



Therefore: I hereby tender my resignation, as 

 a member of the faculty of the University of 

 Illinois, to take effect September 1, 1908. 

 Very respectfully yours, 



(Signed) Geo. T. Kemp. 



In conclusion, I wish to quote again from 

 the president's secret memorandum: 



Dr. Kemp makes certain definite charges in- 

 volving the good faith and honesty of the univer- 

 sity administration. I shall dismiss these with 

 this reference, as I do not consider that it is neces- 

 sary to enter into this subject at all. I call atten- 



