April 30, 1915] 



SCIENCE 



637 



CONDITIONS AT THE UNIVEMSITY OF 



UTAH 

 At tlie request of the president and with the 

 authorization of the council of the American 

 Association of University Professors, the sec- 

 retary of the association recently visited Salt 

 Lake City and spent four days investigating 

 the conditions at the University of Utah which 

 have led to the resignation of sixteen mem- 

 bers of the university faculty. The purpose 

 and the limitations of the scope of the inves- 

 tigation are indicated by the following ex- 

 tracts from the secretary's letter to the presi- 

 dent of the university: 



The situation that has recently developed at the 

 University of Utah has aroused much concern 

 throughout the country among persons interested 

 in the work of the American universities, and espe- 

 cially among members of the university teaching 

 profession. It has, however, been difficult for 

 those at a distance to be sure that they had cor- 

 rectly gathered the essential facts of the case 

 from the incomplete and more or less conflicting 

 ex parte statements which have appeared in news- 

 papers and periodicals. In particular, the state- 

 ments made upon the two sides of the controversy 

 appear to have failed specifically to join issue 

 upon certain points of interest. It has, therefore, 

 seemed advisable to the president of the American 

 Association of University Professors, Dr. John 

 Dewey, to send a representative of that organiza- 

 tion to interview yourself and others concerned, 

 with reference to the matters in controversy; and 

 to endeavor to secure as full and impartial a state- 

 ment as may be of the relevant facts. It is per- 

 haps advisable to explain the nature of the inter- 

 est which the Association of University Professors 

 takes in the matter. It is coming to be a well- 

 recogTiized principle that the general body of uni- 

 versity teachers is entitled to know, with regard to 

 any institution, the conditions of the tenure of 

 the professorial office therein, the methods of uni- 

 versity government, and the policy and practise 

 of the institution with respect to freedom of in- 

 quiry and teaching. In the absence of informa- 

 tion upon these points, it is impossible for mem- 

 bers of the profession to judge whether or not the 

 institution is one in which positions may be prop- 

 erly accepted or retained by university teachers 

 having a respect for the dignity of their calling, a 

 sense of its social obligations, and a regard for 

 the ideals of a university. 



It is, therefore, important to the profession that 



when criticisms or charges are made by responsible 

 persons against any institution, with respect to its 

 policy or conduct in the matters to which I re- 

 ferred, the facts should be carefully determined in 

 a judicial spirit by some committee wholly de- 

 tached from any local or personal controversy, and 

 in some degree representative of the profession at 

 large. It is in this spirit, and for these purposes, 

 that information is sought in this instance. "What 

 appears to be particularly desirable, in the present 

 ease, is a fuller and more definite statement than 

 has yet been made public upon certain matters of 

 fact which still remain not wholly clear, but which 

 are, presumably, not incapable of ascertainment. 

 Any information of this sort which — with your 

 assistance and that of others — I may be able to 

 gather, will be laid before the council of the as- 

 sociation, and probably also before a joint com- 

 mittee representing this and other organizations. 

 My own report and the findings of the committee 

 will, no doubt, if the eonneil see fit, eventually be 

 made public. We, of course, assume that the ad- 

 ministration of the university is equally desirous 

 that all facts in any way pertinent be thus fully 

 made known, and submitted to the impartial judg- 

 ment of both the academic and the general public. 



We therefore venture to count upon your aid in 

 this attempt to draw up a complete and unbiased 

 summary of the circumstances of the case; this, we 

 hope, may be of some service to the university as 

 well as to our profession. 



A report upon the case may be expected as 

 soon as a committee of the association is able 

 to consider the evidence brought together by 

 the investigation of the secretary. 



THE PACIFIC ASSOCIATION OF SCIEN- 

 TIFIC SOCIETIES 

 The letter from Professor J. N. Bovranan, 

 secretary of the Pacific Association of Scien- 

 tific Societies, published in Science for April 

 9, 1915, gives me the pleasant opportunity of 

 placing on record certain interesting facts con- 

 cerning the Pacific Association. 



Men and women of science residing in the 

 Pacific region were obliged to recognize that 

 the demands upon time and money to enable 

 them to attend the meetings of the American 

 Association for the Advancement of Science, 

 in the Eastern or Central States, were so 

 severe as to be prohibitive to fully 99 per cent, 

 of the 800 Pacific members. Inasmuch as the 



