894 



SCIENCE 



[N. a Vol. XXXIX. No. 1016 



leave no doubt of his qualifications for perma- 

 nent appointment. But at smaller institutions 

 the full professor is often of the same grade 

 as is the assistant or associate professor in the 

 larger ones. It is not always possible to deter- 

 mine his worth or the wisdom of a permanent 

 appointment until his ability is tested. Often 

 young men are chosen who are expected to 

 grow with the development of their depart- 

 ments. A trial alone will show whether they 

 will or will not measure up to the expectations. 

 Hence, a definite appointment for a proba- 

 tionary period, with the possibility of a sub- 

 sequent permanent appointment is fair both 

 to institution and appointee. 



Information was sought by the question- 

 naire as to the tenure of assistant professors 

 and instructors. Six institutions having in- 

 definite tenure for professors appoint assistant 

 professors for from one to five years and ten 

 appoint instructors for a term of from one to 

 three years. Only eleven institutions haye 

 indefinite tenure for all the faculty. 



To the question whether short-term appoint- 

 ments for assistant professors and instructors 

 were favored, twenty-two aifirmative and four- 

 teen negative replies were received. Most of 

 our larger institutions have found such a 

 procedure advantageous. Some of the com- 

 ments on this matter are of interest. Dean 

 Davenport, of Illinois, states that instructors 

 being young men should move about from one 

 institution to another, in order to gain experi- 

 ence and to work for advanced degrees; but 

 that assistant professors only occasionally 

 should be short term men, more particularly 

 when they are first given responsibilities in- 

 volving a good deal of trial. He remarks that 

 sometimes when men are made assistant pro- 

 fessors that they stop growing. President 

 Hill, of Missouri, replies: 



It seems to me that the appointment for short 

 terms is desirable until the efficiency and prospects 

 for growth of an instructor or assistant professor 

 are pretty clearly indicated. I take it, however, 

 that there will always be some assistant professors 

 in an institution who have already demonstrated 

 their efficiency, but whom the administration is not 

 yet ready to recognize as permanent members of 



the teaching force, preferring to see them first 

 make good some of their promises in teaching and 

 research. 



These opinions seem fairly to voice the 

 views of the majority, some of whom point 

 out that short appointments of instructors en- 

 courage them to do graduate work. 



It would seem that although a few institu- 

 tions elect their professors annually, nearly 

 all consider the term of the full professor as 

 indefinite or permanent, at least after a pro- 

 bationary term. This being the case, the 

 question of terminating the tenure of a pro- 

 fessor arises. Three causes, viz., old age, gross 

 misconduct or general inefficiency, may war- 

 rant his retirement. The matter of age retire- 

 ment and the principles upon which it should 

 be based depend largely upon the resources of 

 the particular institution and need not be 

 further discussed in view of Dean Davenport's 

 masterly review of the subject immediately 

 preceding the presentation of this paper. 

 There would probably be no question as to the 

 propriety of the removal of a faculty member 

 for gross misconduct of such a nature as to 

 make him an undesirable associate or teacher. 

 Cases have occasionally arisen, however, where 

 it has been claimed that men have been re- 

 moved on account of their economic, philo- 

 sophic or religious views, as expressed in their 

 teachings. Probably injustice is sometimes 

 done in this regard, but doubtless the aggrieved 

 party has usually been removed more on ac- 

 count of his lack of a proper sense of pro- 

 priety than because of his expressed doctrines. 

 Undoubtedly we would all agree that absolute 

 " academic freedom " must exist as far as the 

 teaching of truth is concerned. 



The really difficult cases are those in which 

 the incumbent is generally inefficient or a 

 misfit, in which it is unnecessary and un- 

 desirable to make detailed and definite charges, 

 but in which there is no question that for the 

 welfare of both the institution and the in- 

 cumbent a severance of official relations is 

 desirable. 



With this situation in mind the question- 

 naire sought information by asking: 



