Apeii, 22, 1904.] 



SCIENCE. 



663 



der these conditions and took up the work in 

 July, 1899, in the executive position. He was 

 fully assured that the successful accomplish- 

 ment of this task would secure his administra- 

 tion and other grateful recognition at the 

 hands of the hoard and from the community. 



The work of President Ayers progressed 

 without special incident until late in the en- 

 suing winter. About this time, after having 

 become familiar with the general situation. 

 President Ayers, in consultation with mem- 

 bers of the governing body, insisted that mem- 

 bers of the faculty who (some of them before 

 his coming) had been selected for dismissal 

 ought, in fairness, to be notified quietly of the 

 fact in time to secure employment elsewhere. 

 However, before this thoughtful policy could 

 be made effective, members of the faculty 

 themselves on January 12, 1900, precipitated 

 the issue by arbitrarily demanding of the 

 president the names of all who were to be 

 deposed. Certain professors in no wise in- 

 volved, by inconsiderate action on this and 

 immediately ensuing occasions, rendered their 

 longer retention impossible. 



It thus happened that the final number of 

 changes made was slightly increased beyond 

 what was at first intended. The statement 

 was repeatedly made by the daily press that 

 the entire faculty had been dismissed. The 

 fact is that out of a university teaching corps 

 of about 150 members only 8 were asked to 

 resign. 



The fact that this action had to be effected 

 through the executive led to the erroneous 

 supposition that the changes were made under 

 the initiative of President Ayers. It was im- 

 mediately inferred that he was a centralist 

 in university government, an assumption that 

 prompted representatives of the medical fa- 

 culty, jealous of their prerogative to nominate 

 their own fellows and of their complete control 

 of the medical department, to array themselves 

 in opposition to him. 



The matter was taken up by a few citizens 

 who, instigated by deposed professors, called 

 a small meeting and adopted resolutions of 

 sympathy. This was followed by representa- 

 tions to the board of directors that the deposed 

 professors be given a trial. This demand the 



board of directors, after reviewing the whole 

 case, including the representations that mem- 

 bers of the faculty had made about each 

 other, replied : " If the statements made by 

 professors against professors were true the 

 verdict should be upon that basis ; if the state- 

 ments were untrue the moral perturbation 

 thereby implied makes their authors unfit to 

 be identified with an institution of learning; 

 in either event the faculty falls as a self- 

 condemned body." 



This incident marked the close of all formal 

 demonstrations. The professors, with two ex- 

 ceptions, completed their year's labor, their 

 work being taken up the following autumn by 

 men who had been selected by President Ayres 

 and who were confirmed by unanimous vote of 

 the board of directors. The internal adminis- 

 tration for the first time in many years be- 

 came tranquil, the enrollment increased and 

 the student body became enthusiastic support- 

 ers of the new regime. 



A morning paper, however, for personal rea- 

 sons, had become inimical and kept up a 

 fusilade of abuse, texts for its various articles 

 being furnished by practically the only oppo- 

 sition that President Ayers encountered in his 

 governing board, that of a single member, a 

 representative of the medical faculty, whose 

 coincident service as a professor and a trustee 

 must be recognized as a violation of all correct 

 principles of university government. 



This newspaper antagonism was kept up for 

 nearly two years and culminated only when 

 President Ayers by formal vote of the board 

 of trustees had been vindicated of charges, 

 petty in character, that had been preferred 

 against him by his opponent on the board. 



The battle so long and bitterly waged 

 against President Ayers had apparently been 

 abandoned. The community at large recog- 

 nizing that an efficient and harmonious faculty 

 had been installed, that the attendance had in- 

 creased, that the standard of scholarship had 

 been advanced, that the student body was 

 earnestly and loyally cooperating with the 

 teaching corps, which latter body was enthusi- 

 astically engaged in promoting the welfare of 

 the institution, and knowing that benefactors 

 were manifesting renewed interest in the insti- 



