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SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XXII. No. 555. 



tainly share with the corporation the right of 

 deciding the future of the schooL The presi- 

 dent, who in words asserted, and the majorit.^ 

 of the corporation present at the meeting, who 

 by their votes declared that it was justifiable 

 to disregard the opinion of nine tenths of the 

 faculty and of three fourths of the graduates, 

 could scarcely have realized how extraordinary 

 and grave an exercise of corporate power, far- 

 reaching in its effect upon education, their ac- 

 tion involved. In giving no heed to the opin- 

 ions of the two coordinate bodies who have 

 done most to creatq the reputation of the insti- 

 tute, the corporation took the stand that its 

 legal authority justified it in regarding its own 

 judgment as superior to that of men more 

 familiar with the conditions of successful 

 technological education. What is of even 

 greater consequence, this action of theirs im- 

 perils all higher education ; for, by thus ignor- 

 ing the solicited opinions of their faculty, they 

 reduce that body to the level of mere hirelings, 

 and, by contravening the wishes of the alumni, 

 they affront that graduate loyalty which is the 

 vital principle of every efficient college. 



The charter of the institute created a corpo- 

 ration of fifty raen, including, ex oiflciis, the 

 governor, the chief justice of the supreme 

 court, and the secretary of the board of educa- 

 tion. With the exception of these three, the 

 body is self-perpetuating, and is responsible 

 oiily to the commonwealth. This self -elective 

 body has included many of the most distin- 

 guished men of Massachusetts, and of these not 

 a few have given much time and thought to the 

 building up of the institute and to the manage- 

 ment of its funds and property. Many of 

 them, toO', have contributed liberally to its 

 funds, and have induced gifts and bequests 

 from others. Nevertheless, no one would for a 

 moment assert that the corporation has been the 

 chief factor in making the high reputation or 

 in guiding the successful policy of the institute 

 of technology. That policy has been shaped 

 almost wholly by the faculty, whose educa- 

 tional prerogatives have in the past been cordi- 

 ally supported by the president and corporation 

 of the institute ; that reputation has been given 

 by the teaching of the faculty and by the pro- 

 fessional and personal achievements of the five 



or six thousand past students. In short, the 

 institute, like every other college of English 

 origin, has not been in the main the educa- 

 tional creation, and is not the educational 

 property of its legal trustees. On the con- 

 trary, it has been built up by, and should be in 

 the keeping of, three bodies, or ' estates ' : the 

 corporation, who guard its financial and legal 

 interests; the faculty, who determine its edu- 

 cational policy; and the alumni, who, by the 

 success of their professional careers and by 

 their direct efforts, secure for it the support 

 of the community. What the faculty have 

 done no one familiar with education and ap- 

 plied science needs to be told. What the past 

 students have done professionally is shown by 

 the honorable record in the ' Register of 

 Graduates ' ; what they are ready to do financi- 

 ally is made evident by the William Barton 

 Rogers Fund, the Walker Memorial Fund, and 

 the Technology Fund. 



In any rational system of government there 

 should be the closest and most cordial cooper- 

 ation between these three bodies — a coopera- 

 tion that might, perhaps, best be attained 

 through a joint advisory council of the corpor- 

 ation and faculty, with the president as its 

 chairman, and through direct representation 

 of the alumni upon the corporation and its 

 executive committee. In the absence of any 

 provision for such formal cooperation, the 

 legal trustees were under a strong moral obli- 

 gation to recognize this triple control and re- 

 sponsibility, and to take no final action of im- 

 portance until a reasonable degree of harmony 

 and agreement as to the step contemplated had 

 been secured. Yet, when there arose the 

 gravest of questions — one affecting the auton- 

 omy and possibly the continued life of the 

 institute — they ignored that coordinate re- 

 sponsibility and acted in opposition to the 

 expressed wishes of those most vitally con- 

 cerned. This is an exercise of legal power, as 

 opposed to moral responsibility, momentous in 

 its consequences. 



Attempt has been made to excuse the ignor- 

 ing of the faculty^s opinion, on the ground 

 that that body is too near the problem to 

 judge it without prejudice ; but is the corpora- 

 tion itself likely to be thought more free from 



