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SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXVII. No. 700 



you to act the ' bull in the china shop,' " " I 

 will he the judge of whether I shall give you 

 the names," " Permit me to say that I do not 

 wish that question raised in the future. 

 When I tell you that there are certain things 

 in your college that require correction, I wish 

 it to be accepted as suificient authority that 

 I make this statement. I am responsible for 

 it, and I don't propose to have you put me 

 on the witness stand for cross-examination. 

 It is simply a piece of insolence." To this I 

 replied in a short letter in part as follows : 

 " It will make it much easier for me to sup- 

 press disorder if, when it is complained of to 

 you and not to me, you will request the person 

 making the complaint, if he (or she) is con- 

 nected with the university to make it to me 

 direct, and furnish me with the particulars of 

 the occurrence so that I can investigate it 

 promptly. . . . There are several remarks in 

 your letter which are of a personal nature and 

 have nothing to do with the main question, 

 viz. : the question of disorder in this college, 

 and I do not refer to them further than to say 

 that my judgment differs from yours, but yet 

 I hope we may differ as gentlemen and remain 

 on cordial terms." The chancellor then gave 

 his ideas on the duty of a dean in a three- 

 page letter, in which he said : " It is not for 

 you to tell me what to do in the premises. It 

 seems to be an exceedingly difficult thing for 

 you to learn the duties and limitations of 

 your office as dean. Tou are not acting in 

 any independent capacity or in an inde- 

 pendent college. Tou are in your position to 

 assist the chancellor." He closed with sta- 

 ting, " Tou will please to consider this inci- 

 dent closed with this letter, if you propose to 

 work vrith me upon the terms which happily 

 exist between myself and the other deans." I, 

 of course, considered the incident closed. 



7. The next difficulty did not come up for 

 about thirteen months. Outbursts on the part 

 of the chancellor, of the character outlined 

 above, happened only once or twice a year, and 

 I considered that I did not need to think of 

 resigning for at least a year, as I saw the 

 chancellor not over twice a month and then 

 only for five or ten minutes at a time. Dur- 



ing the thirteen months, the chancellor at- 

 tended only one Smith College faculty meet- 

 ing, and did not meet me in the college 

 except on that occasion. Finally, in Janu- 

 ary or February, 1908, there were three con- 

 flicts, all originating in one source — ^the inter- 

 ference of the superintendent of buildings 

 with Professor Cardullo, professor of practical 

 mechanics. He made two attacks on Cardullo 

 to the chancellor: (a) for fixing the brushes 

 of an electric motor without consulting him; 

 (&) for not compelling students to clean their 

 lathes after using them. These attacks were 

 due solely to the superintendent's ani- 

 mosity to Cardullo, and I so told the chan- 

 cellor, thereby arousing his wrath. The third 

 conflict occurred when I requested the chan- 

 cellor to make an inducement for Professor 

 Cardullo to remain at Syraciise, he having 

 applied for a position to the dean of a western 

 college. This caused another outburst of rage 

 from the chancellor. 



The above are the only conflicts of any im- 

 portance I had with the chancellor up to 

 April 17, 1908, when I received the chan- 

 cellor's letter of dismissal. On all of these 

 occasions I could have met him on amicable 

 terms for a friendly discussion, had not his 

 dictatorial and discourteous manner made 

 such a discussion impossible. 



In regard to my administration of the 

 offices of dean and professor of mechanical 

 engineering, as far as I am aware, no com- 

 plaint has ever been made against me by any 

 trustee, professor, student or alumnus, nor 

 has any one of them said that I ever treated 

 him otherwise than with courtesy and con- 

 sideration. It is difficult to come to any other 

 conclusion than that the sole reason for my 

 dismissal is the irrational personal feeling of 

 the chancellor, due to my not submitting 

 himibly to his petty fault-finding and scold- 

 ing. 



It will be difficult for any one not per- 

 sonally acquainted with the chancellor to 

 understand the existing state of things at 

 Syracuse University, and how it is possible 

 that the head of a great university could act 

 as he has done. Perhaps a brief statement 



