Mat 12, 1911] 



SCIENCE 



729 



Another illustration of the way the public 

 takes removals can be found in the case of 

 Brown University. A dozen years ago the re- 

 moval of a man from this institution stirred 

 the whole country. The man, however, was 

 the president of the university; he had guided 

 it during the period of its greatest develop- 

 ment; was, perhaps, its most distinguished 

 living alumnus; and he was removed for 

 holding opinions that were an issue in na- 

 tional politics at the time. Ever since that 

 time, according to common report, the power 

 of removal has been invoked in the same in- 

 stitution with great frequency against less 

 conspicuous men. Repeated complaints have 

 been raised of men having been cajoled, 

 crowded or thrust out of the Brown faculty 

 with varying degrees of suddenness and 

 consideration. In some cases the men so 

 treated had served the university for many 

 years without being found incompetent or 

 even unworthy of regular promotion — some- 

 thing which in most institutions is regarded 

 as establishing a claim that prevents re- 

 moval on the ground of natural unfitness. 

 In other cases, whatever the justification 

 for removal, the action was accomplished in 

 a way to rob it of all appearance of tact and 

 dignified decision; and yet the public has 

 shown no disposition to visit reprehension on 

 the institution; although, according to Presi- 

 dent Van Hise, it would be sure to do so 

 under circumstances far less capable of being 

 interpreted as indicating unwise or unjust 

 action. 



The fact that removals are sometimes neces- 

 sary does not justify the inference, as Presi- 

 dent Van Hise implies it does, that every 

 removal made is a just and wise one. It is 

 because faculties feel that many are both un- 

 wise and unjust that there is so much com- 

 plaint against the power that makes them; 

 and it is the fact that there is some warrant 

 for this feeling that gives these complaints 

 their force. Even if all removals were justi- 

 fied, however, President Van Hise's address 

 shows that executive ofiicers would not be free 

 from all blame in connection with them. He 

 states that the college president usually ap- 



proves without question all nominations for 

 minor appointments, and that only in the 

 case of promotions or appointments to posi- 

 tions of professorial grade does he give the 

 matter any personal attention. He might 

 have added, had it lain within the scope of his 

 paper, that many universities exploit their 

 minor appointments in various ways, and by 

 so doing attract many men into teaching who 

 later on have to be removed. It must be ad- 

 mitted that some probation is necessary be- 

 fore the fitness or unfitness of a teacher can 

 be determined, and it may be that a college 

 president's time has too many demands on it 

 to permit him to consider every minor ap- 

 pointment. It requires, however, something 

 else besides experience to make a teacher, for 

 some mental equipment and training is neces- 

 sary on which to superimpose that experience; 

 and it lies within the power of college presi- 

 dents to insist on the possession of this equip- 

 ment and this training. It is also within the 

 power of college presidents to stop the prac- 

 tise of appointing men to minor teaching 

 positions for no better reason than the fact 

 that they will swell the number of graduate 

 students. As to whether a president can 

 reasonably be expected to have time to devote 

 to considering minor appointments, it can 

 only be said that if he has not, it might be 

 well to create officers to relieve him of some 

 of his duties and enable him to do so. A 

 travelling press agent might serve the pur- 

 pose. Such an officer could relieve the presi- 

 dent of the junketing and of the task of con- 

 ducting the enthusiasm campaigns that are 

 now deemed necessary to keep a university 

 prominent in the race for numbers and 

 notoriety, and the president could be left free 

 to devote himself to more purely intellectual 

 matters. It might even be found that the 

 press agent was unnecessary, and that if col- 

 lege presidents devoted themselves more to 

 their natural responsibilities, the gain in effi- 

 ciency might prove to be a far more effective 

 advertisement than the most ingenious press 

 agent could ever devise or the most energetic 

 one ever carry out. 



But if it is not possible to agree with Presi- 



