J0NE 23, 1911] 



SCIENCE 



961 



chemical engineering. Dr. C. H. KaufFman, 

 instructor, has been made assistant professor 

 of botany. Aubrey Tealdi, instructor, has 

 been made assistant professor of landscape 

 gardening, and Dr. G. L. Jackson, instructor, 

 has been made assistant professor of educa- 

 tion. Dr. A. G. Euthven, curator of the 

 museum, has been made assistant professor 

 of zoology. 



Dr. J. G. Fitzgerald has been appointed 

 associate professor of bacteriology in the 

 University of California. 



William H. Welker, Ph.D., has been ap- 

 pointed assistant professor of biological chem- 

 istry in Columbia University. 



M. TissOT, an assistant in the Paris Mu- 

 seum of Natural History, has been appointed 

 professor of physiology in the museum. 



Dr. Wenzell Laska, of the Technical 

 School at Lemberg, has been appointed pro- 

 fessor of mathematics in the Bohemian Uni- 

 ▼ersity of Prague. 



Dr. Erhard Schmidt, of Erlangen, has been 

 called to the chair of mathematics at 

 Breslau. 



DISCUSSION AND COSBESFONDENCE 



THE APPOINTMENT, PROMOTION AND REMOVAL OF 

 OFFICERS OP INSTRUCTION 



In a recent paper under the above title' Mr. 

 Sidney Gunn makes the following references 

 to Brown University. 



Another illustration of the way the public takes 

 removals can be found in the case of Brown 

 University. . . . Eepeated 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 have served the univer- 

 sity for many years without being found incom- 

 petent or even unworthy of regular promotion — 

 something which in most institutions is regarded 

 as establishing a claim that prevents removal on 

 the ground of natural unfitness. 



The paragraph quoted was to be sure part 

 of the material of an argument against the 

 contention of President Van Hise that public 



' Science, May 12, 1911, p. 729. 



sentiment would always visit speedy condem- 

 nation upon a college president or corporation 

 if the power of removal were unfairly or un- 

 justly used. I am not inclined to disagree 

 with this main thesis of Mr. Gunn's paper, 

 nor do I care to enter upon a discussion of 

 the causes or conditions of removal of mem- 

 bers of the faculty of Brown University in 

 recent years. Such discussion could serve no 

 good purpose, and would only lead to futile 

 controversy. I do, however, deeply regret that 

 a reference to Brown University should ap- 

 pear in Science from which every reader 

 must inevitably draw the inference that the 

 situation at Brown is typically bad with re- 

 spect to the academic freedom and the tenure 

 of office of its teachers; that the members of 

 the Brovm faculty do not enjoy a reasonable 

 security of tenure but are liable, even after 

 long and apparently satisfactory service, to 

 be removed arbitrarily by the president or 

 governing board. 



That its administrative body has never made 

 an error of judgment is more than can be 

 said, probably, of any long-established insti- 

 tution; but all friends of collegiate education 

 Mr. Gunn included, should be glad to know 

 that the indictment contained in the state- 

 ments and implications of Mr. Gunn's para- 

 graph referring to Brown is not justified by 

 the policy of the university. 



The permanency of tenure of office for pro- 

 fessors is secured by the ancient charter of 

 the university. A professor can be removed 

 only " for misdemeanor, incapacity or un- 

 faithfulness." The president and governing 

 boards at the present time also recognize the 

 fact that security of tenure, in the long run, 

 is to the university a financial asset as well 

 as a necessary condition of continuous and 

 contented scholarly work and the natural and 

 appropriate reward of loyalty and of long and 

 faithful service. It is the well understood 

 policy of the university to construe the prin- 

 ciple of tenure, in accordance with the spirit 

 of the charter, as applying to those assistant 

 and associate professors who have served 

 many years satisfactorily. 



Instructorships are considered to be tempo- 



