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SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXIV. No. 876 



pool where unpleasant experiences are de- 

 posited. All complaints are left there, and if 

 the president, as a spiritual chemist, is skilful 

 in filtering, the residuum will reveal to him 

 the actual substance of all that is justly 

 chargeable against his complained-of col- 

 leagues. . . . 



No one will question the right of faculty 

 members to advise the president. If he is as 

 wise as such an official should be, he will seek 

 the counsel of his associates and, knowing that 

 " in the multitude of counsellors there is wis- 

 dom," he will be ready to modify his plans 

 and policies after hearing from his colleagues. 

 The right to advise, however, does not include 

 within it the prerogative of censorious criti- 

 cism on the part of the colleagues of the presi- 

 dent. Nest to a despotic egotist in the presi- 

 dency, the most obstructive hindrance to the 

 growth of a healthful spirit in a given insti- 

 tution is a coterie of professors, painfully 

 sychophantic in the presence of their " lord 

 and master," and bitterly denunciatory of him 

 when left to themselves. It is difficult to con- 

 ceive of a more painful caricature on true 

 manhood than that made up of a little profes- 

 sorial group gathered together in a darkened 

 corridor or behind a building gesticulating 

 wildly against the administration, unless it be 

 the same small crowd in the study of one of 

 the number, or in some club-room, planning 

 surreptitiously for the overthrow of their 

 chief. 



The president of one of the larger state uni- 

 versities of the central west was apparently 

 highly esteemed by all those who served with 

 him, but when he resigned, one of the promi- 

 nent professors, too cowardly to be other than 

 obsequious while he thought the tenure of the 

 president permanent, remarked, " Well, there 

 is certainly a great ground-swell of relief 

 among the faculty, now that we are to be re- 

 lieved from the incubus of this administra- 

 tion." Such reprehensible hypocrisy by those 

 who teach can not but exert a blighting influ- 

 ence upon the life of the institution. . . . 



In order that the work of administration 

 might be as efficient as possible, at the recent 

 annual meeting of the board of trustees, I re- 



quested the authority to appoint a committee 

 on efficiency, consisting of certain members 

 of the board of trustees and of the teaching 

 body. This privilege was granted. The com- 

 mittee appointed has begun its investigations 

 It is proposed to ascertain, as soon as possible, 

 just how much work each member of the edu- 

 cational staff is doing in the matter of in- 

 struction, how much outside work of a public 

 character he is doing for the benefit of the 

 institution, what he is producing in connec- 

 tion with the literature of his chosen line of 

 specialization and — in short — to determine 

 his value to the institution as compared with 

 that of his colleagues. These investigations, 

 may result in the conclusion that some men 

 are doing too much work and that others are 

 not doing a sufficient amount. They may 

 lead, as a consequence, at the end of the year 

 to the merging of some positions and to the 

 abolition of certain others. On the other 

 hand, these investigations may lead to a di- 

 vision of work and to the establishment of 

 new positions. A due regard must always be 

 given to the rights of the individual, but the 

 interests of the institution must be made 

 paramount to those of any individual on the 

 educational staff. I feel quite sure that all of 

 you who take the broad and statesmanlike 

 view of educational obligations will agree 

 with the statement just made. No changes 

 could be made now with any degree of intelli- 

 gence that would command the respect of the 

 college world. The status quo will therefore, 

 be maintained for the present. Since, how- 

 ever, a working basis is necessary, some little- 

 organization is imperative from the outset.- 

 and a few important facts must be recog- 

 nized. . . . 



The vulgar swagger assumed by some uni- 

 versity and college professors in this latter 

 day would be pitiable if it were not positively 

 mischievous. Time was when the man who 

 taught in college believed that his life should 

 be one of consecration to the highest ideals of 

 character. He believed that all questionable 

 conduct should be avoided. For the sake of 

 his influence upon his students he consistently 

 refrained from indulging himself in those- 



