Louisiana capitolian., 1880-07-13
BATON ROUGE La, TUESDAY, JULY l3, 1880.

Ill lib BcnOOl ~ Homer, he had bee
: educated by David +. Boyd; that b
had married wealthily In Albemsrle
that he then had four boys TO educate
and that lic had written, some tim,
before, to Col. Boyd, whom he woult
rather have take the entire charge D
their education than anyone he had eve1
known; that Il ie would consent to com,
there, he would buy Monticello and O.
tabliSh him in q school, and impressively
requested me, then on my way home, "a
urgently repeat tho offer for him to Col
Boyd; that he would not accept u
tempting On offer, which would have
carried him TO tho homo of his father
and friends solely, as l believe, because
1t would have compelled his abandon.
ment Of our institution at an ,inpropi.
tious mon,ont for 1t, you have tho evi
denco from his being still here.
am too weak to add more than to
say that If | was we'll enough to attend
tho meeting to-day, would not--could
not-orcn BY N.Y. prcscncc-sanction the
adoption of that resolution.
Very respectfully,
q. MASON GRAHAM,
10 the Honorable Board Of Supervisors Of tho
% Louisiana =. State University and Agricultural
and Mechanical College: .
! GENrLEMEN-I beg leave TO assign tho
following as my reasons for with.
drawing from,tho Board, during the vote
on the resolution to proceed at once, to
remove tho Faculty and to elect a new
PRESIDENT of tho Faculty Of the lnstitu-
ti0n under our control
This Is tho fjrst session of our Board.
all the members having been appointed
within the past few months. Most Of
the. members at tho commencement Of
this session were entirely unacquainted
with the condition of the University.
On tho fourth day of our session this
resolution, to declare all tho Offices ya.
cant, ETC., was offered. A motion to re-.
for said resolution TO tho Committee on
tho State of tho College was defeated.
The resolution being called up tho fifth
day, it was generally stated in argument,
by tho advocates Of the measure, that
lts sole object was TO displace Col. D. +.
Boyd and many ru'nored complaints
were stated against him. Col. Boyd
having been excused from tho meeting
ofthe Board, owing to tLe pressing du-
ties of his Office, / asked and obtained
permission to invite him to come before
the Board and answer or explain said
complaints. Col. Boyd, whom found in
his office preparing certificates to be pre-
sonted to Cadets this evening, replied
that this being Commencement Day, he
could notpossibly come before tho Board
except by neglectiug his duties to tho
Institution; but he authorized me to
request the Board, In his behalf, TO post
pone tho matter until he could have
time to come before them and answer
tho charges against him, communica.
ted this request to the Board but it was
not granted. / then made motion to
postpone the final consideration of the
resolution until the matter could be dis
ct,ssed by the press throughout the State
and members could be prepared TO vote
deliberately and intelligently on tho
subject. This motion was lost.
Under these circumstances, l felt
bound to withdraw in order that any
action taken on this important subject
at tho present session, might be revised
and reconsidered or ratified by subse.
quont meeting, for tho following rea-
sons:
1st. | believe il is utterly wrong for
a new Board Of Supervisors to inaugu-
rate its administration by declaring all
tho Offices of the University vacant.
"a. l believe the passage of said reso.
luton, an act Of unprecedented injustice
to the Faculty, and especially to tho
President, Col. Boyd, whose heroic self
devotion in the cause OF this lnstitu tion
deserves we'll Of Louisiana.
81. believe it ruinoug to the Univer.-
sity for tho Board ever TO remove an Of
ficor without just cause and full hear
ing has not been granted in this case and
no charges have been specified or estab-
lished.
4th. consider the President of this
University as one of tho most important
officers in tho State and he never ought
to be removed or elected without rea.
Sonable notice to tho people of the State
whom we represent and a full discus.
sion of tho fitness and merits of candi-
dates for that position.