The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-06-16
A FIGHT OVER A PROFESSOR.
DIR. RILEY CALLED BEFORE THE
BOARD or VISITORS.

The Members Notify Him of stories
Chnrging Him WI;s Incompetency
and UnpopuIarity-He Refuses TO
Stand an Examination on the
Ground That lie Is AnennbIe Only
TO the Board of Trustees.
Athens. Ga, June 15-The weather may
be warm all over Georgia. but it is exceed
ingly calOric around tie university cam
Dus.
Ever since Or. E. +. Riley has been the
professor OF English here. there has been
all kinds of rumors afoat as to the i'm
podiments put in his way by others con
nected with the faculty. A few weeks
since, on account Of certain affairs con-
rected with the suspension of a boy who
had cursed DIR. Riley in his class room in
his absence, he and Chancellor Boggs had
some very interesting conversations in
which DR.. Riley told Chancellor Boggs ne
hadn't treated him right and other things
on that line. Thus things rocked along
until the meeting of the board of visitors.
composed of two middle-aged men and
three young teachers of less than four
years experience, one of them having
studied under Dr. Riley last year. DR..
Riley was called before the board OF Wis
itors and told that reports were being cir
culated that he was Incompetent They
asked MIN If he could suggest a remedy
for the difficulty and he replied that he was
not the man to suggest. but they were. The
elimination of the interview was that Dr.
Riley was asked if he would be willing
to submit to an examination. and. nc says,
at that point one of the board picked up a
book as if to examine him.
He replied that he was answerable to the
board Of trustees and would submit to any
examination that the board of trustees
might suggest, but that he refused to be
examined by them as he did not recognize
them in them after at all
This action of the board of visitors nat
urally aroused the indignation of DR.. Ri
leys friends especially from the fact that
three members of the board are but recent
graduates.
The board was seen by the Morning
News correspondent and would not say
anything about the matter, except that
they had asked a number of students about
DR.. Riley's competency and that anything
they had to say about 1t would be in their
report
The report was made this morning to
the trustees, and that section relating to
Dr. Riley was that he was not well pre-
pared for his department
A report is out tonight that one Of the
trustees said in the meeting of the board
that DR.. Riley was not only incompetent,
but very unpopular in Athens. This has
raised a howl of indignation among the
friends of DR.. Riley, who bring forward
the following strong facts to his support.
He is a Baptist minister, formerly of Ala
bama, and was considered a man of great
ability there, as well as very popular. He
has been in numbers of places requiring
competent English scholars and has never
yet been charged with incOmpetency. He
was chosen by the Baptist denomina-
ton of Alabama to write a history of that
state and the work has been pronounced
an admirable one He has been chosen
by the most influential Baptist
organization in the union from among all
the Baptists of the south to write the his
tory of the Baptist denomination of this
section of the country He holds diplo-
ma from the most celebrated society OF
science and letters in London. So much
for his competency say his friends and
they back up the utterances with proof.
They boot at the charges of unpopularity
in Athens and openly challenge the proof
of their statement. They point to the
fact that the citizens of Athens almost
to a man are backing him up in this man
ner. They say that they are aware OF
the source whence comes these attacks
and that it is the elimination of persecu-
ton. Thus it is easy enough TO find such
assertions being made every where to-
night and the affair has fairly reached the
boiling point. Coupled with ii are rumors
of coming contest in the hoard of truis-
tees on the subject of the chancellorship,
and nothing but developments Monday Will
tell the tale.
The board of visitors request the Morn
ing News to say that the statement in
the Atlanta Journal to the effect that the
governor had a hand in the report of the
board is totally false. The fact is that
Gov. Atkinson reached Athens after the
report had been read and he had no prev
ious communication with that body. The
indications point to the thorough vindi-
cation of DR.. Riley before the board, both
as to the charge Of incompentency and
popularity.