The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1897-09-03
DR.. ANDREWS AND BROWN UNI
VERSITY,

L
withdraw his resignation. The com
nunication in which this is done is
most coaciliatory in tone and is cal
cuiated TO socthe Dr.. Andrews. wound.
cd feelings, If any he has. The letter
is all that the president or his friends
could ask in this respect.
The letter Of e1-Secretary of state
olney to members Of the facnHy NJ
Brown university is only second in
importance 10 that of tne corporation
TO President Andrews, The occasion of
his letter was the receipt of a COPY Of
their open letter to the corporation.
That letter, which has had a profound
infiueDce on the case and on public
onini1n in Rhode Island and New
ENGLAND. was in part as follows:
Yet the fact remains, and is now
everywhere known, that the corpora
ton OF Brown university. at ono nf
their regular meetings. took action. +he
object of which was to suggest TO fFA
president limitation of his activities
in public affairs, and in some degree to
restrain him from expressing himself.
as citizen. upon topics which are of
interest TO every citizen. Private and
individual remonstramae is one thing.
ACTON OF the sort described by this
| BODY, which appoints presidents. is. we
submit a very differepr thing, II is
open 10 the gTavest OBJECTIONS. and
rests upon theory which. if extern
s'Veiy acted upon. world eat the heart
out OF our educational institutions
the theory that the material growth of
a university is OF rr.ore importance than
nde re 81 tfought and expression
81 the Da-t q its president and pro
fesS0r5. and that boards of trustees
have. as such, the right TO suggest
hlllta tlCns upon such Independence.
Recognizing that the corpora
I tion nave not been alone in thinking
and saying that DR. Andrews, freedom
OF speech ought to be restrained we
blg leave TO combat the proposition,
whenever and by whomeosver MAIN
II tanned, that official action tending to
restrain his expressions on pubgc AT
lifairs is justified. We desire 10 show.
llFSt, that il cannot be justified on the
love. ground Of pecuniary necessity
, and advantage; and, secondly, that ii
lacks all justification when considered
from that higher point of view from
rshieh the educs tional institutions of
great country ought always to be re-
Earded. 1t has been said in the
public prints that DR.. Andrews has no
right 10 ''misrepresent" the views of
the corporation or of Rhode Islanders
As LoT the corporation, We do not enter
into the question, for. we suppose that
that body may ct any time. If It
chooses, readily clear itself of misun-
4 ciersgandins as TO it's political views
But in what sense has it been obllga-
4 tory on Dr. Andrews to "represenf'
! The commyalty? The community did
not elect aim and has had no Official
relation to him. If it is the duty of
I the head Of 4 university, in a state like
I this. TO conform to the political views
/ OF the majority Of its inhabitants. what
! IS his dnty in doubtful state2 Must
! he wbfffie around. like the Vicar of
! Bray, taking care always 10 side with
The majority?
experimenting this letter was a pc
tition signed by the leading educators
! Of the country, such men as Eliot. of
! Harvard; Gilman, of Johns Hopkins;
Adams. Of Wisconsin university; Low,
OF Columbia. and others They all
champioued the cause Of freedom of
thought and speech; they had no sym
pathy for DR.. Andrews financial views,
( but they did ask thai he be given the
/ same rights and privileges that they
( themselves had, DR.. Andrews has won
a signal triumph, one in which all the
people are deeply interested. Through
his championship of free silver he came
/ to be the champion of a still more
| important issue His personal triumph
! is a matter Of congratulation but it is
q matter of still greater congratulation
! that SO many eminent educators, differ
ing from DR.. Andrews on the financial
| question, took up his cause as COM
mon one It is quite safe to say that
there will be no repetition of the Brown
university incident for many. many
years. The outcome of it has estab-
lished the doctrine that free and un-
tranmeled teaching in the institutions
Of higher learning. must not be con-
trolled by peeuniary considerations:
that freedom OF research and the right
to give expression to the results of that
research are above price. Dr.. Andrews
has been a truly patriotic citizen. The
! corporation of Brown university has
/ done all it can to remove the stigma of
hHberality that ii placed upon the uni
versity, but it VIII take some time to
wholly remove it The members of it
| did their institution more harm through
| their sord4dness and iHiberality than
the teaching Of any number OF political
or financial heretics could have done
it; and Or. Andrews is not a hereto