Hutchinson gazette. [volume] (Hutchinson, Kan.) 1895-1902, 1897-08-05
FACTS BY THE BOARD.
THE BOARD OF REGENTS MAKE
PLAIN STATEMENT.
The Regents ofthe Kansas state Agrlcul-
tural College Rave Been Merely An
Auditing Committee While the PreSi.
dent Has Usurped All the Authority

The Board of Regents of the Kansas
State Agricultural College, having been
duly invested by the people of the
State Of Kansas, through their lawful
ly constituted authorities, with full
power to administer the affairs of said
College; and recognizing our response
bility to the people of this State, sub
init the following statement of reasons
for certain changes we have recently
made at that institution.
Following are facts which said Board
of Regents are prepared to substanti-
ate:
/. The government of this institu-
ton, which by law is vested in a Board
of Regents, appointed by the Governor
and confirmed by the Senate, has been
practically assumed and for years ex-
ercised by single employee of the
Board, filling the Office of President of
the College, the Board having been re-
duced, meanwhile, to the rank OF q
mere auditing committee. The at
tempt of the present Board regularly
to exercise our lawful functions was
resisted by him, and led to his volun-
tary and unsuggested resignation.
2. The tendency in the past to
swamp the Faculty with half-educated
men has been so marked as to excite
comment. of all those removed, one
alone, who himself has been succeeded
by an ADLER man, could claim to have
made fairly respectable special prepa-
ration for the high duties of professor
in college. That this condition of
affairs was satisfactory to the outgoing
President is evidenced not only by the
fact that these professors came, or at
least remained, by his sanction, but
by the following official declaration
from his pen: at is rare: indeed, that
30 efficient corps of instructors can
be retained as ours has been" CTenth
and last biennial report of Board of
Regents to Governor of Kansas, page
3D. Yet, Notwithstanding the now
considerably reduced schedule Of sal
aries, and the false light in which GER
tain persons and newspapers have en-
deavored to place this institution and
its present management, men and wo-
men trained in the best universities of
America and Europe have applied to
us for professorships
3. Despite the imperative need for n
strong agricultural department in the
agricultural college Of state whose
leading interests are agricultural; and
despite the fact that the land grant
colleges were established and are still
maintained for the special benefit of
the agricultural and industrial classes,
the inefliciency OF the agricultural as
compared to the other departments Of
the College is notorious, both at the
College and throughout the State
Nevertheless, every attempt to
strengthen the agricultural depart
ment, whether by increasing its work,
or by filling it with more capable
professor, has been until now steadily
and successfully resisted by the Presi-
dent. Other departments whose work
should be Of great practical value to
farmers, fruit growers, and stock rails
ers have similarly been characterized
by incapacity well known to those fla
miliar with the College.
4. While some departments have
thus been crippled by the inefliciency
of their heads, others have been neg
lected by professors and superintend-
ents who have regarded their offices
more as sinecures than as fields of la
bor;-the work of certain department
having been left, not occasionally, but
in the hands ofan assistant
that the head might witness or engage
In sports.
8. The distribution OF work among
the professors has been such that while
some have been left for an entire term
with few duties or responsibilities,
and certainly without teaching, others
have during the same terms been over
whelmed with their own work, and !
even with that of other departments.
G. The conduct Of the Experiment
Station has in cases been scandalous;
so much so in fact as to elict warnings !
from friends of the outgoing admins
tration, and Il vehement attack by the
eading Republican organ of the State.
See Topeka Capital: Feb. 3, 1897,
page 4, column 3; Feb. l9, 1897, page
!, columns 3, 4, 81 While certain mem
Ders of the Station Council, with their
have done the work which
las enabled the Station to maintain
IS standing ut Washington, others
With their assistants have satisfied
primarily with drawing
heir salaries, -one department having
published nothing to show for its work
md receipts since it's separate estab-
in September, 1904; and its
lead having done annnrentlv nlmnst