The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1898-11-20
Timothy Dwight.

The resignation OF DR.. TIMOTHY DWIGHT
from the Presidency of Yale University
seems to be the result Of q consistent devo-
tion to ar unsound theory. Years ago,
perhaps when he began his term, perhaps
earlier, when he may have looked forward
with an honorable ambition to holding the
Office which he has since illustrated with
even more distinction than his grandfath-
ers, he made up his mind that q man OF
seventy is too old to fill a great administra-
tive post. Having reached that g he has
resigned and made both himself and the
university victims Of his theory.
He deeply regrets that his duty as he sees
1t compels him to resign. The faculties,
the graduates and the undergraduates are
unanimous In wishing him to withdraw his
resignation and remain in the service of the
university at least until the two hundredth
anniversary OF its birthday in 1901. The
DwIGHTs and the PoRTERs are pretty re-
morseless logicians when they nave formu-
lated their hypothesis. but the honor and
the pleasure Of being at the head OF Yale at
a great historical commemoration and the
affectionate remonstrance OF the whole
body OF Yalensians will, we trust, induce
DR.. TIMOTHY DWIGHT to reconsider his de-
termination.
The steady but none the less surprising
growth OF the university, intellectually and
materially, under the present TIMOTHY
DwIGHr's administration, ia a sufficient
monument to his abilities. In new endow-
ments and buildings. In the broadening Of
Its educational programmes, in the preser-
walton OF all its sound traditions, and yet
with the adaptation ofthe old f~oundationst to
new conditions, his administration has left
what will be an enduring mark upon the
history OF Yale. His grandfather found a
little provincial grammar school and left
something like a college. The grandson
found a college and has developed 1t into a
university.
1t Is easy for a learned college President
to be q slipshod administrator and not 10
have human sense enough In him to make
himself liked by the students. President
DWIGHT has not been merely an alert and a
competent administrator, with much more
OF the scholar in his composition than Is
likely to be found In the class Of energetic
men Of business and successful fatteners of
college funds, from whom the next genera
tlon Of heads OF colleges will probably be
taken. He Is a man Of wit and much knowl-
edge OF human nature. He has the en-
gaging human qualities which some re-
nowned educators. absorbed in abstraction,
have managed not to manifest. He has the
essential tact and the common sense which
have kept him from compromising the uni
versity by preclpitate dabbling In politics.
On the whole, TIMOTHY DWIGHT may be
said to be the Golden Mean Of college Pres
idents. Not that there is anything medi-
OGRE about him.
But what put into TIMOTHY DwIGHr's
head, which contains a vast amount of so
much better matter, the whimsy that he
must set a time lock on HIMSELF Here is
a man in enjoyment of his usual faculties,
which happen to be very unusual faculties.
Did any lesion occur in his intellectuals on
his SEVENTEEN birthday Not a bit OF it.
II he could have forgotten the dates in the
family Bible, he would have felt that he was
just as competent 70 discharge the duties