New-York tribune., 1901-01-19
COLLEGE FREEDOM AND LICENSE.


The little furry on the Pacific Coast caused
by the dismissal of Professor Howard, of Leland
Stanford. .Ir, University, for conduct unbecom
ing a scholar and a gentleman, has been pro-
longed. with some indications of artificial en-
couragement, by the voluntary withdrawal Of
two or three of his sympathetic colleagues
Thus far. however. there are no signs that the
country is alarmed for the safety of its educa-
tional institutions. and on the whole we should
say that the incident was not unlikely To have
salutary consequences. There is to
think that the air which college instructors Of
certain type have been breathing of late years
needs to be cleared, for their own sake as well
as for the general advantage, in order that
more distinct view may be obtained OF their
real place in the order OF existence.
We are not lacking in true respect either for
the scholars OF eminent character and attain
ments whose influence upon the thought and
life of their time Is gratefully recognized
or for the great majority OF inconspcuouS In
structors who do their appointed work with
devotion and a thOrOughness which are perhaps
too seldom estimated at their real value. But
in contrast to such men there Is a small class Of
college professors i'm whom an erroneous cOncep
ton of their own natural ability, and especial
ly of their aptitude for public affairs, has been
unhappily fosered by the newspaper attention
which they exp. -iIy solicit, and who have con-
sequently come to look upon themselves as au-
thentically commissioned to direct the progress
of events. Hence they occupy their excessive
leisure In communicating to the world their
views on all conceivable subjects, excepting
perhaps those which they are expected 10 In
vestigate and employed TO teach. and are not in
frequently enabled to obtain IA notoriety which
ont
of all proportion 10 the value of their opinions
1t may be we'll to add in passing that they do
not often actually imperll their connection with
the college TO which they are Il detriment, and
possibly in condemnng Professor Howards ex-
cursion far outside his sphere of duty ana the
limits OF decency some credit should be given To
him for certain sort Of courage. But assuredly
that is the single concession which II IL per
mssihle to make in his behalf The quality Of
the man and The grossness OF his offence
sufficiently indicated in these phrases. taken
from his harangue denouncing the dismissal of
Professor Ross last November: Il do not WOr-
"ship Saint Market Street; | do not reverence
Holy Standard Oil. nor do dof my hat 10
Celestial Six Companies" There Is no manly
assertion Of principle in this. but only gratu-
tOus exposure of yenOmOus personal hostility
to interests and individuals identified with the
Iouuuatlon ana support OF the luStltulOn Wucn
employed him, TO which he owed unswerving
loyalty and from his connection with which his
vulgar utterances derived the only Importance
they possessed.
1t is from instructors of this general type that
the perferyid talk about freedom of teaching
chiefly proceeds. As have suggested, they
are not wholly to blame for their misc0ncep-
tiOns, since a considerable number of their fel-
low citizens, in clubs, newspaper offices and po-
litical reform circles, are singularly fond of
coddling them, until their natural vanity thus
cultivated finally leads them to think it more
important to liberate their opinions on any sub
ject which comes into their heads than to pro-
mote the essential purposes for which the in
stitutions that employ them We're founded 1t
Is reasonable to hope that the recent occurrences
at Stanford without threatening true freedom
of teaching in any manner or degree will tend
to check the spread of the false and mischev-
GUS notion that the possession of a college chair
confers upon its incumbent license to degrade
its dignity and undermine the influence which
it was designed to exert.