The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1903-12-08
LIBERTY.
Charlotte News.

&@"~ ~ F%H|
While the trustees OF Trinity College
were deciding that any form Of coercion.
OF thought and OF private Judgment T..
contrary To one OF the constitutional aims
OF Trinity College, the students OF The
College were burning III cIIgy ~Jo~ephu~
Daniels. a prominent member 81 the
Methodist church. the editor Of the most
widely circulated daily newspaper ot
North Carolina, a man OF irreprcAciab.e
private iife, and one OF The most CON
slcuous advocates IN the State OF IN,
cause OF temperance and social reform.
Academic liberty Is u fine. mouth
filling phrase. But az The News has b.
fore pointed out there j. a good de.tI
OF humbug connected with the practice
Of 1t. We are glad that the BOARD OF
trustees did not accept Professor Bias
sets resignation. We are sorry that
they put their refusal on the ground a.
academic freedom" The question arises
at once how far that freedom may ex-
tend.
The boar Estates as a fact that Pro
lessor Bassett does not believe in nor
does he teach social equality Well. sup
pose that he did. According TO the pria-
ciples that the board has laid down would
1t have any right 10 suggest resigna-
ton.
Suppose that one or more of the faculty
become SO much in love with free thought
as to become f~reethinkers. Has not the
board. estopped itself from any action
! against infdelity? Or even suppose that
they should promulgate doctrines that are
subversive of the Methodist faith and
order, would there be any remedy?
The faculty in their letter to the board
COW. wv lrna to a u nf TTInlfV
| College what Thomas jefferson. the
founder, said lof the institution, which
he established: This Institution Will hc
based upon the illimitable freedom OF the
human mind. For here we are not afraid
to follow truth wherever it may lead,
nor to tolerate error so long as reason
is left free to combat it.
But the faculty might have recalled
that Thomas Jefferson tried to force ms
sceptical views upon the University OF
Virginia by importing an English I'M.
tartan, one denying the divinity OF Christ,
to be it's first president. And a Protes
tant minister, DIR. John Holt Rice, pro
tested SO strongly IN the papers of that
day that the project had to be gwen
up and we suppose no one would deny
that a victory for truth had been gained.
1t is dollars to ~doughnuts that the
SOutherner of national and international
reputation who wrote to one OF the faculty
You have the opportunity to make a de-
cision which vii be the most important
event in the history of North Carolina
in our time; for free speech and free
teaching will be won there for a time to
come"-was our Water n. Page. We are
sure tina the Methodist church OF North
Carolina would not tolerate the freedom
of speech which he e~Xemplities.
The "Illimitable freedom of the human
mind" is another mouth-flling phrase that
means very little. We are afraid that
the wholesome effects of the popular re-
buke of Professor BasSett'S folly VIII be
lost and that the board is only laying up
trouble for itself by emphasizing "ac-
ademic freedom" Trinity is too useful
an institution to be emulating the repu-
tation for freakism that distinguishes the
University of Chicago. And we commend
the practice of the tolerance that is 70
much boosted. Josephus Daniels has as
much right to the expression of his
opinion as any of the faculty OF Trinity
College. Burning in effigy IS symbolic OF
a burning at the stake. And II the truth
be told perhaps the faculty are not as free
as he is to denounce the trusts, for in
stance. whenever he feels like it.