The San Francisco call., 1910-08-03
GILLETT SCORES
EXONERATIONOF
DIR. VAN LEV
Soathing Letter Practically De-
mands the Resignation of
Trustees
Says Decision Means Normal
Girls Must Submit to
Indignities


y
y brlen, acting. secretary Of the -boarC
OF trustees of the Chico state norma
Scnools a reply to 4O'Rrien's notice Of
t5ls action taken By the trustees in tn,
investigation of the: charges agains
I fi'resident CSC. Van ~Liew- The COVER
nor s. letter is a: practical demand tha'
trustees Coggins, Campbell and War,
OF their votes. in eXonerating Var
Lew after the. recent hearing:
The. governor recites the History %
! ne case declares that the good nam,
OF: the. school has been damaged by tn,
TAI lure TO :oust " an. Lew and intimate,
that. 1t is UP TO the three trustees wht
voted. TO. -eNonerate: hi INTO step dowr
and 9out.
The governor denies destinations tha'
he has been .actuated in this matter b,
POLITICAL motives and declares emphati
cal5T that his only desire has: been tt
see that the; personnel of.:the teaching
force Of the state schools. Shall remair
above repreach +morally- He assert,
that the verdict of the trustees in thi!
case is a. declaration to girl student,
at all state schools that mo matter
what advances: are. made to them o.
proposals offered, they are to remaiI
they do they.>will be ridiculed by attor-
neys and: disbeheved by the trustees.
GOVERNORS LETTER
The governors letter was: as follows
=. To Florence j. O'Brien, Acting
secretary of the Board Of Trustees
Of Chico. Normal School.
=. Dear -Sirz Your letter of July %,
=. 1910 advising me of the. decision of
the ma jOritX of the board of trus-
tees dismiss the charges re-
GENTLY preferred against c. c. Van
Lew, president Of the said normal
school has been duly received.
l desire herein to express to the
member of the board my views
s concerning the investigation just
closed and my opinion as 10 what
is best for the future welfare of the
school,
=. / must: confess that I was quite
surprised. at the conclusion reached
by majority. Of the: board, and l
firmly believe that. the decision. rem
dered by. ii will injufe the stand
d. ing of the. school and seriously af-
feet its. future.
For several. years I understand
there. had been ugly rQmors con-
cerning. Doctor. Van Liew's conduct
in the school and affecting. his
2. moral standing and today those
d. rumors are statewide. Ny atten-
ton was hrst. called 10 them after
Mss Clark had first made her
charges q gainst- him After that
many complaints We're made to me
concerning his CONDUCT
PREVIOUS INVESTIGATION
In May, 1903,: a private fnvestiga-
tiOn was made into. Doctor. Van
D., ,Liew,s reputation: for. sobriety and
morality, and the repart of il is
noEE land for q long time. has been
on i5Ie in the. Office of the secre-
taI5S Of the state board of eX-
~ amin erss This report is very dam
aslng to~Doctor Van Liew.
again in the. month of. April,
1905 the late: Z. b. Edison, then a
member. of the board OF trustees
p. of said school, serving with Trus-
tees Coggins- and others; had, as
understand, William A. Pinkerton OF
the. Pinkeraon detective agency en-
gagged. to make an investigation OF
the Chico normal school and the
rumDrs connected Herewith con-
ccTning Doctor Van Liew.
MI Pinkerton went to Chico in
the month. of April 1906. and re-
NAMED there making investiga--
tions until the day Of the earth
Quake and fire in san Francisco.
- Nhem les: apparently. because of
that great disaster, quit, as his last
daily report was made on that day.
- II report: as far is it..WaS made,
=. has been placed in my hands by the
.rePEesen en1atives of Mr.. Edson,s es
f2Ie.~a nd il Lscontatns matters. derog-
-atory. 70 Doctor Van Lew.
PAST REPUTA ALTON
/ call the boards attention TO
these two reports to show that in
slee. 4dfE A-dA tl-EGN = reputation lOI
> immortality was: being discussed suf-
" :fictently- TO cause the same to be
= :: IN Investigated. p
= on the. 18Th day of May of this
Eear DIR. David Starr Jordan, presi-
DENT Of Leland Stanford university,
Writing to: public officer OF this
state; concerning Doctor Van Lew,
- used the following language:
-. 'It:is d matter OF common repute
that the president of one of our
state. normal schools is what is
commonly called a bohemian. using
-. tl5S.woTd in a distinctly bad sense.
It is. currently reported that he
drinks whisky, and in more than a
moderate degree. II is also report
ed that. he is distinctly immoral in
other regards. So far a. / am con-
cerned j have no direct evidence
and can call on no witnesses, but l
do know that the reputation of the
schoOlmen Of this state is being
harmed: by the. retention Of this
man IN view of the current talk in
regard TO him:
OTHER COMPLAINTS
This is pretty strong language,
coming from one of the great edu-
@ Gators OF the world. and he speaks
of reports concerning Dir: Van Lew !.
that were current prior to the
= Clark charges having been made.
= Reports are IN. my possession of
young ladies. other than Miss
= Clark, 10 whom il is claimed Van
-. IfeW. Fad offered indignities. but il
is difficult. TO make them appear in
'::pubiic and make a statement after
Miss ClaTks experience Many
com plants. have reached me since
the decision OF the board, and give
YOU one as an example: A promi-
snent. citizen Of Santa Rosa. and at
one time z resident of Chico, sent
me telegram in which he said:
':A.sEecent four years residence in
Chico. where 7 was in position to
know Of Van JIew's unreasonable
q. leads me to protest against the re-
port ed actiop Of the normal trustees
In -exonerating him."
MISS CLARK BELIEVED
OF course. il was left to the board
to pass upon the veracity of Ada
Clark ana Doctor Van Lew; bat,
notwithstanding its decision. l be-
-lieve-the people of the state. or a
great ma jority of them. will accept
Miss Clark's statement of what
took place.
She had nothing to gain by do
ing. what she did. She had meyer
had any trouble with DIR. Van
Lew or any members OF the
faculty. She had no desire to
leave school: she. was anxious to
get an education. so that she
might herself become a teacher in
our public schools. Her past life
had always been pure and good;
She had always lived in a country
surrounded by Christian infiu-
ences and she could have had MO
bad motive whatever in making
the complaint she made against
the president of the institution
er.H 1nfr 4.1