Los Angeles herald., 1910-04-15
.BAER PLEASED BY ACTION
TAKEN BY PRESBYTERY
Delighted by Endorsement Given
to Change in Occidental
College Charter

"NeVer have I received greater en-
couragement than came to me at the
recent meeting of the Los Angeles
presbytery," said President Baer of
Occidental college upon his return last
night from San Diego. 81 am prouder
than ever to be honored with member
ship in the Presbyterian church, and
the Los Angeles presbytery has heart
lily and generously indorsed the new
policy of the trustees of Occidental
college. The presbytery can never be
charged with being narrow or bigoted.
While the college has never been un-
der ecclesiastical control, its charter
has until recently required that twelve
of it's fifteen trustees should be Pres
byterians. The new charter now pro-
vides that the management of the
college shall be non-sectarian and shall
be vested in a elf-perpetuating board
of twenty evangelical Christian
church members
occidental college has become
broadly non -sectarian and at the same
time has changed other features of its
charter, so as to make it for all time
positively Christian. l do not wonder
that many who have known Occiden-
tai and of its Presbyterian foundation,
felt at first that the trustees were too
unmindful of past history, and even
were charged with bowling the knee to
the Carnegie Foundation. When the
action of the trustees was frankly eX-
planned and when the old Presbyterian
friends of the college were shown that
money from any source could not IN
duce our trustees to surrender the
fundamental foundation stones of
Christian college, and that as matter
of fact we had no assurance that the
new charter would be accepted by the
Carnegie Foundation because it does
not meet certain requirements imposed
bv Mr.. Carnegie when he originally
made his grant for retiring allowances
to professors. the presbytery gave It's
unanimous Endorsement and he conse-
ouence Occidental has the friendship
and cooperation of the presbytery as
il has always had. In other words,
however much some regretted that 1t
seemed wise to drop the Presbyterian
requirement for trustees, they voted
for the broader management with con-
fidence and trust.
"The matter was thoroughly and
frankly discussed and the action Ia
ken particularly heartenlng TO me-
Nothing was kept back-the prespy-
terv was taken into our fullest con-
fdence. 1t is great day for Occi-
dental as she now steps forward ap-
healing to everyone, regardless OF
creed. for aid and cooperation ana
at the same time subordinatlng all
denominational divisions to the more
important guarantee that the college
shall continue to be fundamentally ana
positively Christian in it's teaching ana
mana mana eement. Another point to be
Gained is that it will now be easier
for the public to understand that Oc-
cidental is a Christian college and not
a theological seminary. Notwithstand-
ine the college is twenty-one years
old there are many who have sup
posed that it existed largely to propa-
cate Presbyterianism, when as mat
ter of fact that is not the case ana
navar has been. This new policy will
anneal with increasing power to large
giyers, prominent among them leading
Presbyterians. Men these days are
tired of ouibbling over sectarian pro-
visions and are ready to put the en-
phasis in first things, first"