The weekly times-record. (Valley City, N.D.) 1912-1922, 1915-04-15

experiment station, and an informal
expression of confidence in President
Worst, the board of trustees of the Az
ricultural college, Tuesday undertook
to correct the alleged unsatisfactory
conditions existing at the school. This
action followed the statement by Pres
ident Worst Of the state of affairs from
his viewpoint, and the concurrence Of
! Dean Sheppard in the presidents sug-
, gestion to transfer him to the station.
President Worst requested that the
issue as whether or not he was
president of the institution with pow
er to act for the best interests Of the
school as he saw fit, be settled by
the board. For 20 years." he said
things have gone tremendously, but
some of the faculty have thought that
| did not have the support Of the
board. If they are going to spread
dynamite and create discomfort, ]
want the authority to fire them"
"There's a whole lot of defy going
on-you may as we'll face it. When
this matter came out, | called a num-
Der of the strongest, most manly stu
dents of the school into my office.
one at a time, and asked them if it
was true that there was such wide
spread discomfort among the students.
They all said that it was so. Then
, I asked each one to tell me frankly
what was the trouble. Each one sta
ted that the teachers in the agricul-
, tural department were not giving
them anything; that they were 60
ing out from the school not knowing
their subject
"The students complained that when
a division was made, the station got
;, the big men with the big salaries
, and the college took the rest. l did
. not discuss members of the faculty
with them; l defended the faculty
;, But Professor Sheppard has given me
>, weak men and weak department.
. after having large latitude in the
selection of his men. I can produce
harmony if given the authority, but
. the whole department must be revised,
and made strong and adequate and
=. balanced.
- II had previously told Professor
Chase that he was not making good
and told him what to expect. He had
fair warning which he did not heed.
i Thomas was teaching class in agri-
!. }cultural economics for which he was
mot especially fitted. l talked with
i him about it, and we agreed that it
had best be given to Professor Trim
BILE, very strong man in economics,
who could make the subject of deep
value to the students. When the reg
g istrar notified Mr.. Thomas, he re-
4 ferred to Dean Sheppard and the lat
d ted countermanded my order in my
:, absence.
q I'VE cannot expect much mercy at
! the hands of the board of regents, if
!. they find within a department du-
4 plication of effort. Dean Sheppard
). has tried to make the agricultural de-
partment complete in itself There is
agricultural engineering there instead
of in the engineering department.
l., with two sets of apparatus. The same
is true of the economics classes I'M
t der discussion. A specialist can GER
tainly give a deeper and broader
2 meaning to subject, and then the
readjustment of viewpoint to meet the
t demands of agricultural economics or
/ agricultural engineering is simple"
Mr.. Worst stated that Professor
f., Sheppard and he had worked har-
moniously 20 years, but when the d.
, vision between the college and the ex-
. pertinent station was made, Sheppard
seemed to go squarely against him.
Professor Sheppard when asked by
the board concerning the Chase Diff
ficulty said it was between the pres
| ident and Mr.. Chase except as to a
change in his department without
consulting him. He contended that the
agricultural viewpoint was an essen
tial part of the work in engineering
and economics, and that the latter
was too closely associated with farm
management to be separated and put
under man not a farmer The de-
partment, he said, was doing as good
work with the men and money they
could get, as was possible.
Messrs. Alex Stems, Fred Jensen
and Weigel, of the old board were
present and Peter Elliott reappointed
to succeed himself. Walter Reed of
Armenia and August Hanson of Fargo
were new appointees. Fred Jensen was
reelected president of the board, and
w. A. Yoder, secretary. F. E. Kin
dred appointed in place of Mr..