The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-09-30
FIGHT FOR NEARING
JARS STAID U. OF P.
Trustees Not Likely to Rein
state Professor or En-
plain Dismissal.
PLEAS BY 1.5OO STUDENTS
Agitation Backed by Some Of
Faculty-PrOvOst Gets
Petition Tomorrow.


PHILApEIpHiA. Sept co.-The placidity
OF Penns Woods has again been Jared
by the action of ! 500 men and women
students of the University OF Pennsyi-
vania in petitioning the provost and the
trustees OF the university 20 reinstate
I'rof Scott Nearing IN the Wharton
school. When last June the trustees,
for reasons considered good and sufii-
cient by themselves. suddenly removed
the chair of political and social economy
from under Prof. Nearing there was. as
everybody recalls. tumult of protest
and Indignation IN which many promi-
nent Wharton school teachers joined
But as the months passed and matters
/ simmered down and less and less was
! heard OF the charge that Scott Nearing
had been turned out at the behest OF the
special interests most people imagined
that the uproar was at an end. Very
many persons indeed who really have the
good OF the university at heart hoped
they had heard the last Of the Nearing
affair.
Now of a sudden. and from a quarter
I where little trouble was expected. an as
sault Is being made against the wire
entanglements and concrete trenches of
J the conservative trustees and faculty
members, who many of them, while not
! disliking Prof. Nearing personally were
firmly convinced that he had become the
! Billy Sunday OF the university and must
go IL Penn Is to preserve the quiet Dig
nifty 80 dear TO the conservatives.
To put the matter plainly. the stu
dents petition has kicked up fine fuss,
and although It probably will not have
the slightest influence upon the trustees.
IL serves to stir up once more n dis
tasteful controversy and may have a
disorganlzing effect upon the general
life of the university. The signers to
the petition are by no means alone Of
the Wharton school, where the influence
of Scott Nearing was most manifest and
where have been his stanchest adher-
ents They represent practically all OF
the schools OF the university, touch on
all sides OF the university's life. include
the football and other athletic teams
and. In short. are numerous enough and
outspoken enough 10 bring wrinkles of
worry to the pestered trustees.
To Present Protest TO-morrow.
The petition rolls. eagerly flled yea
terday ,and with no visible signs OF op-
position from provost. faculty or trus-
tees). are all ready for presentation on
Friday to Provost Smith when he de-
liyers his address 10 the undergraduates
in Weightman Hall Just what the pro-
vost will do with the petition when he
gets it cannot he foretold with absolute
accuracy. since he declines TO comment
on the new turn in the Nearing affair,
but the opinion around the university
campus Is he will take the rolls with n
polite smile, thank the petitioners for
the perfectly well bred manner in which
they have conducted their part of the
affair and then toss the whole business
into the nearest convenient waste bas-
ket.
The next question is VIII pigeon
holing the protest end the annoying aC-
I tivity of students who believe that
, Scott Nearing rrcaiN"d-as the campus
phrases tt, rough deal To this ques-
ton there are two exactly opposite an
swers. depending upon which camp YOU
go to for information.
The entire body Of solid. conservat vo
university folk, headed by Trust f.
George Wharton Pepper. j. Leverlng
Jones, John e. He'll and Josept a.
Grundy. and containing as lesser intiu-
enceS the sober sedate teachers tm"-tlN
Of an older generation shan the Nc;'r-
/ ingtes) who feel about Nearing AS Rit-
: tcnhouse square feels-that he was 4
! nuisance--believe the students mov'
ment is a feather in the wind, nothing
( more.
Expect Movement to End Soon.
Th !, poin; Of view Is that persist, N
disturbcIs in the university, some uf
these being Meaningless in the NnIrthH
school and in other departments, and
some older undergraduates infected wl'h
Nearing's theories Of social reform, are
merely trying again to emharrass the
! trustees by reviving the controversy :,
that talk much foolish talk. is being
indulged in by agitatorS: that much of
; the present rumpus is due to the Hnim1l
spirits OF young men who must ind some
/ outlet for natural born radcalnesS. and
| that after week or two nothing more
will be heard of the students petition.
| As against this view Is the feeling of
many professors and instructors that
! the Nearing case has hurt the very vitals
/ of the university, and that even the
/ loyalty and devotion Of Penn men to
their school have been affected by what
they believe is the injustice of the uni
versity's governing body.
1t is practically impossible, as may
ca silly be imagined. to get members of
the faculty to discuss the newest furry
In the Nearing affair This is not be-
cause they lack courage, or are afraid
OF losing their jobs IL is simply because
| they believe the whole discussion has
hurt the university before the country
! and because none of them is quite sure
whether the manifestation on the part
OF the students is flame or a flicker.
They will tell YOU privately that they
do not like the symptoms-that II is "A
wretched state of affairs when at least
| 1900 students of n university put them
| selves on record as believing that a
| teacher was unfairly dealt with. Some
of them fear that schism would de-
velop I'm the student body, pro-Nearings
| in hot controversy with anti-Nearings.
and all greatly. to the detriment of col
lege work. athletics and social life.
Crucial Time Next Week, Perhaps.
Probably the next week or two weeks
| will prove whether the undergraduates
OF Penn are to spend much of their time
tho coming year wrangling over the
rights OF the Nearing case and growing
| emblttered toward one another or
| whether the petition business is a mere
episode carefully arranged by persistent
| Meaningless and without real significance
| In the life of the university.
Very possbly indeed the outcome of