The producers news., 1921-11-25
THE CASE OF
PROFESSOR FISHER

Montana is again IN the kmelight.
At its last session the State Board Of
Education gave Arthur Fisher, profess
sor of law, leave Of absence, without
his request, for q year with full pay.
Although The is . member Of the fac
sulty on full pay, he i. not to teach
classes. He is and he 10 not . part
Of the institution. s
Professor Fisher is & graduate Of
Harvard law school. He is credited
by students and others as having a
splendid knowledge of law. He is
recognized as having courage and con-
victions. His students unanimously
report that at no time did he present
his views on social and economic
problems before his classes. He was
teaching his first year in the Univer-
sity, with a two year agreement. He
was recommended by Dean Leaphart
for increase in salary.
His case was considered by the SER
vice committee of the University fac
ulty, who made full report on his case
to the officials. The report was set
aside, as was also the recommends
ton of the chancellor of the Univer-
sity, Of the president of the State
University, and the dean of the law
school.
Chancellor Elliott in his report
stated that If Professor Fisher hao
not associated himself with The New
Northwest, a newspaper in Missoula
the case would not have been brought
before the board. The service com
lnittee stated that in their opinion tbs
trouble started because of newspaper
rivalry. The editor of the Daily Mis-
soulian had expressed himself as .op:
posed to the establishment of a com
peting publication. Comes in The
American Legion. b
Legion Butts In.
The local post of the Legion was
told where to get information about
Mr.. Fisher that appeared id Chicago
papers concerning meeting held In
1917. That the report was nlagni-
fed, garbled, objected to and correct
ed did not appear in the local trans
action. The local post took the mat
ter to the state meeting Of the LIE
gion. It was not presented for dis
cussion by the members, but was only
before. the executive committee. They
asked that the State Board of Edu-
cation dismiss Professor Fisher be
cause Of the opinions he held, pre-.
senting an agreed statement Of facts
from themselves and Professor Fish
er. These agreed facts were not con.
sidered by the Chancellor, the Presi:
dent of the University, the Dean OF
the law school, or the Service Com
1nittees of sufficient weight or import
ance as to warrant dismissal. The
full report of the service COMMITTEES
recognized that he was. not liked b.
all the students, showed that part O
the difficulty came from the IegioI
matter as a reflex, stated that in cases
he showed lack of tact. sustained his
right to be associated with The New
Northwest. and saw no reason fol
dismissal.
Against Action. y
The service committee recommend
ed no action. The president of ths
| University and the dean of the lav
school recommended that no action b
taken on dismissal, but that he y
asked to sever his connection witt
The New Northwest The chancello
| made two recommendations, one tina
he be put on probation, the other tina
| he withdraw from The New North
| west. The state board accepted non
iof the recommendations. It was SAL
| that the method adopted was accepse'
as q way out of q difficult situation.
Nothing has been settled The Hel
ena Record Herald asserts that eithe
lMr. Fisher is guilty and should y
dismissed, or he is innocent an.
should be cleared. There are r,
charges pending, no reason has hesl
assigned for the act relieving MI
Fisher of work with full pay AMI n
one seems ia. know why sacl ac;io.
] was taken. The very important ,.lles
4 ton involved as. to what I Ie lfane1'
faculty members shall ne giyars on ne
1 count Of personal views IS lett In
Isettled. If that was not the aatI,.
/ for the act then the question + syhnth
Ter or not faulty ! ssaoasi scss ss::sN Z
associated with outsMe astiaities ha
4 not been set led IS Fe \ i1il Of e,
all;sise IS irs l,,tla .ir fll
:,ct tllel. c1ef4 h.ks t,s 6
i tiser tos lha fsss ~ "a y.
4 which was siae ST s. s = Iass5 Ito
i resulted on "a IL q