Evening star., 1923-06-18
Meiklejoh,n's Battle to Remain
At amherst Stirs College World
Special Dispatch to The star.

special Dispatch to The star.
AMHERST, Mass, June 1S.--A
nationwide educational controversy
between the conservative and liberal
elements in American institutions OF
learning will be the big outcome or
the fight here to depose Alexander
Meiklejohn as president of Amherst
College.
Every college trustee and college
head in the country is watching the
Amherst row. Already some of the
So called liberals, like President Gar
field of Williams in the adjoining
Ber6 shires, have sent word to Presi-
dent Meikiejohn to stand firm and
to assure him that they will back
him to the limit.
All is not prayer anu fasting today
with the trustees, faculty. alumni and
student body of this old fashioned.
nrthodoX seat of learning up here in
The western part of Massachusetts.
The discordant factions are so far
apart that no matter what action is
taken by the trustees it is certain
the breach will be but widened.
LOng-StanuinE OppOstlOns
Opposition TO President Meiklejohn
dates back eleven years ago when
he came to Amherst from Brown Uni
yersity. Many changes were made
in the faculty and radical departures
were made in the college services
upon his arrival at Amherst. The
elective system was introduced. The
changes appealed generally to the
student body, but the conservative.
"ld-fashioned professors and some OF
The active trustees. while not In ac-
cord with the new president, made
no objection for the time being. They
were willing to give him an oppor-
unity to demonstrate his theory. This
condition existed up to four or five
years ago, when disseution actively
began, and President Meiklej john
found the members of the board of
trustees and the faculty against him.
While President Meiklejohn con-
demned the present colleg giate athletic
system and declared that the same
money spent in providing gymnasl-
inns and athletic fields for the STU
dents should have been spent in en-
lAESfng and improving the college,
The present trouble cannot be traced
TO these views. President Meiklejohn
is of Scottish descent and he has the
Scots determination to have his own
way and to speak out what he thinks
and believes.
: Pncifism Charge Made.
The gravest charge brought against
him by his opponents is that his
radicalfsm borders on pacifism, and
those who are after his scalp quote
n member of a committee, at the
head of which was EIihu Root, jr.,
of New York, who allege that few
months before the United States en-
tered the world war the committee
was making a survey Of the colleges
Of the country on the preparedness
movement, and that President Meikle-
ohm not only gave them no encotr-
agement, but refused TO give them
a hail for meeting unless both sides
or the question could be presented.
IL Is also claimed by the same au-
thorlty that before the committee
left Amherst President Meiklejohn
stopped one of the members and in
FORMED him that they-the members
or the committee-Were up here on
very bad business"
Another charge made against Presi-
dent MeikleJohn is that when he was
demonstrated with for employing pro-
fessors and instructors with radical
tendencies he declared that he would
hire bolshevist if he We're a good
teacher" Still another charge is that
me president is a financial irrespon-
s!ble-a trait not often found in a
true Scot. Those who are well ac-
quainted with the president also de-
care tndt he lacks tact and is prone
TO become involved in UNNECESSARY
disputes with his associates
Coolidge Is Graduate.
Although Amherst is one of the
smallest colleges. it has graduated
some able men-men who. like Vice
President Coolidge and Speaker Gill
iett of the House. cling to the idea
that the classics still have, or should
have, prominent place in the cur
riculum of a small college, and Presi-
dent Meiklejohn's utilitarian ideas
hnd little favor with them.
Then, too, the rich New York group
OF bankers, publishers and diyines
which control the board of trustee
nave little use for man so out
spoken in ideas which they profess
to fear will develop a crop of young
men whose sympathies will lean to-
ward the extreme radical element In
American life and which, they believe
is contributing to the present unrest
of the country.
The majority of the students of the
senior class, however. think other
wise. They are for President Meikle
John and his brand of liberal educa-
tion.
Copyright, 1923