Evening star., 1927-04-14
BACKGROUND OF EVENTS
BY PAUL Y. COLLINS.

! girl protested, the professors wife
and daughter laughed at her"
An interview two years ago. between
President Lowell of Harvard and
Bertrand Russell, the English radical
brought this significant defense of
American colleges by DIR. Lowell;
You speak as if there were more
freedom in English universities than
here. That seems to me a misappre-
hension. At Oxford, not long ago, a
students publication, the New Ok
ford, was suppressed on account of
remarks it contained. Nothing of
the kind has, / believe, occurred here
within the memory of man. During
the war, you lost your fellowship on
account of your opinions. No such
thing happened at Harvard. Through
out the war we kept German sub
ject on our instructing staff. In spite
of outcries for their dismissal from
alumni and others, Profs. Munster
berg and Mr.. Laski were unfiinch-
ingly maintained in their positions.
Throughout all trials, Harvard has
stood and will stand for academic
freedom"
Did German colleges retain any
professors who had come from the
allies?
X X X
DR.. Nicholas Murray Butler of Co
lumbia University takes the same stand
on academic freedom" and he refused
i to reprimand a professor of history
who shone in newspaper news, re-
Gently, by publicly ridiculing the
American flag and the Liberty Bell.
President David Barrows of the
University of California has this to
say concerning the immunity of col
lege professors: This is undoubtedly
the most crucial point of our in
quiry: Is a professor in a university,
and above all a State university, to
be permitted to express himself with
out restraint? / am not sure that
represent the unanimous academic
view, but as practical answer,
i would say, Yes, once he is
called professor The early
grades Of academic advancement
are necessarily probationary. but
once the professional status is
conferred the scholar cannot there
after successfully be laid under re-
straint. An appointment to a
professorship with us is for life.
do not say that disloyalty to coun-
| try or grossly immoral conduct are
not reasons for summary removal,
| but. these considerations apart, pro-
| fessorial appointment is practically a
| permanent engagement.
! 80. a professor is under no re-
straint of public opinion, such as
! hampers statesmen in office he is in
] the class Of the Supreme Court JUS
! tices. The parent be - suggests
an alumnus.
In some cities that sacred inn
| munitv to public censorship covers
/ lower ranks than full professorships,
even down to teachers in secondary
schools, but college standards do not
| sanction such climbers" in full pro-
| fessorial functioning. High school
professors" are still ION probation, "
according to President Barrows, but
not real professors"
4 x x X
Now comes the Teachers College
of Columbia University, making a
scientific research of the curricula of
primary and secondary schools. They
| find that 14.000 different courses of
study used in the schools fail to meet
! college standards. SO the worm turns.
They find that the grammars used
point out 1886 major grammatical mis-
takes, which the pupils must learn to
avoid, whereas the colleges know OF
only 8 such mistakes. (Whats the
matter with colleges grammar,
peut etre?) The college critics say
that If they should include IS more
! errors. which are not so common, that
! would make 70 per cent of all possible
mistakes-and college president split
his infinitive in the discussion!
Also the spelling books contain
many thousands of long words, while
any one who can spell 1000 simple
words covers his usual vocabu-
larry (?). The rest are easily found,
| when needed, in a dictionary.
DIR. James E. Russell, director of
the Teachers College, says: 1.-The re-
he not haNA used thksknlural 2l is the