boiled, but in any case he is probably warned that the shoemaker should stick to his last.
It is also unfortunately true that any criticism of the policy of the administration is often resented as "a personal attack on the president." A member of the faculty may question the wisdom of admitting students poorly prepared, or of retaining students whose ill health makes it difficult for them to do their college work, or of dismissing students who have presented a petition stating-what they believe to be grievances, but all such questions are too often interpreted as "attacks on the president."
In one institution where autocratic rule has been carried to an intolerable degree, one of the professors at one time suggested some improvements that might be made in the institution. He was quickly removed and no protest was made by his colleagues either collectively or individually because they were too timid to do so or because they were too much hampered by the meager salaries paid to feel justified in running the risk of removal. But in spite of apparent acquiescence in the action of the president, one by one the members of a small group were dropped on the suspicion of being sympathizers with the erring professor because known to be his personal friends. They were afterwards pursued by a relentless persecution that for years prevented any of the number from securing positions in the educational field for which their ability and professional qualifications fitted them.
At the time of friction between a president and members of the faculty due to the unexplained demand made for the resignation of several of its members, the professors involved sent to the board of trustees a respectful petition asking for a full and open investigation of their work. This petition was characterized by the board as "rank insubordination," since a by-law of the university provided that all communications from the faculty should come to the board through the hands of the president. "The communication should be treated with just the respect it deserves," said a member of the board of trustees in a public meeting. "It is an insult to the board and to the President; it is rank discourtesy, and for one, I do not propose to stand it. I move the letter be sent to the writer." "And the board concurred," is the comment of the press, "smashing the right of petition at one very large and full swoop."
The policy of concealment that prevails makes it difficult for the public to know what the situation really is. The public knows that more than one university professor has been dismissed, or his resignation has been demanded "for the good of the institution," and it draws the conclusion that these are examples of martyrdom in the cause of academic freedom of speech. In a few instances such has been the case, but in other instances, men have been relieved of their positions because they have been incompetent to fill them. Such men have sometimes
