"PRO BONO UNIVERSITATIS."

"One of the solidest and fairest men we know said the other day: 'I was intending to send my boy to Harvard, but since the stand President Lowell has taken on the Brandeis matter I shall not do it. I believe thousands of men west of the Alleghenies will take the same stand. We never thought of Harvard before as a Bourbon stronghold.'"--Harper's Weekly.

So speaks the Oracle, under the caption, "A Blow to Harvard," and thereby shows an unparalleled capacity for sweeping generalization. But cooler and more sensible persons will not take fright. It is, indeed, somewhat ironical that it should be necessary for President Lowell to defend for himself that freedom of speech which he has so firmly insisted upon for both Faculty and students. And it is as unfortunate as it is unaccountable that some Harvard men, by their published utterances, should attempt to foster the impression, expressly denied by himself, that he speaks for the University.

The individuality of opinion among Harvard men is not only that normally existing among any representative group of men, but is especially fostered by the traditions of which this University is proud. Upon no great large question has anything like a unanimity of opinion prevailed. In 1912, for example, a straw vote taken in the University, favored Wilson; yet his strongest opponent was a Harvard graduate and member of the Board of Overseers. Our irate critics should, perhaps, have expected that Harvard would troop meekly into the Progressive camp. In regard to Mr. Brandeis, the expressions of opinion in the University have been equally in evidence upon both sides. The President cannot and does not try to mould the opinions of the members of the institution of which he is head. And far from wishing him or members of the Faculty to resign their rights and obligations as citizens when they enter academic walls, thinking Harvard men would wish to see them make wider use of their opportunities and influence.