STUDENTS VERSUS FACULTY

Incensed at the resignation after twelve years of service of an assistant professor in the biological department of the Sheffield Scientific School, two hundred undergraduates at Yale have signed a petition urging that he be retained at New Haven. Arguments both pro and con are rife as to whether or not he should be allowed to continue in his present position. It seems not to be certain even that he was compelled to resign, but that much has been taken for granted. The explanation is made that the faculty found him disloyal; the students would reply that he is an excellent instructor. The controversy has gone to such lengths that the Yale News suggests that if a properly accredited investigator were appointed by the Student Council, the Departmental Committee would undoubtedly be willing to make a complete statement of the reasons for his release.

Some weeks ago Yale adopted a system of undergraduate criticism of college courses, professors giving students an opportunity to tell their reasons for liking or disliking their studies, and to make any helpful suggestions they saw fit. Without going deeply into the merits of the case for the deposed professor, it would seem evident that in this suggestion by the News we have a new principle of pedagogy involved. No one questions the advisability of at least considering the students point of view in conducting courses of instruction, but the idea that the action of a faculty committee in allowing a professor to resign is open to challenge by the student body is a novel one. We look with distrust upon the proposal of the News to establish a "student soviet" court.