EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP

The resignation of C. C. Little from the presidency of Michigan University will undoubtedly cause widely divergent discussion throughout the country on the possible reason for his action. Any man who has so continually been before the public eye, and who has distinguished himself by activity in a number of different fields undoubtedly deserves such comment.

Regardless, however, of what actual work he finally decides to undertake it is certain that he desires time in which to carry out scientific research which he is interested in for the Rockefeller Institute.

Such a decision brings up anew a question which has always caused discussion in connection with education. Shall the executives of educational institutions necessarily be men who have distinguished themselves in their scholastic attainments? This has been the case throughout the history of all organized learning, but it has been challenged frequently as an anachronism based on an outworn tradition. Before our highly complex modern universities had been developed, students naturally gathered about the great teacher for intellectual guidance. Today the situation has been definitely altered. Specialists in certain fields are given the control of large institutions, a control which they either may not be capable of handling or to which they find themselves decidedly unsuited.

It is rumored that President Little's resignation came as the result of friction between him and the Board of Regents, and even if such a rumor were true it probably had its origin in some conflict over a matter of policy. If such were the case, it would not be the first one in which a president of an American college had been forced to give up his position due to pressure from some governing board. On the other hand there are even more numerous cases of smaller executives resigning from their positions in order to continue research which they considered would be more profitable than retaining an administrative post. The possible ramifications of such a discussion are infinite, but it is highly probable that when our present educational system emerges from its period of transition, trained executives will hold the positions now filled by scholars.