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Last year Committee A received 56 complaints. Twenty-eight were rejected or required no investigation. Only nine were deemed worthy of an inquisitorial visit. Among recent causes célèbres have been those of Professor Ralph E. Turner v. Chancellor Bowman at University of Pittsburgh (TIME, March 4), Professor John A. Rice v. President Holt at Rollins College (TIME, Dec. 4, 1933).
Less publicized than the Association's investigations are their results. Officials will say only that some investigations have been followed by reinstatements, some by payments to injured parties. Since 1931 A. A. U. P. has packed extra power behind its punches by blacklisting unrepentant offenders. First to go on the list were four of Mississippi's institutions of higher learning, after Governor Theodore ("The Man") Bilbo's spectacular purge of 179 presidents, deans, professors. When Bilbo's successor reinstated the purged pedagogs, Mississippi was returned to favor. Currently in academic Coventry are Harris Teachers College (St. Louis). Rollins College, Brenau College (Gainesville, Ga.), De Pauw University and the U. S. Naval Academy. No loyal Association member will take a job at any of these institutions.
Kudos
"We were perfectly frank and discovered . . . that the whole situation was a mess. . . . We came to the final conclusion that we really needed fewer and better degrees. There are too many degrees and there are too many people receiving them, and the honorary degree situation throughout the country is not an edifying one."—The chairman of the committee on Honorary Degrees at a Conference of Trustees of Colleges and Universities at Lafayette College last April.