1 :
2l{e jjreat 2aefacation of 18
This Is a School
That Lives Up
To Its Image
By JUDITH OPPENHEIM
Continued from Page Three
the University a large fraction of
its budget and was naturally curi-
ous about science, particularly its
Darwinistic threat to religion and
its immediate effect on short-
changing an arm of the state.
The legislature was further-
prompted to action by Beal who
delivered a 10-page printed ex-
hortation to investigate the situa-
tion,.
"A THOROUGH and exhaustive
investigation" of the Great
Defalcation was called for by the
state lawmakers. They set up still
another committee, composed of
members of both houses. The com-
mittee was appointed in January
and gave its report based on hear-
ings it held on March 27. The
testimony filled a 740-page vol-
ume.
Their results:
Amount of deficit: $5,827.82.
Chargeable to Rose: $497.30.
Chargeable to Douglas: $4,-
477.47.
The Regents fired Silas H. Doug-
las before the month was over.
Court trials, however, had be-
begun and were still in progress.
The trial of a suit in chancery
started on July 5, 1877 in the Cir-
cuit Court of Washtenaw County.
All parties involved in the suit
(Rose, Douglas, the Regents)
signed a stipulation fixing the
deficit at $5,671.87; the court had
only to divide that amount be-
tween Rose and Douglas.
Judge George M. Huntington
decided, after a five-week trial,
that Rose owed $4,624.40; Douglas
owed the rest. His ruling preceded
the almost exactly opposite one
of the legislature.
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iOCIAL ACTION was prevalent
in the town of Ann Arbor then,
however, an" dit wasn't. long be-
fore handbills flooded the streets.
They announced:
Public Meeting at the Opera
House - The friends of Dr.
Rose, who implicitly believe in
his innocence, are requested
to meet at the opera house, on
Friday evening, September 21,
at 7/ o'clock to express their
feelings and listen to speeches
upon the partisan and one-
sided decision of Judge Hunt-
ington upon the Rose-Douglas
case. Rally, one and all! men
and women! who have the
courage to stand by justice
and right.
Many Citizens
No formal move was taken until
January of '78 at which time, two
new Regents joined the board.
George Maltz, one of the pair,
called for appointment of Preston
B. Rose as Assistant Professor of
Physiological Chemistry. His pro-
posed salary: $1,500 per annum.
The motion - failed on a tie vote.
MALTZ, however, was not dis-
heartened. At the very next
Regents' meeting in March, he
proposed a resolution that Rose
was by no means a defaulter and
that the University should drop
its claim against him, appointing
him back to his old position with
a yearly salary of $1,800.
Maltz's motion might have
passed since one of the "pro-ad-
ministration Regents" (those op-
posed to Rose and Beal) was ab-
sent. The other three quick think-
ing pro - administration board
members walked out, destroying
the quorum necessary to enact
legislation.
In April, Maltz tried again. He
asked for the restoration of Rose
to his former job and called for
the acceptance- of a one-half in-
terest in the Beal-Steere collec-
tion in consideration of the court
decision against Beal as bondsman
for Rose.
(The Peal-Steere collection was
gathered in by Joseph Beal Steere
in a trip up the Amazon, across
the Andes and the; Pacific and
through southeastern Asia. The
archaeological, ethnological, bo-
tanical and zoological specimens
he collected are now in the Uni-
versity's Museum of Anthropol-
ogy.)
The Regents split evenly on
Maltz's proposition.
REGENT Claudius B. Giant then
rose and moved that neither
of the ill-fated professors ever be
named to any position in the Uni-
versity. A tie vote resulted here,
too.
Prof. Vander Velde, who has
examined the forty closely printed
pages of speeches - that followed
Grant's motion, says they reflect
"the role which sectarianism, class
distinction, party politics, Civil
War patriotism, personal animos-
ity and extreme emotionalism
played in the course of this bitter
episode."
Another important motion lost
by a tie vote. Regent George Duf-
field, viewing "the very peculiar
and complicated relations" of the
Great Defalcation to the legisla-
ture, asked that the whole matter
be turned over to Lansing.
The outcome of such an action
on today's administration and
policy making in the University
would have been shuddering. The
initiative seized by the legislature
in investigating internal affairs
(i.e. Douglas-Rose) the year be-
fore was bad enough. If the Re-
gents should ask the lawmakers
for "advice and further action,"
the would have established a dan-
gerous precedent for inviting con-
trol by the legislature.
"It was a universal jubilee"
ONE SHOULDN'T get the im-
pression that the Regents were
splitting on every issue. They were
able to direct actions on other
matters of great importance. In
June of 1878, they voted to reduce
the salaries of professors, teachers'
and other employees by nearly ten
and twenty per cent figures.
The cause of these cuts, re-
quested by the legislature, is not
wholly the Rose-Douglas embar-
rassment since the request ex-
tended to other schools. The.
"people's Regents" (the pro-Rose
men) used the trimmed - down
salary scale, however, as a basis
to boast of saving the state great
amounts of money. This led to a''
fairly generat belief in Ann Arbor
that the two events were closely
connected.
A final judgment of the Great
Defalcation slowly evolved out of
succeeding Regents' meetings. In
June, 1878, the board unanimously
approved the purchase of a half
of the Beal-Steere collection. The
price: full release of financial
claims on Rose.
Rose, however still had a han-
kering to be a chemistry teacher.
The joint committee of the legis-
lature came to the Regents in
February of '79. They reminded
the board of Rose's "gallantry on
How representative is Sarah Lawrence's advance publicity?
Sarah Lawrence: Offbeat Colg
EVER SINCE an article by David
Boroff entitled "Sarah Law-
rence for the Rich Bright and
Beautiful" appeared in Harper's
Magazine a little over two years
ago, considerable interest has cen-
tered on the tiny college in Bronx-
ville in Westchester County, New
York.
Boroff's article presented a ver-
bal picture of young ladies return-
ing in fall from their Italian villas
to the pretty campus where they
abandoned themselves to the pro-
cess of "expressing themselves"
with as much noise, color, smoke
and emotional overflowing as is
humanly conceivable.
Supplementing the verbal por-
trait were several ingenious line
sketches of young ladies in'ballet
slippers with long flowing hair.
Some were dancing around the
room on their toes while they,
played the 'cello, others were bal-
ancing teacups on their heads
while they held paint-brushes in
their teeth. All in nall it was a
somewhat unconventional presen-
tation of collegiate activity.
HAVING READ the article, one
approaches a visit to Sarah
Lawrence with a mixture of irre-
sistable curiosity and sheer panic,
lest she be trampled by 400 stamp-
ing ballerinas. Mulling over the
experience on the way home, the
decision is made that the school
has come miraculously close to
expectations, but that the --real
talent of the students, and the
calibre of the teaching program
has been done a great injustice.
The campus itself covers an area
not larger than two city blocks. At
the top of a hill is Westlands, the
former home of the late Mr. and
Mrs. William Van Duzer Lawrence.
An old stone mansion, this central
very new, very modern Student
Arts Center which houses an audi-
torium, dance and music studios,
a theatre workshop, lounge, book-
store and coffee shop.
Further down the hill are the
new, still uncompleted dormitory
to one side and the four old stone
dorms tq the other which house,
in addition to students, classrooms,
the college library, faculty con-
ference rooms, the publications
office and a projection room.
AT THE BOTTOM of the hill is
Bates Hall. This deceptively
small building is the nerve center
of the entire campus, containing
the college dining- room and kit-
chens, the heatng plant, faculty
and student recreation rooms, a
gymnasium, a dormitory for em-
ployes, two laboratories (one for-
biology, one for the physical sci-
ences) five art studios and a sci-
ence library.
The educational plan of Sarah
Lawrence is as paradoxical as the
contrast in its buildings. With so
few :students, a specal tutorial
system is feasible which both nar-
nows and enlarges the student's
Acope of study.
Each student has three classes
a year, which meet only once each
week. In addition to the classes,
however, is a special conference
between each girl and her instruc-
tor. Some of these conferences in-
elude three or four girls, but in
the smallest classes they are often
private.
The student, in addition to her
regulai class work, does special in-
dividualzed work for the confer-
ence which is related to but not
included in her class work. She
may pick any topic or topics which
interest her and plan a special
project approved by her teacher.
AT HER WEEKLY -conference
she discusses with the teacher]
books she has read or questions
and ideas she has about her spe-
cial topic. At the end of the semes-
ter she turns in a "contract" simi-
lar to a term paper, although
generally longer and more com-
prehensive, on her special area of
study.
One aspect of the Sarah Law-
rence system which never fails to
impress outsiders is by now taken
quite for granted by the students
there. It is the fact that there are
almost no examinations and no
grades at all.
Each girl receives a "report"
from her teachers at the end of a
semester telling her progress, her
strong and weak points and offer-
ing suggestions for further study.,
The reports are very indivdual and.
personalized, however, and while
Sarah Lawrence girls are eager to
please favorite instructors and
earn a sense of accomplishment,
they do not experience anything
akin to the anxiety of most uni-
versity students waiting for post-
cards wth a single letter grade,
scrawled on it by a professor.
THE ABSENCE OF absolute
evaluation also alleviates much
of the competitive pressure found
in other universities where stu-
dents are made constantly aware
of their rank in class -and point
a e r a + cA- a 1 T wyra-e-r h -
but are free to procede at their
own best rate without being con-
cerned with comparing themselves
to their classmates. Indeed, in-
dividual work is so diversified as
to make comparison almost im-
possible. -
For those students who may wish
to transfer to other colleges or
go on to graduate school, Sarah
Lawrence does keep a transcript
of letter grades. These are never
shown to anyone, however, unless
they are required by another insti-
tution and most Sarah Lawrence
girls have no idea what any of,
their individual grades are;
In addition to personalized at-
tention from each of her instruc-
tors, each girl has a faculty ad-
visor of "don" whom she consults
on all decisions of major impor-
tance affecting her. Most students
meet with their dons once a week
and discuss everything from
courses of study to personal prob-
lems. A girl may keep the same
don for all four years or change
as frequently as she chooses.-
PLACED IN A. situation like this,
one would expect the Sarah
Lawrence girl to become, if she
is not already, just a bit different
from the average student at say
Smith or Radcliffe or, for that
matter, the University.- Since the
tuition at Sarah Lawrence is
among the highest in the courttry,
it is only natural that the majority
of the girls come from upper
middle-class and upper class back-
grounds. Since the college is so
close to New York, a great many
students commute and many more
who live on campus come from the
New York area.
As a result of these two factors,
students tend to be'more widely
read and travelled than average,
since this is the sort of girls who
are naturally attracted to a school
with Sarah Lawrence's type of
educational program, a little more
serious.
Owing partly to the absense off
men students on campus and
largely to the emphasis on inter-
est in intellectual rather than
material considerations, the gen-
eral mode of dress at Sarah Law-
rence would make the average
University residence hall house-
mother throw up her hands in
horror.
SCHOLARSHIP STUDENTS and
daughters of movie stars and
famous authors (who must have
slightly different wardrobes at
home, as their pictures are al-
ways turning up in the society
pages of the New York Times-
when they -become debutantes)
dress alike in faded dungarees,
sweatshirts and shreded tennis
shoes which htye wear with com-
plete ease to meals and classes.
Makeup is the exception rather
than the rule. and the pictures of
the leotard-clad -dancers with the
waist-length hair in the Boroff
article are not in the least exag-
gerated. Contrary to the ideas
held by many policy-makers at
-other universities, this informality
of dress does not make for a let-
down in manners, as courtesy,.
friendliness and a genuine interest
not just in what one's friends are
dogin, but in what they are think-
ing as well is much more evident
at Sarah Lawrence than on many'
other campuses.
The aspects which make Sarah
Lawrence unique, however, also
tend to isolate the campus com-
munity and come the weekend,
everyone takes off for New York,
Pennsylvannia, New Jersey or one
Flap or Pleat
$777
r=*-------- -". 1
DISTINCTIVE DINING
For a connoisseur of fine foods, or any
hungry person,, Weber's offers the best in
dining facilities and cuisine.
Skillfully broiled szeaks and chops, won-
derful seafood, and a full selectionof wines,
champagne and beer combine to make an
evening at Weber's a delightful treat.
See you soon!
- ~
the field of battle, a limb given to
his country." They lauded him as
"a crippled patriot . . . a quiet,
meek and modest man."
TAKINGADVANTAGE of the
absence of two pro-Douglas
members, the Regents took deci-
sive action. Rose was again an
assistant professor of physiologi-
cal chemistry.
The Regents followed up the
reappointment of Rose by dis-
charging ,much of the earlier court
decree against him, claiming a_
mistake of fact. The triumph of
Rose's supporters was echoed in a
moonlight celebration:
Although the action of the
Regents, appointing Dr. Rose.
to a position in the Univer-
sity, was delayed until 11 ~
o'clock in the evening, very
soon, thereafter there was a
gathering together of the
people of the city, and the
booming of cannon and .the
lively strains of music from
the Ann Arbor band, in regu-
lar Fourth of July style, indi-
cated that it was a universal
jubilee. The crowd, led by the
band, proceeded to the resi-
dence of Dr. Rose, and gave
him a serenade to which the'r
doctor responded in a heart-
felt manner; thereupon they
formed a line of march to the
residence of R. A. Beal, the
crowd increasing in numbers
every block they went. Music,
cheering and joyful acclama-
tions called forth R. A. Beal,
(other Regents, senators, and
representatives) . . . . and
othrs hmadae s,+r an
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Plain or Pleated Front
WELL-TAt1LORED
CUFF ALTERATIONS'
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OPEN MON NIT E
'TIL. 8:30
Hours:
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3715Jackson Rd.
I
Judith Oppenheim is a
sophomore in the literary col-
lege and is majoring in sQci.
ology. She visited Sarah Law-
,.,n,,,bewe,, _,, ,....-_
I1
Sams tore
122 E. Washington
2 Miles Test
of Ann Arbor
I;1