TOWARD A BETTER WORLD

From time to time the University has been accused of being impervious to suggestions for reform that come from below. That this is not necessarily so is shown again, for only satisfaction can be felt with Mr. Conant's adoption of the recommendations of the special faculty committee with regard to policy, tenure, and promotion of teachers. Now the road is paved for those whose ideas are not completely orthodox or whose teaching position is not fully assured.

If there is any speck that could mar the efficient working out of these improvements, it is in that slight word "flexibility" which is not seldom used to cover a multitude of sins and open a fortress of loop-holes. The worth of the adoption of the suggestion is to be tested by the amount of leeway allowed. True it is that there are many situations where set rules cannot be applied,--where inefficiency or injustice would be the result. But care must be taken that what start out as exceptions to general principles now subscribed to do not become the rule.

Claiming the support of the Faculty as a whole, Mr. Conant should be able to see in the future a new flowering in all the departments of the College. Increased security undoubtedly will spike scholarly inhibitions and will produce a livening influence into even the most stolid of them. And this in turn will be related through the introduction of new methods into the undergraduates themselves, which after all, is quite an important consideration.