American colleges have given so liberally of men

in the work of the war that college administrations have been obliged to accept certain very special responsibilities concerning them. For one thing there is probably no college of any importance in the country that is not preparing files for a special war record, of its students and alumni. For the men who went abroad in the volunteer ambulance service their colleges have from the first served in many ways as clearing house.

Now, as American college men begin to throng France, further organized measures are being taken by their various Almae Matres to insure their spiritual and physical well-being while temporarily relieved of service at the front, or permanently stationed in Paris; and to keep open between them and the home folks the widest possible channel of communication,—and this particularly in the case of sickness or accident.

The means provided is the American; University Union in Europe, an organization constituted in New York last summer and already in operation in both Paris and London. In the former city, however, are the actual headquarters. Here has been chartered the recently built Royal Palace Hotel in the heart of the boulevards and hence immediately accessible. The hotel is operated virtually as a university club of which all men connected with the colleges supporting the movement are rated as members.

To them is open free use of reading rooms and lounge and, what is perhaps more important, access to a board of directors and secretaries who have gone abroad as representatives of American colleges and universities for the express purpose of conducting the Union.

Under the aegis of the Union furthermore, several of the large universities are establishing special bureaus each in charge of a representative whose chief duty will be to maintain records of the men of the institution concerned, to visit them in case of trouble, and to act as personal and first hand intermediary between a man and his home people in case emergency need arises.

Forty or more colleges and universities, —Dartmouth among the first,— have paid the sustaining fee and thereby become members of the Union. It is gratifying, too, to note that Mr. Edward Tuck, representing the College has accepted the chairmanship of the Union's Advisory Council in Paris.

Funds for Dartmouth's participation in the Union, which is primarily of personal moment to undergraduates and alumni, have been supplied through the agency of the Alumni Council from the ever useful Alumni Fund. The fee for a college of the size of Dartmouth is $250. For the present, at least, Dartmouth and others of the colleges will content themselves with that general membership in the Union which entitles-students and graduates abroad to its privileges, and will not attempt the maintenance of a special representative.

To several of the older New England group, however, Harvard has generously extended the cooperative utilization of the bureau which the University is establishing at the Union. Mr. Chalmers Clifton is now sailing to take charge of that work. By virtue of Harvard's courtesy, Mr. Clifton will give personal attention not only to Harvard requirements but, as well, to those of Amherst, Bowdoin, Dartmouth and Williams. As the work of his bureau increases, however, it will be for these colleges either individually, or in combination to send him assistance on their own account.

One of the most graceful and appropriate gifts which the College has received is that of the two silk flags—the American stars and stripes and the green flag of the College—presented on successive Commencements by James W. Newton of the Class of 1886. Up to the time when Mr. Newton's generous thought supplied the omission the College had possessed no official flag. That now provided bears simply on a field of green the College seal wrought in gold, the same device appearing on both sides of the flag. It is unusually rich, dignified and effective in appearance. In accepting Mr. Newton's gift, the trustees have likewise accepted his design as official. In a short time now it is expected that the flag of the nation arid the flag of the College will adorn the great stairway of Parkhurst Hall.

It is well worth while to recall attention to a vote of the Board of Trustees passed at its June meeting and reported at length in THE MAGAZINE for August (pages, 409-10). In substance this vote provides: first, assurance to the member of the Dartmouth faculty that his tenure of office shall not be dislocated without ample warning; second, the machinery, consisting of an authorized faculty committee, which shall insure consultation between faculty and trustees as to appointments and reappointments in the higher teaching grades; third, procedure whereby any one of the officers of instruction who may, by some possibility, be marked for demotion or dismissal shall be given a written statement of reasons and the privilege- of an investigation of his case by a committee of his fellows.

The action of the trustees has been haled in some quarters as a direct recognition of the principle of "academic freedom." It is doubtful, however, that the trustees, individually or collectively, felt that way about it. "Academic freedom" means too many things to be given formal recognition with ensuing comfort and safety to the recognizers. In one case it implies a man's right to pursue, unhampered, a given line of scientific investigation and to report his findings; in another, his right, without fear of consequence, to promulgate unaccepted, and perhaps unacceptable, opinions; in another, his right to continue, undisturbed, as a somnolent and ineffective teacher; in yet another, merely the right to make a spectacle of himself, using the College as a stage upon which his performances will attract attention. Its universality of application makes the term a handy defensive weapon not too readily to be approved by pacifical conventions.

What the trustees have done is to provide a guarantee that their procedure under a charter that gives them autocratic powers shall be liberal and human. Yet there is no assurance that the recommendations of the authorized faculty committee will be invariably, or even occasionally, accepted. To have given that would be to place in faculty hands ultimate authority, and, in so doing, to contravene the charter, which requires of the trustees: "that they elect, nominate and appoint so many Tutors and Professors . . . as they shall . . . think needful . . . and shall at any time displace and discharge from the service of said Dartmouth College any or all such officers, and elect others."

That ancient document is not something lightly to be disregarded or set aside. As Doctor Francis Brown, solemnly declared in handing it into the care of President Hopkins, newly inaugurated, "it is a royal decree of incorporation—proven valid under the Re- public. It is good law, and good history, and good religion. It has been through the fire. Guard it, as your life." But the ruthless authority granted need not be ruthlessly applied, and will not be.

The formal and really superficial, aspects of the matter are of minor importance however, compared with the substantial fact that the action of the trustees recognizes the absolute necessity of close cooperation between those legally responsible for the well-being of the College and those who are entrusted with the complicated task of actually carrying out policies conditioned by the terms of foundation, of subsequent endowments and of slowly accreted tradition, or agreed upon as offering a consistent plan of approach to desirable social ends. The spirit here means infinitely more than the letter. It is radiant with cordiality and trust, and is worthy of acceptance as evidence of the growing intimacy of association among all the forces working for the fulfilment of Dartmouth College.

Dartmouth men responsive to the world's need are scattered through the United States and Europe in active military or special civilian service of the nation. It is of the highest importance that a record of their work be preserved. THE ALUMNI MAGAZINE, the College Registrar and the Secretary of the Alumni Association are cooperating to secure information of alumni war activities, to publish digests of it, and to insure its filing in permanent form.

From month to month THE MAGAZINE will publish lists giving available information to date. Since the recording officers of the College and of the Alumni Association will make use of these data and will supplement them, it may earnestly be hoped that readers of THE MAGAZINE will scan its published lists not merely for their own information and satisfaction, but with a view to offering corrections of mistakes and reminders of omissions.