The Metaphysical Club: A Story of Ideas in America Chapter Summary & Analysis - Part 5, Chapter 15 Freedoms, Section 3 Summary

Part 5, Chapter 15 Freedoms, Section 3 Summary

University presidents or board of trustees did not accept the creation of the American Association of University Professors. They still gave warnings and fired faculty they deemed were not expressing the views the college wanted to teach.

This became worse with the start of World War 1. Cattell was fired from Columbia University because he sent a personal letter to his senator on his own time. Dewey fought for him because as a citizen it was his right to send the letter. Others were fired when the university believed they were teaching views that were unpatriotic. When this happened, many faculty members would resign in protest.

Part 5, Chapter 15 Freedoms, Section 3 Analysis

The reader is shown that even with the creation of the American Association of University Professors, these men did not have job security. They lived by the whims of the president and board of trustees.