PROFESSORIAL APPOINTMENTS.

Evening Star, Issue 18051, 19 August 1922, Page 3

PROFESSORIAL APPOINTMENTS.

TO THE EDITOR. Sir, —In. your issue of five 17th inst. you published a letter on this topic from a correspondent signing himself “ Represen - tative.” What the Professorial Board respectfully suggested to the University Council, and what the council did about it, will be found dn the report of the council meeting in your issue of the 16th inst. Anyone who reads your correspondent's letter without having read the report will form a wrong impression both as to the board’s suggestion and the council's action. Both are misrepresented by " Representative. ’ ’ One example will indicate the extent of the misrepresentation. Your correspondent askh rhetorically, “ Why should a professor of geology or chemistry be de facto capable of giving an expert opinion on the merits of a professor of, say, political economy ?” How far the board was from suggesting anything so absurd may be judged from the fact that its memorandum contained this sentence: “No one can form a correct estimate except an expert dn the subject concerned.” What the board actually did was : —(1) It pointed out that in a number of cases the system of appointment now in vogue involved the taking of expert advice; (2) it submitted that the system of appointment should l in all cases provide tor the taking of expert advice; (3) it did not suggest that the professors qua professors should be consulted as to appointments; (4) it suggested that experts be consulted, and that members of the council, members of the board, or persons not on either body should be eligible to act as such expert advisers. Appointments to lectureships in the law professional subjects are, and always have been, made by the University Council only after taking expert advice—namely, that of the council of the Otago Law Society. I believe this to be a proper system. In my opinion it would be a gain to the University if the principle involved were applied to all appointments. I therefore voted for the resolution of the boat’d, and I object to that resolution being misrepresented as an absurdity even by an anonymous correspondent.—l am, etc., J. B. C ALLAN, JUN. August 19.