STATEMENT OF HON. JOHN M. NELSON ON RESEARCH UNIVERSITY LETTERS FROM STUDENTS, FACULTY, ALUMNI, AND OTHERS STATING ITS SERVICES AND PERSECUTIONS Without taking the time of the committee further, I will avail myself of the permission granted at a subsequent hearing to put into the record also matter relating to Research University. My interest was aroused in this university by virtue of the fact that one of its officers, Virginia H. Saunders, is a graduate of my own university and has, with President Rapeer, been indicted, which fact the assistant prosecuting attorney, Miss McCall, has repeatedly announced in the hearings. Mrs. Saunders has for several years been registrar of Research University and came to me with the story of its service and the way in which the indictments were secured. I found that her husband is also a graduate of the University of Wisconsin and that these two people, in whom I have the greatest confidence, know very intimately the facts concerning Research University and how it has been attacked in court and in Congress by the said assistant prosecuting attorney. I I had absolutely no personal, financial, family, or other relation to the university, and I studied it intensively for a long time with open mind. The more I investigated the matter the more I was amazed at the evidence of persecution and wrongdoing on the part of those attacking the institution. felt that it was extremely important that full and conclusive evidence, largely in the form of affidavits, be put before the committee; but I find that much of the most damaging data must be reserved for the trial, if it ever comes off. We want to secure a bill, if necessary, that will eliminate the cause of further propaganda that is injuring all of the schools of Washington extremely; but we want to be sure that we do not injure more than we help and create more evils than we cure. It seems that the need for the bill has been grossly exaggerated, and the motive is less the good of education, perhaps, than selfaggrandizement. My first step was to get the judgment of those who have been connected with the university for a long time and of those who knew it intimately from many angles, both its merits and defects. I talked with the trustees, the faculty, the president, some of the students, the registrar; I visited the institution and studied its mode of work and saw the photographs of its correspondence students and of the mature men and women who have for years been studying in residence; I inquired not only of friends but of confessed enemies. The letter which President Rapeer wrote me, asking that I make the inquiry and offering to furnish a mailing list of several thousand persons who have been connected with the university and others who could criticise it effectively, is given with my own letter below. I then sent these two letters to many people as far away as Hawaii, and offer below a number of complete letters and many excerpts that are typical and which bring out various phases of the situation. The response in these letters is self-evident to any candid person. These replies are a revelation to any sincere and fair-minded person; and the criticisms received are relatively insignificant and based on mistaken notions or the prejudices aroused by the long-continued propaganda. Research University is to be congratulated on such a mature and discriminating and loyal alumni and student body. Some of the experiences date back from 1919, while others are from persons who have investigated the institution and studied with it only very recently. These persons wrote very frankly and fully from firsthand and abundant knowledge, not hearsay; and I trust that the committee will give these and the following data careful perusal and consideration. Later will be presented affidavits relating to Mrs. Saunders, to President Rapeer, and to the ways by which this institution has been undermined. As I said, much of the data could not be used because the university attorney is preserving them for the trial. You will find what are here printed both interesting and illuminating. WASHINGTON, D. C., April 30, 1928. Herewith please find a self-explanatory letter written to me by President Louis Win Rapeer, of Research University. I am asking that Congress accept an amendment to pending legislation which will safeguard the charter of this institution and thus the status of the degrees, certificates, and credits of its graduates and former and present students. An unfriendly attempt is being made by certain interests to embar rass and injure this and other institutions, mainly because a large part of the work is done by correspondence and night classes and because it has been pioneering in the experimental development of higher education. Please write me at once fully your views. What I desire is a plain and truthful statement of the work carried on by the university, its service to you or others, and its promise of usefulness to the teaching profession and the Nation. Is the instruction of high standard and faithfully done? How does the instruction compare with that usually given by the lecture and other methods in colleges? Are the credit requirements equal to or above those of the institutions with which you are familiar? Are credits based on carefully safeguarded examinations and even on residence and attendance here for those who desire degrees? Have you any knowledge whatever of anything done by the president, registrar, trustees, or faculty of which there can be any legitimate public complaint? Does the Nation need at least one experimental university at the National Capital? I thank you for a prompt and full reply. Hon. JOHN M. NELSON, Washington, D. C. JOHN M. NELSON, M. C., RESEARCH UNIVERSITY, Washington, D. C., April 30, 1928. MY DEAR CONGRESSMAN NELSON: I am pleased to see your genuine concern for the betterment of education in the District and the Nation. Floods of bills are foisted each session on Congress; and it is as important to kill or amend bad bills as to pass good legislation. State Superintendent Schaeffer, of Pennsylvania, used to say that his principal obligation to the schools for a part of each year was to prevent bad and foolish laws, and to serve as the ichneumon of the Nile when it found, dug up, and destroyed crocodile eggs before they hatched into life-destroying beasts. The future welfare of Research University, its graduates, former students, and present and prospective students, has been put in jeopardy by the bill to give the licensing of incorporated schools to the Board of Education and, retroactively, to affect the very existence of worthy institutions incorporated here for many years. To give over the charter control of a university to a local school board is dangerous and unwise, especially when plentiful legal means for the control of higher education in the District are available. The 20 or more arguments against it, which you have so admirably summed up, effectively meet the issue. If any such legislation is approved it must contain exemption of this institution, which for nearly 10 years has at great sacrifice been developing a great service to adults who need to complete their education. Without endowment and with very low tuition, we first built up an evening university along experimental and advanced lines that met the needs of many hundreds of men and women of the region, and then, at great cost of time and energy, developed superior extension service by correspondence for school men, including teachers, superintendents, principals, and professors of education. High standards have been maintained; and all candidates for degrees have to do work and pass final examinations here in residence. Many of our graduates and former students are teaching in other universities or superintending schools or are in Government positions in which they would be very greatly injured if their alma mater were injured. The prospect of such injury, as you have shown, is clear and definite, as our trustees, faculty, and local students easily perceive. We have been making the great sacrifice to render this service, until our endowment and consequent accrediting were increased, because of our sacred obligation to those who have received degrees, certificates, and credit for courses here. If you will write to these persons they will write to their Congressmen to amend this proposed bill of Senator Capper and Representative Gibson and will tell you of the exceptional opportunities and services which Research University gave them or others and which it must be enabled to continue to give pereptually-a beacon light for educational research and progress in America. They are only waiting to do what they can to help. Very truly yours, LOUIS W. RAPEER, President. Complete Letters from Students, Graduates, and Others Hon. JOHN M. NELSON, M. C., House of Representatives, Washington, D. C. HON. JOHN M. NELSON, M. C.: I can faithfully and honestly say that the type and kind of work conducted by Research University of Washington, D. C., is of a high standard and is also well done. In quality the instruction of this institution is equal to the lecture method, recitation, research, or experimental work of institutions of university rank. In quantity the requirements exceed in most intsances those of institutions which have all the work done in residence. I have done more work in this institution than any other that I have attended for the same number of credits. The credits are properly safeguarded by an examination in absentia on extension work and another examination at the institution in residence. The institution requires a portion of the work done in residence for those who are working for degrees. Many students go to the institution for conference periods on work at various intervals. This attendance requirement in residence and the giving of examination in residence at this time carefully safeguards the matter of examinations upon which credits are based. I am sure that I know no reason for public complaint of anything whatever done by the president, registrar, trustees, or faculty. I feel that the Nation has a need for at least one experimental university at the National Capital. I most heartily and earnestly indorse your amendment to the pending legislation that will safeguard the charter of Research University and the status of the degrees, certificates, and credits of its graduates and present students. I have my bachelor's degree from the College of Wooster, my master's degree from the University of Wisconsin, and have been superintendent of schools for 21 years, with additional 5 years of teaching. With this experience in educational work, I am fully persuaded that Research University is making it possible for many a person who is limited in means and must be employed the major portion of his time to secure a higher education. I have worked my way through school from the beginning, with no financial help whatever; and the aid of such an institution of high standards and good efficiency, where work may be carried on partly in residence and partly in extension, makes it possible for me to work out my doctor's degree. An institution of high standards of this type should be maintained to meet this need of a great number of such men who are at work in the schools of our Nation. In this way I feel that Research University is rendering a great service to our general educational program by giving up-to-date and efficient training to many superintendents and principals. The research work and the experimental work done by this institution are of an exceptionally high character and are worthy of due recognition. I certainly am strongly opposed to any pending legislation that will put the future welfare of Research University in jeopardy. I indorse your amendment, which will safeguard the charter of Research University. With best wishes, I remain Yours truly, J. A. GERBERICH, 204 East Jackson Street, Millersburg, Ohio. FEDERAL BOARD FOR VOCATIONAL EDUCATION, MY DEAR MR. NELSON: On return to the office I find a circular letter from you under date of April 30, relative to Research University, located in this city. At the time I was familiar with the work of Research University the instruction was of high standard and faithfully done. The faculty was composed of men who were then in the employ of various departments of the Federal Government. They were men who had had unusual academic preparation in our larger universities and were then doing notable work as employees of the Government. The instruction in the institution at that time compared very favorably with the usual methods employed in our colleges and universities which carry on evening instruction. The credit requirements were based upon the same credit requirements as are found at Chicago University and like institutions. Credits in the institution were based on carefully safeguarded examinations and on residence and attendance here in Washington for those who were working for degrees. I have no knowledge whatever of anything done by the president, registrar, trustees, or faculty of which there could be any legitimate public complaint. I am confident in saying that Doctor Rapeer was about 25 years ahead of his time in his plans for the institution. The fact of the matter is, he conducted the institution as would our leading educators if they were not bound down by academic traditions. I should say that the Nation needs at least one experimental university at the National Capital. Very truly yours, C. H. LANE, Chief Agricultural Education Service. WASHINGTON, D. C., May 29, 1928. Hon. JOHN M. NELSON, United States Capitol, Washington, D. C. MY DEAR CONGRESSMAN NELSON: I have taught for 30 years in colleges and have for seven years been a professor of education at Anderson College and a summer instructor at Furman University, South Carolina. For 20 years I taught at Berea College in Kentucky; and during my entire career I have specialized in education and allied subjects, especially in the supervision of teachers. The highest degree I could get at Berea was that of bachelor of science in education. I had long known of Dr. L. W. Rapeer as a leader in education and an author of standard works for teachers; and one of my associates at Anderson College, Mr. Holliday, now president of Millersburg Woman's College, Kentucky, told me in recent years that he had studied in residence at Research University when he was president of a school in Virginia and that I could get exceptionally good training in residence and by correspondence with Research University and thus go forward to the degree of master of education, from which I had been kept by my need of money to support dependents. I taught summer and winter, except for a year off at Peabody College, where Berea College paid me my salary. Consequently, the opportunity to study for a degree that seemed necessary for promotion and change to better positions seemed providential, and I gladly availed myself of the opportunity to investigate Research University. The result was that I registered and have been studying, by correspondence, educational statistics, educational research, educational supervision, etc., and have learned that these graduate courses are exceptionally thorough and well organized. I did not know that they could be so educative and could take so much time and effort. Certainly anyone who completes a subject with Research University knows his subject better and is able to use it with more facility than most people in classes in colleges. During the past year I have taken an extension course in classes from Columbia University, and I find the level of training and methods on the same high plane. Of course, in correspondence work one must do every part of an assignment himself. I have been in residence also at Research University and know that no one can get a degree there without being in residence and without meeting the very highest standards. If anyone who was doubtful would just take a course and go through the final and other examinations he would realize the effectiveness of this institution. Research University is meeting a great need of educators over the country and is helping many like myself from blind alleys. Very truly yours, M. ADELIA FOX. SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS OF ALLAMAKEE COUNTY, DEAR MR. NELSON: I have your letter of inquiry concerning Research University, Washington, D. C. I am taking five courses in the Research University and find the work first class in every respect and ranking very high. The texts used are the same as 108282-28-PT 28 the ones used in the University of Iowa and the University of Minnesota, and I suppose the other universities. I completed a correspondence course in law and have taken other correspondence courses. Research University gives exceptionally good work and equal to any work I have examined. It is surely doing a great amount of good, and I consider it ranks up to the extension work being done in our leading universities. Very truly yours, W. L. PECK, Superintendent of Schools. THE NEW JERSEY STATE COUNCIL OF CHURCHES, Hon. JOHN M. NELSON, M. C., Washington, D. C. MY DEAR SIR: It is with great concern for the future of educational research and of pedagogical progress that I write to urge upon the Congress the enactment of the amendment to safeguard the charter of Research University of Washington, D. C., Dr. Louis W. Rapeer, president. The history, work, influence, and prospects of this institution are unique. I have taken many courses at a number of different institutions during my half century of life, and with none have I been better pleased than with the work which I have been doing with Research University. New York State normal schools, Temple University of Philadelphia, Drew Theological Seminary of New Jersey, and New York University are among the institutions at which I have studied. I am particularly interested in religious education. And I have taught several years in public and private schools. Research University has opened to me a new world of practical educational theory and practice. With all the emphasis at my command, I say that it should go on unhampered and unhindered. I have worked harder at the courses here taken than with almost any taken in all my life. Doctor Rapeer takes great care to deal with each individual and does it in a way which is not possible in the crowded classrooms of the ordinary institution. One soon comes to feel that he is in close touch with the institution and that he is receiving personal and special attention. I can not tell you how much this means to the student, especially the graduate student. Individual initiative is encouraged and each student gets at his instructors with his questions, problems, and ideas in a surer way than he can do in a crowd. The ordinary lecture method stuffs" one with facts and ideas, but the Research University method develops research, reflection, judgment, and invention to an altogether unusual degree. Research University students take their examinations at the university itself and under the eye of the officers. Examinations are as uniquely personal as is instruction. Students could not possibly get away with deception or tricks, as is very often the case in crowded examination halls. Of course the class of students accepted for work at Research do not wish to "get away with anything. The entire history of the institution and conduct of those connected with it is, I am sure, above question or reproach. The United States certainly should have at its center such an institution as this. In the hands of Doctor Rapeer-a widely known teacher of teachers and author of educational works of great merit-the university is destined to play a large part in a field where original thought, personal deve opment, and individual initiative are absolutely essential to progress. And the Capital City of our country is the precise place where that institution should be located. The growing alumni of the university greatly appreciate your efforts in its behalf. In course of time we shall be able to help put it on a better footing as to endowment and equipment. It is comparatively young, but it is already highly useful and greatly needed. I searched for some time before deciding to take work here, but am more than pleased with my choice. Yours respectfully, JOHN H. EARLE, Pastor. WASHINGTON, D. C., May 10, 1928. DEAR SIR: I have a copy of your letter of April 30, 1928, requesting information concerning the work done by Research University. I became a member of the faculty of Research University in the fall of 1922 and took charge of the chair of geology. I have the degrees of LL. B., LL. M., |