THOMAS EVANS COULTON. A City College in Action. Pp. xix, 233. New York: Harper and Brothers, 1955. $3.50. GAIL KENNEDY (Ed.). Education at Amherst. Pp. xi, 330. New York: Harper and Brothers, 1955. $4.00

• Author: Francis J. Brown
• Published date: 01 March 1956
• Date: 01 March 1956
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/000271625630400152
• Subject Matter: Articles

173

should

be

grateful

to

Professor

MacIver

for

the

book

he

has

written,

which

has

in

it

much

valuable

information

and

which

forthrightly

advances

the

debate

on

behalf

of

a

maximization

of

intellectual

freedom.

MILTON

R.

KONVITZ

Ithaca,

New

York

THOMAS

EVANS

COULTON.

A

City

College

in

Action.

Pp.

xix,

233.

New

York:

Harper

and

Brothers,

1955.

$3.50.

GAIL

KENNEDY

(Ed.).

Education

at

Am-

herst.

Pp.

xi,

330.

New

York:

Harper

and

Brothers,

1955.

$4.00.

These

intimate

studies

of

two

very

dif-

ferent

types

of

institutions

of

higher

edu-

cation

bring

into

sharp

relief

both

their

differences

and

their

common

goals.

The

subtitle

and

the

content

of

each

reflects

the

differences.

The

former,

Struggle

and

Achievement

at

Brooklyn

College,

1930-

1955

is

a

description

of

the

interrelation-

ship

of

a

municipal

institution

and

the

community

it

serves

and

a

candid

analysis

of

several

basic

and

highly

explosive

issues;

the

development

and

expulsion

of

Commu-

nist

influences

in

the

college,

the

impact

of

World

War

II,

&dquo;Basketball

and

the

Smart

Money,&dquo;

and

the

influence

of

pres-

sure

groups.

Under

the

chapter

title,

&dquo;Everybody’s

Business,&dquo;

the

author

de-

scribes

the

activities

of the

American

Civil

Liberties

Union

and

its

Academic

Freedom

Committee,

the

Americans

for

Democratic

Action

and

Students

for

Democratic

Ac-

tion,

and

the

Joint

Committee

Against

Communism.

The

latter,

The

New

Program

is

a

de-

scription

of

the

recommendations

of

Am-

herst’s

Faculty

Committee

on

Long

Range

Policy

and

their

implementation

over

ap-

proximately

the

same

period

of time.

There

were

issues

also

at

Amherst,

but

with

one

exception

they

were

internal

is-

sues

growirig

out

of

departmental

interests

and

differences

in

educational

philosophy.

The

exception

was

the

Committee’s

recom-

mendation

that

national

fraternities

be

abolished

because

they

were

&dquo;anti-democra-

tic&dquo;

and

&dquo;anti-intellectual.&dquo;

When

a

poll

of the

alumni

showed

overwhelming

oppo-

sition

to

their

abolition,

they

were

per-

mitted

to

continue

but

under

greater

con-

trol

by

the

College.

Two

fraternities

with-

drew from

their

national

organizations

and

became

local

in

order

to

eliminate

the

racial

discrimination

policy

of

the

national

organization.

The

account

of

Brooklyn

College

is

pri-

marily

one

of

the

institutions

response

to

external

forces;

the

Amherst

report

is

pri-

marily

one

of

internal

development:

The

two

are

complimentary

to

each

other.

There

is,

however,

much

basic

similarity

in

these

two

interesting

accounts

of de-

velopments

in

higher

education

since

1935.

Both

reflect

the

leadership

of

able

presi-

dents,

their

support

of

faculty

policies,

and

their

concern

for

the

total

welfare

of

the

students.

Issues

in

both

institutions

were

resolved

by

frank

discussion

and

demo-

cratic

procedure.

Both

portray

the

earnest

efforts

of

conscientious

faculties

to

seek

ways

to

retain

the

basic

values

of

a

liberal

education

in

the

face

of

internal

and

exter-

nal

pressures.

Both

volumes

emphasize

the

need

for

closer

co-ordination

of

the

curricu-

lum

and

student

activities

and

that

student

responsibility

must

go

hand

in

hand

with

student

rights.

Perhaps

most

important

is

the

common

faith

of

the

faculties

of

these

institutions

that

higher

education

has

a

grave

responsibility

not

only

to

each

in-

dividual

student

but

to

the

nation

and

the

world.

Those

who

now

seek

to

point

up

the

preferential

values

of

public

or

of

private

higher

education

will

do

well

to

read

these

two

interesting

volumes-Amherst

estab-

lished in

1821

by

the

Congregational

Church

and

Brooklyn

College

created

by

the

New

York

State

Education

Law

in

1930.

In a

study

of

the

fifty

leading

sources

of

American

scholars,

Brooklyn

College

was

listed

immediately

following

Amherst.

FRANCIS

J.

BROWN

American

Council

on

Education

GEORGE

D.

SPINDLER

(Ed.).

Education

and

Anthropology.

Pp.

xxviii,

302.

Stanford,

Calif.:

Stanford

University

Press,

1955.

$5.50.

Both

educators

and

anthropologists

have

a

twofold

common

core

of

interest:

the

role

of the

individual

as a

member

of

a

social

group

and

the

influence

of

group

behaviors,

norms,

and

values

on

the

indi-