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Guide to the Edward Alsworth Ross Papers
SC0110
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Call Number: SC0110
Creator:
Ross, Edward Alsworth, 1866-1951.
Title: Edward Alsworth Ross papers
Dates: 1892-1970
Physical Description:
1 Linear feet
Summary: Correspondence about Professor Ross' dismissal, including
resignation letters of faculty departing in protest, newsclipings, pamphlets, and
pamphlets by Ross.
Language(s): The materials are in English.
Repository:
Department of Special Collections and University Archives
Stanford University Libraries
557 Escondido Mall
Stanford, CA 94305-6064
Email: speccollref@stanford.edu
Phone: (650) 725-1022
URL: http://www-sul.stanford.edu/depts/spc/spc.html
Sources varied.
This collection is open for research.
All requests to reproduce, publish, quote from, or otherwise use collection materials
must be submitted in writing to the Head of Special Collections and University
Archives, Stanford University Libraries, Stanford, California 94304-6064. Consent is
given on behalf of Special Collections as the owner of the physical items and is not
intended to include or imply permission from the copyright owner. Such permission
must be obtained from the copyright owner, heir(s) or assigns. See:
http://library.stanford.edu/depts/spc/pubserv/permissions.html.
Restrictions also apply to digital representations of the original materials. Use of
digital files is restricted to research and educational purposes.
Edward Alsworth Ross Papers (SC0110). Department of Special Collections and
University Archives, Stanford University Libraries, Stanford, Calif.
Biographical/Historical Sketch
In the late 1890s, sociology professor Edward A. Ross gained notoriety following several
years of political activism in favor of the free silver movement, municipal ownership of
utilities (including the railroads), and Japanese exclusion. While Mrs. Stanford found
his opinions personally objectionable, her main concern was the reputation of the
univeristy which, she felt, would be damaged by hasty espousal of political and social
fads. The founders had intended the university to be free from the pressures of
political partisanship; the apolitical nature of the university was now endangered by
Ross's activities. Publicly, Mrs. Stanford affirmed President Jordan's power as defined
in the Founding Grant to "remove professors and teachers at will," giving him full
responsibility for clearing up the matter; however, privately, she pressed for Ross's
dismissal. She disagreed with Ross's economic theories and was indignant about the idea
of municipal ownership of the railroads, but she was particularly shocked by his
anti-Japanese stand. Mrs. Stanford identified such attitudes with the earlier
anti-Chinese movement instigated by Dennis Kearny and its resulting "reign of terror"
which had pervaded San francisco. Ross, she felt, was a racist.
Mrs. Stanford wished Ross to go quietly, as a gentleman; President Jordan surmised that
the activist had little intention of doing so. A man whose administrative style had
strongly impressed the academic community, Jordan now vacillated between pleas ing Mrs.
Stanford and upholding his image. After several confused attempts at compromise, which
engendered misunderstandings between Jordan, Mrs. Stanford, and Ross regarding the
latter's reappointment to the faculty, Jordan finally asked Ross to resign in November
1900.
To ensure public sympathy, Ross promptly issued his version of the dismissal to the
press on November 14, 1900. He had been dismissed arbitrarily by Mrs. Stanford, he
declared, over the opposition of President Jordan. The actual roots of dissension were
immediately blurred by extreme public reaction to the touted issue of academic freedom.
The entire matter proved to be greatly embarrassing to the university, particularly to
its President. Mrs. stanford was thenceforth disturbed by the notoriety the university
received from the incident. Having assumed that in her absence (she was traveling in
Europe) Jordan would handle the situation discreetly and with dispatch, she failed to
understand that Jordan had no control over Ross's continuing press statements. Her trust
in Jordan was shaken; following the incident, she increasingly questioned his actions in
the areas of salaries, hiring, planned growth of the academic program, and faculty
control of student conduct.
For more detail on the Ross Affair, see: Elliott, Orrin Leslie.
Stanford University the First Twentv-five Years; Mohr, James C. "Academic
Turmoil and Publ ic Opinion: The Ross Case at Stanford,"
Pacific
Historical Review
, v . 29, #1 (Feb. 1970) pp. 39-61.
Correspondence about Professor Ross' dismissal, including resignation letters of faculty
departing in protest, newsclipings, pamphlets, and pamphlets by Ross.
Howard, George E.
Jordan, David Starr, 1851-1931
Ross, Edward Alsworth, 1866-1951.
Stanford University. Dept. of Sociology
--Faculty.
Stanford, Jane Lathrop, 1828-1905.
Stillman, John Maxson, 1852-1923.
Academic freedom
Clippings.
Pamphlets
Ross Affair.