![]() ![]() Founded in 1915, the association’s primary purpose is “to advance academic freedom.” The organization still regularly investigates violations of academic freedom, including what happened at Hamline University.Īfter months of investigation, the AAUP published its report. Steward appealed to the Association of American University Professors for assistance. Steward and Gipson both set to work to widely publicize Steward’s dismissal. He accused Steward of writing a “racy” novel and of being sympathetic with a student strike a month earlier.Īngered, Steward immediately dashed off a telegram to Gipson: “Discharged by God Holland for writing a racy novel … I have no regrets whatsoever despite the fact his methods were those of Hitler but think I will take up stenography.” Holland informed Steward his contract would not be renewed. Three weeks later, however – and just hours before he left campus for the summer – Washington State’s president, Ernest O. ![]() Earlier that spring, he had been verbally assured that he would receive another one-year contract. The head of the English department told Steward his book contained “unsavory material” and that Steward’s position “would undoubtedly prove very embarrassing” to the college.ĭespite this, Steward still planned to return to teach classes the following autumn. Steward sent an urgent telegram to Gipson asking him to stop selling the book on campus: “A young poor man with only one job asks that you withdraw his novel … because his departmental head and dean hint at his discharge.”Ĭaxton had advertised the book as “not appeal to the less liberal mind.” This “alarmed several people,” according to Steward. Yet, as Steward noted in an interview during the 1970s, the book was “very tame – reading like ‘Little Women’ by today’s standards.” The publication of ‘Angels on the Bough’ prompted Washington State College to not renew Steward’s contract. After an editorial review, Caxton Printers agreed to publish Steward’s novel, “Angels on the Bough,” which told the story of a small group of characters and their intertwined lives in a college town. He worked to find a publisher and contacted a small firm in rural Idaho. The following year, Washington State College – now Washington State University – hired Steward to teach classes on a one-year contract.Īn aspiring writer, Steward drafted his first novel while still a graduate student. in English in 1934 from Ohio State University. A book met with backlashĪ native of the Midwest, Steward earned his Ph.D. More than 80 years ago, an English professor named Samuel Steward was dismissed from his teaching position after publishing what his college’s president deemed a “racy” novel.Īs an archivist and scholar studying publishing in the American West, I’ve located published and unpublished archival sources detailing the controversy surrounding Steward after he published his first novel, which ultimately cost him his job.
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