Education: Reed Tries Again

When Duncan S. Ballantine was appointed its president in 1952, Oregon’s Reed College got its fifth new administration in just twice as many years. Long noted for its lively liberalism, Reed sometimes seems to carry freedom almost to the point of chaos. Last week, after only two years, Duncan Ballantine had quit.

A lanky, boyish-looking man of 41, Ballantine has a Ph.D. from Harvard, seems the sort of scholarly man any scholarly college would want. But other colleges do not share Reed’s almost fanatical belief in the power of the faculty and student body. Example: when Ballantine suggested that the faculty council should not have the final say on faculty salaries, his suggestion was rejected. Last June, without consulting the faculty, Ballantine temporarily suspended an art professor for refusing to answer questions before the Velde Committee. By a 38-9 vote, the faculty passed a resolution expressing a “grave weakening” of confidence in the president.

Last week the trustees picked as president Frank L. Griffin, 73, former mathematics professor. And the question still remains, said Duncan Ballantine bitterly, “does Reed really want a president?”