Battle of St. Paul

Not since Wisconsin's former Governor Philip La Follette ousted the late Glenn Frank as president of the University of Wisconsin in 1937 has there been such a fight in the world of education as was on last week in Minnesota.

Minnesota's Commissioner of Education, John Gunderson Rockwell, is a tall, razory man, sharp-nosed, sharp-witted, sharp-tempered. U. S. educators know him as a ball of fire. In his six years as Commissioner, he has pioneered many an educational experiment, made many an enemy, battled many a politician. Last week John Rockwell was fighting for his official life against Minnesota's Governor Harold Stassen.

The battle began last summer when the State Board of Education, four of whose five members had been appointed by Governor Stassen, started a purge of Mr. Rockwell's staff. First it fired Eugene Debs Carstater, director of vocational education, for "insubordination" and "inefficiency." The State Civil Service Board found the charges against him flimsy, ordered him reinstated. Commissioner Rockwell declared that the real reasons for ousting him were that: 1) Carstater was friendly to labor, 2) the Stassen administration wanted to get its hands on $1,000,000 allotted to the State by the U. S. Government for defense training. Thereupon the Board of Education suspended Mr. Rockwell.

This raised such a storm that the board held a public hearing in St. Paul. Its counsel asked Mr. Rockwell whether it was true that he had had Negro guests at his house. The 350 spectators, mostly Rockwell partisans, booed. Said Rockwell: "Yes. ... I never draw the color line." Said the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People: "We are astounded that Minnesota with its liberal traditions should indulge in such Hitler-like . . . appeal to racial prejudice."

The board hastily adjourned, started over again. It drew up specific charges against Rockwell, appointed a referee to hear them. Some charges:

> Rockwell sometimes swore at his assistants.

> A subordinate once told a rural school supervisor that Mr. Rockwell "wanted us to go out and preach the sharing of the wealth."

> A farmer complained to his county school superintendent of a Rockwell experiment: "My daughter yesterday studied Eskimos from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. I don't give a -- about Eskimos. If you can't teach my daughter to read and write, send her home and I will."

Last week the board rested its case against Mr. Rockwell and his counsel began to call prominent witnesses in his defense. Said Dr. Ernest 0. Melby, dean of Northwestern University's School of Education: "Artful use of profanity is an asset to higher education."

Despite the protests of educators, labor and the Minneapolis-St. Paul press, dopesters predicted that the board would fire Rockwell anyway.

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