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Record Group: 1 C Record Sub-Group: 8 Records Title: UMC; Administration; President Stratton Duluth Brooks (1923-1930); Stratton D. Brooks Scrapbooks and Newspaper Clippings Dates: 1923-1930 Volume: 1/6 cubic foot, 0.2 linear foot Scope and Content Note (A91-121) Historical Note: A "Sex Questionnaire" was initiated while Professor DeGraff was teaching a course on aspects of, "The Family". Professor Meyer's undergraduate assistant and member of the class research committee, O. H. Mowrer, constructed a questionnaire to be distributed to about six hundred students, for anonymous reply. Three of the questions included dealt with attitudes toward extramarital sexual relations (see FF #4 for a copy of the questionnaire). In the resultant uproar President Brooks recommended to the Board of Curators that DeGraff and Meyer be dismissed. DeGraff was dismissed and Meyer suspended for a year. Shortly after Meyer returned to his teaching duties at MU, he made an address to the Southern Society of Psychology and Sociology which was sharply critical of the Board. After another hearing, Meyer was dismissed from his position as Professor of experimental psychology; his insubordination was noted as the reason.
The University's Board of Curators was sensitive to the embarrassment caused by the sex survey as well as the firings of Meyer and DeGraff. In reaction, on April 5, 1930, the University of Missouri Board of Curators voted unanimously to replace President Brooks and appointed Walter Williams as his successor. Series Descriptions: This Record Sub-Group is divided into two record series. Series One contains news clippings and other personal memorabilia relating to Brooks' Inauguration as University President in 1923. Series Two holds a scrapbook of materials relating to the questionnaire and prohibition controversy which ultimately led to President Brooks' dismissal from office in 1930. Series Outline: Inventory FF 1 Item 1 - "Circular of Information to the Guests of the University of Missouri "On the Occasion of the Inauguration of Stratton Duluth Brooks, LL.D" (Gives details of what will be open for visitors, extends an invitation from the Columbia Country Club, describes location and means of transportation available, and that hotel accommodations "may be secured at the Daniel Boone Tavern")Item 2 - Copy of "Inauguration of Stratton Duluth Brooks As President of the University of Missouri; Columbia, Missouri; November Sixteenth, Nineteen Hundred and Twenty-Three" (8 pp.) Item 3 - "The University of Missouri Bulletin, Volume 24, Number 35 "Exercises at the Inauguration of Stratton Duluth Brooks...," 12/10/1923 Item 4 - [Removed 12/17/1991] Item 5 - Copy of lead article from an Inaugural Supplemental Missourian (photocopied for preservation), 11/16/1923 Series One - Inauguration (cont'd) FF 2 Item 1 - Inaugural Supplement as described above in Item 4 (4 pp.) Item 2 - Pages from a scrapbook which on the cover had notation that it was compiled by Ada M. Elliott, Reference Librarian (18 pp. filled on both sides) - There are photos and background stories on Dr. and Mrs. Brooks written in 11/1923. Also sketches of the Inaugural Visitors. On 04/30/1924 Dr. Brooks' actions were covered by The New York Times Series Two - Sex Survey Scandal and Prohibition Controversy FF 2 (cont'd) Item 2 - The occasion was the annual dinner of the Missouri Society of New York. Dr. Nicholas Murray Butler, President of Columbia University in his speech denounced the Anti-Prohibition Laws. Instead of giving his prepared speech Dr. Brooks defended prohibition in what was described as a debate. In an earlier incident Dr. Brooks had demanded that Dr. Max Meyer, professor of psychology, and Prof. Herman O. DeGraff, associate professor of sociology, be dismissed because of the issuance of a sex questionnaire to students. On April 5, 1930 the Board of Curators voted unanimously to replace President Brooks and appointed Walter Williams, Dean of the Journalism School, to the position. There was extensive coverage of both incidents and a statement was issued by the Board of Curators that the sex questionnaire was not involved. Series Two - Sex Survey Scandal (cont'd) FF 3 Item 1 - Brooks and Williams Scrapbook containing three typed pages listing newspapers (except local) which printed notice of change in University Administration on 04/01. Two separate surveys, typed, two pages each, no date, listing editorial comment and whether favorable, unfavorable or neutral. Item 2 - Twenty-two pages of clippings (both sides) chronicling the departure of Brooks and the appointment and inauguration of Dean Walter Williams. There are biographical sketches and photographs of both Dean and Mrs. Williams. A loose page from The Missouri Publisher, Vol. IX, No. 4, 04/1930
Series Two - Sex Survey Scandal and Prohibition Controversy (cont'd) FF 4 Item 1 - Newspaper clippings regarding "Sex Questionnaire" scandal; Dismissal of Stratton D. Brooks as President of the University of Missouri; Appointment of Walter Williams; possible running of Stratton Duluth Brooks for governor; Max Meyer suspension and dismissal as a result of questionnaire and address at meeting of Southern Society of Psychology and Sociology that was critical of Board of Curators. Item 2 - A copy of "UM Report on the Dismissal of Professor DeGraff and the Suspension of Professor Meyer," reprint from Bulletin of the American Association of University Professors, Vol. XVI, No. 2, 02/06/1924
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