Ford, in Article, Criticizes 'Myth' About Research

"One of the most distorting" myths about the American university is that teaching and research and incompatible, Dean Ford said yesterday. In an editorial-page article for the Boston Sunday Globe, he also attacked another "myth"--"that 'publish or perish' is the single rule governing academic advancement."

The article seemed clearly inspired by the case of Woodrow W. Sayre, an assistant professor of Philosophy at Tufts who has been denied tenure for "failure to publish scholarly research," but it did not mention Sayre by name.

The successful teacher "who can go on for very long at a high level of classroom preformance without being supported by his own research" is extremely rare, Ford maintained. "How can he possibly bring to his class a full sense of his subject's dignity and fascination if he is not personally involved in enriching our knowledge of the subjects itself?" he asked.

Recluses and Extroverts

As an antidote to "the false caricature" that faculties consist of "schorlarly recluses hiding out in their labs or in the library" and "a tribe of semi-literate extroverts who charm and inspire the students," Ford cited the "great teacher-scholars" of Harvard, like William L. Langer '15, Coolidge Professor of History; Edward M. Purcell, Gerhard Gade University Professor; and Harry A. Wolfson '12, Nathan Litauer Professor of Hebrew Literature and Philosophy, Emeritus.

Although Ford emphasized the importance of research, he denied that publication was the only proof of distinction in one's field. For some professors, he said, "research pays off in the quality of their teaching, in occasional critical reviews or suggestive essays, and in their contributions to the thinking of their colleagues."

Nevertheless, he continued, colleges emphasize publication in recruiting their faculties because it is only by publishing the results of research that professors can share their findings with students at other institutions.