University Appointments in War Time

Abstract

I VENTURE to direct attention to the advertisement for a professor of organic chemistry in the University of Liverpool. It appears to me, and I believe many share my opinion, that this is a very inopportune moment for filling a university chair when eligible men are away on active service. It may seem unfitting to criticise the internal policy of another university, but it is a matter which closely affects many who have no connection with the University of Liverpool. Professors of chemistry and others are being solicited for testimonials by candidates, and in many cases such requests cannot be granted except by doing a grave and irreparable injustice to more highly qualified men who have responded to the country's call for volunteers in the present national crisis. I trust that the University of Liverpool will in this matter follow the same course as has been pursued by the University of Birmingham in the case of the vacant chair of physics, and postpone the appointment of a professor until after the termination of the war.