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Article
The Fisher Documents: Clash of Ideological Warriors
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  • Ron C. Judd, Western Washington University
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
10-1-2015
Keywords
  • Charles H. Fisher,
  • Frank I. Sefrit,
  • Western Washington College of Education,
  • Bellingham Herald
Disciplines
Abstract

The most intriguing find in recently discovered documents about the firing of Charles H. Fisher from Western Washington College of Education, now Western Washington University, is the only known copy of a typed transcript of a remarkable, closed-door Board of Trustees meeting on May 22, 1935. That evening, Bellingham Herald manager and editor Frank Sefrit and a half-dozen other accusers met Fisher and the three-member college Board of Trustees face to face to lay out accusations against the popular president. These proceedings, until now only known to participants, took on the air of a trial, and were documented word-for-word by a court stenographer hired by Sefrit. The resulting typed transcript, lost to history for 75 years, reads like a screenplay for a tense courtroom drama. Essentially on trial, alongside Fisher, were what we now consider to be core tenets of liberal-arts education.

Subjects - Topical (LCSH)
College presidents--Dismissal of; Idealism--Education (Continuing education); Subversive activities--Bellingham (Wash.)
Subjects - Names (LCNAF)
Fisher, Charles Henry, 1880-1964; Sefrit, Frank I, 1867-1950; Western Washington College of Education; Bellingham Herald (Firm)
Geographic Coverage
Bellingham (Wash.)
Genre/Form
articles
Type
Text
Language
English
Format
application/pdf
Citation Information
Ron C. Judd. "The Fisher Documents: Clash of Ideological Warriors" Window Vol. Fall/Winter 2015 (2015)
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/ron-judd/2/