Editor of Tripod is Suspended for Month

This article was originally published in the Hartford Times on Nov. 2 and was reprinted in that week’s Tripod.

Nov. 7th, 1925

“For criticizing Dean Edward Leffingwell Troxell’s recent Trinity chapel address, in which the Dean was quoted as saying that, “It is our duty in college to disregard the individual and to turn out a Trinity type,” Malcolm Stephenson, editor of ‘The Tripod,’ the weekly college paper, has been suspended from Trinity for on month.

“In commenting in a footnote on the letter published in ‘The Tripod,’ in which Dean Troxell’s statement was criticized, the editor stated that ‘Better a radical with a beard and a bomb than a type—a goose-stepper—a man with out brains enough or courage enough to declare himself.’”

Trinity Graduates Unanimously Back Stevenson in Trouble With Dean

This article was originally published in the Hartford Times on Nov. 3 and was reprinted in the Nov. 7, 1925 issue.

“The Trinity College undergraduate body at a meeting this afternoon unanimously adopted a resolution asking the faculty to revoke the suspension from college of Malcom Stephenson, editor ‘The Tripod.’ Stephenson was recently notified by Dean Edward L. Troxell that he was suspended for a month because of the editorial comment by Stephenson on a speech by the dean.

“Frank Shields, ’26, who introduced the resolution, maintained that Dean Troxell had not been misrepresented in the college paper and that the quotation from the speech was the principal point in the dean’s remarks. ‘It was constructive criticism’ on the part of Stephenson, Shields insisted.

“Dean Troxell this morning refused to make any comment upon the developments since he sent the letter to ‘The Tripod’ editor telling that ‘Because I think you have made a serious mistake and because your action seems to me prejudicial to good discipline, you are hereby suspended for the period of one month.’ The dean stated that he regarded the incident as closed and not a matter for newspaper publicity. He had heard nothing regarding the move to have Stephenson reinstated and beyond the fact that there was a call for a meeting of the student body posted on the bulletin board he knew nothing of the meeting today.

“President Ogilby refused to make any comment upon the matter or the development, since it became known to the student body that Stephenson had been suspended for his criticisms.”