From a letter to the RG editors:
The year 1932 saw disastrous changes at the university. The Oregon Legislature, in a misguided cost-saving effort, decided to remove science instruction and make the UO a liberal arts university, with Oregon State College (now Oregon State University) becoming the science college in the state.
Within a few years all scientific research had stopped at the UO, except in Huestis’ “mouse house.”
In retrospect it sounds ridiculous to shut down science education. But I’m sure to the legislators it sounded like a good idea at the time. At least legislators are ultimately answerable to the public. Now that private donors play the same financial role that legislators once did, look out for equally bad ideas with even less accountability.
And for the hundredth time, the “liberal arts” include the natural sciences.
Yes, that was really bizarre.