Dismissal of a Sociologist: The AAUP Report on Carl C. Taylor1

ABSTRACT The dismissal in 1931 of a distinguished sociologist, Carl C. Taylor, after 11 years as an influential faculty member, and the investigation by the American Association of University Professors which followed has received little attention in the literature on the history of sociology. Taylor did not have the security of a tenure system. Years later, he received an honorary degree from the same institution, now North Carolina State University, from which he had been dismissed. This paper makes accessible the AAUP's full report on the Taylor case and highlights his career and contributions. The AAUP report summarizes alternative explanations for the dismissal, concluding that the compelling cause was not the budgetary pressures cited by the president of the university. Our interpretation is that the university president had Taylor dismissed because of deterioration in their interpersonal relations and the cumulative effect of anti-liberal, conservative forces in the state at the time.