George Elliott Howard

George Elliott Howard (October 1, 1849 – June 9, 1928) was an American educator and author. He was a professor at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln from 1889 to 1891, and a professor at Stanford from 1891 to 1901. He was also the president of the American Sociological Society in 1917.

Early life

George Elliott Howard was born on October 1, 1849, in Saratoga, New York, to Howard and Margaret Hardin. He moved to Nebraska with his family in 1868.{{Cite web|date=2009-06-16|title=George E. Howard|url=https://www.asanet.org/about/governance-and-leadership/council/presidents/george-e-howard|access-date=2021-04-23|website=American Sociological Association|language=en}}{{Cite journal |last=Todd |first=Arthur James |date=1929 |title=George Elliott Howard, 1849-1928 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2765090 |journal=American Journal of Sociology |volume=34 |issue=4 |pages=693–699 |jstor=2765090 |issn=0002-9602}}

Career

After receiving an A.B. degree from the Peru State College, Howard traveled to Munich and Paris for to study Roman law and history from 1876 to January 1878. He joined the University of Nebraska-Lincoln faculty in 1879. One of his most prominent students was Amos Griswold Warner. Howard was named to the "first faculty" of the Stanford University in 1901.{{Cite web|last=Hill|first=Michael R.|date=2007|title=Howard, George Elliott (1849-1928)|url=https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1353&context=sociologyfacpub|website=University of Nebraska - Lincoln}}{{Cite web|last=Hill|first=Michael R.|date=2000|title=Epistemological Realities: Archival Data and Disciplinary Knowledge in the History of Sociology—Or, When Did George Elliott Howard Study in Paris?|url=https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1391&context=sociologyfacpub|website=University of Nebraska - Lincoln}}{{Citation|last=Frese|first=Pam|title=Howard, George Elliott (1849–1928)|date=2019|url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/9781405165518.wbeosh048.pub2|encyclopedia=The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Sociology|pages=1–2|publisher=American Cancer Society|language=en|doi=10.1002/9781405165518.wbeosh048.pub2|isbn=978-1-4051-6551-8|s2cid=241236083 |access-date=2021-04-24|url-access=subscription}}

Controversy erupted after professor Edward Alsworth Ross was fired by Stanford president David Starr Jordan because of his political views{{cite journal|last=Mohr|first=James C.|year=1970|title=Academic Turmoil and Public Opinion: The Ross Case at Stanford|journal=Pacific Historical Review|volume=39|issue=1|pages=39–61|doi=10.2307/3638197|jstor=3638197}}{{cite book|last=Riley|first=Naomi Schaefer|url=https://archive.org/details/facultyloungesot00rile/page/34|title=The Faculty Lounges and Other Reasons Why You Won't Get the College Education You Paid For|publisher=Ivan R. Dee|year=2011|isbn=978-1-56663-886-9|location=Lanham, Maryland|page=[https://archive.org/details/facultyloungesot00rile/page/34 34]|author-link=Naomi Schaefer Riley|url-access=registration}} on eugenics.{{cite book|last=Lovett|first=Laura|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3VZghaXeO24C|title=Conceiving the Future: Pronatalism, Reproduction, and the Family in the United States, 1890–1938|publisher=University of North Carolina Press|year=2007|isbn=9780807868102|location=Chapel Hill}} Howard defended Ross, citing the first amendment to the United States Constitution. Jordan demanded an apology from Howard, but Howard resigned instead, along with several other professors. He did several lectures at the University of Chicago from 1903 to 1904. Howard returned to the University of Nebraska in 1904, and his colleagues included Edward Alsworth Ross and Roscoe Pound. In 1906, Howard was named head of the Department of Political Science and Sociology. Howard retired in 1924.

Death

Howard died in 1928, in Lincoln, Nebraska.{{Cite journal |date=1928 |title=George Elliott Howard, 1849-1928 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2766090 |journal=American Journal of Sociology |volume=34 |issue=1 |pages=206 |doi=10.1086/214637 |jstor=2766090 |issn=0002-9602|url-access=subscription }}