With this conclusion the
Legislature did not agree, and on March 6, 1862, an act was passed
abolishing the Regents and appointing a Board of twenty-one Trustees in
their place.[19]
The Trustees, by decree of the courts, obtained control of the property
and forced the professors to accept them as the legal authority. So
matters went on for twelve years, until in 1837, the trustees appointed
a professor personally objectionable to some of the others, who resigned
their positions under the Trustees and opened a separate medical school
in the Indian Queen Hotel at the corner of Baltimore and Hanover
Streets. Few out-of-town students attended either school, for the
quarrel frightened them away, and the Baltimore students largely
attended the Regents' school. Feeling ran high at one time, the Regents
took possession of the University buildings by force, and bloodshed was
feared.
The Board of Regents reorganized with Ashton Alexander, M.D., as
Provost, and employed distinguished counsel to plead the case for them
in the courts. The Legislature authorized the Court of Appeals to try
the suit, and Maryland's Dartmouth College Case was decided in June,
1838, entirely in favor of the Regents. The court held that the act of
1825 was void, since it was "a judicial act, a sentence that condemned
without a hearing.
Pages:
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30