Father of Folklore, Richard Dorson, defending Kirk at Michigan State

One would have hoped for a dignified and gracious statement from Michigan State College spokesman on the occasion of Russell Kirk’s resignation. His tragic and irreparable loss has cost the faculty a figure of international distinction, one of the brilliant prose writers of our day, gifted as an intellectual historian, and essayist, and a composer of short fiction.  Russell Kirk is a modest and humble young man, a graduate of Michigan State College, a native of Michigan, who is brought the college an unprecedented amount the most favorable publicity.  The college is bestowed no recognition upon him; he held the rank of assistant professor, teaching freshmen and sophomores, while other faculty members who have never published a line in their lives teach graduate research courses and seminars.  Mr. Kirk resigned on a matter of principle, not for the purpose of securing another position; few members of the faculty can fail to respect this principle, and the administrator who now charges him with ‘irresponsible defamation’ personally praised him for his stand at the time of his resignation. The spectacle of these college spokesman running to cover to ‘defend’ themselves against these ‘charges,’which are no more than a simple statement Mr. Kirk made as to why he resigned, embarrasses and humiliates the academic community. No university will ever lose its career administrators and its tenured mediocrities; let it mourn deeply, and acknowledge in a manly way, the loss of genius. 

--Richard Dorson, "Chides MSC in Kirk Case, The State Journal, Fall 1953