Joe Lanning, Montana Room Librarian at the Billings Public Library, told an audience at the Western Heritage Center that the 1949 dismissal of Myron Tripp from Rocky Mountain College in Billings, Montana, remains a locally significant example of mid-20th-century clashes between faculty speech, college governance and donor pressure.

Lanning said the episode began after Tripp, a scholar with advanced degrees and seven years of higher-education teaching experience, accepted a one-year appointment at Rocky in June 1948 to help the college meet accreditation expectations. Tripp was elected to the Montana House of Representatives for Yellowstone County in November 1948 and taught through the fall semester before serving in Helena in early 1949. "This is not intended to be an indictment against Rocky Mountain College, in any way," Lanning said, describing his presentation as a historical account rather than a political attack.

Lanning told attendees that college trustees had been anxious about enrollment and revenue: Rocky then sought more baccalaureate accreditation to grow beyond junior-college status, and board minutes recorded budget pressures. Lanning cited figures from board discussions to illustrate the stakes: if a college expected 500 students at roughly $150 each, it would project $75,000 in tuition revenue; enrollment near 220 students would produce about $33,000 against an annual operating budget commonly cited in the minutes as about $200,000.

According to Lanning’s summary of archival material, Tripp accepted the 1948 appointment on the understanding — verbally, not in writing — that his professional qualifications would strengthen Rocky’s bid for four-year recognition. While serving in the legislature, Tripp campaigned for pro-labor and progressive measures that drew local criticism; Lanning said some board members and local business leaders considered his votes "unfriendly to business interests."

Board and faculty committee records that Lanning described show that Tripp was not included on a proposed faculty list prepared for the board meeting on April 27, 1949; the board’s official vote to set faculty for the coming year omitted Tripp. Lanning quoted a Rock yearbook page and a May 1949 letter from President Copeland to Tripp, which Copeland later used in correspondence as evidence that he had regretted his inability to keep Tripp on staff.

Lanning summarized the American Association of University Professors' (AAUP) findings, published in a 1956 report, that Rocky’s actions raised two principle concerns: (1) a teacher is also a citizen and should be free to write or speak as a citizen without institutional discipline for doing so, and (2) protections of academic freedom apply to faculty even where a formal tenure system does not exist. Lanning said the AAUP investigators recorded evidence that at least one potential donor had told trustees a donation would be withheld if Tripp remained on the faculty. "One board member was quoted as saying Tripp was let go 'in order that donations would come in and peace be restored,'" Lanning said, citing the AAUP file.

Lanning emphasized that Tripp denied any communist affiliation and had publicly criticized communism in earlier years; the charge of communist sympathy nevertheless surfaced in local debate and was used by some opponents as a rationale for dismissal. Lanning also noted elements that made Tripp’s case unusual: Tripp’s position as a state legislator gave him a public platform for his views, and he was a devout Christian who framed many of his policy positions in religious terms. Lanning read an excerpt from a 1956 letter Tripp sent to Ann Whitmack, director of the Parmly Billings Library, in which Tripp described the AAUP report and his experience.

Audience questions after the lecture covered follow-up research and Tripp’s later life. Lanning said Tripp unsuccessfully sought rehiring at Rocky in 1950–51, served as a superintendent of schools in Niarada (spelled Nihart in his lecture notes) in 1950, returned to the Montana Legislature representing Cascade County in 1951, later worked at small colleges in the Midwest, moved to Canada in the 1950s and eventually held a position in political science at the University of Tasmania. Lanning said Tripp died in 1978 at about 61 years old.

Lanning placed the episode within the AAUP’s broader postwar investigations: the association, founded in 1915, compiled cases of dismissals and nonreappointments and, under new leadership in the mid-1950s, issued reports reexamining earlier claims of academic suppression. "The AAUP found that principles of academic freedom were implicated in many dismissals between 1949 and 1955," Lanning said. He also noted that some institutions had financial motivations and that donor influence was a recurring theme in AAUP records.

Lanning concluded that while the Tripp case fits a national pattern of academic conflicts during the Cold War era, some features — Tripp’s legislature service, his Quaker/Orthodox Friends ministry, and his later written regret about earlier political advocacy — make the case distinctive. He called for more archival research to better understand how community religious leaders, trustees, donors and faculty interacted in Billings during that era.

Lanning suggested the Billings Public Library and Rocky Mountain College archives contain materials (board minutes, presidential diaries, AAUP correspondence) useful to scholars and the public. He thanked local archivists and researchers who assisted his work and invited listeners to consult his source list for further reading.