The Post-War Reform at the Tokyo Institute of Technology : The Path to the Reform Manifesto "Tokyo Kogyo Daigaku Sassin Yoko" and Its Evaluation

Abstract

This paper has analyzed the path to the reform manifesto "Tokyo Kogyo Daigaku Sassin Yoko" in February 1946, which was a landmark in the so-called "Wada Reform", the immediate post-war university reform at the Tokyo Institute of Technology, named after the then president, Koroku Wada after the World War II. The analysis was based on manuscript records of the Reform Committee written by one of its members, which had never been examined before. The author took interviews from surviving emeritus professors who were members of the Committee. The reform process, from September 1945 up to January 31, 1946, when the Reform Manifesto was adopted, can be divided into the following four periods. I. From the end of September to November 2, 1945 : the Reform Committee, headed by the president Wada, discussed a reforming ideal. They decided to concentrate on the abolition of narrow-minded and overspecialized departments in the first stage of the university reform. II. November 2, to December 14, 1945 : the Committee tried hard and with various means to persuade unwilling faculty members into abolishing the departments. III. From December 14 to December 18, 1945 : at the end of the period, the university finally decided to abolish the departments in the plenary faculty meeting, employing the support of reform-minded junior members. IV. December 19, 1945 to January 31, 1946 : the committee discussed some details of the reform. And the Reform Manifesto was adopted officially in the plenary faculty meeting at the end of this period. The Reform Committee was concentrated on the abolition of the departments to reform the war-ridden university, not insisting on the dismissal of some "undesirable" faculty members, unlike in other universities. The Reform Committee consisted of ten members, including President Wada and Secretary General, represented liberal, even radical faculty members, and they reformed the university very swiftly. They employed the enthusiastic support of reform-minded junior members of the university and passive recognition of politically indifferent, narrow-specialty-conscious faculty who were at a loss after the war.