American Association of University Professors records

President Oxnam involved the university in a serious controversy over the issue of academic freedom and faculty tenure by refusing in 1933 to renew the contract of Professor Ralph W. Hufferd, a member of the chemistry department since 1920. At his request, the American Association of University Professors dispatched a committee to Greencastle to investigate the case. Its final report to the AAUP not only condemned Hufferd's dismissal on the grounds of unsubstantiated charges and the lack of any hearing process but also severely criticized President Oxnam's wide, unchecked authority in tenure matters. At its annual meeting in November 1934, the AAUP voted to remove DePauw University from the "eligible list" of institutions of higher education, a measure amounting to a general censure of the administration.

The Wildman administration began auspiciously with the AAUP voting to restore DePauw University to the eligible list at its annual meeting in December 1936. This action, taken in recognition of the change in administrations, was perhaps because the DePauw chapter of the AAUP had exercised a watchful eye over questions relating to academic freedom.