Sifting and winnowing

It was coined by UW President Charles Kendall Adams in an 1894 final report from a committee exonerating economics professor Richard T. Ely of censurable charges from state education superintendent Oliver Elwin Wells.

In the 1890s, University of Wisconsin economics professor Richard T. Ely's philosophy and radical practice came under fire from state education superintendent Oliver Elwin Wells.

[1] He added that the 1894 statement "sounds the trumpet of the fundamental principles of the academy: an unending, unlimited belief in the creed of academic freedom and inquiry.

"[1] Ely's hearing was later dramatized in a 1964 television episode of Profiles in Courage, featuring actors Dan O'Herlihy, Edward Asner, and Leonard Nimoy.

[5] In a later incident, sociology professor Edward Alsworth Ross was censured upon inviting anarchist Emma Goldman to address his class.

"Sifting and winnowing" commemorative plaque
Professor Richard T. Ely, whose work sparked a state challenge to academic freedom
UW–Madison President Adams, who coined the phrase