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SERVING THE CAUSE some of the responsibility for what had happened. The accountants had not bothered to consult with either the president of the College or the chairman of the board before making their report; if they had, they would have learned that some of the practices they questioned predated 1952, some had already been corrected, and some resulted from board rather than administrative action. Trustee Wills proceeded without consulting other members of the finance committee and did not promptly present his board colleagues with a report clearly addressed to all of them. While neither the consultants nor the special committee found any evidence whatsoever of dishonesty or intent to deceive on the part of the business manager, and while they noted the magnitude of his task and his very limited experience in preparation for it, they did criticize his judgment in handling purchases, maintenance, record keeping, and supervision of staff responsible to him. Members of the special committee continued to cast their vote of confidence in Walter Langsam as a potentially outstanding college president, but they also insisted that he was finally responsible for the workings of the business office and should have conducted his own investigation, making necessary changes as soon as complaints began to reach him. The members of the committee were certain that he should have been more sensitive to the settled ways of the Gettysburg College community as it existed in the early 1950s and definitely more tactful in dealing with it. Finally, they reserved a special indictment for the board of trustees of which they were members, declaring that during the course of their inquiry they were "impressed by the marked degree to which the Board and its committees have kept themselves disassociated from many of the vital functions of the College." Based on its past performance, they concluded, "the Board has not fully lived up to its responsibilities in the field of administration and finance." Had they been doing their duty, trustees would have participated actively in organizing the College's first business office, including carefully defining its powers and duties. They would also have insisted upon monitoring its operations, including counseling the first business manager, at the very least during the formative years of the new office.49 49Members of the special committee pled with their colleagues "to place the operation of the College on a more businesslike basis." The 1954 Middle States team, the two outside consultants, and finally the committee itself agreed that the first step to that end was to elect an individual to the position of College treasurer and to transfer control of financial record keeping from the bank to the business manager. The Middle States team believed that, however well the existing arrangements may have worked in a simpler past, they simply precluded efficient operation in 1954. The two outside consultants pronounced the existing arrangement one "new to our experience" which posed "many questions of policy, procedure and relationship." The trustees did elect Clarence A. Wills treasurer in 1955 but then, for reasons best known to themselves, returned to the old arrangement two years later. In February 78