Rector of the College

As rector, Mittag-Leffler would promote the controversial views for which he had long been the spokesman. It was his opinion that Stockholm College had the character of a free academy without the responsibility for basic training and without obligations to arrange exams or hand out academic degrees. He wanted to make the College into an elite school for unrestricted, free research. With this in mind, it was crucial to control the hiring of new professors, and he won the support of some members of the teaching staff by standing firm on the school’s §7, which stated that “the closest custody of the College belongs to the teachers.” The leading figures on the board, however, with Albert Lindhagen in the forefront, wanted the College eventually to provide the youth of the city with an education in line with what was offered at the universities in Uppsala and Lund. In the tug-of-war that ensued with the board, Mittag-Leffler would end up distancing himself from his old friend and patron Gustaf af Ugglas. By the time his year as rector was over, Mittag-Leffler would feel that he had achieved a great deal to improve the school’s reputation, but in twelve months he “hadn’t had a single mathematical thought.”