The concerted opposition by the medical school combined with the increasingly vocal concerns of the alumni, deans, and trustees as well as the untimely death of Melvin Taylor, who had led Northwestern's merger committee, caused both universities' boards of trustees to reject the proposal in February 1934. However, the resulting debates highlighted differences in philosophy regarding the scope and practice of undergraduate, graduate, and profession education, the relationship between teaching and research, the role of students, faculty, and alumni in determining a university's identity and mission, and a university's obligation to the city and nation. Despite the failure, both presidents supported the idea; Hutchins later lamented that the merger was "one of the lost opportunities of American education," while Scott wrote that the merger's failure was "a great regret to me."