at that time that capen took the position at buffalo, news sources noted his comments on the state of american colleges. capen said that most colleges were overcrowded and that they were largely doing the teaching that should have taken place in high schools. tufts named capen a life trustee in 1931. capen delivered a 1939 speech, "seven devils in exchange for one", in which he criticized regional education accreditation agencies. he said that the agencies were too numerous and that they often cost schools money because they evaluated based on things other than intellectual quality. in planning for the use of education in world war ii, capen was critical of the way that educated men had been drafted into military assignments during world war i, which he said made little use of their individual intellects.