WHERE TO HARVARD?

Mr. Conant's publicized ideal with regards his faculty members has been to get men who are either expert research men and good teachers or expert teachers and good research men. An expert research man may be defined as one who is working and studying in any subject (usually in a very limited field) and is getting results in the way of discovery and a widening of the borders of knowledge; tangible evidence of accomplishment will usually be in the form of a book or paper. An expert teacher may be defined as one who has a sufficient critical knowledge of his subject combined with a stimulating personality and the capacity to put himself across with students so that he will inspire them to study and achievement.

Mr. Conant's faculty, if built on this double standard, would be one capable and active theoretically in increasing the knowledge known to man and in transferring this knowledge to students. In order to increase the research angle, an arrangement has been made whereby anyone on the faculty with a three year appointment (or more) can secure a year's leave of absence on full pay for study on some special subject. Thus the definite aim here is to raise the scholastic standing of Harvard.

In further trying to raise this scholastic standing, Mr. Conant has made plans to create numerous Prize Fellowships for outstanding, young students throughout the country. If the 300th Anniversary Fund is a success, there will be 100 Prize Fellows in each class, 400 in the College. If present standards are kept up, the large majority of these men will be in Group II or above. Their ranks will be swelled by many applicants for Prize Fellowships who are turned down but come to Harvard anyway. This year there are four times as many of such men as Prize Fellows. In other words, when the plan is working at full capacity at least 1-5 of the College will be brilliant scholars, rating Group II or above. This put together with the greater amount of research planned should make Harvard a preeminent institution scholastically, and it should further outrank every other University in the country.

But what of the other 4-5 of the College? Many of these will also rank high scholastically, but a large number, at least over one half (only 37 percent of the College are Group III or above at present) will be a very different type of student.