Conant Faces Problem of Adapting Heritage of Past to Changing Times

The following statement was given exclusively to the CRIMSON yesterday by James Bryant Conant '14, in response to a cablegram announcing the confirmation of his election as president of the University by the Board of Overseers:

"I appreciate most sincerely the great honor of being elected President of Harvard University. The position is one of such tremendous responsibility that no one could hesitate to accept, if the Governing Boards asked for his services. I have had the good fortune to be connected with Harvard during almost the entire period of President Lowell's administration,--first as a student and later as a member of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Thus, I have had the opportunity of seeing his plans unfold and have witnessed the revolution which has taken place in the attitude of the student body towards scholarship. The problem we face today is how best adapt the great heritage of the past to the changing times and the uncertain future ahead. A university is primarily a group of creative scholars whose lives are dedicated to the greater glory of the human spirit. It scams to me a matter of the utmost Importance that in these difficult days all that Harvard has stood for and that universities for centuries have fostered should be strengthened and maintained."

Rouen, France, June 21.