Army Chaplains May Come Here to Study

Newspaper stories that the Army Chaplain School would be transferred to Harvard were termed premature by University officials last night. Negotiations to move the 400-odd future military ministers from Fort Benjamin Harrison in Indiana to Cambridge are under way but no final agreement has yet been reached.

Over the weekend Boston papers printed Washington dispatches to the effect that the Army school's next class, scheduled to open on August 10, would convene at the University. The announcement specifically stated that "Ample facilities are available at Harvard for the school, the Army said, and no construction is planned."

Details Not Worked Out

University officials, however, denied that definite arrangements had been concluded. Harvard, it was pointed out, condescended to Army requests that the school be moved to Cambridge and it was decided to house the chaplains in Conant and Perkins Halls and provide them with classrooms in Andover Hall. These three buildings form the most northerly developments of the local University plant.

Eating facilities could not be provided for the officers, however, and the University has found it necessary to urge that the Army construct a suitable mess hall and kitchen for the new group. To date permission for this project has not been received from Washington and the movement of the school waits such an order.

This hitch in plans was forced onto the scene by the present overcrowded condition of University dining halls which have already accepted the additional burden of feeding military units now at Harvard. It was also unanimously agreed that restaurants in the Square could not adequately care for the influx of such a large group.

U. P. Reports

The latest United Press report received last night stated in full:

WASHINGTON--The Army Chaplain School at Ft. Benjamin Harrison, Ind. soon will be transferred to Harvard University at Cambridge, Mass.

The War Department said members of the class now in session will complete their studies at the present school, while the next session, scheduled to begin Aug. 10, 1942, will convene at the new location.

Facilities at Harvard are ample, and no new construction will be undertaken, it said. Students will be quartered on the University grounds.