News
Amid Boston Overdose Crisis, a Pair of Harvard Students Are Bringing Narcan to the Red Line
News
At First Cambridge City Council Election Forum, Candidates Clash Over Building Emissions
News
Harvard’s Updated Sustainability Plan Garners Optimistic Responses from Student Climate Activists
News
‘Sunroof’ Singer Nicky Youre Lights Up Harvard Yard at Crimson Jam
News
‘The Architect of the Whole Plan’: Harvard Law Graduate Ken Chesebro’s Path to Jan. 6
"If Geography was ever desperately needed, it is needed now," Erwin Raisz, lecturer on Geographical Exploration, declared over the weekend in the first phase of a student-faculty counter-attack on the University's recent abolition of Geography as a field of concentration.
In a letter of protest to President Conant earlier this month, Raisz, the senior active member of the Institute of Geographical Exploration, stated that "the demand for good geographers and cartographers continues strong. Harvard cannot progress without geography any better than it could without history."
Tolle of Ignorance
Citing the case of a "high-ranking member of the State Department who did not know where Manchuria was," Raisz' letter claimed that "the Palestine and the Korean problem would never have occured if they had been handled by persons with an adequate knowledge of geography.
"All you could save in destroying a vigorously growing department is less than one-tenth of one percent of Harvard's budget," the letter went on.
Privately Run
Although the Institute offers courses to Harvard undergraduates and graduates, it is financed privately by Dr. Alexander H. Rice '98, professor of Geographical Exploration, and will not be affected by the recent decision.
Another Institute member, William K. Coburn, assistant in Geographical Exploration, backed up Raiez' views last night.
Want to keep up with breaking news? Subscribe to our email newsletter.