Education School Drive Nears One Million Mark

Nearly a million dollars has been received in the first year of a drive by the Graduate School of Education to bolster its endowment fund, Francis Keppel '38, Dean of the school, announced yesterday.

Keppel called the funds received so far "only a start," but expressed confidence that the drive's goal of six million will be reached "within five years."

Total gifts and pledges in the drive to date reach $840,000. The bulk of the contributions have been in the James Bryant Conant Foundation, established by the Corporation last May in honor of the President-emeritus.

Keppel said that if the full six million is not reached, sharp cuts will have to be made in the rapidly expanding programs of the school. "We have only two years until the major part of our available income runs out," he said.

Presently, the school relies primarily on gifts and foundation grants, rather than on endowment income, to meet its operating expenses. Many of these large gifts will run out in 1954 and 1955. Although most are given to aid specific research of development purposes, they free unrestricted income from tuition and endowment.

Expenses Triple

In the past five years, expenses of operating the school have more than tripled with only a 30 percent increase in the number of students.

Keppel said that if the endowment is not replenished, cuts would be necessary in the number of non-permanent faculty members in the School and in many of the research projects. The School's Laboratory of Human Development would be among these.

Keppel and other Education School officials would like to see a million and a half of the eventual six million put into a new building to replace the inefficiently designed facilities in Lawrence Hall and three other widely-scattered buildings that presently house most of the school's activities.

At least three million will go towards the establishment of ten endowed professorships, a million and a half for the support of fellowships.

The largest gifts received so far are $300,000 each from Lament du Point Copeland '27 and Henry. L. Shattuck '01. The contributions mark the start of the first drive to increase endowment funds in any U. S. School of education in 30 years.