HARVARD IN THE ALLIANCE

In order to alleviate the uneasiness which has been felt among Harvard men as to the terms of the proposed alliance between the University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and to make clear the limits within which the University is prepared to discuss any cooperative agreement, a Harvard graduate who is qualified to speak for those in favor of alliance with the Institute has made the following statement as his interpretation of Harvard's attitude on the subject:

"During the years 1904 and 1905 conferences have been held between committees of Harvard Univrsity and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, with a view to discovering whether a scheme of co-operation might be adopted which would secure mutual assistance, make possible a larger enterprise, promote economy, avoid any wasteful competition, and by these means give the purpose of benefactors who have bestowed money in trust for education in applied science the fullest accomplishment. Whatever the issue of these conferences may be--whether favorable to co-operation or unfavorable--it is not proposed, and has not been proposed, to separate instruction in applied science from Harvard University in any sense, nor to interrupt for a single year the continuity of the University's provision for such instruction.

"By the will of the late Gordon McKay, Harvard University will in a few years begin to receive the income of several millions of dollars bequeathed in trust for the enlargement and improvement of the instruction in applied science now carried on by the University. It is the firm intention of the University to give the largest possible fulfillment to this great trust, in continuation of its already established policy whereby training for the industrial and engineering professions is recognized as a necessary and permanent function of the University. A person entering Harvard University as a student in applied science, shortly before the large benefits of the McKay bequest begin to accrue, might look forward to enjoying those benefits before his graduation, with the positive assurance that if any scheme of co-operation or alliance were agreed upon between Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, that scheme would be for the enlargement and improvement of his opportunities, and would neither separate him from Harvard University non deprive him of a Harvard degree. Moreover, no plan of co-operation would be considered by Harvard University which, if carried out, would make it true of either institution that it had surrendered its funds, or the control of its funds, to the other, or had ceased to carry on, as its own work, instruction and research in applied science. A student entering upon any of the professional courses of study in applied science in the Lawrence Scientific School might therefore do so with entire confidence that his association with Harvard University. was not to be interrupted by any cooperative alliance into which the University might enter, and that the department of instruction with which he connected himself was to be permanently maintained by the University.

"The essential feature of any plan of co-operation consistent with the University's trusts, and with its unalterable regard for their spirit and intent, must be continuous joint action by the co-operating parties and an unbroken control by each--not a surrender of functions by either to the other. In so far as the committee of the Harvard Corporation has consented to any plan or tentative agreement as a basis for discussion and negotiation, it has been upon such an assumption. If any proposed agreement should be open to a fair construction inconsistent with the above assumption it would have to be altered; for it would prostanto conflict with the solemn obligations of the University to its trusts.