THE PRESENT ADMINISTRATION.

In the rapid march of events so characteristic of the American college community it is remarkably easy for the great majority of students to lose track of the larger tendencies of a given period. To determine the proper perspective of concurrent incidents is practically impossible in the turmoil of present affairs. And for this reason the real importance of less evident facts is often unappreciated. Such a situation the CRIMSON believes exists in connection with the administration which has governed the University since the election of President Lowell in 1909. In short, many of us appreciate neither the number nor the importance of the vigorous administrative measures which are maintaining for Harvard the leading position achieved under President Eliot.

Beginning with the advocacy of the Freshman dormitory system in the inaugural address, the administration has pursued a policy tending primarily toward the elevation of the academic standard by means of co-operation with the student body. The broadening of entrance requirements, the modification of the elective system so that students will "devote a considerable portion of their time to some one subject, and also take a number of general courses in wholly unrelated fields," the encouragement of the University Extension system, the institution of the new degree of Associate in Arts, and the development of the exchange professorships, form a fairly complete list of the most significant educational innovations of less than two years' activity. Closely allied with these achievements are the projected chemistry buildings, the dedication of the new Dental School, and a closer relation for mutual benefit between Harvard and the municipal authorities of Cambridge. Every one of these institutions is worthy of the highest praise, particularly the altered entrance requirements and the modification of the elective system. Both will exert a very direct beneficial influence: the first will at once open Harvard to men thoroughly trained in the ground-work of knowledge, rather than to men who have crammed at the last minute for a few highly specialized examinations. The second will turn out men of neither too broad nor too narrow an education: it is an attempt to strike the golden mean between the two.

But in another respect the present administration is to be congratulated. From the very first it has stood for the most complete co-operation with the undergraduate body. The liberal management of the Senior dormitories and the keen interest in undergraduate affairs (as shown in the President's Report) not only as concerns athletics, but of the most varied nature, have combined to conciliate many conflicting interests of the undergraduate world. To the younger men in the University, especially, this highly desirable understanding between the authorities and the students, as exemplified in the work of the Student Council, appears as the most noteworthy fact in a policy at once energetic and liberal.

To many, such a resume of self-evident facts is superfluous, but the CRIMSON feels that there are some among us who do not realize the significance of the administrative actions of the past two years; nor, more important still, do they comprehend what a successful consummation of such a policy will mean to Harvard in the end.