CONANT AND HUTCHINS

It seems like a long time since a college president has said anything that the majority of undergraduates could accept without a struggle. So it was something of a shock that last Thursday the heads of two leading American universities came out with eminently sensible statements that are hard to pick a quarrel with. Chicago's Robert Maynard Hutchins, in a radio address, warned that the nation "is about to commit suicide" by joining the European conflict, and that President Roosevelt is sliding dangerously close to active intervention. Harvard's Conant, who is far from agreeing with his colleague on the question of going to war, warned in his annual report to the Board of Overseers that the present crisis presents many threats to American universities. It, too, was a sane warning.

Instead of the usual summing up the year's activities at Harvard, President Conant devoted the burden of his report to defining the function of a university in this time of crisis. There must be no compromising of the ideals for which democracy stands, he announced, and the university must serve as a watchful guard over the "eternal verities." Concretely, this means that Harvard must not again be turned into a mere "armed camp," no matter how the world situation develops. It mean that liberal universities must be more than just technological training schools for the development of better soldiers and weapon designers. It means that the university must preserve whatever progress has been made in civilization, that they must serve as virtual monasteries of the Modern Dark Age.

President Conant has since the outbreak of the war carefully obeyed his own admonition. As a private citizen he has taken a forthright and controversial stand on the great question of the day; he has used his personal prestige to prepare this country for war. But he has been very careful as President of Harvard to avoid any steps that might look like suppression of free speech; in an atmosphere of extremist views this is a commendable achievement by one who holds perhaps the most extreme of all. His sense of responsibility is further attested by is recent speech before the Cambridge Chamber of Commerce, in which he said he realized how serious a thing it is for a citizen of this country to urge war.

If President Conant has shown meticulous responsibility in caring for the ideal of free speech. Chicago's Dr. Hutchins appears to better advantage as a defender of even more important ideals: "There is no such inevitability about war with the Axis as to prevent us from asking ourselves whether we shall serve suffering humanity better everywhere by going into this war or by staying out. . . . I hold that the United States can better serve suffering humanity by staying out." Massrs. Conant and Hutchins are equally valiant guards of the best in American universities, but as a formulator of national policy Dr. Hutchins shows the greater wisdom.