STUDENTS ARE MORE CAREFUL THAN IN 1917

Since America entered the war on December 7 fewer men have left College to join the armed forces than was the case over a similar period in World War I. So far this winter there has been far less tendency than in the spring of 1917 for undergraduates to rush blindly into the service before receiving their degrees, according to Dean Phelps of the Records Office.

In the month after January 6 only 23 University students applied for and received the official leave of absence from College required in order that they may re-enter if they so wish at the end of the war. However, of these men only two were actually drafted, the rest having decided voluntarily to assist in various capactities in the war effort.

Most Men Will Return

The majority of those undergraduates who have left College to date, some of whom are enrolled in training schools and defense industry and others in the Army and Navy, may be expected to complete the courses required for a degree and graduate when the present conflict is ended, Dean Phelps explained.

In many cases a student left College as soon as we entered the war, and informed the University of his move long after he was instated in some phase of the war effort. The Records Office, however, usually learned of these unannounced departures before such students wrote in applying for a leave of absence.

Although only 23 undergraduates have left for the war thus far, a great many more are seeking advice daily from Professor A. James Casner, head of the Student Defense Service Committee.

Casner has said that this primary attempt this winter has been to encourage all the men he sees to consider carefully on the basis of information he is qualified to supply them before they rush into the war.

Casner Sees 20 Men A Day

He further explained that he had no real basis of comparison by which to judge between the spirit of Harvard men in this and the last war, but that his office has been handling on an average 120 students a week who are considering leaving the University to join the Army or Navy, to enter defense industry, or to enroll in some pre-service training school.

In the last war America's entrance on April 6 was immediately followed at Harvard by the abandonment of the entire athletic program, by an active drive for R.O.T.C. membership, and by a general exodus to the armed forces. In the CRIMSON of April 7, 1917, appeared a statement from Leonard Wood advising all students "to continue their present University work and military training until such time as the plans for the mobilization of citizen forces are promulgated."

The following morning telegrams from the University of Paris and from Cambridge in England, welcoming Harvard "as a brother-in-arms", were published.

Shortly afterwards the University announced that under a new ruling it would soon be possible for members of the R.O.T.C. to abandon their regular College work in order to devote their entire time to intensive training.