Saltonstall Committee Proposes New Mem Hall Activities Rooms and Theater, Church Tablet

Leverett Saltonstall's Alumni War Memorial Committee threw the memorial debate into a new phase yesterday afternoon with a surprise decision to put aside its three previously announced alternatives and to investigate instead a new proposal combining elements of several suggested plans.

According to Senator Saltanstall's announcement, the memorial would be in three parts. The Committee would ". . . inscribe suitably the names of the Harvard dead in World War II in the Memorial Church, construct an auditorium dedicated to those who lost their lives in World War II as an addition to Memorial Hall, and further restore Memorial Hall itself, inside and out, adapting the lower level, now used by other University agencies, for meeting places or offices for extra-curricular student activities."

Recommendation Not Final

The proposal, as outlined after a unanimous vote by Senator Saltonstall and seven other members in attendance at the meeting, was not in the form of a final recommendation. The Committee, in the terms of its report, merely "agreed that it would ask for an architectural opinion as to whether or not it would be feasible (to complete the proposed elements of the memorial) within the sum of $750,000. . ."

April 15 was set by the group as the date for a final decision, with the architectural estimate to have been procured before then. Presumably, the estimate will come from the firm of Coolidge, Shepley, Bullfinch, and Abbott, whose representative, Henry R. Shepley '10, attended the meeting.

The cost of the tablet or other inscription in the Memorial Church was listed by Senator Saltonstall as approximately $60,000. Unofficial estimates for the necessary repair work to Memorial Hall ran between $250,000 and $300,000.

Those costs would leave in the neighborhood of $400,000 for the auditorium scheduled to be added to Memorial Hall. In the only relevant recent construction estimate, Shepley assigned a figure of $1,250,000 to a proposed Student Activities Center, plans for which included meeting rooms and offices as well as a 1500-seat theater.

Psychological Labs Out

Removal of "other University agencies" from the Memorial Hall basement to make room for extra-curricular activities would presumably dispossess the Psychological and Psycho-Acoustic Laboratories recently moved to quarters there.

Shelving of the combination of a $200,000 tablet and a $500,000 scholarship fund, the memorial idea favored by all but two of the Committee members at its last meeting, came as a surprise to many people involved in the discussion over memorial plans. The Alumni Committee for a University Memorial Activities Center, three representatives of which presented the case for an activities center in the early part of yesterday's meeting, greeted the new plan favorably.

"We welcome the new proposal of Senator Saltonstall's War Memorial Committee," they said in an official statement "By endorsing the principle that an appropriate memorial.

must be an integral functioning part of the University, the Committee has ensured that the sacrifice of the University's war dead will be a constant stimulus and example to future generations of Harvard men.

"While we regret the Committee's premise that sufficient funds cannot now be raised to build an entirely new Activities Center, we applaud their recognition of the vital role which an auditorium and extra-curriculum facilities can play in the life of the University. We join them in hoping that a truly significant memorial can be designed within the terms of reference which they have set.

"We wish to express our thanks to Senator Saltonstall and his colleagues for the full and judicious consideration they have given to the views of those alumni who have actively supported the Center, and we are pleased to offer the Committee any possible assistance to the end that our fellow alumni who lost their lives in the war may be commemorated.