Bender Sees Continued Enrolment of Freshmen

Dean Bender expects a good-sized freshman class next year, even if the draft snatches almost all of America's 18 year-olds.

He has no idea what the war will do to total enrollment. The College is "still in the attitude of uncertainty and postponing decisions,' he said. It isn't making any definite plans until the situation is cleared up.

Under General Marshall's Universal Military Service and Training plan, laid before congress Wednesday, the draft would take men when they reach the age of 18, deferring them until the end of high school or a college year.

But, Dean Bender said, most of Harvard's freshmen are under 18 when they enter. Their average age, he said, is about 17 years and 11 months.

He dispelled fears that Harvard would have no freshmen for the next two years. The College would get freshmen, he said, from four sources:

1) Students who are under draft age--whatever age the law finally sets. "I don't believe they'll take in many under 18," Bender commented.

2 Students who don't pass physical tests.

3) Students who are deferred by the Army for college study.

4) Students in the R.O.T.C. programs.

Neither Bender nor anyone else knows what Washington's R.O.T.C. plans are for next year--but the College is keeping in constant touch. No one knows either whether the government is planning a V-12 program again, or any other arrangement that would send servicemen to college.

"But the time is coming when we will have to deal with the issue whether it's clarified or not," Bender said.

Already, Registrar Sargent Kennedy '28 reported, six students have officially left College to enlist; and it is understood that about 12 more are about to do the same. The College lost fewer than 20 students to the draft over the summer, and, under law, no more students can be inducted until June (providing they request postponement). But many will probably go then, and at the moment the registrar's office can make no guess as to what that number will be.

A real drop in future enrollment would mean at least "a difficult budget situation," Bender said. "We can cut expenses, but not very much. The faculty will drop somewhat, mainly in the lower levels."

If draftees serve for 21 or 27 months, enrollment would slump off for two years and then pick up again. "Harvard can go for two years without disastrous results and without raising the charges," Bender said.

An enrollment tailspin could also close some House or Yard dorms, he explained--the College still doesn't know which. During the last war, most of the civilian College students lived in the Yard.