Geography Razed

Three years ago, the University emasculated its geography department, quickly, silently, but not completely. A thorough job was impossible at the time because the Institute of Geographical Exploration, which had strong ties with the abolished department, was privately owned. Last month, however, the persistence of official indifference finally annihilated that, too; Professor Rice, its owner, gave it to the University, which immediately closed down its building and fired its staff.

The Institute's affiliation with Harvard was a strange one (Professor Rice built it, payed the upkeep, and allowed the University to use it, receiving his professorship in return) but it also was a productive one. The Rice Institute housed all the equipment needed for any kind of map study, numerous maps of great value, an extremely competent staff, and one of the best lecture halls available for college use. Harvard could claim, along with the University of Chicago and Clark, one of the finest geography departments in the country, thanks to Professor Rice's Institute.

The University has no use for all the exploring carried on by the Institute. Since this is the Institute's greatest expense, operating costs could be lowered considerably. But the University should not reopen the building as a mere auditorium, available to any course that needs space. It should resurrect the Geography Department with the Institute as a nucleus--on a lesser scale than the department of three years ago, but at least as a full fledged department.

In its failure to promise such a plan, the University has shown the same strange indifference to President Conant's educational ideals as it did two years ago in abolishing Geography as a field of concentration.

A Harvard education emphasizes first, diversity, allowing students to pursue their interests no matter how unusual; and second, it requires a general education. Geography serves both ideals. The subject is interesting and valuable in itself, and it is vital to understanding the politics, economics, and history of the world.

Eliminating geography not only ignores the needs of an outstanding educational policy, but the needs of the State Department and the U.S. Armed Forces. Political and human geography may have been a luxury twenty-five years ago, but today when America is a world power, it is vital to effective foreign policy.

The University may claim that it cannot afford the cost of such a department, but surely it could divert some of its funds to such an important field. Geography is just as much a necessity as physics, economics, or any other subject to a nation that has assumed the burdens of a world power.