Overemphasis

When the University speaks about General Education, the accent is on the word General. But there is an incongruity between intention and application. Many of the University's gifts over the past months have gone to a few specific departments in the sciences, while research in the humanities and the social sciences has been sorely neglected. This is not the fault of the University, but of the foundations which supply a large percentage of the annual donations. These foundations realize the necessity for scientific progress, but fail to see an equal need in other fields.

During the summer, the University received $1,762,000, of which almost half went to the Medical School, the School of Public Health, and other scientific projects. The Rockefeller Foundation, whose gift of $149,000, was one of the largest single contributions, stipulated that almost all of the money should go into specific scientific research. Since 1949 the McKay estate has given $8,0000,000 to Harvard for work in the applied sciences, and the University's share in the Higgins Scientific Trust brings in $250,000 each year.

These figures show a strong emphasis on the scientific fields, especially since last year the Chemistry Department received $121,928 which was thirty times more than the amount the Government Department pulled in during that period. The summer's contributions have indicated that this trend is not only continuing, but increasing.

Groups like the Rockefeller Foundation are supplying a growing percentage of the University's funds, and placing restrictions on their use. The administration can do nothing to redirect funds already stipulated for scientific research, nor can it control the policies of these foundations. The foundations themselves must decide where their money goes. Admittedly scientific research is important, but so is work in other fields, and the donors should realize this in making a more equitable distribution of future gifts.