Conant Calls for $6 Million To Revamp Divinity Schoo

President Conant yesterday nounced a $6,000,000 plan for the organization and rejuvenation off Divinity School.

Pointing out the "increasing evidence of a desire to have the Divinity Sch revitalised and given more the charac of a center of religious learning." President Conant proposed raising $5,000,0 in general subscriptions among alumni and $1,000,000 in contributions from the Corporation.

Reorganization of the school, Conant, would require getting a new do to replace Dean Sperry who has served the school since 1925. Also proposed a larger faculty, a student body of about 300, and a curriculum "designed to provide a comprehensive education in the common tenets of Christianity."

Post-Graduate Department

The School, which will be "entire interdenominational and consequent open to students without regard to the religious background," will provide post-graduate department leading higher degrees, in order to create important center of religions learning Conant stated.

John Lord O'Brian '96, chairman of special committee appointed to investigate the school, said in his report in the forthcoming Alumni Bulletin that "from a purely Harvard standpoint an active and well-supported Divinity School, or suring the continued presence in Cambridge of inspiring religious thought, will provide a balance that will strength and enrich the life of the University. M associates and I believe this effort to be the most significant in the history of Harvard."

"The hopes for a revitalized school do not mean simply a 'patching up' process, O'Brian stated. "Quite the contrary, the commission argued a strong case for a 'radically enlarged and improved' institution which could take its proper place as 'one of the world's leading University schools of religion.'"

Enlarged Faculty

"Unless the faculty is substantially enlarged and adequate facilities are established, Harvard will be put out of step with the times and will inevitably fail in meeting the varied and constantly expanding demands in the fields of religious education," he concluded.

The last concerted effort to raise funds for the school came in 1879 under the leadership of President Eliot. Since then, the school has been increasingly neglected. In recent years it began running a deficit and both its faculty and student body became smaller.

The Corporation said that it would continue to subsidize the school's deficit during the interim period. For some time, the school has been running $25,000 a year into the red.

The Corporation's action was the result of a report prepared five years ago by O'Brian's committee.