55 Korean Vets Enroll Under Newest G.I. Bill

Korea veterans are registering at the University this fall in the first large batch since the beginning of the Far Eastern conflict, the Veterans Office announced yesterday. Of a total 55, 12 of them are enrolled in the College.

Mrs. Lee Smith, head of the Office, said that the 55 figure may be incomplete. The total number of veterans using the four G.I. bills stands, as of yesterday, at 583.

Since the Veterans Administration is in charge of processing the applications, the University Office has no way of knowing what the final count will be. Mrs. Smith estimated that another hundred veterans, mostly non-resident graduate, working on their theses, will be registered this term.

In addition to the Korea veterans who receive compensation from Public Law 550, passed on August 10th of this year, 34 veterans are using the two rehabilitation laws, 16 and 894. Four of the latter are undergraduates.

Drop This Year

The present overall figure shows a sharp decrease from last year, when 1,429 veterans registered in the fall and 1,094 in the spring. The biggest year for veterans in the University was 1946, when 9,138 were in the University. In 1947 the figure had already fallen to 8,875, and has been decreasing ever since.

Because of the declining percentage of veterans among University students, University Hall cut the staff in the Veterans Office last spring from ten to three. The post of Councilor for Veterans, formerly held by John U. Munro '34, director of the Financial Aid Office, was abolished, and a University Committee on Veterans established.

Three men make up the committee: Munro acts in the capacity of provost; Mr. Howard N. Smith, Comptroller, handles the financial matters; and Mr. Lewis A. Toepfer, Assistant Dean of the Faculty of Law and Director of Admissions in the Law School, handles the legal work. Although their work is diverse, the committee acts as one body.

Dean Bender was Councilor for Veterans until July, 1947, when he became Dean of the College. Munro took the position over from him.

Mrs. Smith said yesterday that the cut in the staff was possible because the office is now processing applications by mail. Previously applicants were called in for interviews in a more lengthy systerm. Miss Margaret Witt, who was in charge of the office since 1944, left last spring to become Executive Assistant at the Massachusetts General Hospital.