President Pusey Reports Crowded Dormitories, Apathy to Humanities

Growth at the College without corresponding growth in dormitory space constitutes the most serious problem confronting, the College at present, President Pusey writes in his second annual President's Report to the Board of Overseers.

Describing the growth of Harvard in the last century, Pusey predicted that still more formidable pressures lie ahead.

It was the President's second report; last year's, his first, merely recited his impressions upon returning to Harvard. This 42 page document is the first time he has attempted to outline what he regards as the major live issue at the University.

Pusey expressed alarm at the "apparent lack of appreciation from which the humanities seem to suffer in the eyes of today's undergraduates, as compared with those of 25 years ago."

"A college in which the humanities are weak," he said, "runs the risk of being less liberal than it should... The chief aim of undergraduate education is to discover what it means to be a man."

Pusey voiced concern that the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences is experiencing a decline in enrollment at the same time that "clamorous demand" for college teachers is foreseeable.

28 New Professors

In the realm of statistical matters in the last year, the President observed, the faculty elected 28 members to the rank of Professor and 12 to the rank of Associate Professor. Also, 3,148 degrees were granted in 1953-54 and the University's assets rose from $276,000,000 to $230 million.

The report described three developments of the last year which Pusey thought particularly affected undergraduate education: 1) the Program of Advanced Study; 2) reinstating the Bachelor of Sciences degree; 3) the courses in basic design made available to undergraduates by the Graduate School of Design.

Toward the end of his report, President Pusey reflected on Harvard's status in the eyes of the nation and observed that "Harvard did not suffer, but grew in popular respect because of her refusal to make concessions in order to placate an irascible, if limited, public opinion."

Pusey wrote that it should be no surprise that universities are actively resented now and then since, "the little boy who hates school unfortunately continues to lurk in too many adults and needs very little encouragement to reassert himself."