Confusion Caused Rejection by Yale Of Harkness Aid

A misunderstanding between the president of Yale and multi-millionaire philanthropist Edward S. Harkness, was one of the main reasons Harkness contributed over $11,000,000 toward the construction of the Harvard House system, a book published yesterday by a Yale historian reveals.

In "Yale: The University College," George W. Pierson, professor of History at Yale, said that James R. Angell, the Yale President from 1921-37, wanted very much to enlarge the then overcrowded campus, but believed that because Harkness desired complete anonymity as the donor of a new system, he should not tell his faculty that he had a source of funds for the needed expansion.

As a result, Pierson asserts, the faculty committee at Yale discussed means to enlarge the school without ever reaching any final decision. The faculty was hesitant to adopt plans for any extensive house system, because it felt that the money would not be available.

After first offering money to Angell in September of 1926, Harkness set July 1, 1928, as a deadline for Yale's acceptance of the gift. The president felt bound not to tell anyone of the sure source of money, and, as a result, no decision was reached by that date.

Harkness thought that Yale did not want his idea for a House system, modeled on Oxford's, whereas it very likely would have accepted the plan immediately if Angel had made Harkness' name public.