Construction Will Start On New Religious Center

A row of felled trees across from the Divinity School marks the site of the new Center for World Religions, which will open next Fall. Construction on the $500,000 building designed to "encourage communication between men of different faiths" will start in the next few days.

The structure will "serve a number of related purposes," according to the Rev. Robert H. L. Slater, professor of World Religions and director of the Center. Chief among these will be discussion, since the anonymous grant establishing the Center called for "sympathetic study of the religions of the world" so that each student "may gain a clear insight and a firmer faith in the truth of his own religion."

Center Will House Students

Both foreign and American students will live in the building, plans for which include suites for 11 married and visiting scholars, as well as eight apartments for unmarried students. Most of the people at the Center, according to the Rev. Slater, will study at the Divinity School under a new Ph.D. program in the History and Philosophy of Religions.