Committee to Consider Problems of Expansion

After a lengthy discussion of the size of the College the Faculty voted at its monthly meeting yesterday to have a committee investigate the problem further.

Although there was a general feeling that a 1923 Faculty recommendation limiting the Freshman class to 1000 students was now out-dated, the Faculty was reluctant simply to dismiss the issue by rescinding the recommendation.

Instead, Robert G. McCloskey '88, professor of Government, moved that a Faculty committee be created to examine the question at greater length and report back to the Faculty "at an early date." Dean Bundy, who will appoint the committee, said its creation was approved by a 2 to 1 vote.

McCloskey said last night that he did not expect the committee would necessarily suggest a new numerical figure for the size of the Freshman class, but did expect it to frame a more general policy. Several Faculty members stated that formation of the committee reflected a genuine concern of the Faculty over the complexity of the problem and was not a result of temporizing.

Although many aspects of the problem were mentioned at the heavily attended meeting there was general agreement that the primary question was not the absolute size of the College but was the function of the College and the size best suited.

On this latter problem a split was apparent between those who stressed Harvard's function as a leader in the face of a rapidly increasing college population and those who stressed its commitment to excellence and experiment.

Among the points raised as relevant to the debate and those which will be studied by the committee were: the effect on the residential House system, the effects of an increased Faculty, the relation of the size of the College to the Graduate School--and whether expansion of the latter to produce more teachers would not prove more useful than enlarging the College--the effects of a dilution of endowment, and the relative size of other private institutions.

Among the speakers at the meeting were McCloskey, Elliot Perkins '23, Master of Lowell House, Robert L. Wolff '36, professor of History, Franklin L. Ford, professor of History, Seymour E. Harris '20, Lucius N. Littauer Professor of Political Economy, John H. Finley '25, Master of Eliot House, Frank H. Westheimer, professor of Chemistry, Arthur Smithies, Nathaniel Ropes Professor of Political Economy, and David Riesman 31, Henry Ford II Professor of Social Sciences.