Ed School Releases Claim on U.S. Funds

The School of Education has withdrawn an application for federal funds to complete its seven-story tower because it discovered it didn't need the money.

The request was made a year ago, immediately following the passage of the Higher Education Facilities Act, when the Ed School lacked $500,000 for its $1.7 million Varsal Hall, now under construction on Appian Way.

At that time, in a very unusual move, the Corporation voted to lend the School the extra money. Then, President Pusey termed the action "a very significant one because it gives firm indication that the University is willing to stand behind the School and work with it in solving its problems."

The Federal grant would have gone to pay back that loan.

Red Tape

But it has taken so much time to set up the machinery for the Higher Education Facilities Act that the Ed School has managed to raise the needed funds on its own.

The upshot of the whole affair is that the Ed School never even used the University loan, because the extra funds have been collected before the construction bills fell due. The building will probably be ready for use this summer.

Edward G. Kaelber, assistant dean of the School of Education, said last night that the additional money had come from the National Institute for Mental Health, the National Science Foundation, private foundations, and individual donors.

Kaelber said he wasn't surprised that the School had gathered the additional funds before receiving word from the Federal government. "You always try a number of places and you just hope one or more of them will come through," Kaelber said.

Theodore R. Siser, dean of the School of Education, said that the Ed School would probably request funds under the Higher Education Facilities Act if it needed any money in the future.

He added, however, such requests might be refused since Title II of the Act, under which applications would be made, specified that funds were to go to "new and expanding" schools.

City Councillor Alfred E. Vellucci, an authority on Cambridge architecture, has termed the seven-story Ed School's tower a monstrosity.