TWENTY-TWO MILLIONS FOR SCIENCE

In 1904 Harvard accepted a trust of $22,000,000 under the will of Gordon Mackay for the purpose of building up a strong and efficient department of engineering education and research. Since that time the University has concluded its affiliations with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and with the intention of making the best possible use of the endowment, the President and Fellows of Harvard have petitioned the trustees of the bequest to transfer the funds to Technology. This is certainly contrary to the letter, and, according to the trustees, to the spirit of Mr. Mackay's will, for the latter intended to build up a superior department of engineering under the sole control of the Harvard Faculty.

Whether this can or cannot be legally done is a question which the Supreme Court is soon to decide, but whatever the outcome Harvard has given an example of disinterestedness and whole-souled devotion to the general cause of education that has few equals. At a time when there is the keenest rivalry among American universities for the largest endowments, the largest number of students, and the greatest variety of departments, Harvard has shown that she can place quality above quantity and the general interests of education ahead of those of a particular institution. It is hardly too much to say that a new landmark has been created in the history of educational philanthropy in America.