ASK FOR RESERVE UNIT

An official letter signed by President Lowell applying for the immediate establishment of a reserve officers' training unit at Harvard was sent to Washington last night. It is expected that the War Department will send the official confirmation within the next two days. Advice has come from Washington that there will be no objections to establishing a unit at Harvard, and by the beginning of the second half-year whatever military instruction is announced will have the sanction of the War Department, and the work completed will be credited to the students on the records of the War Department.

The program and details of Military Science and Tactics 1 for the second half year are being prepared now. Owing to the indefiniteness of the present military situation and the difficulty of obtaining sufficient instructors the final plans for the course cannot be announced until a later date. In all probability Military Science 1 will be expanded to include additional hours for section meetings and practical drill. Every effort is being made by the College authorities and Captain Cordier to arrive at a course of intensive training that will give students the greatest amount of efficient instruction in the shortest period of time. If it seems feasible, the Regiment of last year will be reorganized and a similar system of drill hours be worked out so that all military instruction will interfere as little as possible with the regular College curriculum. At the meeting of the Faculty this afternoon the question of how best to facilitate students enrolling in Military Science 1 for the next half-year will be discussed. Whatever allowances are to be granted will be published in tomorrow's CRIMSON in order that all students may arrange their study cards before Monday, February 12, the date when these cards have to be handed in.

In case of a declaration of war the College authorities plan to have an officers' training unit organized here before the War Department is able to form similar training schools in different parts of the country. In this way undergraduates will be given a better and earlier opportunity to train themselves for commissions in a volunteer force. The course of training now under consideration would extend over a period of six months, and on completing such a course any average college man would be sufficiently well fitted to be a second lieutenant in a volunteer organization.