A LIMITATION PROGRAM

The publication of President Lowell's report in which he deals first and foremost with the question of limitation of enrollment offers all interested an opportunity to discuss the situation from a constructive point of view. How soon the plan of the Faculty Committee which has been deliberating the question will be published is a matter of doubt and conflicting rumor; nor is there any assurance that the plan, when finally divulged will be of a definite nature.

Meanwhile the Crimson submits a method of procedure which it believes to be logical, definitive, and practical.

It would seem advisable that the first step in any solution of the problem would be the determining of an inelastic maximum Freshman enrollment (at least while the physical capacity of the University remains what it now is), exclusive of transfer students for whom there are separate rules and of dropped Freshmen who usually do not strain first-year facilities, but would include all Freshmen registered in the College or Engineering School. This maximum the Crimson sets at 900. The number with which any system of limitations must deal should be only a percentage of the 900, for the Crimson believes that the policy inaugurated this fall of admitting without examination all applicants who have graduated from schools with an approved curriculum in the first seventh of their classes should be continued for at least another year before judgment can be passed on its success or failure. In selecting the remainder of the 900 the Crimson favors a system of elimination--elimination from the ground up on the basis of scholarship.

President Lowell also considers a system of elimination, but seems to prefer for the qualification of an applicant his school record and his character as far as it can be ascertained. The results of such procedure must be at best unfair and indecisive, for "with the schools as unequal as they are in the United States", often with widely different standards, the records could hardly be compared; while no satisfactory means has yet been devised for forming snap judgments of a boy's character, far less of comparing characters. And "personal interviews wherever possible" would be as unjust to those applicants who found it possible as to those who found it impossible. However interesting and significant the results of such investigation may be, they cannot be more than supplementary. An absolute standard is the only one which can prove fair and consistent with itself. The only absolute standard at the command of any university is that of scholarship.

But before the plan of competitive elimination need be applied to the remaining applicants, many undesirables can be excluded by stopping up some old loop-holes.

First, fall examinations for admission should be discontinued except in the cases of men who through sickness or other circumstances beyond their control are unable to take the examinations in June. These cases will have to be taken up individually by the Committee on Admissions.

Second, no men should be admitted with more than one condition.

Third, no men should be admitted who fail to pass their English entrance requirements.

By the first provision would be excluded (1) those men who having failed their examinations in June meet the requirements by concentrated cramming during the summer; (2) those who show a lack of interest by neglecting to present themselves at the proper time; (3) that small number who are able to slip in unnoticed in the general rush and confusion always evident at the College Office during late September. (Incidentally, by reducing this confusion, the discontinuing of fall examinations would allow University Hall to start the College year under less of a handicap.)

By the second provision would be excluded those men who entering with two conditions must carry the burden of extra work and find their entire college course troubled by the spectre of probation. These men being under such academic pressure can contribute little to and gain little from the University.

The third provision has already been stressed by College authorities and its enforcement is consistent with academic education and the character of Harvard College.

If, after these provisions have been put into effect, the number of applicants, including those admitted without examination, exceeds the limit of 900 the competitive rating should be used to determine which of the candidates taking the examinations should be enrolled.

If, for example 300 were admitted under the one-seventh rule and the remaining number of applicants totalled 700, the upper 600 would be granted admission. The method of determining the ratings would be similar to that used at present in grading all examinations for entrance to Harvard College. But there is one addition which would seem advisable--that of a general cultural examination. This would be taken either in connection with the New Plan examinations or with the subjects offered last by a candidate under the Old Plan. It would undoubtedly prove useful in deciding difficult cases; thus if there were 30 applicants all with an equally low average, on the regular examinations, and only fifteen places still vacant, the fifteen who had passed the best cultural examinations would be admitted.

While this plan might be criticized as one which would admit only good students, the "more acquisitive" and would exclude "not a few boys of sterling qualities", yet its chief characteristic is that in the main it would exclude only poor students. The boys of "sterling qualities" who would suffer would be a small proportion. And it was obvious that some proportion of the applicants must suffer as soon as it became apparent that it was necessary to limit the enrollment.