NEW FRONTIERS

By advocating University Professorships and National Scholarships, the President and Fellows have chartered a momentous educational course for Harvard. In the words of President Conant the two uses for the Tercentenary Fund form "parts of a single purpose to increase broadly the service of Harvard to the nation".

University Professorships are proposed because a university should be a place where "the unity of knowledge is remembered along with the pursuit of specialized teaching and enquiry". Specialization is in itself largely artificial a rough and convenient demonstration of knowledge always in danger of bogging down under the weight of its own independent and circumscribed tradition. University Professors, subject to no departmental regulations and supplied with an adequate staff, still counterbalance specialization and open new vistas to unrestricted learning.

The National Scholarships have their genesis to the Conant Prize Scholarships instituted in 1934. Frankly experimental, they were limited to a small number, but their great usefulness has since been conclusively proved by the laboratory subjects. The theoretical soundness of making Harvard a truly national institution by drawing from all sections of the country, and of giving exceptional students a real chance by granting adequate stipends has been demonstrated, now the inspiring program must be further developed.

These two projects, long dear to the heart of President Conant, are now fully formulated, and can be pursued with especial vigor. The two ideas, part of an all-embracing determination to make Harvard preeminent, are due to the vigorous educational leadership that we have come to expect of President Conant. The central plan, of increased usefulness, and the methods of attainment will everywhere kindle the imagination of laymen as well as educators. The announcement of the creation of this fund as part of the Tercentenary program is extremely appropriate. The Tercentenary takes on new meaning; it will not be merely a gala celebration to the past but more important, a great contribution to the future.