SOCIAL ENGINEERING

"This building has been erected as an expression of a growing demand for standards of public administration worthy of a progressive nation. . . . The New School, we trust, will produce social engineers as well as social architects, skilled in administrative strategy as well as political theory." With these words, the classical, granite structure which is the Littauer Center was officially opened, to serve this and coming generations.

Mr. Littauer is already assured of renown by the building which he so generously gave and which bears his name. But his ideas on the subject of public administration, perhaps the most important part of his gift, have still to be perpetuated. It is therefore up to the hand-picked fellows of the Graduate School of Public Administration, which is housed in the Littauer Center, to carry forth into the world the results of their research. For as Dean Williams has said, the emphasis of the School will be upon investigation and research rather than upon formal instruction. Through the agency of the Littauer Center, a distinct attempt is being made to direct work in the social sciences at Harvard more effectively towards the larger problems of policy and administration with which our government is confronted.

This distinct stressing of research is a unique approach to the problem of training men for government service, the primary educational end to which the School is dedicated. Since its student body is composed of highly-educated graduate students, there is little need for further formal instruction. They will benefit more from doing research on various problems and then discussing them with consultant experts in seminars. In this way the individual student gains much knowledge. Furthermore, by the publication of the results of its research, the School believes it will add to the general store of knowledge and further justify its existence.

Undoubtedly this approach, worked out only after two years of conferences and discussion, will prove very significant. It may well be the dawn of a new era in training men for government position. But the more immediate result will be the graduates of the School, the social engineers of the future. The eyes of the nation are focused on these men, and it is their job to carry the torch, to bring the light. It is up to them to be the trained city-managers, the heads of government bureaus, the professors of political economy of tomorrow. Their is the obligation to show the layman the best way to make democracy work.