'45 May Prove Largest Class in History

A Freshman class which may well be the largest in University history, the first since 1932 of more than 1,100 students, will register in Memorial Hall today.

In common with colleges throughout the nation Harvard officials have upped the quota of this year's batch of Yardlings in an attempt to maintain at normal levels a student body badly crippled by the draft and the needs of national defense.

Nobody knows exactly how many students will sign their way through Memorial Hall in the two days of registration still to come, but most estimates allow for at least a 10 per cent drop in last year's enrollment and place the total around the 7,000 mark. The Law School, which registered last Monday, is expected to suffer the greatest loss of any branch of the University--with last year's figure of 1,248 predicted to shrink to 850.

Draft Information Requested

On hand again this year to referee the struggle with the contents of the manila envelope is Stanley K. Leonard, graduate student who was in charge of last fall's registration. The only change in the rigamarole already familiar to upper classmen, according to Leonard, is that the envelopes contain one more card than they did last year. The new addition requests information regarding the status of students with respect to the Selective Service Act and is designed to give the University some idea of what is to become of the student body. Special regulations covering students who leave for military or national defense work have been put into effect so that their fees will be refunded for the quarter in which they leave.

A conscientious lad, Mr. Leonard says, will go through Mem Hall in 20 or 30 minutes, and by conscientious lads Mr. Leonard means Freshmen. Upperclassmen, he says, suffer from over-confidence and are always the underdogs of registration. He expects his peak load between 11 and 12 today.

Aided by a staff of students, registration director Leonard has been preparing for today since last Friday, when he and his cohorts began filling the envelopes which are the focal point of today's tussle. About 12 men helped him on Friday, but on Tuesday, when he comes face to face with returned study cards the kickback from the activity of today, tomorrow and Monday, all of which must be sorted, checked and made into course lists before Wednesday morning, he expects to have at least 35 helpers.