Reconverted Transports Scheduled, Will Aid Students' European Plans

If you didn't get to Europe during the war and would like to find out all about the comforts of a troop ship, or if you just want to look up that little brunette in Parts, or if you are one of those who are interested in "foreign travel and culture," the State Department and the U. S. Maritime Service have arranged things for you.

Two converted C-4 troopships, the Marine Jumper and Marine Tiger, will make eight round-trip crossings of the Atlantic this summer for the special transportation of "academic and cultural persons." The ships, made available by the Maritime Service, will be operated by the U. S. and Moore-McCormack lines.

Planned by Government

Between 3500 and 5000 students are expected to take advantage of the set-up made possible by Assistant to the President John R. Steelman and the Division of International Exchange of Persons of the Department of State, according to the Institute of International Education Inc., which will act as coordinator of the project.

The Institute, located at 2 West 45th Street in New York, will be in charge of allocation of space to those going abroad. Priorities for passage will be dispensed by the Department of State and tickets will be issued by the operating lines.

First to embark will be members of work-camp projects heading for Italy and Austria, delegates to conferences, and those selected to assist at the Salaburg Summer Seminar. Later sailings will probably be open to individuals planning to study n Europe during the summer or fall, according to Francis D. Fisher '47, Chairman of the Student council International Activities Committee.

Open Holds of Men

The ships, says the Institute, will be "much less crowded than troop transports during the war but essentially unchanged." Women passengers will be placed in multiple bed cabins, while most of the male travelers will find themselves in open holds, and will eat in stand-up cafeterias.

Besides the bettered conditions, another change from wartime travel will be in the matter of rates, which range from $117 to $200 each way depending on class of accommodation and port of destination. English and French ports will be visited on each trip, while two or three sailings will stop at Oslo.

The highest rates will be charged to the female cabin-jwellers who will receive table service. The hardler and more impecunious women will be charged less accordingly, while the men in the hold will play even less.

Passengers will be both members of sponsored groups and individual students. They can secure full information on the different sailings of the chartered ex-troopships by contacting the Institute of International Education.

The first sailing is scheduled for June 6.