Keppel Will Serve Where Needed; His Job 'Rests in Johnson's Hands'

Francis G. Keppel '38, United States Commissioner of Education, said last night that he would be willing to serve the Administration "in whatever capacity I can be the most useful."

The former dean of the Graduate School of Education said that whether or not he keeps his post is "entirely in President Johnson's hands."

In a telephone interview last night, Keppel said that the greatest task facing education in the United States right now is the dual one of providing equality of opportunity and higher quality in American schools.

The outstanding accomplishment of the Kennedy-Johnson administration, Keppel said, is that it has "provided more federal support for education, elementary through university, than any other administration in history."

He outlined three bills passed by the 88th Congress which would be significant for students at Harvard. The first bill has doubled the amount of loan funds available under the National Defense Education Act from 19 million to 38 million dollars. This will make it easier to obtain NDEA loans and allow bigger loans to be made.

Another bill, which was a provision of the anti-poverty program, will provide funds to help needy students find term time employment.

Under the third bill, the number of nationally available Ph.D. fellowships has been increased from 1500 to 3000 this year, and is authorized to go up to 7500 in the next few years.