Cordier Discusses Unrest On Campus at Conference

Unrest on college campuses is due in large part to very rapid technological and social change, Andrew W. Cordier, acting president of Columbia University, said at a press conference yesterday afternoon.

"Many of the causes of demonstrations lie not in the students themselves, but in the world in which they live," he said.

Cordier was in Boston to moderate a symposium titled "Toward the Year 2000: Population Versus Progress," held at the Sheraton Plaza last night. Other members of the symposium, all from Columbia, were Margaret Mead, adjunct professor of Anthropology; Arthur S. Lall, adjunct professor of International Affairs; and Daniel Bell, professor of Sociology.

"College unrest demonstrates the need for responsive faculties who will engage in dialogue with students," Cordier said. "At Columbia," he added, "there are many such quiet negotiations, along with a policy of reconciliation."

What About King

In response to a question about King Collins, Cordier said only, "Inter-communication between campuses is becoming a pattern."

Mead linked student unrest with its coverage by the media. "Everyone will get bored to death soon with student demonstrations. If T.V. gets bored, students will turn their attention to something else," she said.

Educational problems of a different sort were raised in a discussion of underdeveloped nations. Lall, former Ambassador of India to the United Nations, said that countries with poor educational facilities also have rapidly growing populations. He said that in India, rapid population growth made it "impossible to provide good and universal education," so that 60 million school-age children cannot be educated.

Rich and Poor

Mead said that the problem of over-population was world-wide. She criticized those who say the rich may have large families but the poor should not. "This builds resentment. We need an ethic which will work for everyone in the world, rich and poor," she said.

All the speakers at the symposium felt that increased urbanization and technology would present new problems. In a paper for the symposium, Bell said, "Such development will bring about a multiplication of psychological pressures on persons, and a widening gap between advanced and less-advanced nations."