Section III of the report presents a plan for the subdivision of Harvard College into colleges. "In the old days before Harvard grew to such mammoth proportions eating in commons brought students together. It was fashionable at that time to dine in Memorial Hall, and in consequence all students in the College shared the opportunity of healthy social intercourse and a stimulating interchange of ideas. But in time the club system grew up and the clubs opened their own dining rooms. Memorial Hall ceased to be fashionable. Moreover, the College faced about and headed toward the river, so that Memorial Hall was left on the edge of things and the old system was doomed.

"The passing of the custom to dine in commons has brought a great change in undergraduate life. Quite naturally and quite properly the clubs became centers of small groups of students sharing kindred interests. A small minority of upperclassmen thus have their social needs satisfied through the club system. But for the great majority there is no common rallying ground. . . . And altogether the number of upperclassmen is so great that it cannot be expected that so large a group can be wielded into a unit.

CENTRAL RALLYING POINT NEEDED

"The defects of the present system, even for the man who has his club, tend to defeat almost equally one of the prime essentials of education, namely, that one acquire as broad a knowledge of human nature as possible. It is quite right that the clubs exist, and it is natural that they should draw together men of kindred interests. This is an excellent feature of college life, as all will admit. But when there is no effective center of gravity larger than the club to draw men of different interests together, there is great danger that the clubs will lead to mold men into types, to stamp out individuality, and to promote a certain smugness based upon the axiom that "Difference from like is the measure of absurdity'

"To recognize that there is this danger inherent in the club system, does not imply that the club system should be condemned. What it does imply is that in order to maintain in the proper balance, which is one of the objects of education, the centripetal force which draws like and like together in a club, should be counterpoised by a centrifugal force which should insure that un likes also meet and know each other.

WOULD SUBDIVIDE INTO COLLEGES

"If Harvard were a small college this problem would solve itself. The College would be an effective unit. But Harvard is so large, it is not a unit at all. It is obvious that this constitutes one of the very real problems of Harvard education, and the committee, after considering the matter thoroughly, is convinced that the ultimate solution is to divide the upperclassmen transversely into permanent groups for purposes of residence; or, in other words, to subdivide Harvard College into colleges . . . The greatest attractiveness of the idea consists in this: that it would give Harvard students certain advantages which they do not have at present without interfering with any of the benefits and privileges they now enjoy."

The report goes on to point out that a typical college would consist of from 250 to 300 students--Sophomores, Juniors, and Seniors--who would live together in a group of adjacent dormitories. Each college would have its own common room and dining hall, and a resident Dean who should be both the social and academic head of the college. It is indicated that the various upper class dormitories already fall into natural groups for the formation of two colleges in the Yard and two among the Mt. Auburn Street groups, but that possibly we new units would have to be built for which the committee thinks it would not be difficult to raise the necessary money.

THIS WOULD NOT DISRUPT CLUBS

The report goes on to point out that in-addition to furnishing the best possible stimulus for realizing the ideal of athletics for all, the plan of subdivision would not interfere with the club system. The clubs would continue to draw together men of kindred interests and would cut across colleges, just as they now cut across dormitories. Moreover, it would not interfere with the present academic system, but would be simply a new residential arrangement for improving the social side of education and promoting better understanding between diverse groups of students.

The plan proposed is intended to apply only to upperclassmen the present Freshman system being deemed essential to provide a foundation of unity and homogeneity between the diverse groups in each entering class.

GENERAL SCIENCE COURSE IMPERATIVE

The second half of the report deals with the academic side of education. Section IV takes up the important problem of providing the student with the necessary intellectual orientation, and offers several concrete suggestions for clearing up same of the confusion of thought which has sprung from the modern conflict between religion and science.

In the first place, it is proposed that a new general science course be organized specifically for students not concentrating in science. The report states that the present arrangement is unsatisfactory because the same courses are made to serve two distinct classes of students whose needs are different. Students concentrating in science need to learn the tools and the technique of their subject. Those who take a course merely for distribution have a cultural motive. But when both groups are subjected to the same methods of instruction, as they are at present, the cultural motive is subordinated or entirely lost in a mass of technical detail, since professors of science are naturally more interested in the first class of students than in the second.

"In order that the spirit, as well as the letter of the science requirement be adequately fulfilled, the committee recommends, therefore, that the two classes of students be separated that a new general science course be organized to meet the proposes to distribution by presenting the cultural side of the subject: and that the courses now given be reserved for students intending to concentrate in science. The new course should be a general survey course presenting without laboratory work, the more important principles of astronomy, geology, physics, chemistry, botany, zoology."