Big Shot Seminars

Behind closed doors in sessions closed to the press, many big figures on the American political scene have participated in Littauer seminars during the past-year. Sitting in on Professor Alvin Hansen's fiscal policy session a have been Marriner Eccles, chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, Roswell Magill, former under-Secretary of the Treasury, and Charles W. Eliot, executive officer of the National Resources Board. National chairmen of both major parties--James Farley and John D. M. Hamilton--have participated in the Political Parties seminar.

The Littauer School is more than an office building for Government and Economics professors. A real attempt is being made there to being together the best contemporary thinking and research and focus it on problems of government administration.

Granted that most of the work of the School could be carried on even if there had been no new building, nevertheless the Great White Hope undoubtedly bolsters the School's morale. Of course the question inevitably arises as to whether the money for the building might not have been better spent on more fellowships and research funds.

Future Uncertain

Future plans for the Center are largely dependent on funds provided for further instruction, research, and fellowships. Even though it seems unlikely that the School's enrollment will ever expand to the figure suggested by the Dodd group, new programs for integrating the training of government students are being worked out under the direction of Professor Carl J. Friedrich.

The "super graduate school" dream does not seem wholly impossible to realize. While the School's work is fundamentally experimental, the lines of development are clearly definable. Dean Williams has stated them in these words: "What we are seeking to do is not to find a new content in public administration but a new and more effective method of work which will draw not only the various branches of the social sciences nearer together but also the university and the public service."