"If Geography was ever desperately needed, it is needed now," Erwin Raisz, lecturer on Geographical Exploration, declared over the weekend in the first phase of a student-faculty counter-attack on the University's recent abolition of Geography as a field of concentration.

In a letter of protest to President Conant earlier this month, Raisz, the senior active member of the Institute of Geographical Exploration, stated that "the demand for good geographers and cartographers continues strong. Harvard cannot progress without geography any better than it could without history."

Tolle of Ignorance

Citing the case of a "high-ranking member of the State Department who did not know where Manchuria was," Raisz' letter claimed that "the Palestine and the Korean problem would never have occured if they had been handled by persons with an adequate knowledge of geography.

"All you could save in destroying a vigorously growing department is less than one-tenth of one percent of Harvard's budget," the letter went on.

Privately Run

Although the Institute offers courses to Harvard undergraduates and graduates, it is financed privately by Dr. Alexander H. Rice '98, professor of Geographical Exploration, and will not be affected by the recent decision.

Another Institute member, William K. Coburn, assistant in Geographical Exploration, backed up Raiez' views last night.