The next President of Harvard University may be picked today. Indications last night were, however, that no choice will be made until the May meeting of the Board of Over seer.
When close to 30 members of the Overseers meet at 11 this morning in the Faculty Room of University Hall, they will not definitely known whether the meeting will concern the usual University affairs or whether the Corporation will set the complicated apparatus in motion for chosing the new president.
The six-man Corporation Committee, headed by Roger I. Lee '02, has remained tight-lipped concerning men under consideration for the job. The few leaks that have come out were the result of interviews with members of the faculty on possible aspirants. From these interviews and on a speculative basis it is possible to construct a list of men who have at one time or another been under consideration.
Known to have been prominently considered within recent weeks are the following: Provost Paul H. Buck, McGeorge Bundy, associate professor of Government, John P. Coolidge '35, director of Fogg Museum, Dean Erwin N. Griswold of the Law School, and Edward M. Purcell, professor of physics.
Believed also to have been under consideration are Archibald Cox '34, professor of Law, John H. Finley '25, Eliot Professor of Greek Literature, Phillip H. Rhinelander '29, chairman of the Committee on General Education, William G. Saltonstall '28, headmaster of Exeter, Payson S. Wild, Dean of Faculties of North-western, and E. Bright Wilson, Richards Professor of chemistry.
"Difficulty in the choice" and "problems created by the Congressional probes into education" however, led one official close to the Corporation to flatly predict that no choice would be made until the meetings on the 11th and 12th of next month.
Permission to Proceed
In the event the Corporation has a man, the six men will be meeting in Provost Buck's office on the second floor of University Hall while the Overseers are meeting a few feet away in the Faculty Room. Formal procedure would be for the Corporation to report a vacancy and ask permission to proceed to an election.
When this is granted, the new head will be chosen and the name will be submitted to the Overseers, who will then table the matter until their next regular or special meeting. six days notice is required before a meeting of the Oversees.
The announcement of the name of the new president in expected to be released the same day it reaches the Overseers since it is believed that so large a body of men could not keep the name a secret for a full month.
Less prominently mentioned names who could be nominated today include George P. Baker '25, Hill Professor of Transportation, Alan W. Brown '30, president of Hobart, mason Hammond '25, Pope Professor of Latin Language and Literature, Francis Keppel '38, dean of the School of Education, and Eiting E. Morrison '32, associate professor of History at M.I.T
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