But Mather is a devoted public educator who has many more important subjects of concern than his popularity among students. He regrets that he must spent 40 percent of his time attending state hearings and meetings in Boston, but regards this function as necessary for philosophical as well as economical reasons, since "the University administration thereby acts as a foil to keep the Legislature out of educational policy." Although a public educator by choice, he received his Ph.D. at privately-endowed Princeton and emphasizes that he has "no bone to pick with private education"; his aim is merely to provide a sound college education for the thousands of Massachusetts students who cannot afford to attend private colleges.

Respects Private Education

Not only is the UMass president well-disposed toward private colleges; he is an outspoken admirer of Harvard and its educational leaders. He considers President-emeritus James B. Conant '14 "one of the greatest men of his time," and described President Pusey's pronouncement of last year on academic freedom as a statement "fit to be engraved in stone."

President Mather's drive to expand his school's enrollment is a direct result of his feeling that it is the University's obligation to educate a maximum number of Mass. citizens. He will not, however, "settle for quantity in education," and asserts that "if we don't get the necessary new buildings and staff we'll keep our present enrollment. We'll stay this size until somebody fires me."

Enrollment at UMass may very well soon equal that of midwestern state universities, but Mather contends that his college will never become as football conscious or intellectually weak as some of those institutions. His attitude toward intercollegiate football is, in fact, considerably less favorable than the Massachusetts student body and athletic staff would probably like.

"I was interviewed last year for the Presidency of the University of Nebraska," Mather relates, "and could have had the job if only I'd accepted their football philosophy." He refused to do that, however, preferring to stay in New England where, he claims, the "tradition of booklearning" and the comparatively excellent high schools create a university atmosphere more conducive to learning.

Stating his general attitude toward an expanded football program, Mather said: "When I see a library enlarged to three times its present size, a new science center and a liberal arts building, then I'll listen to the people who want a stronger football program."

Despite Mather's football-can-wait attitude, however, there are certain forces working on the Massachusetts campus to build the University's athletic future in the image of the Big Ten. One of these forces is Warren McGurk, director of Athletics.

On the issue of building a new stadium on the campus, for example, McGurk's ideas seem in direct contradiction to Mather's. "It's very unlikely that you'll ever see a big football stadium out here," said the President, "because the faculty would raise cain against it." The present dismountable bleachers are far more satisfactory than a permanent football stadium, Mather feels. McGurk has other ideas. Pointing to a flat field some 500 yards away from the present athletic plant, he proudly states: "That's where our new stadium will be in a few years or so."

For the Yankee Conference, the league of six New England state universities in which UMass plays most of its athletic contests, McGurk sees a future of steadily intensifying rivalries and improving competition. "The athletic potential here is as good as in the Big Ten," he states.

Thus it seems that UMass administrators are not in complete accord on at least one issue concerning campus life. No so, however, with the University's students. On any subject, whether it be football or fraternities, they exhibit an amazing spirit of uniformity and acquiescence, apparently accepting the campus status quo as the only possible order of things.

There are on the Massachusetts campus, for example, a number of institutions that would certainly meet with strong opposition from students at most colleges, but at UMass are hardly even criticized.

One of these institutions is the student coun- selor system, under which a student appointed by the Dean lives on each dormitory corridor as a sort of proctor for the other students. It is the counselor's duty, among other things, to make sure every day that all the rooms are cleaned and beds made before classes, and to report any student who fails to observe these rules. Counselors, who are selected by the Dean for their "leadership qualities," receive free living quarters as payment for their service, and are not at all resented by the rest of the student body.

Key "Orientates" Frosh

Another UMass institution that would probably never be accepted at Harvard is the Maroon Key. This is a student organization very much like the Crimson Key except for one important difference: it is the Maroon Key's job to "orientation" the University's new freshman class each fall. Now, this "orientation" includes getting the freshmen settled in their dorms and showing them around the campus, but it also includes such things as routing them out of bed at 5 a.m. to serenade the women's dorms and making sure they wear beanies for a week. Again, however, there is no serious protest from either the students in general or the harrassed freshmen.