"This picture shows the original form of Boylston Hall. You see it is a pretty good-looking building. I cannot say that of the present Boylston Hall ... the original building bad a good rooj. How was that building spoiled? What led to the spoiling? Simply the growth of instruction in chemistry in Harvard College."

Thirty years after President Eliot wrote this in his Harvard Memories, the University is faced with another problem of expansion. But this time, it is not one that can be shrugged off by merely raising a roof. School systems throughout the country are overflowing with war and postwar babies. In five years, the advance wave of this torrent will begin pounding at ivied doors. More and more people will want to go to already crowded colleges, and in this demand lies Harvard's problems. It is perhaps the most challenging problem the College has faced in its 318 years: should Harvard expand?

The Graceful Lines

Expansion of the College is an exciting prospect. But Boylston's new roof, as Eliot pointed out, sacrificed beauty to function. The problem now facing the College in whether it can likewise expand its facilities without sacrificing the graceful lines of the traditional Harvard education.

Certainly there is no doubt that the College could find a way to expand physically; it could build fifteen Houses, two Lamonts, two Burrs, and a vastly expanded faculty. It could mean and undergraduate community of eight, or even ten undergraduate community of eight, or even ten thousand, rather than the present 4400. It would mean that Harvard could meet its vague "social obligations" by taking its share of the increasing thousands.

"Harvard has to maintain more or less its relative position to maintain its intellectual effectiveness," agrees Archibald MacLeish, acting master of Eliot House. But there is another social obligation which must be met first. "There is no point to expansion," macLcish continues, "if in expanding, you lose what Harvard College is." More specifically, the quality opf the faculty and the spirit of the Houses.

Like A Balloon

To enlarge most colleges by 1000 would require a new dormitory or two, an enlarged dining hall, library, and gymnasium-a balloon-like enlargement of the whole. Harvard, however, can enlarge by adding virtually self-sufficient units, each with its own academic staff, common rooms, dining and recreational facilities, and library.

In the Houses, the essence-what Gordon M. Fair, master of Dunster House, calls the "collegiate University atmosphere"-would be re-distilled, rather than being diluted by volume as it would in the case of organic expension.

One does not build a faculty with bricks or wood paneling, however, and the problem of expansion is as difficulty here. There is already an extreme shortage of teachers, and to expect top men to work for current salaries is wishful thinking. But, while complaining of present overwork, Harvard faculty members grudgingly admit with Philip H. Rhinclander '29, Director of general Education, that a "qualified faculty can be found if enough money is put into the field."

If Harvard could be expanded successfully, while still maintaining academic leadership, the question is how far it could expand. The over supply of students seems endless. In the recent America's Resources of Specialized Talent, editor Dacl Wolfle estimates that in five years, the number of college graduates will increase by a fifth over the total next June. In fourteen years, the number will shoot up by an astounding 220 percent (see graph) and the rise will not be temporary.

Not only will there be more students seeking admission to college, but a greater percentage will have the incentive and the economic means to go to college. Many of the increased thousands will flock to rapidly-enlarging state colleges. Others will fill hundreds of small private colleges, now literally begging for applicants. even more will resort to junior colleges for their terminal degrees, in an enforced realization of President-emeritus conant's predictions.

But, because of the mass-production techniques, trade school concepts of education, and inferior quality of instruction, the leading private schools-the "prestige schools"-will offer increasingly attractive prospects to increasing numbers.

How many of these thousands, then, should Harvard admit? There are three answers, and supporters of each can build an impressive case.

The most obvious solution is not to expand at all. Although he admits, 'my mind is open ... I'd like to hear more discussion," Wilbur J. Bender '27, dean of Admissions, defends this course, and with Justification.