Statement by Commissioner of Education Earl James McGrath to Ben Fine of the New York Times

STATEMENT * Our great system of higher education in the United States has in my judgment flourished because it embraces both privately and publicly supported institutions. I am disturbed, therefore, by the generally admitted financial plight of private colleges and universities both large and small. Public supported institutions of higher education also are having financial problems which should concern us. But the plight of most of the privately supported colleges and universities is particularly serious. It is important that our people should continue to support these latter institutions. Corporations and other large interests--particularly those which make direct use of the resources, both material and human, of these higher institutions--have a special responsibility to support them. But I would also call the attention of alumni to their obligation to contribute in accordance with their means, to the financial support of their own college or university. The preservation of these centers of learning which have contributed so largely to our productive capacity, our general well-being, and to the strength of our free institutions is a responsibility which all Americans should share. *By Earl James McGrath, U. S. Commissioner of Education, Federal Security Agency, Washington, D. C., to Mr. Ben Fine of the New York Times, October 28, 1952.