The following transcribed memo from 1954 was written to the President of Columbia University by Carter Goodrich. It appears to have been sent as evidence of what Goodrich had deemed “the fellowship problem”, i.e. “the inadequacy of our provisions for graduate aid” resulting in no graduate applicants from the top U.S. and Canadian colleges and universities (excluding Columbia) except for one from Princeton and another from Bryn Mawr. The strongest applicants were “largely foreigners or refugees”. A list of the twenty-six top applicants was provided, with Peter Bain Kenen perhaps the one who was to cast the longest shadow going forward (and who incidentally went to Harvard and not Columbia for his graduate work). Leon Smolinski did obtain his Ph.D. in economics at Columbia and went on to teach at Boston College for thirty years. (A Boston College obituary for Smolinski).
________________________
Columbia University
in the City of New York
[New York 27, N.Y.]
Faculty of Political Science
March 8, 1954
President Grayson Kirk
Low Memorial Library
Dear Grayson:
I am taking the liberty of sending you this note to continue our chance conversation of the other day on the fellowship problem.
After looking over the nearly eighty applications for fellowships or scholarships in Economics, we realized that there was not a single applicant from Swarthmore, Haverford, Amherst, Williams, Wesleyan, Bowdoin, Yale, Stanford, McGill, Toronto, Smith, Wellesley, Mt. Holyoke, or from the undergraduate schools of Harvard or the Universities of California and Chicago. There is one from Princeton and one (French by nationality) from Bryn Mawr.
There are, nevertheless, a number of strong candidates, but largely foreigners or refugees. I am enclosing a copy of a list which I have submitted to the Executive Officer of the Department indicating the origins of the leading twenty-six candidates.
The failure to attract applicants from the institutions from which we might expect the best American and Canadian training appears to me a very serious matter. Part, at least, of the cause must lie in the inadequacy of our provisions for graduate aid.
Sincerely yours,
[signed: “Carter”]
Carter Goodrich
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
|
NAME |
PLACE OF BIRTH |
COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES |
|
| 1. | Joseph Raymond Barse | Chicago, Illinois | Northwestern University Columbia University |
| 2. | Donald Van Twisk Bear | New York City | Princeton University |
| 3. | Robert Classon | New York City | Brooklyn College |
| 4. | Joan E. Belenken | Brooklyn, N.Y. | Barnard College Cornell University |
| 5. | Narciso Asperin Ferrer | Manila | Ateneo de Manila (Law School and Graduate School) |
| 6. | William Smith Gemmell | Schenectady, N.Y. | Union College |
| 7. | Michele Guerard | Le Havre, France | Lycee de Seures, Lycee de Fontaine, Bryn Mawr College |
| 8. | Iran Banu Mohamed Ali Hassani | Hyderabad Deccan, India | Osmania University (Hyderabad Deccan, India) Syracuse University |
| 9. | Peter Bain Kenen | Cleveland, Ohio | Columbia College |
| 10. | Jerzy Feliks Karcz | Grudziadz, Poland | Batory Liceum, Warsaw, Poland Alliance College Kent State University Columbia University |
| 11. | Gregor Lazarcik | Horna-Streda, Czechoslovakia | State College of Kosice (Czechoslovakia) Agricultural University (Brno, Czech.) School of Social Studies (Paris, France) Institute of International Studies (Paris, France) Faculty of Law, University of Paris (France) University Centre for European Studies (Strasbourg, France) |
| 12. | Michael Ernst Levy | Mainz, Germany | Hebrew University (Jerusalem) |
| 13. | Ira South Lowry | Laredo, Texas | University of Texas |
| 14. | Samir Anis Makdisi | Beirut, Lebanon | American University of Beirut |
| 15. | Yaroslav Nowak | Kieve, Russia | J. W. Goethe University (Frankfurt, Germany) Columbia University |
| 16. | Algimantes Petrenas | Kaunas, Lithuania | Hamburg University (Hamburg, Germany) Baltic University (Hamburg, Germany) Columbia University |
| 17. | Guy A. Schick | Aurora, Illinois | Purdue University |
| 18. | Leon Smolinski | Kalisz, Poland | School of Economics, Warsaw, Poland University of Freiburg (Germany) University of Cincinnati Columbia University |
| 19. | Werner Alfred Stange | Berlin, Germany | University of Kiel (Kiel, Germany) University of Bonn (Bonn, Germany) University of Maryland |
| 20. | Koji Taira | Miyako, Ryukyus (near Okinawa) | University of New Mexico University of Wisconsin |
| 21. | Jaskaran Singh Teja | Jhingran, Punjab, India | Agricultural College (Punjab, India) University of California Harvard University |
| 22. | Marcel Tenenbaum | Paris, France | Queens College (Flushing, N.Y.) |
| 23. | Nestor Eugenius Terleckyj | Boryslaw, Ukraine | University of Erlangen (Erlangen, Germany) Seton Hall University Columbia University |
| 24. | John Jacob Vogel | Irvington, N.J. | Middlebury College Columbia University |
| 25. | Ludwig Anton Wagner | Vienna, Austria | University of Vienna (Austria) Columbia University |
| 26. | Theodore Raymond Wilson | Baltimore, Md. | Johns Hopkins University University of Paris (France) |
Source: Columbia University Archives, Central Files 1890-, Box 406, Folder “Goodrich, Carter 9/1953-5/1959”.
Image Source: Low Memorial Library, Columbia University from the Tichnor Brothers Collection, New York Postcards, at the Boston Public Library, Print Department.