Five Years of Discussion
O N JULY I3, I946, the President set up a special commission to study and to make recommendations concerning the system of higher education throughout the United States. In the words of the letter of appointment of the members, the commission was charged with " an examination of the functions of higher education in our democracy and of the means by which they can best be performed."' Twenty-eight outstanding lay persons and professional educators were appointed to the commission by the President. George F. Zook, then president of the American Council on Education, served as chairman; Francis J. Brown served as executive secretary. On December I I, 1947, the commission, now formally called the President's Commission on Higher Education, filed its report.2 According to Mr. Brown, twenty thousand copies of the Report were distributed free of charge, and it became a best seller among the publications of the Government Printing Office.3 In the years which have passed since the appearance of the Report,