Postwar Faculty Recruitment
A LTHOUGH most of the inquiries that arise in planning the upbuilding of postwar faculties cannot be answered with finality, the shape of things to come may be perceived a little more clearly if certain pre-war trends and current tendencies are briefly outlined. It is important to hold in mind two facts. First, history repeats itself only to the extent that conditions remain the same; and second, generalizations that apply to the nation as a whole may or may not be applicable to a given institution. During the first forty years of the present century there has been a fourfold increase in the number of faculty members employed in the colleges and universities of the country. The statistical record in ten-year periods to I920 and annually since then is graphically presented in Figure i. A steady increase is shown except for temporary losses during the depression in the thirties and the sharp drop during the past academic year. The losses during the first world war were too insignificant to record. Accelerated increases appear after both the first world war and the depression. During the academic year I943-44 a rapid decrease appears. The long-time trend justifies the assumption that a rise in the number of staff members can almost certainly be expected soon after the close of hostilities. To predict the extent of the postwar rise, however, demands consideration of its causes, and of the probable effects of the present war. Foremost among the long-time causes for the increase has been a forty-year growth in the number of college students. Corresponding closely with this increase from year to year has been the increase in the number of staff members. Average faculty student-loads have tended to increase slightly in times of prosperity and to decrease slightly during times of war and depression as the following average number of students for each full-time staff member indicates: in I922, 12.1; I930, I3-4; I934, I2.1; I938, I3.I; and I944, an estimated II.2. The effects of the war are reflected in a decrease of iS.9 per cent in the total enrollment of students between the fall of I939 and the fall of I943. About 44 per cent of the students not belonging to the armed forces left college during the four years. Compulsory military service will probably continue until hostilities with Japan are terminated, if not longer; hence, it is probable that relatively few men of college age will enter college courses for civilians until that time. The increas-