STATEMENT OF EARLE HAWKINS, PRESIDENT, TOWSON STATE COLLEGE, REPRESENTING ASSOCIATION OF STATE COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES

Mr. HAWKINS. Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, my name is Earle Hawkins. I am president of Towson State College, Baltimore, Md., and also president of the Association of State Colleges and Universities.

This association has in its membership 194 colleges and universities which are wholly or partially State owned and State controlled. There are approximately 1 million students enrolled in these institutions. This is one-fifth of all the students in degree-granting institutions in the country.

In the annual convention of the association in Chicago, February 14-16, 1966, the delegates voted to give strong support to the establishment of a public community college and a public college of arts and sciences in the District of Columbia as proposed by S. 293 and S. 1612. I am authorized by the association to report this action to you, and urge approval of the necessary legislation. The formal resolution adopted at our convention has already been sent to you for your record.

I am glad to have the opportunity now to tell you that the action of the association was prompted by such considerations as the following: 1. There is a growing recognition throughout the country that in our age of increasing technology there is a vast need for our young people to acquire higher skills and training than ever before, and that there are rapidly diminishing opportunities for those with limited education.

The situation is summarized well in the report submitted to President Johnson in June 1964, by the committee appointed by President Kennedy to study the need for public higher education in the District of Columbia.

You are, of course, familiar with this report. It contained the following significant statement

We are building massive problems for the future-in welfare, unemployment, poverty, and crime-unless we provide a maximum of opportunity for the youth of today to achieve the highest level of education of which they are capable.

2. The provisions for public higher education in the District of Columbia are woefully inadequate. This has been reported by others who have appeared before this committee, but I shall emphasize one or two facts:

(a) The young people in every State in the Union are provided a choice among a variety of programs in public colleges and universities. Only in the District of Columbia are they limited to a program in teacher education in a public college, and that is an institution which is housed in an antiquated plant, and which has not had adequate financial support for years.

If you have any doubt about this latter statement, I suggest you consult the 1962 report of the National Council for the Accreditation of Teachers Education which reads in part:

The prospects of improving the facilities, maintaining a competent faculty and attracting an able student body were not good enough to justify its continuation *

As accredited by the council.

(b) Even the island of Guam, with a population in 1960 of less than 70,000, has a public college with a general program. The College of Guam is a member of our association. If we can provide a public college with a general program for that island in the Pacific, surely we can do it for this island in the United States.

3. The private colleges and universities in the District of Columbia cannot provide the opportunities for higher education needed by Washington young men and women.

A study made by Selma J. Mushkin and Eugene P. McLoone for the Council of State Governments (published by the council in February 1965) reveals that there were 56,000 students in all degree-credit programs in all colleges and universities in the District in 1963, and the report contains a prediction that this number will rise to 86,800 by 1970.

It is inconceivable that the private institutions can absorb this increase. What is even more important, the State colleges (and we would place a public college for the District of Columbia in this group) serve a special purpose which cannot be expected from other colleges and universities.

The State colleges are traditionally the people's colleges. They serve (among others) the young people from the lower income groups, and they do this proudly. Largely because of this, and especially in view of the fact that increasing numbers of men and women from the lower income brackets are seeking a college education, the State colleges and universities are the fastest growing degree-granting institutions in the country.

It will be a little short of tragic if the District of Columbia continues to deny the young people of Washington the kinds of opportunities that can be offered in a public college of arts and sciences.

4. What I have said about the need for a general college of arts and sciences in the District of Columbia applies with equal force to the need for a public community college in our Nation's Capital. Experience throughout the country has demonstrated that the community colleges are tremendously popular in helping those young people who are not interested in a full 4-year college program to acquire the skills and training and insights needed for a vast array of occupations in our society.

There is almost no provision at present in the District for meeting this need. The President's Committee on Higher Education in the District found that in 1964 more than 700 high school seniors who did not plan to continue their education would have changed their plans and would have attended a community college if one had been available.

Failure to give them this opportunity resulted in a distinct economic loss to our society. It should be emphasized of course that establishing a community college alone will not be enough.

The longer programs in a college of arts and sciences are quite as important in order to provide the much needed opportunities for young men and women who are qualified and who desire to prepare for positions open only to college graduates.

Also, it is inevitable that many of the students who complete programs in the community college will find that they want to continue

their education and work for a degree or degrees in the college of arts and sciences. The two institutions will complement each other, and the opportunity for transfer should be available.

5. Finally, may I point out that the people of the District of Columbia are quite able to pay for increased opportunities for higher education for their children, and the number of citizens' groups urging the increase indicates that they are eager to do so.

I shall quote only a few figures. According to the publication, "Governmental Finances in 1963-64," published by the U.S. Bureau of the Census, the per capita expenditure for higher education in the District of Columbia that year was $2.26.

I understand that if the cost of operating the laboratory schools is deducted (because they are really public schools in the Washington system) the figure would be much lower-little more than one-half that amount.

The corresponding expenditure in my State of Maryland was $21.23. This was in the face of the fact that the per-capita income in the District of Columbia is higher than in Maryland. According to the 1962 data published by the U.S. Department of Commerce in "Survey of Current Business" (August 1963) the per capita income in the District was $3,219, and in Maryland, $2,683.

Comparisons with other neighboring States are similarly convincing. At this point I emphasize what other witnesses have reported, that there are hundreds of families in Washington whose incomes are not anywhere near to the $3,219 per capita average-many of them (one-fifth of the total) with incomes for each entire family of less than $3,000 per year.

Members of these families are the ones who especially need the opportunities offered by public colleges. In order that the maximum number of them may receive the benefits, we urge that no tuition be charged in the public colleges or that it be held at the lowest possible figure.

The cost of providing higher education for these young people is inescapable. Either we pay for the establishment and operation of public colleges or society pays indirectly through the economic loss resulting from depriving them of the more extended education they are capable of completing.

These considerations have convinced our officers and the representatives of our member institutions that the young people of Washington should no longer be denied the kinds of opportunities provided by public colleges in all of the States we serve.

Our association does not normally adopt a resolution nor take a position with regard to legislation affecting only one locality, but we are keenly aware that the decision with regard to public higher education in the District of Columbia will be made by the Senators and Congressmen who represent us in the Congress.

We believe, therefore, that we must let you know how strongly we support the kinds of provisions contained in S. 293 and S. 1612. We urge approval of a bill which will incorporate the essential elements of these two bills and which will result soon in establishing both a public community college and a public college of arts and sciences in the District of Columbia.

In addition to supporting this legislation, we stand ready to assist in the development of the programs of the two colleges by calling upon the resources and experience of our members. We can make available all the knowledge acquired in the development of similar institutions throughout the country.

We appreciate much this opportunity to present our convictions and our recommendations.

Thank you very much. I would like to submit the following resolution for the hearing record:

RESOLUTION OF THE ASSOCIATION OF STATE COLLEGES & UNIVERSITIES

WASHINGTON, D.C.

Whereas we are convinced that public colleges and universities provide opportunities for young people not available in other institutions; and

Whereas public higher education in Washington, D.C., is now restricted to teacher education, and the young people of the Nation's Capital are therefore denied the wider opportunities available in every one of the States; and

Whereas the situation in Washington is unique in that a greater variety of opportunity for higher education in a public college can be made available only by act of Congress; and

Whereas we believe that the people served by our State colleges and universities would want the young people of Washington to have opportunities similar to their own: Be it

Resolved, That this Association of State Colleges & Universities give strong support to the establishment of both public community college and college of arts and sciences in the District of Columbia as soon as possible as recommended by the President's Committee on Higher Education in the District of Columbia and as proposed in S. 293 and S. 1612 and H.R. 7395; and

That the officers of this association bring this action effectively to the attention of the appropriate committees in both Houses of the Congress.

Senator MORSE. President Hawkins, I consider your statement a very powerul one. In support not only of the legislation, but in support of the great objectives that we ought to all have in mind as we face up to our responsibilities. That means supplying these young people with an educational opportunity.

Thank you very much. It is going to have, I think, a very great influence on the committee.

Our next witness is Dr. Gladys T. Peterson, vice chairman, Citizens Council for the District of Columbia.

Doctor, we are very glad to have you. You have been here so you know our procedure. Just proceed in your own way.

STATEMENT OF GLADYS T. PETERSON, VICE CHAIRMAN, CITIZENS COUNCIL FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

Mrs. PETERSON. Thank you, Senator. Thank you very much, Senator, for permitting the citizens council to be represented here.

We have a statement which was originally prepared, but so much of the material has been covered that I am asking if I may in the interest of time give a digest of this material. We would like the original included.

Senator MORSE. Dr. Peterson's statement will be printed in full in the record at this point and she may now proceed to summarize it.

(The statement follows:)

STATEMENT OF DR. GLADYS T. PETERSON

Mr. Chairman and members of the Senate Subcommittee on Public Health, Education, Welfare, and Safety, my name is Dr. Gladys T. Peterson. I am the chairman of the Health, Education, and Welfare Subcommittee of the Citizens Council for the District of Columbia, an advisory council to the Board of Commissioners of the District of Columbia. I appear on behalf of the council to present testimony urgently requesting the early passage of legislation in this Congress authorizing publicly supported higher education for the citizens of the District of Columbia. The council, consisting of 25 members appointed by the Commissioners, is representative of the citizens of the District of Columbia on the bases of geographical areas, active interest in community development, and is nonpartisan in functioning although partisan in its representation of both Republicans and Democrats. Business, professional, and labor segments of the community are also represented in the council which is truly a cross-section of all the citizens of the District of Columbia. They have concerned themselves with many problems in education and spent their entire session on February 11 in consideration of higher public education for the District of Columbia and directed my appearance here today. Our appointment by the Commissioners in no way affects our autonomy or freedom to act and speak in the best interest of the citizens of Washington.

The needs for legislation to provide for public higher education in the District of Columbia are highly economic, significantly comparative, essentially basic, and gravely urgent.

HIGHLY ECONOMIC

The skill survey of Washington metropolitan area, U.S. Employment Service, 1963, warned, "The labor market cannot absorb any increase in unskilled labor. Some training past the high school level is desired by most employers."

Although the public school system in this governmental city is overwhelmingly college oriented, there is no low-cost general college to which its graduates can go. Statistics have shown that there is a direct correlation between median family income and the number of graduates going to college. Where the family median income is above $10,000, nearly 75 percent of the high school graduates go to college; where the median income is below $5,000 (and these are the families of crowded and deprived areas) barely 20 percent of the high school graduates can even economically attempt college to get that "training past the high school level desired by most employers."

The one institution offering low-cost higher education to District citizens is the District of Columbia Teachers College which offers only the B.S. and specializes only in teacher training. Even as a single-purpose school, the facilities are inadequate, and because many students do not wish to major in education, this college does not appeal to the ablest students from the District schools. Yet the demand for teachers, here and elsewhere, continues to expand. This situation does not exist in most other American cities which provide one or more public junior colleges or 4-year liberal arts and sciences colleges. Other major cities have provisions for teacher education greatly superior to those found here and also have a wider range of opportunities for post-high-school education, both vocational and general. Today Washington, D.C., is the only major city in the entire United States where a high school graduate has no publicly supported higher education institution, a junior college or 4-year liberal arts college, to which he can turn for inexpensive higher education. This is a very real economic disadvantage suffered by our residents.

This disadvantage is the gap which the junior college is ideally equipped to fill-a college which includes technical and scientific education as well as cultural enrichment of the personal lives of students, adult education, and experiences motivating students for further university education.

SIGNIFICANTLY COMPARATIVE

In the Higher Education Facilities Act, 1963, it is stated, "The Congress hereby finds that the security and welfare of the United States require this and future generations of American youth be assured ample opportunity for the fullest development of their intellectual capacities." Yet, all American cities of the size and importance of Washington, D.C., and virtually all European capitals have