New-York tribune., 1921-05-15

Medical Center
Here Assured
Alliance of Columbia Univ.
and Presbyterian Hospital
TO Provide Vast Irlstitu-
tion Planned for Years
At Old Yankees Park
Administrative Board of
Six Members Is Chosen
to Direct Management

A vast medical center, comprising a
( hospital, medical school and research
| laboratory, is to be constructed on the
site of the old baseball grounds of the
Yankees, at 16Sth Street and Broad
way, at cost of $15,000,O0O. The new
center has just been made possible
through a permanent alliance that has
been effected between Columbia Uni
versity and the Presbyterian Hospital
as a result Of negotiations that have
extended over number of years.
Under the terms of the agreement
the, university and the hospital each
continue their separate and independ-
ent existence, and the new center will
be controlled by Joint board of trus-
tees. The College of Physicians and
Surgeons, now at Tenth Avenue and
Sixtieth Street, and the hospital at
Madison Avenue and Sixty-ninth Street
will be replaced by the new center
The administrative board will consist
of three representatives of the trustees
Of the university and three representa-
tives of the managers of the hospital
The first administrative board is to
consist Of john G. Milburn Walter B.
James and William Barclay Parsons,
representing the university, and Ed
ward S. Hardness, Henry w de Forest
and William Sloane, representing the
hospital.
Endowments of s13,O0o,ooo
The large sums needed to enable
Columbia University to bear its share
in this enterprise have been provided
In the following manner:
| Five million dollars for endowm ent
! from the estate of the late Joseph r..
| Delamar.
| Three million dollars for the con-
struction of new buildings and their
I equipment from the Carnegie Corpora
! ton, the General Education Board and
the Rockefeller Foundation, each of
which has pledged $1,O0O,OO0.
! Land located between 165th and
168th streets, Broadway and Fort
Washington Avenue, and valued at not
I less than $1,000000, which is the gift
of donor who wishes to remain
anonymous.
An additional sum of s1,0o0,0oo for
| endowment from another anonymous
donor.
To Proceed Without Delay
With the land and buildings thus as
sured, and with this increased endow-
ment, the university and the hospital
delay in carrying out their plans. An
additional endowment of from $3,000,-
00o to S4,000o0O will still be needed
by the university, in order that when
the buildings are completed and
equipped they may be used in the most
effective manner possible for the ad-
vancement of medical instruction and
research.
1t was pointed out yesterday by uni.
versity officials that the reorganization
and improvement of the medical school
had been kept before the university
and the public by DR.. Nicholas Murray
Butler, president, from the very begin
ing of his administration, twenty years
ago. He became acting president in
succession to Seth Low, October Z, 1901,
and was elected president January 6,
1902. The first large question of uni
versity policy to which he addressed
himself was that of the medical school,
then a very prosperous professional
school with a large and influential
clientele, but conducted on old-fash-
ioned lines with inadequate staff and
equipment, without proper clinical
facilities for its students, and largely
under the tradition or the proprietary
school period through which it had but
recently come.
Institute of Public Health
DR.. Butler at once undertook the
close study of the question of medical
education, both at home and abroad,
and as result presented a plan for
the reorganization and development of
the Medical School of Columbia Uni
versity in December, 1902, which was
adopted and approved by the commit
tee on education and formally reported
to the trustees of the university 'Janu-
ary ., 1868.
The leading details are reprinted in
the presidents annual report for 1920.
They included complete divorce from
proprietary school tradition and prac-
tices, the establishment of full-tirne
service of medical teachers on the
same basis as in other parts of the
university, the multiplication of labo-
ratories and clinics, the provision of a
university hospital and the establish
ment of a department. or institute of
Dublic health