Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1956-02-20
|Elkins Reports Progress
lin Year at University
BY SMITH HEMPSTONE

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A little more than q year ago.
Wilson Homer Elkins, University
of Maryland president, inherited
from his predecessors at College
Park an imposing physical plant
20, 900 students. the No. football
team in the Nation. and a hat
full Of academic problems.
Today, DR.. Elkins reports. the
condition Of the University il
good"
The Texas born educator
moved into the big leather chain
of DR.. H. C. Curly" Byrd. occu-
pied for an eight-month interim
by 76-year-old DR.. Thomas B
Symons. now a member of the
Iuniversity's board Of regents.
Immigrant college.
Sees Good in q Few Losses
At the outset, DR.. Elkins said
that to maintain Maryland's
mo. l position in athletics it
would be necessary to place "un-
due emphasis" on athletic schol-
arships.
The former University Of Tex
as quarterback land Phi Beta
Kappa. who graduated to high-
er things by beating Cambridge
in the pole vault while a Rhodes
Scholar at Oxford. even had the
temerity to raise some muscle
bound eyebrows at College Park
by suggesting that it might not
be 3 bad thing for the football
team to lose a game occasionally.
DR.. Elkins cited the need for
an adequate library and an ex-
panded medical school as the
University's greatest physical
need. An he laid the response
bility for filling this need square
ly on the shoulders Of Gov. Nc
Kedlin and the State Legislature
Che got the money.
The former Texas Western
College president said he .elt
an increase In faculty salary
scales. specially for full profes
sors. was needed. He emphasized
the need for great teaching,
for reasonable time for research
in all fields, for more faculty
participation in the life of the
university, and for the mainte-
nance Of an agricultural program
in keeping with the needs Of q
landgrant college.
Library Work to start
The 5.0O0-volume library
which he inherited will soon be
replaced by a new building which
will house a million volumes
The edifice will contain almost
200, 900 square feet of floor space,
will seat 1000 and cost $2.6 mil
lion.
Construction Is slated to begin
this spring with completion set
for summer of 1858.
The library staff. limited be-
fore by lack Of space. will be in
creased proportionately.
The medical school. another
Of DR.. Elkins' improvement prof.
ects, has seen some changes, may
see more.
The university hospital, which
had operated as a separate unit.
now is set up as an integral part
Of the school of m di C n e
Streamlining Of curriculum and
administration has resulted in
the combining of allied fields,
such as obstetrics and gynecol-
ogy. to give broader training to
students. And staff salaries have
been hiked.
FavOrs Academic Progress
AS to the athletic program, DR..
Elkins emphasizes that 1t is not
the number Of athletes on schol-
arships that he objects to but
the academic progress. Of such
athletes.
I'm the future, our athletes
are going to have to be decent
students i. :. don't mean brains
-. but they've got to be able to
keep up with their work and
graduate in four years, not five
or six as has been the case In
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