Five Educators to Attend Study Center

Five Faculty members will attend the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Palo Alto, Calif., next year. "Guests at this center are given freedom to do whatever they want, and I intend to have a great time," Albert J. Guerard, professor of English, one of the participants, commented last night.

"There will be leisure to do my own work in some aspect of the psychological approach to literature," Guerard continued, "and also to meet with about 50 scholars in many disciplines on an informal basis."

William L. Langer '15, Coolidge Professor of History; Morton G. White, professor of Philosophy; Frank B. Freidel, Jr., professor of History; and George Mandler, lecturer in Clinical Psychology, will attend with Guerard.

The Ford Foundation established the Center in 1952, to bring scholars into an atmosphere that allows free intellectual activity, with no authoritative pressure.

Permissive Atmosphere

"The permissive atmosphere enables visitors and their families to join in activities on a social level," commented Dell H. Mymes, assistant professor of Social Anthropology, who was at the Center last year. "It is very difficult to break away from the culture that is built up among scholars there," he added.

The Center offers annual fellowships to educators selected from over 3,000 nominees in this country and abroad. Committees in specialized fields evaluate individuals recommended by centers of behavioral science the world.

At Palo Alto, scholars are given a private study, meeting rooms, a dining room, and use of the Stanford University library. In addition, secretarial and research assistance are provided. Special arrangements are made to facilitate work on projects.

Individual work, informal conversations with other fellows small working groups, and short courses of formal instruction by one of the participants, are the basic kinds of study activities offered at the Center.

Historians Plan Books

Langer plans to utilize the Palo Alto resources to continue on a one-volume history of the early 19th century, which he began over a year ago. Freidel will try to complete the fourth volume of his projected six-volume biography of Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Mandler stated that he had no specific plans yet, but hopes to work closely with scholars interested in philosophy of science.