this opportunity to speak to a group which is gravely concerned, as so
many of us are nowadays, about the problem of enlarging and
strengthening our system of higher education to meet the requirements
of the new era in which we live. Your chairman has suggested that I
address myself today to the subject of "Higher Education in the State
of Maryland. " Any approach to this problem must begin with the
assumption of a rather frightening statistic—the knowledge we have,
based upon the best information available, that the demand for college
and university enrollment will double in this decade....

During the first year of my term, the General Assembly, wisely
acknowledging that planning the future of public higher education was
essential if we are to meet our obligations, authorized me, as Governor,
to appoint a commission to review and appraise the growth and expan-
sion of the University of Maryland. I did appoint such a commission,
and named as its chairman Mr. Edwin Warfield, 3rd. The commission
reported to me last year, and in its report recommended, among other
things, that state teachers colleges located at Towson, Frostburg and
Salisbury be converted to general state colleges under the jurisdiction of
the Board of Regents of the University. All of you, I know, are conver-
sant with occurrences connected with the Warfield Commission recom-
mendations. Strong opposition was applied by the State Board of
Education, and some other groups, and the recommendations were not
adopted at the 1961 session of the General Assembly. The crux of the
dispute, you will recall, had to do with organization, with jurisdiction,
with what kind of organization was to be set up and who would control
it. The principal argument advanced by the opposition was that the
plan proposed by the Warfield Commission would tend to weaken our
program of teacher training at a time when we most need more better-
trained teachers.

Well, it certainly never was my intention, and I am convinced it
was never the intention of the members of the Warfield Commission, to
do anything that would in any way hamper or impair our program of
teacher education. In times such as these, it would be criminally irre-
sponsible to advocate a program which might produce such results.

Proponents of the Warfield program believed simply that they were
following sound, progressive trends in modern public higher education.
These trends were described in an article written by a noted educator,
Dr. Alonzo Grace, professor of education and associate dean of the New
York University School of Education. Said Dr. Grace: "Within the
past five years the organization of higher education has changed substan-
tially. The one, two or even three-year normal school, once common in

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