sponsive to need, and the avenue of that response has been set by
legislative enactment. By law, the colleges are directed to develop,
foster and expand courses in the arts and sciences, while at the same
time they continue their programs of teacher instruction.

The legislation itself is in answer to what is probably the most
pressing educational problem of recent years: How to adapt our
institution of learning to an ever-growing number of students.

It is important to note that the legislation which emerged from the
Curlett Commission report does not subordinate the traditional func-
tion of the former teachers colleges, a function which this college
lias performed so magnificently for a century. But it is equally im-
portant to note that the legislation offers a clear judgment that the
facilities and resources of he colleges should be opened to the great
variety of educational needs that are inherent in a highly developed,
many-faceted society.

Within their capabilities and within the legislative mandate, it
is the role of the State colleges to satisfy the educational aspirations
and interests of the students in their areas, whether these interests
lie in the field of teaching, or in business, journalism, library work,
social work, science, law, medicine or other fields. Nothing should
distract us from the fact that all those aspirations are commendable,
that all those fields are areas of legitimate public need and that the
State colleges already have, or can acquire, the faculty and resources
to meet those needs.

One need only scan enrollment projections to see the consequences.
It is the responsibility of Towson, and the other State colleges, to
grow and to engage society in terms of its needs and its expectations.
The urgency of moving forward to assume wider responsibilities
should not obscure the fact that each institutions cannot be all things
to all men. The service each can render varies in accordance with
such factors as geography, size, stage of development, faculty strength,
student constituency and tradition.

The 1963 legislation suggests a more creative role for these colleges
— the anticipation of educational needs in addition to the traditional
ones and the drafting of programs to sustain them. There are literally
thousands of students whose diverse educational needs will be met
either at the State colleges or nowhere at all. The problems of co-
operation and coordination among our institutions of higher learning
are of paramount important. Society cannot afford duplication of pro-
grams, of facilities, of resources unless the duplication is justified in
terms of need and service.

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