gg SEA GRANT COLLEGES 



analogy has one major conaplication. This was raised on the floor of the meet- 

 ing this morning and it has been dealt with already on the panel. That is, like 

 the land- grant system, is there to be a sea- grant university in every one of the 

 fifty states? 



Senator Pell suggested, by implication, at least, that were there enough 

 money available to accomplish it, there might well be a sea- grant university 

 in each state. I'm inclined to think that this would not be desirable even if sub- 

 stantially greater funds were to be made available, as we all hope they will be. 

 Conditions are different from what they were one hundred years ago when the 

 Morrill Act was passed. I suspect that if we were establishing the land-grant 

 system today, based primarily upon agriculture, the University of Rhode Island 

 might appropriately be excluded. We haven't enough old- line agriculture left 

 in the state to justify a College of Agriculture in the traditional sense. This is 

 one of the reasons why our College of Agriculture, and I'm proud of its quality 

 and its v^'sion, is working so closely with our Graduate School of Oceanography, 

 and also developing significant programs in the suburban and urban areas of the 

 state, thus putting their expert knowledge and know-how to work for the benefit 

 of all the people of Rhode Island and not just those in rural areas. In terms of 

 the traditional role of colleges of agriculture, I think about one good one is all 

 that the six New England states need. 



Now, in place of the old attitude toward what is and what is not necessary 

 in modern universities, we have increasingly worked toward inter- institutional 

 and regional cooperation. Dean Castle has spoken a bit about this, and so has 

 Dr. Hargis. In New England, we have the New England Board of Higher Educa- 

 tion, with the Southern Regional Education Board and the Western Interstate 

 Commission on Higher Education, as our predecessors. Let me take just one 

 minute to tell you about a new venture in regional cooperation that we are en- 

 gaged in. The University of New Hampshire has received a significant grant of 

 over a million and a half dollars from the Kellogg Foundation to establish a 

 regional program at a Regional Center in Continuing Education in cooperation 

 with the other five state universities in New England and with the eventual expec- 

 tation that private universities in the area which wish to participate will do so. 

 And each of us has committed ourselves to spend a certain amount of money 

 each year to support the program. Each of us will eventually have a building on 

 the Center campus, if you will. We will have staff members there. In turn, 

 people will be working out their projects on our campuses. Each of us has se- 

 lected one particular area in which we will concentrate. This is the first time 

 that I know of for regional cooperation of this nature, where six institutions 

 agreed that in going after a major foundation grant, they would work together on 

 behalf of one of their sister institutions, which they conceded had a first claim 

 on it. So new things are taking place in terms of regional cooperation. 



No one university can any longer aspire to do everything. The smaller 

 ones especially must focus their attention on those areas of man's knowledge and 

 activity for which they have special resources, background and tradition, oppor- 

 tunities, etc. This is why when I came to the University of Rhode Island I be- 

 came convinced we should put special effort and support into the marine sciences. 

 But I would consider it a mistake, let me suggest, if the federal government were 

 to contemplate establishing or increasing support for colleges of forestry, to 

 locate one in Rhode Island, even though we have quite a bit of woodland. 



Consequently, I would have to argue that in establishing sea-grant univer- 

 sities we should not attempt to put one in every state. I doubt, for example, that 

 it would make sense to establish a sea-grant university in South Dakota or New 

 Mexico. I believe, therefore, that a few centers of excellence would be prefer- 

 able, as Dr. Hargis has indicated. These should, I think, be near the sea or the 

 Great Lakes, where substantial areas of shore property could be assigned to 

 them. However, I would not exclude land-locked universities from participating 



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