Takes Defense Post

PRESIDENT HOPKINS assumed an active and important role in the national defense program when he was appointed on January 11 to the chairmanship of the iron and steel priorities committee under the Defense Priorities Division headed by Edward R. Stettinius Jr. At the same time it was announced in Washington that he would serve as executive officer of a new minerals and metals priority division heading the various groups advisory to the recently reorganized Office of Production Management.

Before departing for Washington on January 13 President Hopkins stated that although his defense assignment was a parttime job he expected to be away from Hanover continuously for two or three months at the start and that thereafter he would divide his time between Washington and Hanover. He did not request formal leave of absence from the Board of Trustees, which gave unanimous approval to the acceptance of the defense call, and stated that during his absence the College administration would carry on as though he were away on an extended alumni tour.

In addition to President Hopkins as chairman, the iron and steel priorities committee is made up of Walter Tower, president of the American Iron and Steel Institute, representing industry; Carl Conway, chairman of the Continental Can Company, representing industrial consumers; Capt. Paul Henderson, representing the Navy; and Lt. Col. Hugh C. Minton, representing the Army. Liaison officer between the committee and Mr. Stettinius is A. C. C. Hill Jr. '25, Deputy Director of the Defense Priorities Division.

The call to Washington is the second which President Hopkins has received during his administration as head of the College. During the World War he served as assistant to Secretary of War Newton D. Baker, in charge of industrial relations, and also represented the War Department on the War Labor Policies Board.

COLLEGE APPROVES ACCEPTANCE

Campus reaction to the announcement that President Hopkins would go to Washington was one of complete approval that he and the Board of Trustees had accepted the call from the Office of Production Management. The Dartmouth declared editorially that the appointment honored the College as well as President Hopkins, saying in part:

"For the second time in a quarter-century the government of the United States of America has seen fit to honor a manErnest Martin Hopkins, and through him a college—Dartmouth College

" 'I'm just starting in on the thing," Mr. Hopkins said to The Dartmouth yesterday, 'and I will have to learn all about it.' The government knows he will. And in the judgment and choice of the Roosevelt and Wilson administrations lies the honor to Ernest Martin Hopkins and to Dartmouth."

CALLED TO WASHINGTONPresident Hopkins made one of Dartmouth's major contributions to the national defense program last month by accepting the chairmanship of the iron andsteel priorities committee.