COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY.
A temporary wooden platform has been erected around the gilded bronze statue of Alma Mater which dominates the campus at Columbia University. Above the platform a superstructure supports a regal canopy and centrally over all a large golden crown. Thus passers-by are reminded first that this week Columbia celebrates the one hundred and seventy-fifth year of its existence and, secondly, that it has grown to what it is from a small Colonial College founded by King George H. of England and supported later by King George III. King's College, as its first name was, began with a student body of eight Columbians. The students this year number more than thirty-seven thousand. The celebra- tions, which begin on Friday, will bring together past and present students from more than fifty different countries, as well as representatives of the Federal and State Govern- ments, American and foreign universities and colleges and a considerable proportion of the Diplomatic Corps. With its very business-like curricula Columbia is an outstanding example of the modern American university's eagerness to adapt itself to its immediate environment. Its International Institute for Teachers, Casa Italiana, Deutsches Haus, Maison Frangaise, projected Japanese and Hispanic depart- ments and other special provisions for the study of foreign cultures attest the broader international outlook which hopeful observers believe is being more and more widely shared in the United States.
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