President's Committee on the Educational Future of the University (Macmahon Report), 1936-1958

In 1955, the University Council asked President Grayson Kirk to appoint a President's Committee on the Educational Future of the University. The Committee would ideally have the following powers and responsibilities: "to make a searching inquiry into the functions of the University as an aid in determining how the University may most wisely employ its resources in the period immediately ahead; to confer with, and to inform the members of Columbia University, especially the several faculties and departments, of its findings and views; and, from time to time to make recommendations to the President of the University, to the University Council, and to the several faculties and departments of the University."

Arthur W. Macmahon, the Eaton Professor of Public Administration, was appointed Executive Director of the President's Committee on the Educational Future of the University. The other five members of the Committee were Charles H. Behre, Jr., Professor of Geology; Charles Frankel, Professor of Philosophy; Maxwell Gensamer, Professor of Metallurgy; Ernest J. Simmons, Professor of Russian Literature; and Howard R. Williams, Professor of Law. The work of the committee was financed by a $165,000 grant of the Carnegie Foundation. In its two-year study, the Committee analyzed the structure and course offerings of the University.

The Macmahon Report, as it became known, was issued to the Faculty in December 1957 and to the press in January 1958. It called for the establishment of a Science and Engineering college; proposed that the School of General Studies be limited only to those students working towards a degree; urged a broad program of expansion of University facilities, including a new gymnasium and the formation of a graduate center; asked that the number of required courses be reduced; and called for the creation of a senior honors program, among other recommendations.