The Smith Boys

When Smith College let in a few forlorn male G.I.s last September, the boys knew that they would have to abide by women's rules. But they hoped to change them. Ten male veterans, taking graduate work, were recently told that Smith would not grant them master's degrees. The college attorney had read Founder Sophia Smith's will on the subject, and after skipping through all the passages about the "influence [of women] in reforming the evils of society," concluded that the male animal was not on the mind of Feminist Smith when she made the will in 1870.

The G.I.s took their troubles to the Veterans Administration, and were told that VA was powerless to help. Last week, however, Smith's President Herbert Davis finished a study of the will and made a manly decision with which the trustees agreed. Said he: the will declares that the leading object of the college shall be the education of young women. "A 'leading object' implies the existence of ... subordinate objects." On that ground, he decided, it was in his power to grant degrees to such subordinate objects as men.

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