UA-R-GC-1914-01-01-1960-03-12_Page-027

I I Current Acti?itiea - pag~ 7 ot the Department of State and lCA. For .GaB time reapon.tble officials in the government haye felt that it wa. ~portant that the Amerioan Univer.ities in the Middle Ea.t he given finanoial support to enable them to meet the growinc need. tor education in the area ~ Until now relatively .!nor and certainlT liaited funds have been made available for this u •• o Congress haa appropriated funda actually on a seale larger than haa been utilizedo The reason tor this haa been that the administration of the funds haa been restricted to specific technical education and for equipment or cODatruction and re-pair of existing plants" The goveraMeat ia COQ~roDted here with a unique aituatioDI private American institution. fulfilling a cruciallT ~portant role in !aarican impact ot a critical area or the world are in need ot larger financial resource. than are a •• ilable from pri •• te contributionso It is cha~act.ri.tic that the Bureaucracy should feel the need for authoritative support and dooument.tion for its hesitantly held opinions and for justifying what it knew had to be doneo ICA at the instruction of Mro Dillon has apportioned about $125,000 to finance an appropriateiT author­itative study of the ~portanc. and neede of the American institutions of higher learning in the Middle Easto The Trustee. of Robert College, Aaerican UoiveraitT of Beirut and the Aaer~can UniY~raity at Cairo are asked to ~naor the atudyo (Both Ford Foundation and the American Council for Education declined to sponaor the aurV8T). (See attachment. #3 and 14)0