Daily News from New York, New York • 101

SUNDAY NEWS, APRIL 15, 1973 64 UISUJ 'Ai- is Jill tut The Hall of Fame Worth seeing if you came all the way from Japan, but it's a long subway ride for the home folks. he Mevz-Fouinidl-Fainnie off tflhe InlallD off (Famnie By STEVEN MATTHEWS THE HALL OF FAME for Great Americans, that collection of bronze busts in a granite' colonnade high above the Harlem River on the old Bronx campus of New York University, is attracting more attention lately than it does visitors. The Hall, a national monument that has always been paid more homage by guidebooks, school groups and foreigners than by the average New Yorker (even those in the Bronx), has become the center of a controversy raging over the sale of the campus on which it sits. The real estate was sold by financially strapped NYU to the City University, which intends to turn it over to Bronx Community College when the sale is completed sometime this summer. No one seriously objected to the sale of the rampus, but, all of a sudden, there are "a lot of people, who want to get their fingers into the pie" over the Hall of Fame, said a spokesman for NYU.

There was even some talk, at one point, of moving the hall out of the Bronx altogether. But the city's fourth largest borough appears to have won Its fight to keep the landmark, just as it won its fight to keep Yankee Stadium, Now the problem is who will control the admini-. stration of the hall and supervise the election of persons to it- The New York University Senate does the job now, under terms of what an official there calls "a- nebulous trusteeship" set np in 1900, when the idea for the Hall of Fame was developed. But the tfficial says that the university is checking to se just what its legal obligations are, once the property no longer belongs to the school. Bronx Community College, which is in the midst Df a- major development campaign to improve its image, is excited about getting the facility and would like to see it improved.

"We're going to try to restore it as a. living institution," says the college's president, James Col-. ston, who wants to invite the venerable Robert Moses to be his adviser on the hall. Moses has been in the forefront of the movement to insure that the Hall of Fame not suffer by the transaction between NYU and the City University. He is one of 135 electors who are responsible for selecting the luminaries whose busts are placed in the colonnade and he has long been active in the administration of the hall.

It was he who originally suggested moving it to Manhattan in conjunction with the nation's bicentennial in 1976. Robert Abrams, "the borough president of the Bronx," fought the Moses plan, and he has promised to raise the funds to maintain the Hall of Fame if necessary. Not only does he want to make sure the hall stays in the Bronx, he would like to see it developed along with the new state park that is being built along the river below it. The ultimate decision on who will run the facility is "still very much up in the air," according to NYU. "Our main concern is the transfer of the campus itself," said a spokesman.

always felt the Hall of Fame could be looked to after, the major In the meantime, the electors have begun to vote on the 185 nominations in this year's election, the results of which will be known in the fall, and Freda Hliddal, the curator, has begun to make plans to install the bust of physicist Albert Michaelson, who was elected three years ago. And the visitors keep coming at the rate of about 15,000 a year. "You know," says Mrs. Hliddal, "when you come to New York! all the way from Japan, it's not too far to go to the Bronx." Campus Sfludenv: Whav's One WfthouY the Of her? By JUDSON HAND MILLIONS of high school seniors throughout the nation are waiting nervously today, the official deadline at most colleges for mailing out letters of acceptance or rejection. Some college officials, particularly around New York City, are a little nervous, too.

They are worried lest freshmen enrollments decline, forcing further cutbacks in their programs. These officials are mostly administrators in financially strapped private colleges which have been clobbered by the free tuition and open admissions policies of the City University. The returns aren't all in, of course, but indications are that enrollments will continue their downward trend in freshman classes at private colleges in New York State. One exception to this trend along with Syracuse University and Rochester University is New -York University where, after a downward slide for several years, applications are up substantially. That's partly because the image of New York City has improved," Commented Herbert div rector at NYU.

"Out-of-town youngsters no longer are afraid, to work and study in the big, bad city as they were until a few months ago." As of a couple of months ago, applications to the free city colleges and the relatively low-cost state colleges had, overall, shown a slight decline, though less than at private institutions. These declines seem to reflect a national trend. Although college applications from blacks and women in general are up applications from white males are down significantly. In 1969, 47.3 of the nation's 18 and 19-year-olds were in college. By 1972, the percentage had shrunk to 39.6, and the trend is expected to continue this year.

The decline is attributed partly to the fact that college is now considered less of a passport to a cushy life than it was a few years ago. As a result, fewer youngsters are willing to. expend -the work and money it requires. Many also reject college as a status symbol. Admissions officials are up in the air also because they don't know what kind -of federal aid to college students they, can, expect, Nixon which.

speaking broadly, would provide about $1,400, reducible by aid from families or "other sources when possible, for each' student may well not be implemented by this fall. "We're trying to put together aid packages as best we can from state bank loans and our own funds," said livesey. "It's a problem, since two out of three of our freshmen receive some kind of aid." What kind of chap is this year's freshman applicant Well, he's certainly not the revolutionary student who was storming the barricades at universities all over the nation five years ago. More likely, he's a bit cynical and inter ested chiefly in courses of study which will help him make a good living. "Pre-med and pre-law are in," said Livesey.

services are Business courses, after a decline, are on the comeback. But English, our biggest de- partment, is showing a decline." Livesey said many students interested in people are turning to psychology and sociology rather than to literature to learn about them. fl Another. i( looms. large is the college dropout, temporary and permanent.

Indeed, many students drop out between the time they are ac- cepted in college and the opening day of classes. J' We used to come down hard, on dropouts, but now we allow for them, as" do many other colleges," said Livesey. "A freshman can obtain admission, then disappear for as much as two years before he actually enters NYU. Actually, it's not a bad idea. Some youngsters need the time to find themselves." The "new trends are even being felt in the Ivy League colleges, where applications have also declined, except at Yale.

Of course, the decline isn't too sig- nif icant at these colleges, which routinely turn away as many as seven highly qualified students for every one they accept. All in aH, it's a buyer's market for the prospective college student. There are plenty of places for him at all but the most competitive institutions- Only severe psychological or financial prob- lems today can keep a qualified student T.r.