The New York Times/1918/11/11/Will Restore Louvain
WILL RESTORE LOUVAIN.
University Destroyed by the Germans to be Replaced by Nations.
Announcement was made yesterday of the organization of the National Committee in the United States for the Restoration of the University of Louvain, with President Nicholas Murray Butler of Columbia University as chairman. The committee includes fifty of the leading public men of the United States, heads of American universities, financiers, educators and publicists and diplomats. Among the members are the two former Presidents, William Howard Taft and Theodore Roosevelt. The secretary's office where those desiring to aid in the restoration of the great Belgian university may send books is established at the J. Pierpont Morgan library in this city.
"The wanton destruction of the ancient and celebrated University Halls of Louvain, including the treasures of its splendid library, has evoked the unanimous indignation of the entire civilized world," says the announcement of the committee. "This application, after the sacrilegious invasion of Belgium, of the policy of monstrous terrorization by which it was planned that Kultur should be substituted for European culture, developed through the ages, is to receive universal condemnation by the restoration of the university. Founded in 1425, the University of Louvain has for five centuries been an international centre of science and learning, attended by students from all nations." National committees are being organized in all the leading nations, to co-operate with the International Committee for the Restoration of the University of Louvain.