w that it was
considerably fuller than he had first supposed. Baker turned the pages,
which were fastened to the cover by slide fasteners. Chart after chart,
with jagged lines and multicolored areas, flipped by under Baker's
fingers. Then Baker opened the accordian folds of a four-foot long chart
and spread it on the desk top.

"This is the Index," he said, "a composite of all the individual charts
which you saw ahead of it. This Index shows in graphical form the
relationship between the basic requirements for obtaining a research
grant and the actual qualifications of the applicant. This line marks
the minimum requirement in each area."

Baker's finger pointed to a thin, black line that crossed the sheet.
Fenwick observed that most of the colored areas and bars on the chart
were well inside the area on Baker's side of the line. He guessed that
the significance of the chart lay in this fact.

"I take it that Clearwater College is in pretty sad shape, chartwise,"
said Fenwick.

"Very," said Baker.

"Can you tell me how these charts are compiled?"

Baker turned back to the sheaf of individual charts. "Each item of data,
which is considered significant in evaluating an applicant, is plotted
individually against standards which have been derived from an
examination of all possible sources of information."

"Such as?"

"For example, the student burden per faculty Ph. D. That is shown on
this chart here."

"The what? Say that again," said Fenwick in bewilderment.

"The number of students enrolled, plotted against the number of
doctorate degrees held by the faculty."

"Oh."

"As you see, Clearwater's index for this factor is dismally low."

"We're getting a new music director next month. She expects to get her
doctorate next summer."

"I'm afraid that doesn't help us now. Besides, it would have to be in a
field pertinent to your application to have much weight."

"George--"

"Doesn't help you at all for the present. You would require a minimum of
two in the physics department alone. These two would have to be of
absolutely top quality with a prolific publication record. That would
bring this factor to a bare minimum."

"You take the number of Ph. D.'s and multiply them by the number of
papers published and the years of experience and divide by the number of
students enrolled. Is that the idea?"

"Roughly," said Baker. "We have certain constants which we also inject.
In addition, we give weight to other