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C00002 00002	Dear John,					4 February 1974
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Dear John,					4 February 1974

1.	First,   I think that  your idea  of an Independent  Graduate
School  for Computer Science (IGSCS)  must have a  better name. After
some consideration, I would like to recommend:  "California Institute
of Computer Science".  The acronym  would be CALICS rather than CICS.
The  word  "institute" is  better than  the  word "school"  or phrase
"graduate school" because  it connotes research  as well as  advanced
education. In fact, one  of the (Random House) dictionery definitions
of an institute is that it is an organization or society for carrying
on advanced instruction and research in a  relatively narrow field of
subject matter.   The phrase "computer science" appears in both names
and is properly descriptive. The place name "California" or something
very  much  like it  should  be  included so  that  the  name of  the
institute  has  more  character than  just  a  mere  description. All
together, the phrase  "California Institute of Computer  Science" has
the  same smell  and  weight as  the names  "California  Institute of
Technology", "Massachusetts Institute  of Technology" and  "Princeton
Institute of  Advanced Studies".  Although the  word "California"  is
alittle too commonplace around here, it still has a certain magic for
people east of the Rockies; however alternate   first names  might be
"Arastradero", "Pacific", "Turing", "Babbage" or "Von Neumann".

2.   Second,   I think  that your  basic reason  (motivation #1)  for
creating  an institute of computer  science is sound:  the demand for
computer technology will expand faster than Stanford. Furthermore, we
(the A.I. Lab) will stagnate (even have been stagnating) if we do not
expand.   Also,  nobody  else including me and JAF  and whoever,  can
really get excited  (and committed)  until you make  up your mind  to
really  try to go  thru with  it. Now  I think that  the risk  to you
personally and to the  Lab is not  really very great,   that you  can
stick your  neck out and  still recover your  status quo ante  if you
fail; so I would encourage you to assume the appearance of having the
firm conviction that the California Institute of Computer  Science is
going to  hold its first  class 9  A.M. Monday morning,  30 September
1974 and that there will be twenty students there.  With this goal in
mind it seems clear what has to be done in the next two months: 

(i.) You tell Licklider that you want to start  an Institute and that
you assume that the current ARPA contract will NOT be terminated; 
(ii.)  You   get  the  minimal  legal  structure   of  the  institute
estabished: a letter  head,  a  lawyer,  a  secretary, a post  office
box, and an interim minmimal board of  trustees (or officiers); using
your own money ($ 1K or 2K).
(iii.) We write a draft course catalog and a proposal.
(iv.) You ask  Packard,  DEC and IBM  for $10K each seed money,  with
expectations  of one million  dollars by the  end of the  year if all
goes  well  to  acquire  the  building  and  to  make  the  necessary
improvements: 1  library,  1  print shop  and 2 classrooms;  you show
them the draft catalog and draft proposal.
(v.)  We  publish the  catalog with  nice  pictures and  high quality
paper; and we send an interviewer to various  schools: MIT, Stanford,
Berkeley, Podunk. To see if we can get students for this fall.

If we  can not achieve  these points, then  you will have  to retreat
suffering  some loss of  face,  but  no substantial  loss of material
assets; that  is I  think  we can  take all  of these  steps  without
formally breaking relations with Stanford; finally,  I think that you
have  to do steps i.  & ii.  by yourself in order to stimulate enough
public adrenaline to get the rest of us to do steps iii. and v.

						B.G.B.