After World War II, veterans eligible for college studies under the G.I. Bill flooded America’s universities. Brown was no exception. Beginning as the Veterans Extension Division, the program admitted 486 of 1400 applicants. Speaking at their first convocation, President Wriston told the new students: “You are not stepchildren of Brown. On the contrary, you have been favored by a radical and, to many, unbelievable change in policy…. You are students in Brown University; you have open to you all its educational facilities…you are meeting regular curricular requirements.” The program was more successful than expected, with most of the students taking a full course load and transferring to a regular college (142 of them to Brown) at the end of the two-year program.