A growing proportion of the producers of American belles-lettres belong to the academic guild. The private patrons of writers of earlier periods have few counterparts today, and colleges and universities have taken over and enlarged the function they performed: to give writers both the wherewithal for living and a habitat, thus performing a haven function. These institutions are performing this function more effectively and successfully than any institutions in man's history. At the same time they are more completely serving the needs of the nation and a constantly growing proportion of its citizens. Such multifunctional activities cause exasperating conflicts, but the structural flexibility to resolve them exists. (MTE)