BRUNSWICK – Increasing the size of Bowdoin College’s student body could help the liberal arts school enhance its programs, according to the school’s newly inaugurated president.

Barry Mills was inaugurated Saturday as the college’ 14th president. Mills, a 1972 Bowdoin alumnus, began his presidency in July.

Mills has focused on strengthening the college’s core academic mission. He suggested Saturday that increasing the student body population from 1,550 to 1,800 might help.

“While we must work diligently to preserve our character, I believe we should consider over the next few years whether the breadth of experience here academically and intellectually could be widened if we were a somewhat larger, but still small community,” he said.

“I am not suggesting Bowdoin on steroids, only that a marginally larger community might allow us to enhance Bowdoin’s capacity to achieve its academic mission.”

Mills said continuing to attract the best students requires a larger college endowment. He previously has said the endowment needs to grow by about $40 million.

“Bowdoin has been ‘need blind’ for a long time now, admitting students on the basis of their ability, not on their ability to pay,” Mills said.

“We meet the full calculated need of students and commit to do so for all four years.

“Changing our policies to admit students on the basis of their ability to pay, or to use scarce financial aid resources in a bidding war for superior students, from my point of view is not correct, and I believe, destines us to mediocrity,” he said.

Mills had been deputy presiding partner at a New York law firm.

He served as chairman of Bowdoin’s presidential search committee but stepped aside to avoid a conflict of interest after learning he was a candidate. He succeeds Robert Edwards, who left in June after 11 years as president.