FACULTY WILL CONVENE TO DEBATE ON TENURE

Harvard's Faculty, 300 strong, will convene in extraordinary session next Tuesday to continue a discussion of "questions of personnel," a discussion adjourned late Tuesday afternoon after two hours of heated debate.

The debate is believed to have focussed on the Administration's application of the new Faculty tenure policy, and to have touched on the issues raised by the Teachers' Union and Phi Beta Kappa last June when it was learned that ten assistant professors had been given terminating appointments.

Recalls Union Charge

At that time the Teachers' Union charged that the Administration had violated the "spirit and the letter" of the newly adopted tenure system, a charge reiterated by PBK. The new Faculty rank system was adopted in principle by the Administration last Spring on the recommendation of the Committee of Eight.

At Tuesday afternoon's session, reliable sources indicate that six or seven faculty members, all holding permanent appointments, attacked the Administration's application of the new rank system in the case of the ten assistant professors.

Meets Semi-Annually

In the past few years the whole Faculty has ordinarily met only a few times each year. For most purposes its functions are delegated to the Faculty Council, a representative body elected by all those above the rank of instructor.

The Council members are elected annually by the entire Faculty from lists of candidates drawn up by the individual departments. Department heads are ex-officio members.