Group at Yale Urges More Emphasis on Latin America

Increased coordination of Latin American studies in U. S. universities, expansion of such instruction to high schools, and more student and faculty exchange between the Americans were advocated by the two-day conference at Yale University on "The University in Hemispheric Solidarity."

The conference called for cooperation at colleges and universities among the instructors of Latin-American topics, and if possible, the establishment of a separate department of Latin-American Civilization.

Three Courses Required

Students in this department would have to take one language, one literature, and one history course, supplemented by optionals in international relations, economics, the arts, and other cultural subjects.

E. Bernard Fleischaker '42, representing the Harvard Pan-American Society, commented at the conference that "Harvard lacks sufficient courses on Latin-American civilization, is void of such cooperation among its instructors in the field, and is not interested in the establishment of a department."

Urging that high school and college curricula give more prominence to Latin-American subjects, the conference recommended that existing courses be expanded to embrace Latin-American topics and specifically called for "replacement of survey courses on American history by survey courses on New World history."

The value of student exchange among the American is so great, the conference felt, that the $1,000,000 exchange scholarship bill now in Congress should be passed without delay.