House Discussion Groups On Literature, Great Authors to Receive College Credit

Announcing an "important innovation" in the educational program at Harvard, A. Chester Hanford '17, dean of the College, revealed last night that the Faculty of Arts and Sciences has decided to grant credit toward a degree for conference courses in the study and reading of important authors under taken in any one of the undergraduate issues.

Each of the Houses and Dudley Hall are authorized to institute a series of conferences and readings, and the Dean of the Faculty in consulation with the Master of the House concerned will appoint from the House staff a committee to administer the program. Upon completion of the requirements determined by the Committee and subject to the approval by the Dean and Administrative Board of the College, credit of one-half course will be given to students participating in it. This credit may not be given for more than one-half course each year.

First Time Ever Used

This is the first time in the history of the College that provision has been made for educational work under the supervision of the Master and the House Staff to be counted towards a Harvard degree. Formerly the educational contribution of the Houses, though substantial, has been on an informal basis, Dean Hanford pointed out, and has not counted directly for academic credit.

Like "all colleges today," he said, Harvard is faced with a serious and difficult problem as a result of present national needs. In preparing its young men primarily for war service of the nation, the College must at the same time make every effort to furnish to young men the fullest possible background of liberal tradition on which the ideas and civilization for which we are at war are based."

Courses Will Fill Gap

These conference courses given by the Houses Dean Hanford asserted would help to fill a gap in the accelerated program, and they should especially appeal to the undergraduates "as part of their distribution work by laying stress on important authors whose writings are regarded as of especial value in achieving the objectives of a liberal education."

During the dozen years that the Houses have been in existence, Dean Hanford remarked, the have "not only imporved living conditions and the social life of the College, but they have also made important contributions to the educational life." Joint conferences of tutors and student, interest clubs and forums which have already developped show the interest of the undergraduate in the educational possibilities of the House system.