Faculty's Proposal Foresees End of A.B.-S.B. Differential

The long-standing distinction between A.B. and S.B. degrees may evaporate next fall if the move currently being considered by the Faculty is carried through. Provost Buck announced yesterday that a motion is pending to eliminate the Bachelor of Science degree entirely and discontinue the ancient language requirement now attached to the Bachelor of Arts degree.

The proposal designed to realign the existing discrepancies between the two degrees was made at the last meeting of the Faculty of Arts and Science.

The motion, referred for study and report by the Faculty of Arts and Sciences to the Committee on Educational Policy headed by the Provost, read as follows: "That the Faculty recommended to the Governing Boards that beginning with the Class of 1950 all students who graduate from Harvard College be awarded the degree of A.B., and that the requirement in ancient languages for this degree be discontinued; also that this action be made retroactive for students now in Harvard College if they so choose."

To Test Student Opinion

At the same time, the Provost asked that student opinion on the change be sampled and asked the Student Council to study the proposal and submit a report by Thanksgiving next fall. He called an expression of student opinion, essential to Faculty recommendation of the tradition-shattering change. President-elect of the Council Levin H. Campbell 3rd '48 said that the matter would be referred to the Council committee on Curriculum and Tenure for study.

As matters stand now, a minimum of three high school or two college years of Latin or Greek are required of a candidate for the Bachelor of Arts degree; a student without this requirement receives a Bachelor of Sciences, whatever his field of concentration. For this reason, men working in Romance Languages or History and Literature may receive the Science degree, while those graduating in Physics or Chemistry may wind up with a Bachelor of Arts.

In the last normal academic year, 1941, three-quarters of the Magnas and Summas awarded to A.B. candidates went to men concentrating in the Natural Sciences, while men in the areas of Social Studies and Arts, Letters, and Philosophy garnered almost one-half of the high honors given to Bachelors of Science.

In some departments, Latin or Greek are made obligatory for honors candidates and thus for those wishing tutorial. In English, no man can become a candidate for honors unless he is also a candidate for an A.B. degree; simultaneously there is a ruling that tutorial is reserved only for those men who are striving for honors.

According to the Provost, the College position became deranged at the time when the Lawrence Scientific School merged officially with Harvard College. Until that time, the two degrees had been awarded according to the school the student had attended, and the requirements on ancient languages differed. With the merger, however, the present system was set up and has become traditional.