Faculty Considers Suggestions For Tutorial Program Reforms

Abolition of non-Honors junior tutorial is being considered among faculty members as part of an overall discussion of upperclass curriculum reform.

This suggestion was raised at a meeting of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences earlier in the term, along with a number of other complementary and contradictory proposals. Many professors feel, one Faculty member said yesterday, that "non-Honors junior tutorial in several departments is not really very successful--we just wonder how we can improve it."

Many on the Faculty, however, feel that since Honors and non-Honors tutorial represent "two different kinds of undergraduate experience," an attempt should be made to retain and improve the latter program, perhaps by non-compulsory tutorial groups.

According to Richard T. Gill, Leverett House Senior Tutor, there is no "discernable trend" in the Faculty toward either abolition or expansion of the non-Honors Tutorial program.

Honors Entry Competition

Another suggestion, reportedly made by the Administration, urges that the Honors program itself be considered "a prize" for which competent students might "compete." A proposed form of competition is a qualifying examination, similar to the one given junior concentrators in History and Literature, or History.

Many members of the Faculty are reported to favor "a lot more formal recognition" of the Tutorial system, possibly by giving more weight to tutors' reports in selecting Honors candidates. It has also been proposed that Departments be permited to consider factors other than grades in recommeding Honors degrees.

This would, admittedly, be difficult for the large departments, and, as one Faculty member expressed it, "maybe we're living in a dream world--but Harvard will keep trying."

Originate in CEP

Many of these suggestions have originated within the Committee on Educational Policy, while others have been proposed by individual Faculty members. Dean Bundy is said to have requested informal discussion of the general problem of Tutorial among the individual Departments, and it is felt that Bundy may request a discussion on aspects of the problem at a full Faculty meeting later in the year.

Faculty discussion on tutorial is expected to run throughout the year, and there may not be any decisions made by June. Present discussion "could lead to some changes," a Faculty member asserted, though "the Faculty is not yet moving toward any definite decisions."