Columbia Will Require Students To Take at Least One Seminar

Columbia plans to go ahead with a major change in its curriculum designed to further independent study despite a projected 20 per cent increase in enrollment, it was learned yesterday.

Under the new program every student will be required to enroll in at least one seminar in his junior or senior year. The seminar will climax three years of sustained study in a single field.

The philosophy of the plan, according to Lawrence H. Chamberlain, Dean of Columbia, "is based upon the premise that a junior in college is mature enough and responsible enough to carry forward his own educational development with the assistance and guidance, but without the compulsion, of his instructors."

The independent research of the seminars will be supplemented by a large amount of writing. Some seminars will require a full length thesis comparable to those now required for a master's degree while others will stress a large number of more limited reports.

The program will include nearly 50 seminars when it goes into full operation. Seventeen full-time faculty members will be needed to teach these seminars.