Few Students Attracted by M.I.T. Course

The head of an M.I.T. course on "Problems of Disarmament and Arms Control," Lincoln Bloomfield '41, has expressed "surprise" that in view of the previous interest, only four Harvard undergraduates came to the initial meeting Thursday afternoon.

But even this faint turnout is unprecedented in the history of the Harvard-M.I.T. cross-registration program, and has prompted a proposal for the Administrative Board to "redefine" its exchange policy.

Schofield Andrews, Jr. '44, Assistant Dean of the College, will ask the Board Tuesday for a "redefinition of the directive under which I operate," and will point out new developments at M.I.T., specifically in connection with its Center for International Studies, which is running the new disarmament course. Andrews' office administers cross-registration, which is free to students.

Presumably, a change in policy would liberalize the cross-registration program, and encourage Harvard students to take advantage of growing opportunities at M.I.T. Since its inception in 1957, the program has consistently attracted fewer students from Harvard than from M.I.T.

Left to Student Initiative

The University has not actually discouraged exchanges, Andrews said, but it has "restricted them, not going out of its way to publicize opportunities, and leaving them to the initiative of the student." Andrews did not criticize this attitude, but he will suggest Tuesday that "it is time to review the present policy."

Bloomfield, who is director of the United Nations Project at the Center for International Studies, said that interest in the course might have been greater had it been more widely publicized. The only notice Harvard students were given was a small story in Monday's CRIMSON.

However, the present feeling of the two administrations seems to indicate that M.I.T. favors the exchange idea more strongly than does Harvard, and would welcome a move to facilitate it, such as wider publicity of the available courses. The attitude of several members of the Harvard Administration, on the other hand, is that "we have faith in our own Faculty."